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February 2, 2007
What's in a name? Money, that's what
The Journal News
Sports columnist Rick Carpiniello resists becoming a mass-marketing device, but is puzzled by Bruce Ratner's Barclays naming-rights deal:
There are words I'd like to say I'll never use. Like Red Bulls - not because I don't like soccer, but because I'm not going to promote somebody's beverage.
Unfortunately, I have to use Barclays when the golf tournament comes to town, but I'm not going to use it when referring to the Brooklyn Nets' arena, and I'd like to try to avoid the word "Citi" when talking about the Mets' new ballpark. It would be great if newspapers everywhere realized that, hey, these sponsors aren't paying us to use their names; that the arenas aren't actually named for the sponsor, but rather that the sponsor is paying somebody else to have its name sprayed everywhere on the building and to get publicity from us without paying us.
That said, I don't understand a lot of things, but one of them is this: How is it that New York City is coming in $100 million or so over budget on the Brooklyn arena, and Bruce Ratner and his Nets get to cash the $200 million worth of Barclays money for the naming rights? How does that money not go to NYC until all the bills are paid?
NoLandGrab: We don't mean to "Norman Oderize" Rick Carpiniello, but that's $105 million over budget for the NYC direct cash subsidy and more than $300 million (published rumors say closer to $400 million) all for Ratner from Barclays for the naming rights to the arena.
Posted by lumi at February 2, 2007 7:32 AM