BOA bails on the Yankees

Pete has been agitating about this for a while, but now it’s official:

The New York Yankees and Bank of America ended months of negotiations on a long-term, high-profile sponsorship agreement, fallout from the financial industry’s decision to accept aid from the federal government.

While the sides never discussed naming rights to the team’s new $1.5 billion stadium, they had talked about the possibility of a 20-year deal that would have included signage, special events and tickets.

“With the downturn in the economy and the effect on financial institutions including government support of those institutions, we have determined that it is better to enter into a traditional business arrangement with a financial institution,” Yankees spokeswoman Alice McGillion said.

It’s tough out there.

Here’s a partial answer to a question raised by commenters in the Barney Frank thread yesterday:

“We recognize that our decision not to pursue a long-term partnership with the Yankees reflects a lost revenue opportunity for our company, however these are unprecedented times that perhaps call for some very difficult decisions,” Goode said.

He estimated that each dollar spent by BOA with the Yankees and similar sponsorships generates a return of 10 times in revenue and threefold in income. Goode said spending sponsorship money with the Yankees had boosted BOA’s consumer banking, commercial lending and wealth management businesses.

I won’t hold my breath for the worksheet Goode used to come up with those figures, such as they are, but in the meantime I’m not buying it.