Citi Field No More?

The joke surrounding the new ballpark in Queens is that Citi-Field should be renamed City Field. With all of the taxpayer money going to Citigroup, there has been plenty of criticism surrounding their $400 million dollar deal with the Mets to name the new stadium for the next twenty years. Now it appears that Citigroup is finally getting the joke, and changing their tune.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Citigroup Inc., eager to quell the controversy over how lenders are using government bailout money, is exploring the possibility of backing out of a nearly $400 million marketing deal with the New York Mets, say people familiar with the matter.

Officials at Citigroup have made no final decision about whether to try to void the 20-year agreement, which includes naming the Mets' new baseball stadium after the bank, say these people.

In a statement Monday, Citigroup said that "no TARP capital will be used" for the stadium -- referring to government funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Yes, it isn't a change in company policy but the confusing words have more meaning than what they lend to believe. Pat Kiernan calls them ridiculous for the statement because one dollar is just as good as the next. Of course reading between the lines shows that the beleaguered banking behemoth is ready to cave to popular sentiment on this issue. Now if they can start serving the interests of the shareholders taxpayers in everything that they do, that would be real progress.