But At What Cost?

This morning, the Yankees bitch slapped the Mets by throwing out an insane figure to reel in the whale. CC Sabathia, perhaps last years most dominant pitcher, has agreed to a 7 year, $161 million dollar contract with New York (A), one day after New York (B) signed K-Rod, the most dominant closer last year in baseball, to a 3 year, $37 million dollar deal to help out the hapless bullpen in new Citi Field. Both pitchers will be walking into new teams, new locker rooms, and of course, two brand-new stadiums.

Citi Field, the home of the Mets, has cost $850 million, of which $450 million is being subsidized publicly. New Yankee Stadium has a reported cost of $1.3 billion, with $220 million coming from the public tax payers.


New York Yankee free agent signing CC Sabathia. The contract would have been signed sooner, but he ate the pen.

Oh and lets not forget about that recession that's currently plaguing the nation and world, as well as the fact that the holder of the Mets' new stadium naming rights kinda hasn't had a good year. Citigroup will be paying $20 million a year for the naming rights to the park over the next 20 years. And that $45 billion of taxpayer funds will be allocated to Citigroup as a part of the U.S. Government's economic bailout packages.

So let's again get this straight. The nation is in a recession, Citigroup needed at least $45 billion to stay afloat, yet they can afford to keep the naming rights to the park of a team that got over $450 million from the public, playing in a borough adjacent to a team that received $220 million from the public. Oh yeah, and that team is valued over $1 billion by Forbes. Oh, and they just shelled out a combined $198 million for two guys that play maybe 4 times combined every week.



This is what I propose.

Citi Field should be called Citi-Taxpayer Field. Yankee Stadium should be called Ramirez Field (to satisfy as many New York City residents as possible). And out of the revenue that the Yankees and Mets teams make, they better be paying those "loans" back as quick as possible. And any time that an owner makes an arguement that a new stadium will bring in revenue for the surrounding area gets to get hit in the balls with a wooden bat enveloped in barbed wire. I know that when I go to Yankee Stadium, I'm getting the hell out as quick as I can after. Sorry, I'm really not trying to find a nice place to grab a few after-dinner drinks on 161st. I digress.


Not only do these giant corporations have to be more responsible with their decisions about money, but so do our elected officials. It's not just Citi Group either. AIG which recieved about 100x's the GDP of a mid-sized African nation, still continues to sponsor Manchester United. How is this possible? The same way the star athlete got preferential treatment in the class room. Sports will always be king.

And we like it that way.