Citigroup Can’t Afford Employees but Mets Stadium Sponsorship is Good Investment
July 21, 2008 by Susan Gunelius
Filed under Marketing
Citigroup (NYSE: C) is busy mounting branded signage on the new Mets ballpark, Citi Field, as part of its 20-year $400 million agreement to brand the new stadium with the Citigroup name. At the same time, Citigroup is struggling like most U.S. financial companies having lost $17 billion in the last three quarters and cutting 28,000 jobs according to the New York Times.
Despite Citigroup’s struggles, the Mets stadium sponsorship moves forward without a glitch with Citigroup representatives claiming the sponsorship is simply a reallocation of existing marketing budget funds. I’m not buying it. I’m all for ensuring your advertising and marketing efforts continue during difficult financial times, but a $400 million stadium sponsorship investment seems a bit too much to swallow.
Of course, branding the new Mets ballpark with the Citigroup logo and the various tie-in marketing initiatives that probably come with it are great investments, but couldn’t that money be invested in a better way given the company’s current position? No one knows if there is a way for Citigroup to get out of the sponsorship agreement without serious repercussions except the people at Citigroup, and since they’re still claiming the stadium sponsorship deal (signed before the company began facing financial troubles) is a wonderful investment, I’m guessing this one isn’t going away anytime soon.
What do you think about this as a marketer? As a consumer? As a Citigroup shareholder?
Image: Flickr
I can’t speak on the relative merits of marketing strategies, but
I’m a mets fan, even before the current economic difficulties, the team, the city and Citigroup should not have built a new lavish stadium – classic case of counting their eggs before they hatch. Sadly, Citigroup employees are the first to feel the pain, (and more since your post) but so will the others. The only upside to all this is that someday sports salaries will come down to earth and we’d all be able to afford to go to the ballpark.
The executives who made these decisions should be sued. The Mets and the Yankees raped both New York City (to the tune of BILLIONS of tax free financing) and Citigroup and others with these handshake deals. It’s time for the citizens and shareholders to tear down these ballparks, the sign that the rich monopolies have humiliated the rest of the country.