# Should the Mets' stadium be renamed Taxpayer's Field? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 2, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-mets-stadium-be-renamed-taxpayers-field/475338 "2008-12-02T15:07:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-mets-stadium-be-renamed-taxpayers-field/475338/41 "2008-12-02T23:20:44Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Well then you and I have different perceptions. Because spending money on executive perks while the company is going down is pretty integral to corporate mismanagement IMV. You know- you’re right. There’s zero reason they can’t fly commercial, it’s just a case of guys making big money refusing to give anything up. While it’s annoying at times to watch Congress make a show of things, private jets are not the birthright of a CEO, and particularly one who is doing such a terrible job his company will go broke is the government doesn’t give it several billion dollars in the next few week. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-mets-stadium-be-renamed-taxpayers-field/475338/42 "2008-12-02T23:31:02Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You know- you’re right. There’s zero reason they can’t fly commercial, it’s just a case of guys making big money refusing to give anything up. While it’s annoying at times to watch Congress make a show of things, private jets are not the birthright of a CEO, and particularly one who is doing such a terrible job his company will go broke is the government doesn’t give it several billion dollars in the next few week. Well I can see rational reasons to have a private jet. So one can conduct business while in the air for one, have a meeting in the plane on the way to a conference. To bypass the extra hassle of being taken out of play for an entire day for a flight when one needs to be in communication. However, when it’s a matter of laying off your production line vs these needs, I’d say strip things to brass tacks. If the company is being run well, then yes, they deserve a Jet, if it’s not being run well, then they don’t. Does anyone know what kind of Jets these were? These guys usually think they need the fanciest Gulf Stream or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-mets-stadium-be-renamed-taxpayers-field/475338/43 "2008-12-02T23:54:35Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Well I can see rational reasons to have a private jet. So one can conduct business while in the air for one, have a meeting in the plane on the way to a conference. To bypass the extra hassle of being taken out of play for an entire day for a flight when one needs to be in communication. > > However, when it’s a matter of laying off your production line vs these needs, I’d say strip things to brass tacks. > > If the company is being run well, then yes, they deserve a Jet, if it’s not being run well, then they don’t. > > Does anyone know what kind of Jets these were? These guys usually think they need the fanciest Gulf Stream or whatever. I’m not an airplane enthusiast, but there are pictures and video on the link I provided in post #26. We do know that GM CEO Rick Wagoner’s jet cost $36 million. [quote] [cite](http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=6293634&page=1). Perhaps a knowledgeable person can tell us what type of aircraft that might be. It’s also worth noting that GM said > [@](#): > > it would shutter its large General Motors Air Transportation Services hangar at Detroit Metro Airport as of January 1, 2009. So that’s more money saved. Prolly a helluva lotta money, too. ---
**Author:** ![mske](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mske](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mske)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-mets-stadium-be-renamed-taxpayers-field/475338/44 "2008-12-02T23:57:47Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Well I can see rational reasons to have a private jet. So one can conduct business while in the air for one, have a meeting in the plane on the way to a conference. To bypass the extra hassle of being taken out of play for an entire day for a flight when one needs to be in communication. > > However, when it’s a matter of laying off your production line vs these needs, I’d say strip things to brass tacks. > > If the company is being run well, then yes, they deserve a Jet, if it’s not being run well, then they don’t. > > Does anyone know what kind of Jets these were? These guys usually think they need the fanciest Gulf Stream or whatever. You don’t think now that they are getting rid of the jets that they are going to hire back a bunch of production workers, do you? The reason they are laying off production workers is because no one is buying their product. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-mets-stadium-be-renamed-taxpayers-field/475338/45 "2008-12-03T00:05:41Z")
> [@mske](#): > > You don’t think now that they are getting rid of the jets that they are going to hire back a bunch of production workers, do you? The reason they are laying off production workers is because no one is buying their product. I doubt that anyone thinks that this will mean umpty-ump re-hires, dude. But it is a tacit admission of errors in judgement re: priorities and appropriate fiduciary conduct, and that is, IMO, a good thing to see. Baby steps before we run, and all that. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-mets-stadium-be-renamed-taxpayers-field/475338/46 "2008-12-03T00:43:40Z")
