On Fox News this morning they spoke about Citigroup getting a bailout and ripping their IDIOTIC marketing decision to spend $400 million for the naming rights to the Mets' new stadium.
I hate these deals as a marketer and as a sports fan. These sponsorships DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OTHER THAN FEEDING THE EGO OF SUPER RICH CEOs and Board members. In all my years of marketing, I've never seen a deal that even recouped 10% of what they spent on these crappy deals. In fact, I wrote a post over a year ago ripping on Citigroup for this terrible deal; the post was called She Goodbye to Shea. (It's a cute post and a quick read).
Fox news is right (better late than never I guess). They ought to figure out a way out of this horrifying deal. If Citigroup had any intelligent people working for them, they'd call the Mets and try to get out of the deal. Even if the contract doesn't have an early cancellation term, they should still turn the tables around on the Mets and make the Mets the bad guy. For example, Citigroup could release a PR statement targeted to national news saying "We tried to renegotiate with the Mets under these extreme circumstances and they refused to help the taxpayers of this country." I think the Mets will cave and let them out of the deal.
Stadium naming deals are bad deal for sports fans, taxpayers, and the moronic companies that sign them.
PardonMyFrench,
Eric
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