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The lead financial story today on CNN reads, “U.S. stocks looked set to rebound Friday from their recent fall after a report said financial giant Citigroup is considering selling itself.”
The report suggests Citigroup could be purchased by Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan Chase.
In 2006, Citigroup announced it would pay $20 million over 20 years for the naming rights of the Mets new ballpark, which has been named Citi Field.
Nevertheless, despite the financial state of Citigroup, a team spokesman recently told Biz of Baseball, “Everything is fine with our naming rights deal for Citi Field.”
…like in most cases, if Citigroup is bought, it will retain its name and the deal with the Mets will remain in tact…
…that being said, i will forever hold out hope that the Mets and Apple will one day team up to create the first-ever iStadium, in which the team’s new home is a place where technology and baseball join forces…
…the best part is that we could call the stadium The Apple, in honor of the Home Run Apple, the Big Apple, etc…
…and then i woke up…
In 2006, Citigroup announced it would pay $20 million over 20 years for the naming rights of the Mets new ballpark, which has been named Citi Field.
Ugh, disgusting!
The Citigroup people who lost their jobs last week could use some (it not all) of these $20 million.
very true – it might be called – the citi that will be in a eternal sleep – citi bank – my new jingle for em
in the grand scheme of things…how much would it really help?
well if it kept 15000 people employed id say thats better than the economy but im no adam smith
They still need to spend on marketing and advertising to make money.
The naming rights is a way to create more jobs by generating more business. If they stop advertising and lose business, a much larger number of people will lose their jobs.
i wasn’t good in economics – thats why i keep getting screwed by the mets with 8 dollar beers and 5 dollar hot dogs lol
I just hope it doesn’t end up being called Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Stadium :-) He is one of Citi’s largest shareholders.
as michael jackson would say HEE hee hee – shamon!!
U.S. Treasury Department Field?
Chapter 11 Park?
Insolvency Field at Bankruptcy Ballpark?
Sub-Prime Park?
Paulson Field?
Campbell’s Park (known as “The Soup Kitchen”)?
Wonder Bread Park (”Get on the Bread Line!”)?
from animal house – NO NEED TO PANIC EVERYTHING IS FINE DOOOOOOOOOON’T PANIC !!! – kevin bacons character as done by jeff wilpon
that’s what the astros said with enron field
yeah except enron was d.o.a citi still has some life in it yet
citi has about as much life left in it as larry king.
im related to larry king on my moms side – he’s such a pr*ck
really? he looks like he is ready to fall off his chair. i wonder what he looks like without makeup.
not nice to pick on really old people, but seriously. time to give it up.
Matt, you are a gem! What a funny post! No wonder you have been great at this for so long!
Love ya, man
steadyeddie (the poster formerly known as Number41)
lets go steady eddie im a eddie too !!
They can change their name to the iMets. Every player will have his own digital avatar. Heilman will be missing his right arm. Castillo will not have any knees or range and Jose Reyes’ mouth will be completely white.
i got it i got it jose can be a ma-ss of rasta braids d-wright can be a giant smile and the bull pen can be a big steaming turd!!
I have a better marketing genious for the new Giants Stadium.
JetBlue stadium. Although with the way things have historically gone…how about BlueJet stadium? :-)
Too bad it will never happen and if it does, it’ll cost me $7,000 to fly to Florida.
lol and no peanuts
peanuts i can handle….but don’t take away my terra blue chips!
by the way, jets and titans, giants and arizona, should be good games..
I think the Jets can stay close with the Titans, but Tenn is always tough. Gotta give Jeff Fisher credit. He has always had that team ready to play…since he has been head coach – which has been a while (almost 10 yrs?)
I think the Giants will be able to run the ball too well and make Warner run for his life. If they pressure him, they could win a blowout. If not, it will be close.
i like the titans, 2000 i went to a game with the steelers and them, the score was 9-7!!
pillow and jet fuel sold seperately
i remeber being in the upper corner around the field goal post, i tell you man, it was freezing that day, and the hits were vicious between those team, wow, jerome bettis did look like a bus!!! and we didn’t get no pillows lol
and you can’t bring a “bagged” lunch either. :-) well, you can for an additional $25.
That’s $20 million per year or $400 million, not $20 million over 20 years. Big difference, and enough extra revenue that we should be demanding a lot more free agent activity from the Mets than we’re likely to get. They should be able to sign three of the available relievers (wood, fuentes, cruz for example). That would fix the pen.
Read an article that Freddy will not be putting that 400 million into free agents. If true why doesn’t that suprise us all.
no surprise at all he still has his first dollar from his bris
True, they will get 20 mill per season for 20 years, = 400 mill. but what about the cost of building the stadium? They want a lilttle reimbursment. Tax payers did not pay for that stadium
uh yeah we did we paid for the infrastructure around it and we are paying for the bonds the city is floating
The stadium is not 100% tax payer money, it costs 800+ million for that stadium,
Of the 880 million dollar cost of the stadium, 250 million of it was tax payer money
That’s not completely true, they received roughly $90 million from the city and $75 million in rent credits from the state. They paid something like $450 of their own money, but that is no doubt financed over 30-40 years.
Sorry, you beat me to it. your numbers are probably more up to date then mine.
we are still paying for it and if memory serves me right there will be a big tax abatement for it
ok
My point is that the 400 million they will get from citi group is to offest there costs for the park, you can not look at it as total revenue.
That’s a good point, though I would think that the increased revenue they get from higher ticket prices and higher attendance will more than offset their annual financing payments on the stadium.
