4
2012
Mets and Digital Domain Cancel Naming Rights Deal
An article by 
Digital Domain is canceling it’s $100,000 per year agreement for naming rights on the Mets’ stadium in Port St. Lucie as part of it’s corporate restructuring in bankruptcy court, according to Ballpark Digest.
As you’ll read below, I originally sourced the problems at Digital Domain almost a month ago and even speculated that the naming rights deal was in serious danger of being defaulted on. Nobody picked up my piece save for a link to it on MetsBlog at the time. (Thanks!)
Anyway…
New naming rights have not been announced for the ballpark.
Original Post September 8
Digital Domain is closing operations in Port St. Lucie, the company announced Friday morning.
According to a company press release, Digital Domain Media Group will be “reducing virtually its entire Port St. Lucie workforce, retaining approximately 20 employees who will remain as part of the wind-down.”
About 280 workers are losing their jobs. Employees are packing boxes at the company offices this morning.
According to Port St. Lucie Police, a Digital Domain executive flew in from California to inform employees their doors were closing.
Port St. Lucie police were called in as a precaution.
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of DDMG, John C. Textor has resigned, effective immediately, from his positions.
The company said Digital Domain executive Ed Ulbrich has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Digital Domain Productions.
Earlier this week Digital Domain Media Group defaulted on a $35 million dollar loan, according to a public filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
This can’t be good for the Mets who have already reported they never received their July $95,000 payment for their Digital Domain Park naming rights deal. After pursuing legal action, the Mets and Digital Domain settled for $50,000. It now appears the naming rights deal is in real jeopardy.
Tradition Field became Digital Domain Park in 2010 after Digital Domain Holdings, the New York Mets and St. Lucie County finalized an agreement to grant the animation and visual effects company naming rights to the Mets’ 7,000-seat spring training home.
Digital Domain Group stock has fallen from a high of $14.65 per share to a close of .60 cents on Friday.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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SMH………..When does it get better for Mets fans….
WTF….everything connected to this team turns to Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhitee
I guess John C.Textor didnt have a friend like Fred Wilpon has in Bud Selig…lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXARdPb4YBs
AS SOON AS THE SERENITY OF GRANT’S TOMB RETURNS TO FLUSHING ON GAME DAYS/NIGHTS IT BROUGHT CARPRTBAGGER LORINDA TO HER BONY KNEES. THE TRUE CHERRY ATIOP THE WILPON’S RELATIONSHIP OR LACK THEREOF WITH THE FANS WAS THE “HIDDEN” HONORING OF CHIPPER aka LARRY JONES SEQUESTERING THE PRESENTATION OF GIFTS TO THE “CLOAKROOM” RECESSED IN THE CITIFIELD BASEMENT. DUE TO WILPON FEARS FANS WOULD EMBARASS THEM TOO BAD THEY’RE NEVER TOO EMBARASSED T TAKE FANS’ MONEY UNDER FALSE PRETENCES OF “MEANINGFUL” COMPETITION. IT’S TIME TO RID OURSELVES OF THESE PRENDERS, NON-CONTENDERS!
I guess The Mets can forget getting paid any of the money owed them over the naming rights. Back to Tradition Field I guess. I always liked that name better to begin with.
This is definitely going to hit the Wilpons in the pocket. Dont see this anywhere else so nice job on the scoop.
Does this surprise anyone!!!! SELL THE TEAM!!!!!!
More scandal and shady details. The police were called in? They should head on over to Citi Field and grab Fred and Jeff too while their at it. They had millions to give to them to name the park but 280 employees lost their job and the defaulted on their loans?
We have crooks for owners. It’s not a coincidence that these things always happen to the Wilpons and dont forget that last Ponzi scheme was their second one they got burned on not their first.
This is disgusting!
I’d love new ownership as much as the next Met fan but don’t know how this works out to the Wilpons being crocks. They didn’t get their July payment for naming rights so don’t know what that has to do with 280 employees losing their jobs. That’s on the company for closing down that FL office and defaulting on some 35 MIL in loans. Over extended, is what it sounds like to me.
Gotta love this economy. Over extend yourself, declare bankruptcy – absolve yourself pretty much of any liability and screw whoever you leave for dead in the wake.
Probably has nothing to do with the Wilpons but what’s that old saying? Birds of a feather?
Makes me wonder sometimes how the Wilpons can be worth millions when they seem to make some pretty poor business decisions – at least the ones associated with the Mets.
DD was apparently perfectly healthy when the deal was signed. Whatever crap they got into after that (or had well hidden at the time) certainly has nothing to do with the Wilpons.
actually, maybe Jessep knows, but the Mets down own the park. DO they even have anything to do with naming rights or those payments? Or is that PSL or the county (whoever owns the place?)
and anyway, still better than the Astros who got stuck with Enron park!
Shocker
Here are 2 links one a news video of the story.
http://www.wpbf.com/marketplace/jobs/Digital-Domain-lays-off-almost-all-of-Port-St-Lucie-staff-closes-facility/-/8790728/16519248/-/lbkilu/-/index.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/07/us-digitaldomainmedia-stratergicreview-idUSBRE88615K20120907
If you watch the video news footage they talk about the July payment for the naming rights on the stadium have yet to be paid and that it apparently is a count issue. You have to feel for all those people some that even bought homes invested in the company to then find out today just like that that they were fired.
“The chairman of Digital Domain, which has naming rights to the Mets’ spring training stadium, has no interest in buying a piece of the Mets, John Textor told Newsday. Digital Domain is a movie special-effects company. ” -ESPN February 24 2011
I really would like to know just how intertwined Met Ownership (the Wilpons) finances are with John Textor financial endeavors. If I remember right Textor also has some sort of equity investing LLC.???
