Amidst Near Collapse, Cititgroup Confirms Retaining Naming Rights Deal with Mets

As The Biz of Baseball first reported on Monday, a spokesman for the New York Mets said that the record 20-year, $400 million naming rights deal for the new Mets stadium -- christened Citi Field (see images and details on Citi Field) -- is not in peril even as 53,000 Citigroup workers, or 20 percent of their workforce, would be laid-off. The layoffs came after Citigroup had already cut their assets by 20 percent since the first quarter of 2008. Now, word comes from Citigroup that the naming deal is, indeed, going to continue. "We remain committed to our relationship to the Mets; it is important to us," Steve Silverman, a spokesman for Citgroupi, said in a telphone interview Friday with the New York Times.