General Motors says it won’t renewing its sponsorship with the New York Yankees, the Pittsburgh Pirates and, potentially, the Daytona 500, as it attempts to cut back on advertising and marketing spending. Meanwhile, German automaker Mercedes-Benz says it plans to drop its sponsorship deal with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Toyota and Audi will take over as sponsors of the Yankees, club chief operating officer Lonn Trost said late yesterday. GM had sponsored the team – one of the most valuable in all of professional sports – from 2006-08. The Toyota and Audi deals will ballpark signage, just as the previous GM deal did.
“We understand their financial condition,” Trost told the Associated Press. “I think it was a mutual understanding.”
GM intends to renew its contract with the New York Mets, however.
“We still want a presence in New York and we can’t do both,” GM Northeast region spokeswoman Andrea Canabal told the Detroit News.
The automaker also plans to continue to its sponsorships with the Chicago Cubs and White Sox, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillies. It is negotiating with an unidentified number of other baseball clubs, however.
Last week, GM announced that it wasn’t renewing its contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The automaker hasn’t made a decision on whether it will continue to sponsor the Daytona 500 NASCAR event – or if it will continue to have a strong presence in the racing series altogether. Ford and Chrysler have dramatically dropped their roles in NASCAR.
Mercedes-Benz, on the other hand, isn’t immune to the global sales downturn, either. The automaker announced recently that it has decided to pull out of its Milwaukee Brewers sponsorship.
“We’re sad to see Mercedes go, but it was nothing Brewers-related,” Brewers executive vice president Rick Schlesinger told The Associated Press last week. “We want to get them back when times improve.”
Mercedes-Benz cited the strength of the nearby Chicago market when it first sponsored the Brewers three years ago.
12/17, 10:24 AM
posted by:
Mutant@DCX
Three baseball fans are walking home from a game at Fenway Park.
One is wearing a Red Sox cap, the second one is wearing an Indians cap, and the third one is wearing a Yankees cap.
As they are walking down Commonwealth Avenue, they see a pair of legs sticking out from under a bush. Upon further inspection, they find that it is a totally naked dead woman.
A crowd starts to gather before the police arrive, so they decide to give the woman some vestige of dignity. The first one places his Red Sox cap over her left breast. The second one places his Indians cap over her right breast. The third one places his Yankees cap over her crotch.
The police arrive to investigate. The detective picks up the Red Sox cap for a moment, takes a quick look, writes a few things in his notepad, then puts the cap back on her breast. He picks up the Indians cap, takes a quick look, writes a few things in his notepad, then puts the cap back on her other breast. He picks up the Yankees cap, takes a quick look, starts to write in his notepad, but stops and scratches his head for a moment, with a puzzled look on his face. Then he kneels down real close, sticks his fingers in the womans crotch, spreading it open and staring.
Now one of the baseball fans yells at him: “Hey, what are you some kind of pervert?â€
To this the officer replies: “Oh, no, of course not. I just need to double check because every other Yankees cap I’ve ever seen had an @SSHOLE under it!â€
12/17, 12:21 PM
posted by:
RaineMan
Chevy definately needs to get out of NASCAR… they are throwing hundreds of millions away with that waste of a sport.
12/17, 12:31 PM
posted by:
howsmydriving
Maybe GM could start sponsoring Bulgarian baseball teams, or the Somali Pirates.
12/18, 7:21 AM
posted by:
DeansterTJ
I love that pathetic plea for public support – “If you love apple pie, hot dogs, and baseball, stand up for GM.”
I would love to buy some airtime and show a poster saying “If you love” and then a picture of a d.ick f.uckin.g an an.us, a fist punching a lady’s face, and a pickpocketer cleaning out a maid’s wallet, “then stand up for GM – F.uck.ing you since the 1905 with shi.tty products.”