GM ends sponsorships with some MLB teams
Auto makers looking to cut advertising budget 20 percent
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PITTSBURGH - General Motors’ financial problems are spilling over to another entity that is losing a lot, the Pittsburgh Pirates.
General Motors, currently seeking a bailout worth billions of dollars from the federal government, is not renewing a sponsorship arrangement with the Pirates that expired at the end of last season.
Pittsburgh went 67-95 to tie a major league record with its 16th consecutive losing season.
The Pirates would not estimate Wednesday how much the GM sponsorship was worth, but emphasized the carmaker is ending such deals with other major league teams, not only the Pirates.
“Obviously, it’s a category that’s important to baseball,” Pirates president Frank Coonelly said at the winter meetings in Las Vegas. “We’ll look for other potential partners in the auto category to do business with, and also look to other partnerships to replace the dollars.”
GM spokesman Pete Ternes said the company “is looking at” Major League Baseball sponsorship contracts that expire at the end of the year, as part of an effort to cut the company’s promotional and advertising budget 20 percent.
“We’re reviewing all our sponsorship as contracts come up, which include Major League Baseball,” he said. “We have national agreements with Major League Baseball, and most of these (we’re reviewing) are at the team level.”
Chevrolet supplies the car that is given to the World Series Most Valuable Player under a deal that runs through 2010, MLB spokesman Matt Bourne said.
Last month, GM’s Buick brand said it was concluding its marketing contract with Tiger Woods one year early. The contract was valued at $7 million per year.
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