CitiField

[Willets Point]

Companies that may be bidding on naming rights:
Company #1
Company #2
Company #3

[Willets Point]

="Yancy Street Gang"]I just hope that Preparation H or Depends makes them an offer they can't refuse.

Or a feminine hygiene product cuz that's always funny.

[metirish]

From Bloomberg News...

] Citigroup said Thursday it will pay to put its name on Boston's Wang Center for the Performing Arts for 15 years.

]Citigroup's shares rose 26 cents to $50.89 at 12:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

[Benjamin Grimm]

The Black Flag company should sponsor them:

[soupcan]

'The House That Poop Built'

[Guest Edgy DC]

Among my concerns is the length of the deal, reminding me of the long-term cable deal, signed in the late eighties, that Nelson Doubleday jumped into aggressively, that paid the Mets handsomely up front, but was outdated before it was quite half over.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Good point. By 2029, $20 million will probably be just enough to take a family of four to a ballgame. The cost would cover tickets, parking, four hot dogs, four beverages, two caps, and a scorecard.

[metirish]

[Guest Edgy DC]

Re-sign Richie Hebner NOW!!!

[Guest iramets]

Or Danny Graves.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I hope that swinging that shovel doesn't mess up David Wright for another three months.

[metirish]

[Guest Edgy DC]

iramets wrote: Or Danny Graves.

Word!

[HahnSolo]

I think Mayor Mike is breaking some kind of union rule by not wearing a helmet.

[Benjamin Grimm]

He doesn't want to mess up his pretty hair.

Were there any other players wielding shovels other than Reyes and Wright? Or are they the only ones not recuperating from offseason surgery?

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I heard John Maine was there, but he was pushing the wheelbarrow.

[HahnSolo]

Who are the 2 people flanking Fred? And who is the redhead next to Willie?

[metirish]

Lewis Kaden of CitiCorp and Rachel Robinson,Council Speaker Christine Quinn is the red head.I first thought Rachel Robinson was Sandy Alomar.

[Benjamin Grimm]

You flatterer!

[Frayed Knot]

"... any other players wielding shovels other than Reyes and Wright? Or are they the only ones not recuperating from offseason surgery"

No, but they were the only two with 'FACE OF FRANCHISE' stamped on their foreheads during an out-patient process that took place quietly last week. Both were slipped some extra under-the-table money in addition to their recent contracts in exchange for agreeing to the 'F-o-F' tatoo and to represent the players in all photo-ops for the next decade or two.

[metirish]

Wright even spoke today at the event.....

http://www.sny.tv/multimedia/index.jsp

[Guest Edgy DC]

Seems Rachel Robinson should have been at the simultaneous groundbreaking for the MLK Memorial.

[stevejrogers]

="Frayed Knot"]"... any other players wielding shovels other than Reyes and Wright? Or are they the only ones not recuperating from offseason surgery" No, but they were the only two with 'FACE OF FRANCHISE' stamped on their foreheads during an out-patient process that took place quietly last week. Both were slipped some extra under-the-table money in addition to their recent contracts in exchange for agreeing to the 'F-o-F' tatoo and to represent the players in all photo-ops for the next decade or two.

Heh! Like this:



So it looks like they are to be "forever linked" is what you are impling! =

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Anybody else surprised about the Jackie Robinson statue news?

I pondered about it on the blog. I'm all in favor of honoring Jackie -- as long as we properly address Mets history as well.

[metirish]

I suspect that Wilpon has a great relationship with his wife and wanted to do something that he felt would honor her husband,I've no problem with it and I think the Mets will take care of it's history in time.

[MFS62]

I heard that Gov. Pataki actually said something like this:

]"I grew up a Yankee fan and to be honest, it didnt' break my heart when the Giants and Dodgers left in the early 60's"

Please tell me he didn't say that at a Mets- related event.

He couldn't even weave something about the Mets in his comments, but named every other team that played here in his lifetime?
What reaction did he hope to achieve by saying that?
How much of a schmuck is he?

EDIT: plus, he got the freakin' decade wrong.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

Don't listen to the lame duck.

[Guest iramets]

"Mets Fans Against Pataki in 2008!" form a double-line here, please.