To me they owe it to the fans to increase the payroll up to the luxury tax limit.
ok ok jeff settle down ill give u cookie later
“no surprise at all he still has his first dollar from his bris” LMAO
The Mets have added first baseman Mike Carp to the 40-man roster, protecting him from selection in the Rule 5 draft on Dec. 11, at the conclusion of the winter meetings in Las Vegas. The Mets’ 40-man roster now has 34 players, leaving room for free-agent additions. –a. rubin
Did they protect Bowman?
No. They are either concerned with his back issues or hoping other teams will be concerned with the same.
yeah no sean bowman which i find to be a mistake
back problems always remind me of vladimir guerrero… phillips offered him 3 years 30 millions… wow..
phillips is a a88hole sexual harraser !!
Phillips did draft wright and reyes.
phillips did saddle us with mo vaughn robbie alomar and rich rodriguez
If there ever was an iStadium the ticket prices would nearly double for promoting “new” technology that other, smaller ballparks have been doing for years.
I hope you’re not calling Apple thieves while typing on your Windows XP machine.
Everyone steals, they just put flashy, chic advertising behind it.
Snips. Fail.
Anyone still think the economy will not impact baseball? This naming rights deal is going to blow up or be renegotiated some time next year. Fortunately, for baseball, the TV contract with FOX goes through 2013, so a nice fixed source of revenue that is very much needed right now.
I think the economy continuing to slide helps the Mets right now. Some of the mid market teams are not going to be able to throw much cash around. I don’t see the Cards or Tigers being competitive bidders for a closer at this time. Same might hold true for the Brewers.
Well, just to play devil’s advocate here, I think it impacts the Mets more. NY is the financial capital of the world. When a few hundred thousand wall streeters are put “on the street” (no pun intended), let’s just say 1/4 of them are Mets fans. Let’s also a-ssume that 1/2 of that 1/4 goes to games. Then I would say it impacts the Mets more than it impacts the Cardinals, whose population works in the beer bottling and distributing industry (for arguments sake).
You may be right. Countering that though is the Mets are moving to a new ball park and it is sold out for 2009. However, I work in the financial sector and if I were to lose my job, I would certainly reduce the number of tickets I purchase (I own seasons with 3 others), or give them up totally.
Hubie,
Same here. And I would do the same. I own seats with one other. I would most likely either hold onto them (because they still have my money from the Post Season tickets, and well you know) or dump them on the fans that work in beer distribution in St. Louis when Albert and the Cards come to town.
It’s obvious the economy is going to hurt teams. Whether it’s this year or not, it doesn’t matter. Teams will eventually be pinched. Maybe the Mets don’t feel it in 2009 in ticket sales, but you can bet lots of people will be bringing sandwiches and there will be plenty of leftover David Wright jerseys on the racks.
If Apple ever gets the naming rights to the new stadium, I’ll never go to a Mets game again. F that company and its dopey, overpriced products.
Yea, F that company and all of the technology they have brought into our homes. Who needs the ipod? What a waste. Bottom line is, they charge those prices because they are the far superior company in the market.
lmao… or so their marketing department tells you….
If you’re smart you can get products that work the same or even better for nearly half the cost.
Slob. Fail.
i’m sure the deal is fine because citi will not go bankrupt and the contract will probably remain the responsibility of whoever buys citi out.
however, i’m not so sure citi will retain its name and brand, and the proud new owner of citi may have its name over our proud new park by maybe 2010.
united states department of the treasury field, anyone?
Citi Field had such a nice ring to it.
Off topic, I think the field level should have been named the Shea level.
iStadium would break after 3 years and the Mets would have to get a new one.
Try 6 months.
or if the backup generator failed, they’d have to send the whole stadium back so that Apple could replace it themselves.
With a refurbished stadium that has nothing inside of it.
bkfitz. Fail.
haha.. love how you keep calling a fail on all the anti-apple comments but you have nothing to say about them? iSheep?
What about:
Bailout Field
Pelosi Park
Paulson Stadium
OneWorldBankWhichAteAllTheOthers Field
Saudi Park?
h/t to There’s Always ‘09 for the name-the-Field-level-”Shea” idea, although I’d prefer that to be used for the Upper Deck, where I might one day get a seat…
Seriously, why not a bailout for the Mets?….they have better negotiated labor deals than the Big Three auto makers, put out a far better product, even with the recent disappointments, and recently helped the NY construction trades……they cannot be harmed by the overall economic downturn or the Citigroup collapse….surely taxpayers in Atlanta, Philly, St. Louis and elsewhere will be glad to chip in (or have their kids and grandkids chip in).
No?
Matt,
If it makes you happy why not suggest CitiCore Field. Core like an apple…Corps…umm…yeah
Or CitField – Rotten To the Core.
OK, gotta run and hide now.
LOL…
I thought the Stadium curse was pretty safe with a company as big as Citi, but I guess not…
btw–what do we think about JetBlue for the new Jets/Giants stadium (I’ve noticed they have sponsored a lot of events at Giants Stadium this year with both teams…) Makes a ton of sense–we have the JetBlue Hanger for my beloved Jets, and Big Blue…for Big Blue.
lol thanks for the comic relief Matt…I think i needed that. iStadium…lmao
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Field, anyone? We could call it “The Bin!”
Eek, and as much as I respect Apple for their innovations, their stubbornness and arrogance as a company can get to me. I worked as a newspaper reporter for a long time, and we had Apples that crashed programs all the time. I can’t even count how many stories I had to rewrite. Plus Safari is a memory hog.
Now, I’m running my own publication and run InDesgn CS3 on Vista machines. Lightning fast, no problems at all.
They’re not really paying $20,000,000 per year. It’s a marketing deal and only citi ATMs will be in the new park, etc etc etc.
Metropolitan Field.