New York's two football teams, the Giants and the Jets, announced on Friday that they had ended talks with Allianz, a German-based insurance company about selling the naming rights to their new US$ 1.6 billion stadium which is currently being built. The decision came after two days of criticism to the possibility of a deal with Allianz, which insured facilities at the Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps and which deprived many Jewish customers of the proceeds from their insurance policies.
Allianz had been seeking a deal to put its name on the stadium being built by both teams. The deal could have been worth an estimated US$ 30 million a year. The stadium is scheduled to be completed for the 2010 season. Jewish organizations and individuals protested against what they considered to be a constant reminder of the Allianz' ties to the Nazis and the Holocaust.