[metirish]

Wally on the new place....

] Cash makes universal engine go November 13, 2006, 10:29 PM EST For the first time in anyone's memory, there were garbage trucks working the pockmarked stretch of 126th Street in Queens that separates the "Iron Triangle" from what will soon be the site of the most exclusive ballpark ever built. There were street sweepers, too, to clear the road of the debris that normally rots there 365 days a year, and a police detail to ensure the limousines a clear path to where the charade would take place -- a dozen ceremonial silver shovels plunged into already broken ground -- signifying the "start" of a project already well under way. "I've been here 56 years and this is the first time they ever cleaned the street," said Daniel Sambucci Sr., owner of an auto salvage company on the wedge of industrial land in Willets Point that sits in the crosshairs of the Mets' new playground. "They finally swept away all the garbage because they're here today," Sambucci said. "They" were Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the lame-duck governor, George Pataki, and deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff, a failure on two fronts -- the West Side Stadium and the 2012 Olympic bid -- assorted lower-level politicians, jock-sniffing bankers and other foofs of all types. None of them could find the No. 7 train without John Rocker as a guide, and since this was a part of New York they would normally never see, Sambucci had hoped to greet their arrival with a flock of area workers bearing homemade placards reading "No Eminent Domain." Instead, he settled for two signs posted on the chain-link fence that faced the ballpark. But the big shots had more important things to do than pay attention to the problems of some auto mechanics. They had come to give thanks, praise and money -- mostly money, fistfuls of it -- to Fred and Jeff Wilpon, architects of the $110-million team that couldn't quite get past the St. Louis Cardinals and into the World Series. All agreed that the Wilpons were great people. Their main virtue, it seemed, was simple: They were slightly less shameless than George Steinbrenner or Woody Johnson, owners of the Yankees and Jets. As Mayor Bloomberg pointed out, "Not once did they threaten to leave New York City." Such loyalty could not go unrewarded. Consequently, according to an April 21 memo by the city's independent budget office, the Wilpons were given $150 million in city subsidies, another $89 million in state subsidies, including exemptions from paying rent and property taxes, a sweetheart deal on the parking revenues, and an end run around a 1986 law prohibiting the use of tax-exempt bonds for the construction of sports facilities that will save them $105 million. Then there's the $20-million annual naming rights fee from Citigroup, which is enough to pay for Carlos Beltran, although perhaps not quite enough to make him swing at a two-strike curveball. There will be a mere 42,500 seats in CitiField, some 12,000 fewer than at rotten old Shea, but who needed $20 seats, anyway? The increased ticket prices and 54 luxury boxes will more than make up the difference. Best of all, every dollar spent at CitiField will go to the Mets and their owners. They will enjoy all the benefits of owning a state-of-the-art stadium while bearing none of the responsibilities of ownership except for maintenance costs. No wonder they love New York so much. Try getting that deal in say, Seattle. And the city expects not a thing in return. According to the IBO, "There is little reason to expect a large gain in local economic activity [from the new ballpark] ... since most of the spending will replace spending that would have occurred at the existing stadium." Or, as IBO chief of staff Douglas Turetsky translated: "People drive to the game, park their cars, and go home. It's not like a ballpark in the middle of the city. Nobody's going to go to dinner in the area or check into a hotel." Still, the land behind the ballpark soon will likely be seized under the state's right of eminent domain, the business owners paid off and evicted, and developers will swoop in to grab 50 suddenly much more valuable acres at the geographical center of the city. "I don't want to leave. I got 60,000 square feet, and anywhere else in the city will cost me $300 a foot," said Sambucci, who unlike the Mets, pays the city $54,000 a year in taxes. "Who can I complain to about that?" Unfortunately for him, the people to see were all across the newly swept street with Fred and Jeff Wilpon, helping them work their master plan: Stick a shovel in the ground today, stick a hand in your pocket tomorrow.

[HahnSolo]

]None of them could find the No. 7 train without John Rocker as a guide,

Bloomberg has long taken the subway to City Hall, rather famously. Come on, Wally.

On another note, I thought there were going to be more luxury boxes. I like that there are 54...doesn't feel like the stadium will be overwhelmed by them.