More bailed out banks buying naming rights for stadiums

The bailout madness continues. It seems Citigroup isn't the only bank spending hundreds of millions of dollars on stadium naming rights while accepting billions of dollars of taxpayer-funded welfare. Today a list of other banks doing the same thing was released.

Who's on the list? Bank of America is paying $140 million to name the Carolina Panthers stadium. JPMorgan Chase is spending $66 million to name the Arizona Diamondbacks ballpark. Wells Fargo is spending $40 million to name the Philadelphia 76ers arena with its new Wachovia brand. PNC Bank is spending $40 million for the naming rights on the Pittsburgh Pirates ballpark. Bank of New York Mellon recently finished paying on an $18 million deal to have its name on the Pittsburgh Penguins arena. Comerica is forking out $66 million to name the Detroit Tigers ballpark. M&T Bank is paying $75 million to name the Baltimore Ravens stadium.

I was against all this bailout nonsense from the start. But if we're going to do it, we should at least have some standards in place. I know the song and dance we'll hear in the media... We're going to make taxpayers whole. We're being responsible. We need to market. We have contracts in place that we can't break. There are a million and one ways that the banks are getting a free lunch and giving taxpayers the finger while they eat.

The excuses don't phase me. Especially when they say "no taxpayer funds were used for the naming rights." Oh that's right... it was that "other" money you had that paid for the naming rights. Well gee... if you had "other" money just sitting around, then how about we reduce your bailout money by an equal amount? Since you obviously don't really need the bailout money and all?