The owner of the Detroit Tigers has waived sponsorship fees for a prime sign location in the baseball team's home ballpark for General Motors Corp (GM.N), Ford Motor Co (F.N) and Chrysler CBS.UL in an attempt to help the struggling U.S. automakers.

Mike Ilitch, who also owns the Detroit Red Wings National Hockey League team, said the logos for all three automakers will be featured in the fountain area in center field at Comerica Park.

"I wanted to help," Ilitch said in a statement. "I kept asking myself, 'What can I do to help?' I've always viewed GM, Ford and Chrysler as pillars of strength in our community and I understand the ups and downs that a business must endure. To me, it's a small way of showing our support."

U.S. automakers have been hurt by the weakest vehicle sales in almost 30 years. GM and Chrysler have been kept afloat with more than $17 billion in U.S. government loans since the start of the year and face the risk of bankruptcy if sweeping restructuring steps fall short of government mandates.

GM has slashed its spending in the sports world, ending sponsorship deals with several NASCAR race tracks as well as popular golfer Tiger Woods. Chrysler and Ford also have cut their sports marketing budgets.

Major League Baseball also has been hit by the recession as many teams have cut or frozen ticket prices and the league is bracing for a decline in attendance of up to 10 percent as well as possible flat revenue.

The Tigers have been especially hard hit as the struggles of the auto sector have hurt its fan base, leading to reports of a drastic decline in season ticket sales.

Ilitch had a deal worth as much as $2 million over three years to replace GM as the main sponsor of the fountain area after the automaker told the club it could not afford to extend its deal, but he turned it down, The Detroit Free Press said.

Instead all three automakers' logos are featured there this season, as well as the words: "The Detroit Tigers support our automakers."

The fountain area logos will generate at least $2.5 million worth of exposure this year based on the first three-game series of the season, according to Joyce Julius & Associates, which measures the scope of sponsorships across all forms of media.