Money & Sports
>> welcome back. the yankees get a new $800 million home and a name for the mets’ stadium may go for a record price. both new york baseball teams are a few steps closer to moving day. joining us for our weekly look at “money & sports” is bloomberg news reporter danielle sessa. get us up to speed on the latest developments with the mets.
>> the mets had a press conference to talk about their new home scheduled to open in 2009, a $550 million ballpark, a lot smaller than shea, only with 45,000 sheets and it will look like ebets field and also it will have illustrations, looking like bridges in new york, a new york-centric theme. and they’re going to have expanded suites and it’s interesting how they’re working the financing of the stadium, just like the new yankees stadium, it will be sold with taxable and tax-free bonds through the new york city economic development agency.
>> what about the yankees? how will that differ from the mets?
>> the yankee stadium is costing a lot more, probably around $800 million. that will be built in the bronx on park line adjacent to yankee stadium. that’s caused controversy. shea stadium is built in the marking lot. yankee stadium, you’ll lose 2200 acres of park land so bronx residents are opposed to this, gating concern―voicing concern so earlier week the city council voted on land change use and approved the use as long as the yankees replace the park land and give money to community groups and give away tickets, as well.
>> are you hearing anything about which stadium will have the better luxury seats?
>> yankee stadium seems to have a leg up on mets stadium but they’re both opening up about the same time and the competition to sell those seats will be interesting.
>> any word on the sponsorship?
>> the yankees said they will not sell the name but the mets said they’re going to sell this. i talked to sports bankers and they say they could get $10 million a year for the mets stadium if they sell the naming rights and you have some of the biggest companies of the world based in new york, citigroup, pfizer and also it could be an opportunity for a company outside of new york to snap up the naming rights.
>> let’s ask you about barry bonds, the all-time home run record holder but allegations of steroid use. is this affect the wider sport and spontsorsship?
>> it’s interesting because normally the all-time home run record is a huge thing that baseball would want to celebrate and bring in corporate sponsors but because there are the allegations against barry bonds that he took steroids, you see sponsors like bank of america and home depot shying away from sponsoring this and lending their names to such an event. especially bank of america, they are saying we stand for integrity and confidence and they don’t want to be associated with something tainted, whether or not barry bonds gets cleared that he’s done nothing wrong, there’s still a stigma attached to them and they would not have that opportunity. home depot said similar things.
>> still, major league baseball wants to acknowledge the fact that babe ruth’s record could be broken here. how will the organization do that?
>> baseball says they’ll go along and still have something, when he passes babe ruth and then the big record is hank aaron’s and they’ll take out ads around the country congratulating him like they do for any other milestone.
>> did i get the wrong record? babe ruth or hank aaron?
>> hank aaron is the right-handed hitter.
>> much more coming up. we will check world and national news and the popular book, “the davinci code,” may be more popular now thanks to a court ruling. we’ll explain next.
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Listen World and national News
>> let’s go ahead and check in with mark crumpton for an update of world and national news.
>> plenty of blame is being spread around by both parties on capitol hill after the senate sidetracked sweeping immigration legislation. the bill got just 38 of the 60 votes it needed to protect it from opponent-sponsored amendments. senate majority leader harry reid said lawmakers let a golden opportunity slip through their fingers.
>> even though we supported two bipartisan bills that were tough on enforcement, contained smart, comprehensive reforms, the bush republicans are unable or unwilling to support the bipartisan compromise that the president and senator frist said they supported yesterday.
