(New York, NY) – Well the best part about Old Yankee Stadium and New Yankee Stadium is that it is still called YANKEE STADIUM. But for the cross-town rivals NY Mets, their new park may be running into an identity crisis. After closing Shea Stadium last season, their new ‘Citi Field’ stadium is close to being ready for their 2009 opener but there is a major problem now with the naming rights. Several congressman have lobbied to void the deal made by Citigroup (a 20-year contract worth $400 million) with the Mets for the right to call it ‘Citi Field’.
Their contention is that Citigroup is the recipient of a large government bailout package ($45 billion) and thus the taxpayers should not see their money used for such things as a baseball field’s name. So Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), along with representative Ted Poe (R-Texas), both of whom sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner requesting that the deal between the Mets and Citigroup be “dissolved.”
From Newsday:
In an interview yesterday, Kucinich said the financial behemoth is in no position to lay out cash to have its name on the Queens stadium. “It’s just totally unacceptable that Citigroup should be able to spend $400 million in naming rights when they’re the recipients of a massive federal bailout,” he said.
Kucinich and Poe wrote that Citigroup’s financial footing “has changed drastically” since the naming rights deal was struck in 2006. The agreement calls for Citigroup to pay $400 million over 20 years for the naming rights.
What’s your view on this? Should the deal be dissolved? Or should the Mets and Citigroup be allowed to leave as is since the deal was contracted in good faith some time ago.
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since citi recieved money in the government bailout, i propose that it should be named TAXPAYER FIELD…
the problem with the bailout was that they gave these banks money and didnt tell them how to spend it…citi for example bought a 50 million dollar jet last week…and other companies took the bailout money and gave their executives their annual bonuses…i am not a big fan of government regulation, but this is ridiculous…lets give people billions of taxpayer dollars and not ask any questions…to quote the great don king “ONLY IN AMERICA!!!”
hopefully our savior barack will be a little more diligent than his predecessor and monitor what these greedy corporate fat cats do with my money!!!
The deal should be dissolved! Citibank or Citigroup lost a lot of money due to bad mortages, subprime and other risky investments! The economy is in terrible shape! How does Citigroup have money for a naming rights to a Stadium but it can’t help homeowners who are in foreclosure?