Citi's Deal With Mets Under Renewed Scrutiny

With President Obama set to announce today execs of companies receiving bailout money will have their pay capped at $500,000, the focus on these companies’ marketing expenditures will only increase. This comes one day after a WALL STREET JOURNAL report that Citi was looking to back out of its 20-year, $400M naming-rights deal with the Mets for Citi Field. As the agreement earns more public and congressional scrutiny, Jeff Wilpon makes one of the Mets’ most vocal responses to the outcry -- and does so by bringing other financial institutions that have received federal bailout funds into the debate. Wilpon: "It's only fair to look at the others that are receiving TARP money that have other naming-rights deals around the country. Citi should not be singled out.”

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