from Huffington Post the following are the wods of Rep. Elijah Cummings.
After reading yesterday morning that Citigroup–which has already received $25 billion in bailout money–is adamant in maintaining its $400 million naming rights to the new New York Mets stadium, I was shocked to learn that the company came to the federal government asking for an additional multi-billion dollar lifeline. Surely, if the company has the funds to paste its name to a recreational facility, it has the money to maintain its operations and keep the 52,000 jobs it announced last week it would be eliminating.
While I understand that Citi is under a contractual obligation with the Mets, I cannot understand why the organization seems to be refusing at the very least to explore options out of that contract. This type of spending is indefensible and unacceptable to Citigroup’s new partner and largest investor: the American taxpayer. My constituents in Maryland did not turn over their hard-earned wages to fund a baseball stadium in New York.
One would think that the Mets would be open to finding a new sponsor, as well. Why would any team want its new stadium, the symbol of a new era of victories, to be named after and symbolized by a company claiming to be on the brink of collapse?
I strongly urge Citigroup to find a way out of this contract and instead spend that $400 million on retaining its employees and restoring confidence in its operations. Furthermore, I encourage Citigroup and every other corporation depending on taxpayer dollars to stop the reckless spending, and I again insist that Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke start holding these companies accountable. We cannot continue to pour taxpayer dollars into buckets with holes.
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Congressman Cummings is likely not aware of the ways of the Mets. This is a s***storm brewing, and the Mets have a tendency to head right for the eye of the storm.
Sure it’s really hard to walk away from $20 million. However the economy has gone to hell and people are losing jobs left and right.
The Mets and MLB should look into ways to be the good guys. Work it out with Citi that they don’t have to pay the $20M this year. MLB can float the Mets the budget for a year. You don’t want Congress taking a look at that anti-trust do you? The Mets can make some statement that they stand by their good friends at Citi but now is not the time to make people lose jobs just so Rafael Furcal can be paid to be in the DL all year.
Mets, I’m telling you, get this done today. Work it out. Keep the name, you’ll get your money down the road, but cashing a 20M check today is a bad bad idea. That other team you’re endlessly compared to has figured out how to make a go of it with a new stadium and no naming rights, you’ll be able to get by for a year too.