> [@mske](#): > > You don’t think now that they are getting rid of the jets that they are going to hire back a bunch of production workers, do you? The reason they are laying off production workers is because no one is buying their product. Well, that is real money that can be put to real expenses. I hope they are spending it more efficiently, but the argument, “Well they aren’t going to spend it efficiently anyway.”, fails to compel me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-mets-stadium-be-renamed-taxpayers-field/475338/47 "2008-12-03T00:54:25Z")
Quoth **mswas** : > [@](#): > > It’s not ‘Just about appearances’. Those Jets are worth the yearly salary of line workers many times over. This whole idea of looking at money proportionally is the height of lunacy. 3 will still get you a Big Mac. So just because 27b is more doesn’t mean $ 500m is insignificant. Looking at money proportionately is the only sane way to look at it, because you can always change the scope you’re considering. Think of something you could do that would save you a penny a day. Is that very significant? I imagine you’d say no. But now suppose that every person in the country did that: Now we’re looking at three million dollars saved per day-- That’s a lot of money. If everyone did it for a whole year, then we’re looking at over a billion dollars. Yes, a billion! That’s huge! How can anyone not justify making that change? And yet, it’s still a penny a day per person. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-mets-stadium-be-renamed-taxpayers-field/475338/48 "2008-12-03T02:35:36Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Quoth **mswas** :Looking at money proportionately is the only sane way to look at it, because you can always change the scope you’re considering. Think of something you could do that would save you a penny a day. Is that very significant? I imagine you’d say no. But now suppose that every person in the country did that: Now we’re looking at three million dollars saved per day-- That’s a lot of money. If everyone did it for a whole year, then we’re looking at over a billion dollars. Yes, a billion! That’s huge! How can anyone not justify making that change? And yet, it’s still a penny a day per person. Except it doesn’t always scale the same way. A billion distributed over 300m people doesn’t equal very much in terms of buying power. Half a billion in the hands of one entity equals a lot of buying power. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-mets-stadium-be-renamed-taxpayers-field/475338/49 "2008-12-03T04:41:56Z")
[quote=“Snowboarder\_Bo, post:43, topic:475338”] I’m not an airplane enthusiast, but there are pictures and video on the link I provided in post #26. We do know that GM CEO Rick Wagoner’s jet cost $36 million. > [@](#): > > [cite](http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=6293634&page=1). Perhaps a knowledgeable person can tell us what type of aircraft that might be. > > It’s also worth noting that GM said > > it would shutter its large General Motors Air Transportation Services hangar at Detroit Metro Airport as of January 1, 2009. > So that’s more money saved. Prolly a helluva lotta money, too. heres the catch, this should have been out the door years ago, thats the problem with American corporations in general, the guys at the top expect to live like kings while the company goes down the shitter. how much money would they have saved if they had dumped the jets and related costs 10 years ago? how much better off would the companies be if the Ceos couldnt get rich while driving them into the ground? if performance was tied to pay? I posted in another thread about this stadium, basically I have to ask how effective is your advertising money being spent when every time they say the name of that damn park people are just being reminded that WE paid for that, me some guy living in Seattle paid for a friggin ball parks name in New York of all places…without being asked. they should really bail out of this contract if at all possible and if its not possible then they should make that public knowledge and go with another name like America Field or some trite crap that at least acknowledges the Fubar’d situation ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-mets-stadium-be-renamed-taxpayers-field/475338/50 "2008-12-03T05:16:39Z")
Naming rights for sports stadiums are a joke. If you want to find out what company might be filing for bankruptcy, look and see if they have a naming rights deal. Enron Field Delta Center United Center National Car Rental Center Pro Player Stadium [Here is an older article on the subject](http://money.cnn.com/2003/01/03/commentary/column_sportsbiz/sponsor_stock_index/) Of course, both Ford and GM have bought naming rights… ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-mets-stadium-be-renamed-taxpayers-field/475338/51 "2008-12-03T05:29:24Z")
> [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](#): > > What is it with NYC and re-using stadium names, anyway? Yankee Stadium, and weren’t there like nine Madison Square Gardens? Presumably the Yankees will play at Yankee Stadium, and it will be a stadium. The current Madison Square Gardens isn’t at Madison Square or Garden-like. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-mets-stadium-be-renamed-taxpayers-field/475338.md?page=2)