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March 18, 2009
Naming deal for arena criticized because of bailout money
NorthJersey.com [Bergen Record]
by John Brennan
DDDB got a fair amount of traction with its press release yesterday connecting the dots between US taxpayers and Bruce Ratner's planned Barclays Center arena.
AIG’s distribution of $8.5 billion in federal bailout money to Barclays Bank means Barclays should call off its $400-million naming-rights deal for a proposed Brooklyn arena, project critics charged Tuesday.
A spokesman for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn — a group which for several years has protested the Atlantic Yards arena and housing project — questioned the propriety of Barclays’ continued financial interest in the plan.
The New Jersey Nets are slated to be the marquee tenant at the proposed arena.
“Why are federal taxpayers being forced to pay for Barclays’ marketing scheme?” Daniel Goldstein, the spokesman, asked in a statement. “The federal bailout of AIG was not intended to assist Barclays in hyping its brand in Brooklyn, or to help them slap their logo for 20 years on a basketball arena already heavily dependent on city, state and federal subsidies.”
...Spokesmen for the Nets and Barclays each declined to comment Tuesday.
More coverage...
NY Daily News, Looting goes far beyond bonuses: AIG doled out payments to a small group of banks, including UBS
For those who have forgotten, Barclays is the bank that agreed back in 2007 to pay $400 million in a 20-year naming rights deal for Forest City Ratner's proposed new basketball arena in Brooklyn.
Last November, in the midst of a world financial meltdown, and with prospects for Ratner's Atlantic Yards project looking bleaker than ever, Barclays reaffirmed its intention to spend that $400 million for what is essentially vanity advertising.
So just around the time Barclays receives $8.5 billion from AIG's bailout package, the British firm decides to go forward with its naming rights deal in Brooklyn.
If it ever gets built, we should call it the American Bailout Arena, for the old ABA, where the Nets got their start.
Even as millions of Americans lose their jobs, homes and retirement savings, these jackals are paying themselves off with our money.
Urbanite [amNY blog] Critics slam Nets arena deal with bank that got AIG funds
Add one more voice to the anti-AIG outrage.
Atlantic Yards Report, The AIG to Barclays story has legs
Posted by eric at March 18, 2009 10:03 AM