Today Citi Group announced that they will be eliminating approximately 50,000 jobs. The same Citi Group that will be paying the Mets $20 million annually for naming rights for Gil Hodges Memorial Park, er Citi Field.
As you may know, I have always stated that the Mets should not have prostituted their new stadium; the should have kept and respected their history. I have always held that they should have coined their new digs Gil Hodges Memorial Park. No matter what, strong economy, soft economy, sell outs, or not - the stadium would always have that feeling that it was ours, the fans. With corporate sponsorship, this stadium could be renamed a multitude of times during the life time of my children. Remember all the names of the homes of Arizona? Houston, Cincinnati?
It's impossible to justify, let alone comprehend how a corporate mega giant can dismiss so many people, but still plan on paying a boat load to Fred and Jeff Wilpon for the name of their new stadium. Now this is just me talking, but I am not more inclined to do business with Citi Group because the owners of my team decided to go to bed with the biggest spender. It didn't work with the BOB (Bank One Ballpark - Arizona). Certainly didn't work with Enron (Houston).
Here is my suggestion: let Citi Group out of the deal. Re-name the stadium Gil Hodges Memorial Park. Let Citi Group take the money they were going to pay to the Mets, and hold onto thousands of jobs. That would go more towards convincing me to do business with Citi Group than to have the name on MY TEAMS ball park.
2 comments:
Although your intentions are perfect and I agree whole heartedly, the $20 million only doles out to $400 a piece for those 50,000 jobs. Now I'm not saying that you believe that the $20 mil refunded will save all 50k jobs, but even if you wanted to save people with $40k per year jobs, it could only be saving 500 jobs tops. To the average guys like you and I, $20 million can go a long way. To the average Fortune 500 company, $20 million for an oversized billboard that a rough average of five million people will see each year, it's a smart investment.
Hi Johnny Met -
I didn't mean to imply it would save all jobs, but even if it saved 1,000 jobs, that would be a much better move. I also would hate to see our new home change names every few years due to ecomonically difficult times.
Thanks for your comments. They are appreciated.
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