And just think, YOU PAID FOR IT, American TAXPAYER!!!!
"Stadium naming rights aren't just about money" by Associated Press | February 5, 2009
NEW YORK - When the economy was healthy, no one batted an eye at Citigroup Inc.'s agreement to spend millions of dollars to put its name on the New York Mets' new stadium.
But in a recession that has seen the bank accept $45 billion in government bailout money, the move is viewed by some lawmakers as an example of lavish spending - akin to millions of dollars spent on corporate jets.
I'm so sick of sports!!!
Business experts say advertising and other marketing efforts are not luxuries at all. To the contrary, they say, strong marketing strategies are even more important in tough economic times.
Anything to waste money.
According to Mark Peroff, an intellectual-property attorney at Hiscock & Barclay in New York, a stadium deal is "probably the most economical way to advertise because of the number of people that you capture."
The question, though, is how appropriate the deal is now that the landscape has drastically changed.
"You have to have the right tone. People in these times have very sensitive ears," said Don Sexton, a professor of marketing at Columbia Business School and a principal at Arrow Group Ltd., a marketing consulting firm. "Perceptions rule."
Citigroup's deal with the Mets is the biggest stadium naming rights deal ever. The bank is paying $400 million over 20 years to call the ballpark Citi Field. Citigroup is not alone - Bank of America, also operating with the help of government capital - is reportedly paying $7 million a year for naming rights to the Carolina Panthers stadium.
Oh, BofA is also tossing TAXPAYER MONEY at a NAME, huh?
Bank of America spokesman Joe Goode said team sponsorships aren't just marketing tools, but also business relationships. Bank of America issues sports-themed cards for consumer accounts, as well as offering financial services to teams, he said. He estimated that every dollar spent on sports-related deals generates $10 of revenue and $3 of income.
Which will go back to the taxpayer, right?
Sexton said, however, that from a branding perspective, there's no hard data to prove how effective stadium naming rights are for financial services firms. "I have not seen that putting a name on a field elevates your brand," Sexton said. "The basic idea of a brand is not that they know your name, but what your name stands for."
Yeah, it is just the richers way of hiding loot!!!! They got so much coming out their asses they don't know where to put it all!!!
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And guess what? All that TAXPAYER MONEY they got?
They are going to LOAN IT BACK TO YOU -- with INTEREST due!!!!
Wouldn't you have been better off KEEPING YOUR MONEY, taxpayers?
NEW YORK - Citigroup, under pressure to increase its lending, says it will spend $36.5 billion to issue mortgages, make credit card loans, and buy mortgage-backed securities in the tight credit markets in the coming months.
The decision arrives after the bank received $45 billion in capital from the federal government late last year, and taxpayers' questions mounted about the use of that money. In a report reviewed by the Associated Press that Citigroup Inc. plans to release this morning, the bank detailed how it is boosting lending efforts by using funds from the Troubled Assets Relief Program.
It's not that the $45 billion in TARP is being doled out by Citigroup directly to borrowers. Rather, having the extra capital allows the bank to borrow more money from various funding sources, and then lend that money out to others.
In other word, it's all a SHELL GAME!
Why is the MSM working so hard to say it's not taxpayer money being loaned out to.... taxpayers?
Meanwhile yesterday, the Federal Reserve said many banks have made it harder for borrowers to obtain all kinds of loans over the last three months.
Yeah, WE KNOW ALL ABOUT IT!!!!
See: U.S. Banks Driving Credit Crunch ON PURPOSE!!
Bush Administration Created Credit Crunch Crisis
Banks Cut Off CreditThe Fed in its quarterly survey of bank lending practices found large numbers of banks reporting tighter credit standards across a broad range of loan products - from credit cards and home mortgages to business loans.
Nearly 60 percent of banks responding to the survey said they had tightened lending standards on credit card and other consumer loans, about the same share as in the previous survey released in early November. And about 80 percent of domestic banks said they tightened lending standards on commercial real estate loans, slightly less than the roughly 85 percent that reported doing so in the previous survey.Translation: the banks took taxpayer money and put it right in their pockets!
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