Boston-based Fleet Financial Group is "in talks with"
MLB about becoming the league's "first official banking
sponsor, which would make the sport the first" of the four
major leagues to have a national banking sponsor, according
to Daniel Kaplan of the SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. If Fleet
inks a deal, it would receive the right "to display the MLB
logo in its promotional efforts and, perhaps more
important," it would be able to use the '99 All-Star Game in
Boston -- the site of its corporate headquarters -- as a
"massive marketing platform." MLB and Fleet execs wouldn't
comment, but "experts estimated" the bank would have to pay
"tens of million dollars over several years to procure" the
deal. But a source of Kaplan's said that the deal "could
still fall apart," noting that Fleet's merger with
BankBoston "could hypothetically cause Fleet to rethink its
marketing strategy." A Fleet spokesperson: "We are in
negotiations, but no deal has been signed" (SBJ, 3/22).
MCI HANGING UP? BRANDWEEK's Terry Lefton reports that
MCI "is out after seven years" as an MLB sponsor, as the
company "passed" on what a league exec called a "very
reasonable" offer. MCI cited "budgetary constraints and
MLB's inability to deliver meaningful local programs" as the
reasons for turning down the deal. Lefton adds that
MasterCard signed a new three-year deal which extends its
int'l MLB rights. The deal includes MLB media and "extends"
the brand's "reach" through MLB into Asia (BRANDWEEK, 3/22).
