NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees say they will not get caught in Spider-Man's web.
After Major League Baseball announced that ads for the movie "Spider-Man 2" will be placed atop bases during games from June 11-13, the Yankees quickly balked at the idea.
One of 15 teams at home that weekend, the Yankees insist they will put ads
on the bases only during batting practice, and then just for one
game, team spokesman Rick Cerrone said.
"We try to work with Major League Baseball," Lonn Trost, the Yankees chief operating officer, told the New York Daily News. "But if we think it's something that's not good for the Yankees and Yankee Stadium, we're not going to do it."
Trost told the paper that the Yankees, who host the Padres that weekend, would not allow the logo on the rubber of the pitching mound. The Spider-Man image on the on-deck circle, however, would stay throughout the game.
Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina is appreciative of his team's stance.
"Where do we go from here? Chico's Bail Bonds on us?" Mussina told the Daily News. "Somebody's making money. They're using every place they can to advertise."
Ironically, the Yankees are expected to be among the teams that benefit most from the promotion, at least from a financial stance.
Baseball will receive about $3.6 million in a deal negotiated by
Major League Baseball Properties with Marvel Studios and Columbia
Pictures, a division of Sony Inc., a high-ranking baseball
executive said on condition of anonymity.
The Yankees and Boston Red Sox will get more than $100,000 each,
the team executive said, also on condition of anonymity. Most of
the other 13 teams playing at home that weekend will get about
$50,000 apiece, the team executive said.
Parkes said the amount a team receives depends on the level of
its participation. Geoffrey Ammer, president of marketing for the
Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, was not immediately
available for comment, spokesman Steve Elzer said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.