Spiderman 2 & MLB - WTF?!

[Celeval]

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?f0031_BC_WSJ--Baseball-SpiderM&&news&newsflash-financial

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Major League Baseball will be decorating its bases & the pitching mound rubber with advertisements for Spiderman 2 during the weekend of June 11-13.

I'm speechless.

[Franklinnoble]

This doesn't surprise me. MLB lost its soul a long, long time ago, and something like this was bound to happen - it was only a matter of time.

[Honolulu_Blue]

It's no worse than those NBA/Van Helsing commercials...

[vex]

Apocalypse what?

[NoMyths]

That is truly awful. Guess next thing is for teams to start providing advertising space on the jerseys (outside of the standard manufacturer logos).

[rkmsuf]

they should paint a big web between the pitcher and home plate.

[sachmo71]

Well baseball would be more interesting for me if they showed movies while the game was going on. Then maybe I'd watch.

[sterlingice]

Only $50K for most teams?!? Not nearly worth that to create a big stupid media stir.

SI

[Suicane75]

Maybe they can refer to Yankee Stadium as Bruce Wayne Park In Gotham City, when the next Batman comes out.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Speechless?

Awful?

I really am not seeing the problem here. Baseball has been a business for years. Is there some sort of sanctity about pure, unmarked white bases or about the batter's box that I am unaware of?

[Vince]

Well, the field is kind of off-limits...it's the friggin field for crying out loud. I mean, that'd be like letting sponsors purchase plots on a football field, and decorating them with ads. Or buying up yard markers for ads.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Well, the field is kind of off-limits...it's the friggin field for crying out loud. I mean, that'd be like letting sponsors purchase plots on a football field, and decorating them with ads. Or buying up yard markers for ads.

They do it in hockey all the time, both under the ice and along the boards. They've done it for years. For some reason I have recollection of it happening in football too, like around the 35 yard line or such. I could be just making that up though.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Well, the field is kind of off-limits...it's the friggin field for crying out loud. I mean, that'd be like letting sponsors purchase plots on a football field, and decorating them with ads. Or buying up yard markers for ads.

I haven't watched too much football on TV over the last two years (in Europe), but didn't they have ads on the yellow 10 yard line stripe? Not that I like that, but did they?

[Lorena]

Baseball lost lots of fans with the cancellation of the World Series in 1994, and now with all the steriod controversy, I'm sure it's losing even more fans. Loss of fans = loss of money... any questions?

[rexallllsc]

I haven't watched too much football on TV over the last two years (in Europe), but didn't they have ads on the yellow 10 yard line stripe? Not that I like that, but did they?

Yes, but that was projected onto the screen...the players couldnt see it.

[SackAttack]

Baseball lost lots of fans with the cancellation of the World Series in 1994, and now with all the steriod controversy, I'm sure it's losing even more fans. Loss of fans = loss of money... any questions?

No questions, but excellent taste in teams. :D

[WussGawd]

I'm afraid baseball had to have a soul in order to sell it. On the other hand, it wouldn't bother me to see the Yankee pinstripes replaced with a big ol' Budweiser logo. :D

[stkelly52]

That is truly awful. Guess next thing is for teams to start providing advertising space on the jerseys (outside of the standard manufacturer logos).
yes it is the next thing, and a prudent thing at that. Around the world, sports teams wear ads on thier uniforms. Check out Liverpool's jersy. Carlsburg is more promenent than the team name (is the team name even there?). Even here in the U.S., check out the Arena football games on Sunday mornings, you will see adds on players uniforms. This is a large source of potental revenue that can be tapped for the teams, why should the owners give up that money. Get over it. This kind of advertising is going to become the norm, and frankly your grand children will think that it is crazy that anyone would ever be upset by it.

[Alf]

Some Football (soccer) teams do not wear adds on their jerseys => read FC Barcelona, but that's one of the very rare exceptions.

And no one is shocked by that in Europe. You yankees... ;)

[Alf]

dola

and it's only baseball for christ sake !