MTA the First to Officially *Not* Recognize the Name Citi Field

Naming sports venues and train stations after corporations is a different form of outdoor advertising that can't really be deemed illegal the same way I would like to see other forms of outdoor advertising made obsolete. It is nonetheless a fabulous intrusion on the part of any corporation using this tactic and should be paid for aggressively by those wishing to use such devious means of public communication. Citi pays 20 million a year for the right to call the Mets stadium Citi Field, and the MTA is doing the right thing by standing up to pressures to rename the station closest to the field for no compensation whatsoever. They will pay the Mets, a private for profit institution, but not the MTA, a bankrupt city agency and vital part of a healthy metropolis. I get it.

from Gothamist by Billy Parker

After initially thinking that they would rename the 7 Train subway stop in tandem with the new ballpark, the MTA announced that the train stop closest to the Mets' new digs will not carry the name "Citi Field" after the team refused to cough up any money for the station's name change. The station is nearly halfway through a planned $40 million in renovations to go along with the opening of the new stadium and the MTA had hoped to help pay for the work with a portion of the $20 million a year the Mets are receiving in naming rights from Citigroup. The team apparently wasn't eager to spread the wealth however and now the station will simply be renamed "Mets/Willets Point," the nearby LIRR station carrying the same name. On the upside, at least the MTA avoids the possibility of being forced into renaming the station again with no one exactly holding their breath that Citi Field (or as some are calling it, Debits Field) is a moniker that will last through the economic winter.