Bloomberg: 8 TARP recipients blow $845 million on stadium deals

Citigroup, Inc., targeted by lawmakers for paying $400 million to put its name on the New York Mets’ new ballpark, and seven other banks that received government funds may face questioning by Congress for spending $845 million on stadium sponsorships.

Bank of America Corp., which like Citigroup received $45 billion in government funds, is paying $140 million to have its name on football’s Carolina Panthers stadium. JPMorgan Chase & Co., which received $25 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, is spending $66 million for branding Chase Field in Phoenix, home to baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks.

The eight banks received a total of $153.4 billion from the $700 billion U.S. bailout and are spending a combined $845 million for naming rights. U.S. banks have had $745 billion in losses and writedowns since the subprime mortgage crisis began in 2007.

~ Bloomberg, "Citigroup, Seven U.S. Banks Spend on Stadium Deals ," February 5, 2009

Kevin Duffy on banks putting their names on major sports stadiums

Today 24 of 72 major sports stadiums have granted naming rights to financial firms, 14 of them banks. (Recall that 19% of the Stadium Class of 2000 -- including PSINet Stadium and Enron Field -- went bankrupt within five years.)

~ Kevin Duffy, Bearing Asset Management, "For Whom Do the Bells Toll", Barron’s, June 18, 2007