Citigroup and the New York Mets yet again reaffirmed their $400-million naming-rights deal for a new ballpark, but the heat will remain, as Rep. Dennis Kucinich vows investigations of all naming-rights deals involving banks receiving federal bailout funds.
Citigroup and the New York Mets yet again reaffirmed their $400-million naming-rights deal for a new ballpark, but the heat will remain, as Rep. Dennis Kucinich vows investigations of all naming-rights deals involving banks receiving federal bailout funds.
Despite a report in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Citigroup says it is not looking at way to get out of the most expensive naming-rights deal in sports history. We’re not sure Citigroup actually has a way to get out of the deal short of bankruptcy (which doesn’t appear to be an option at this time), and we’re guessing the Mets would strenuously — and legally — oppose any changes to the deal.
That’s not stopping Rep. Dennis Kucinich from expanding his investigation of naming-rights deals involving banks receiving federal TARP bailout funding. It’s not clear what Kucinich can do past holding hearings and writing letters: naming-rights deals are considered to be marketing expenses, and marketing expenses are outside the purview of federal officials overseeing the TARP spending. Still, there are several major-league facilities with bank-related naming-rights deals — PNC Park, Chase Field — and Bank of America is still negotiating a major sponsorship deal with the Yankees. Add to this all the other sports facilities with bank naming-rights deals — Wachovia Center, M&T Stadium, PNC Field, Wells Fargo Arena, and US Bank Arena, just to name a few — and you have a very large target for Kucinich.
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