• Florida Atlantic Football Stadium Will Be Named For Private Prison Company
    9 replies, posted
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/rYKELuc.jpg[/IMG] [QUOTE]For more than two years, Florida Atlantic University has [URL="http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-10-05/sports/fl-fau-stadium-unsold-sponsors-1005-20111005_1_innovation-village-project-fau-stadium-athletic-director-craig-angelos"]been searching for the name of a corporate sponsor[/URL] to adorn its new 30,000-seat, palm-ringed football stadium. The public university [URL="http://www.fausports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/021913aaa.html"]on Tuesday announced an unconventional partner[/URL]: the nation's second-largest operator of for-profit prisons, the GEO Group Inc. The [URL="http://www.fauowlaccess.com/articles/149/fau-to-announce-stadium-naming-deal-with-the-geo-group.aspx"]newly christened GEO Group Stadium[/URL] came as part of [B]a[/B] [B]$6 million donation from the prison company's charitable foundation, which will be paid out to Florida Atlantic over 12 years.[/B] America has a long tradition of unusual corporate athletic sponsorships -- Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena and Houston's Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park) come to mind. But the GEO Group Stadium puzzled several experienced sports marketing experts. Stadium sponsorships usually involve a product that a company wants to market to consumers: Cars, in the case of the Mercedez-Benz Superdome in New Orleans; or bank services, with Citi Field in New York. [B]GEO Group's customers are government agencies offering contracts.[/B] Prisoners don't have a choice of where they land behind bars. "It appears to be a charitable gift that is trying to be a marketing vehicle, and it just doesn't make a lot of sense," said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon's business school. "To link themselves with an athletic department when their business is locking people up, it just doesn't connect to me really well." [B] Critics of the private prison industry said the donation to a public university in Florida falls in line with efforts to gain influence with state and local public officials who decide whether to hand out contracts.[/B] [B]"The company is dependent on public dollars for all of its profits,"[/B] said Bob Libal, executive director of Grassroots Leadership, a criminal justice advocacy group. "When you look at other things that GEO gives to, it's generally in communities where they either have contracts or are seeking contracts, and certainly Florida is a state where GEO has tremendous interest." [B]For the last three election cycles, the GEO Group has donated more than $1.2 million to the Florida Republican Party. Republicans in the state legislature last year [URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/florida-private-prisons_n_1247120.html"]came close to approving a massive expansion of private prisons[/URL] in south Florida, a deal that the GEO Group mentioned frequently in calls with investors. [/B] [/QUOTE] [URL]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/florida-atlantic-football-stadium_n_2720223.html[/URL] Life in America is starting to become kind of a parody.
Starting to? Its been this way for far too long.
A country with a privatised prison system sounds like some weird capitalist dystopia.
[QUOTE=carcarcargo;39782117]A country with a privatised prison system sounds like some weird capitalist dystopia.[/QUOTE] Most countries have privatised prisons now. I know most in the UK and Australia are
Well if prisoners and sports dont make sense, what sense does mercedes benz or cola and sports make? It should be sport gear brands or something if you really want to make sense
[QUOTE=D3TBS;39784586]Well if prisoners and sports dont make sense, what sense does mercedes benz or cola and sports make? It should be sport gear brands or something if you really want to make sense[/QUOTE] No, it does make sense because ads are supposed to target viewers, and most viewers don't play sports
[QUOTE=download;39782306]Most countries have privatised prisons now. I know most in the UK and Australia are[/QUOTE] True, but the ones in 'Murrica don't have anywhere near the level of standards.
"Well, it seems the home team has this victory all locked up." But seriously, private prisons means there is profit in each person sent to prison. This means these corporations will want to see as many people in prison as possible. I bet a good portion of their profits are spent lobbying lawmakers to pass more laws to criminalize everything they can. The lawmakers in turn sell these laws to the public as 'tough on crime' because who doesn't want to be seen as tough on crime?
[QUOTE=carcarcargo;39782117]A country with a privatised prison system sounds like some weird capitalist dystopia.[/QUOTE] you mean it ain't already?
This is my university. Our administration is fucking hated. Lots of letters and flyers are posted all over my section of campus (Arts and Film) and I routinely see security taking them down and posting, "Do not post flyers about administration" notices on the bullitens. Feels like some sort of really weird movie.
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