Seeming more and more like the Wilpon’s have more than just financial problems.
This is what happens when you get in bed with these Hollywood lefties.
Where is Clint Eastwood when you need him?
Do the Mets own the stadium or does it belong to Port St. Lucie. I have no idea.
according to WIki, it is owned by st. lucie county, and operated by some SL county authority. Mets are just a tenant.
Unclear who has the naming rights though (or gets that money). might be the mets to offset part of the rent?
deal was signed in early 2010, so have to assume the company was in much better shape back then.
Stick: thanks for the info. I am sure the county will not want to lose the Mets as a tenant but I would assume the county gets the naming rights money and it probably offsets a favorable rental agreement. The fans who go to spring training bring a lot of mney in. Motels, food, gas, tickets, etc.
I heard Enron was back in business maybe we could get them to name the park.
#LOLMets
How about a class act by the Mets and rename it Gary Carter Memorial Field.
That’s a tremendous idea, it would truly be something special. But I don’t see that ever happening, not with this bunch.
Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz, Jeff Wilpon, I am sure you browse the blogs related to the Mets. I am appealing to you please show First Class rather than Third Class. The good karma from it will come from doing it. ‘Hotstreak’ says so. Men you are in the batter’s box. Hit a home . Sport writers and Met bloggers please pick up on this suggestion.
Joey D. thank you.
Hi Hotstreak,
Thank you, too.
And that was a wonderful and moving idea. Class all the way on your part!
I’m not a conspiracy theorist and I try to believe that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but I why do I feel an EPIC $h!t Storm is about to hit the SS Mets’ Ownership!!! Bringing in down the Wilpon/Katz reign of error.
I wouldn’t doubt it.
The Wilpons seem to only deal with crooks, you ever start think they may be crooks?
Lol@Ben
Unfortunately Ben, MOST(not all) business men are Crooks
Trust me, you’ve got no idea how deep this all runs. Umbrella corporations that have their own umbrella corporations. What’s funny is that the so called head of the Wilpons empire is just a patsy…a figurehead. There are many puppet masters and all of this funny business that your hearing about today, as well as the ponzi stuff, is all related.
Jesus Christ.
Even JC is shaking his head.
The headline:
Digital Domain CEO Resigns, Defaulted On $35MM Loan, 280 Employees Fired
The headline reflects how the business of baseball runs the game of baseball. Both local and national businesses are needed for the financial strength to support baseball’s infrastructure. The tickets to go to a baseball game are just the top layer of money needed by baseball. Ballpark financing and operations require huge amounts for the various franchises to remain healthy. What happened to Digital Domain is a reflection of the turbulence in our economy. Yet our national leaders appear clueless to improve the economy.
Only 96,000 new jobs were created in the month of August. The country needs at least 250,000 jobs just to maintain the increase in work age population. In the past month some 368,000 people gave up looking for a job and are not counted as part of the unemployed. Thus the jobless rate fell from 8.3 percent to 8.1 percent. (The unemployment rate is a Washington formula for cooking the books. It doesn’t reflect the total number of people, just those currently looking.) The current number of people not in the labor force is 88,921,000. Almost 100 million working age folks are not part of our economy right now! Wow! It’s catastrophic. Digital Domain is just a symptom of our screwed up economy.
Hi Des,
And the steps that lead up to that problem with the economy began long before anyone even heard of Bush or Obama.
Good example is the opening sequence from the classic Jack Lemmon comedy/drama “The Apartment”. It begins with Lemmon sitting at a desk doing his actuarial work with an adding machine surrounded by what seems to be more than a hundred others doing the same exact thing. Today, that work can be handled by one or two people with a computer. Won’t get into the business and political crap that also did us in.
But as many of us contend, it wasn’t the business of baseball that caused the Wilpons to lose so much money. Same with the Dodgers. And because franchises have a way of covering up television rights and other sources of revenue – even in a small market – only a few are actually losing money overall. A few years back even the Pittsburgh Pirates made $50 million in profit – thanks in large part to revenue sharing.
WTH? Did SNY completely ignore this on Geico Sportsnight? And Metsblog as well? You know Wilpon must have something to do with that. Be careful MMO they may put a hit on you. lol
This is so typical. Maybe they can go back to Tradition which sounded a lot better anyway and it’s the name of the community they play in anyway.
Bet they knew about this weeks ago but waited on it until St. Lucie Mets got eliminated from playoffs on Thursday night.
Joey D. — You’ve made a great response. There is so much to agree with, while there is also much to disagree with. We could be discussing it for hours.
I agree totally with your last paragraph. It wasn’t the business of baseball that caused the Wilpons to lose so much money. Even though the evil Uncle Bernie may have had a bad effect, he was easily outdone I think by the overall economy and particularly the mortgage and real estate meltdown. Businesses suddenly had holdings with reduced values, making turnovers and sales difficult to impossible. Liquidity dried up. Potential borrowers got scared and stopped borrowing. So if the Wilpons were lenders, their cash flow constricted. Yet their obligations to pay back their lenders remained intact and they had less ability to generate cash.
Regarding your middle paragraph, it found support from FDR’s wife. Eleanor Roosevelt once wrote: “We have reached a point today where labor saving devices are good only when they don’t throw the worker out of his job.”
To highlight his opposition to what he considered a Luddite view, one economist said: “Why should freight be carried from Chicago to New York by railroad when we could employ enormously more men, for example, to carry it all on their backs?”
Better, cheaper, faster ways of doing things are good, but they often demand smarter and more flexible workers. Yet these newer ways typically open new fields of business, such as we’ve seen with the development of the computer. The net result is more workers.
Figures, a company whose last hits were Titanic and The Transformers. Kind of like the Mets, no hits in 11 years…..