GM Prefers Mets Over Yanks
It’s probably because the Yankees dissed the Kelley Blue Book suggested price on A.J. Burnett.
Via Bloomberg -
General Motors Corp., the automaker that may run out of money without government aid, didn’t renew its sponsorship with the New York Yankees and is negotiating a new contract with the New York Mets.
“We still want a presence in New York and we can’t do both,” GM Northeast region spokeswoman Andrea Canabal said in a telephone interview. “We are looking at what we can do to save some costs.”
Both the Yankees and Mets are moving into new stadiums next season after drawing the most fans in Major League Baseball this year. GM’s contract with the Yankees expired in November, Canabal said. She wouldn’t disclose terms of the agreements.
Lonn Trost, Yankees chief operating officer, and Dave Howard, Mets executive vice president for business, didn’t immediately return messages for comment.
Baseball teams are losing sponsors amid a recession that is causing companies and consumers to curb spending. Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz pulled out of its deal with the Milwaukee Brewers, Deutsche Post AG’s DHL unit is seeking to end its agreement with the Atlanta Braves, and GM chose not to renew with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
More sports teams could have their deals with General Motors lapse as the company continues to cut back.
“Once the contracts end, we will probably stop some sponsorships across the board for some savings,” Canabal said.
General Motors and Chrysler LLC have said they may run out of cash early next year without a $14 billion bailout. The Bush Administration is examining using funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program earmarked for the financial industry to help the automakers after the Senate failed to pass an assistance bill.
maybe instead of spending billions on stupid signs that noone even looks at, they put that money into making decent vehicles.
Mets sponsorships cost less. For a company as ravaged by economic woes as GM is, better to take the cheaper deal.
It is worth noting, however, that if money is really tight, they really should be dumping their sports sponsorship program altogether for the next little while. Their first obligation is to make payroll, not to throwing up signage at the annex to LaGuardia Airport (that’s what I’ve always thought of Shea Stadium as…)
Actually, it was so the Yankees could get sponsorships from actually viable car companies:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3774044
I sold advertising for many years. Price of course comes into play but there are other terms. If you would like to get paid you may have to ask for some or all of the money in advance. Everyone is a credit risk but obviously GM especially so. For instance, all advertising for political candidates was on a cash in advance basis only.