Third Reich Insurer, Allianz, Drops Bid for NYC Stadium Naming Rights
The New York football teams, the Giants and the Jets, said Friday that they had ended talks with Allianz, a German-based insurance company with connections to the Third Reich, about selling the naming rights to the $1.6 billion stadium they are building in the Meadowlands.
The decision came after two days of largely negative reaction to the possibility of a deal with Allianz, which insured facilities at Auschwitz and other concentration camps, and which deprived many Jewish customers of the proceeds from their insurance policies.
The New York Times first reported about the talks between Allianz and the teams on Sept. 1 and provided details of the company’s history Wednesday. Mark Lamping, the president of the teams’ joint venture, New Meadowlands Stadium, informed Allianz on Friday morning that the discussions were over.
Lamping said in an interview: “We paid very close attention to what people were saying this week. Whether those opinions were expressed directly to us, or through the media, we paid attention and was one of many factors that went into our decision.”
But he would not say why the teams entered into negotiations with Allianz knowing of its Nazi-era dealings and the potential that people in the New York market, which includes many Jews and Holocaust survivors, might be offended.
Read entire article at NYT
The decision came after two days of largely negative reaction to the possibility of a deal with Allianz, which insured facilities at Auschwitz and other concentration camps, and which deprived many Jewish customers of the proceeds from their insurance policies.
The New York Times first reported about the talks between Allianz and the teams on Sept. 1 and provided details of the company’s history Wednesday. Mark Lamping, the president of the teams’ joint venture, New Meadowlands Stadium, informed Allianz on Friday morning that the discussions were over.
Lamping said in an interview: “We paid very close attention to what people were saying this week. Whether those opinions were expressed directly to us, or through the media, we paid attention and was one of many factors that went into our decision.”
But he would not say why the teams entered into negotiations with Allianz knowing of its Nazi-era dealings and the potential that people in the New York market, which includes many Jews and Holocaust survivors, might be offended.
Related Links
NYT: Naming Rights and Historical Wrongs