Crap! NY Mets Whore The Naming Rights For New Stadium

To Citicorp.

The name of the Mets' new home ballpark will be Shea no more, come 2009. The successor to Shea, the club's home since 1964, is to be named CitiField, according to several newspapers and Internet reports. The name comes from CitiCorp, Inc., the biggest bank in the nation, according to reports which put the value of the naming rights at as much as $20 million annually.

Not Gil Hodges Stadium. Not Bob Murphy Stadium. Not even Jackie Robinson Stadium.

CitiField.

Feh. You just know that when the team is in a down year, fans and non-fans alike will call it ShittyField.

UPDATE: (11/15/06)
OK, a few days later and I'm still not thrilled about it. But after reading this quote from Marty Noble, a writer for MLB.com, in response to a disgruntled fan I at least have a little perspective.

If you have so much passion for the Mets that you will embrace Shea forever, you probably will want the Mets to be competitive too. Selling the naming rights to a ballpark is a way of life now, a way of life that will cover the average annual value of the next Beltran contract by itself.

Given what it is, Citi Field isn't nearly so offensive to the ear as 3-Com, U.S. Cellular or Minute Maid. It has the sound of City Field. Say it that way and save your outrage for something more troubling.

And if you say "Live from New York's CitiField" fast it sounds like "Live from New York City Field". Eh, not so bad. Maybe the guys at SNY will pick up on that.

Posted by: Gary at 06:24 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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