MVN: Most Valuable Network

Last year, we noticed and complained about a cheapskate insurance company getting cheap (or free) advertising for donating $100 for every home run the Washington Nationals hit at home in 2007.

That ended up costing them a grand total of $4,800 for the full season, which is not a bad price for a mention on the radio every game (though an average of just 73 people listen to Nationals games on the radio, according to the latest Arbitron ratings).

Now comes the Arizona Diamondbacks edition. In the seventh inning of Tuesday night's game, FSN Arizona displayed a graphic that said "Qwest will donate $100 to Friendly House for every Diamondbacks win."

Well, that seems generous. Except that the Diamondbacks are on pace to win 81 games - or $8,100, for the mathematically challenged. In the world of corporate giving, that is a pittance. And they get credit for it night after night after night.

Even if we give Qwest the benefit of the doubt and assume they believed the Diamondbacks would be better at baseball this season, the absolute upper limit they expected to give - in exchange for nightly mentions on baseball games broadcast across the country - was $10,000.

To be fair, Qwest is in a bit of a rough patch, having earned only $157 million in the first quarter - down from $240 million in the same period a year ago - due largely to "slower broadband growth and increasing land-line losses combined with higher tax expenses."

Still, the good people at Friendly House deserve better, no?

Labels: Arizona Diamondbacks, Cheapskates, Qwest, Washington Nationals