Biz of Baseball updates: CitiField and Mark Cuban’s troubles

I ran across a few business-of-baseball related stories that I found interesting. They’re not Yankee-related, but perhaps you’ll like them too…

• While CitiGroup is going to wind up cutting 52,000 jobs over the next few months, the Mets are claiming that the stadium naming deal is safe for now. Citi has contracted with the Mets to pay $20 million annually for the next twenty years for the rights to name the team’s new club. We’ll see how much of the $400 million payout the beleaguered financial institution can make. I wonder if a naming rights deal is the best use of the bank’s government bailout fund.
• The SEC levied some insider trading charges against Mark Cuban today, and that will probably be the final nail in the coffin containing his bid to buy the Cubs. The MLB owners have long resisted allowing Cuban into their exclusive club, and this development gives them the perfect excuse to turn him down. Sam Zell would do well to hold onto the club until the economy improves a bit.
• The AL Champion Rays, despite finishing 26th in attendance in 2008, plan to raise ticket prices for next season. As questions have emerged about the long-term viability of baseball in the Tampa area, it will be interesting to see how potential fans react to the higher ticket prices.