3
2011
Are The Mets Too Big To Fail?
An article by 
Too big to fail. It’s the name of a book, a movie in production that’s based on said book, which in and of itself was based on the excusing of businesses that directly correlate to the success of the economy. The idea is that by preventing some businesses from failing and allowing others to do so by either being portioned off in a “fire sale” or just by simply going away will not only make the strongest survive but keep the economy afloat as well.
You can almost apply that theory to Major League Baseball. In the past decade, we saw the Montreal Expos go bankrupt and essentially relocate to Washington, D.C. after contraction was prohibited in the collective bargaining agreement set forth in 2002.
Prior to that arrangement, Bud Selig suggested that the Minnesota Twins (now a perennial playoff contender) was a contraction possibility. I remember Jesse “The Governor” Ventura of Minnesota, taking Selig to task, when in all the talk about contraction, nowhere in those lines was thought of contracting the team Selig still had ties to (at the time), the Milwaukee Brewers who weren’t all that great at the time either. But that’s neither here nor there. The point is, no one really can argue that if there is talk of contraction, the smaller markets are the first to be considered.
Moving right along, MLB has its own quandary today, and it has to do with finances of two of its largest market and noteworthy franchises: the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets. In both cases, one could argue that their failings and flailings start right at the top: with their respective ownership.
In L.A., Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has been going through a very public and messy divorce. Judging by most reports out of the City of Angels, the team itself is being used as a pawn by both parties in the contested separation. McCourt’s soon-to-be-ex-wife, Jamie, is looking to be half-owner of the Dodgers as a result, since it is presumed to be an “asset” of Mr. McCourt and therefore fair game in their divorce settlement. As it appears, most of their settlement talks are centered around Ms. McCourt’s right to ownership of the franchise.
In the meantime, some under-the-radar financial transactions were ultimately brought to light regarding the finances of the team on the West Coast. While he greenlighted a $70 million expenditure this offseason, McCourt tried to use the Dodgers’ cable rights as collateral in a deal with FOX worth $200 million, should they default on the loan. This deal was promptly rejected by Selig, adding fuel to Jamie McCourt’s fire, countering that McCourt had endangered the team’s financial stability by brokering this type of deal, and that she was entitled to the information regarding these deals.
While McCourt preaches that is all right with the team and that he’ll still own the team and pass it along to his children some day, new manager Don Mattingly has to deal with this in the background, while the team picks up players that are supposed to compliment its young core including Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Clayton Kershaw.
Sound familiar? It should. Substitute “Massive Ponzi scheme investment, false profits, dwindling attendance, shoddy baseball operations and bloated player contracts that have another year before coming off the books” for “McCourt divorce”, and we have ourselves the New York Mets, ladies and gentlemen.
In light of recent liquidity issues being brought to the our attention with the Wilpons and specifically Sterling Equities borrowing $25 million from the MLB discretionary fund and submitting a bid for a loan syndicate to get even more cash flow, along with borrowing an additional $50 million at some earlier point and MLB saying they will not allow the Mets to use MLB as a lifeline for money anymore, it just adds to the masochism of following this team.
The Mets, well, we all know the story too well. A collapse in 2007, a floundering in 2008, massive injuries in 2009 and 2010 to an aging and overpaid/underachieving staff has caused a domino effect with many things in the organization. For one, ticket sales are so low, that they caused audible concern in many outlets at the end of last season and revamped their ticket office, cutting ties with Mets ticket VP veteran Bill Iannicello and bringing in new blood in the ticket office.
My theory is that when CitiField opened in 2009, ownership thought that not only would the team draw, even if they did go through their “slumps” interest would be achieved in the novelty of the new stadium. That wore off quickly when the summer doldrums hit. Towards the end of ’09, secondary market tickets were going for as low as $0.99! Couple that with another underachieving year, the Mets were literally giving tickets away to later games in the season, just to fill the seats.
No sales from fans = no revenue generating. I would be willing to bet that SNY is probably one of the few profitable items in the Sterling portfolio of companies. Keep in mind, of course, that Sterling Enterprises is a real estate investment trust…that industry has also taken a hit to their interests, that’s a fact.
In the meantime, I wonder how long this madness can continue, for either the Dodgers or the Mets. The Dodgers were competitive as far as two seasons ago and could very well say that their fall off the precipice had to do with a down year from their star Matt Kemp and perhaps an unproductive Manny Ramirez (he’s on the Tampa Bay Rays now, where players careers go to die…Tampa will be addressed later of course). The McCourt drama is just backpage headlines, they could say. Save the nixed loan deal from FOX, we really don’t hear about liquidity issues as there seems to be cash generated through some arm of the Dodgers. Of course, I am not in LA…so that’s just being totally subjective.
It seems to me, as an outsider looking and as a diehard fan of one of those franchises, that the only people who suffer here are the fans. The reality is that the Mets have not decreased payroll. They, too, have a built-in excuse about the underperformance of high ticket free agents, injuries and wanting to go for low-risk/high-reward instead of the low-reward/high-risk route they had taken in the past seven years. But the Mets did, technically, spend this offseason, but they were acting frugally. Perhaps some fans thought it might have been a good thing to overpay Cliff Lee when Lee has a better chance of winning anywhere else BUT the Mets at this current moment. Other may have wondered why they couldn’t have taken a shot at Carl Crawford. I have no idea, but locked into Jason Bay for now kind of limited that idea. There are tons and tons of unanswered questions, but the Mets can’t say they didn’t spend and have not spent in the past. It’s where they are spending it, who they entrust with it and what has happened.
I couldn’t help but wonder though…Does MLB have its own “Too Big To Fail” policy regarding franchises? I discussed in a podcast the other night this domino effect that specifically the Mets have had. In the past, I was trying to be objective, not buy everything that was handed tome at face value and try to look at things analytically since I have analyzed financial information for a majority of my career. I was trying not to look at things like a “fan.”
Then one of my blolleagues on this podcast said something that hit me: when the Mets release info, it’s typically when it’s worse than they are saying. Whether dealing with injuries, managerial issues, even the stadium, it’s too little, too late. It makes me wonder if when a large market team is scraping around for coins in the sofa cushions, it’s time to sell the team. If the Sterling team is in as much debt as the news is speculating, it’s going to be impossible to find someone to assume those liabilities. The same, to a lesser extent, in LA. Frank McCourt is getting lines of credit left and right. What happens if a judge declares his wife 50% owner? Will he have to buy her out of her share? Or will this court case drag on forever and ever, and their fans will have to take a back seat to get a decent product out there?
And if the Mets go bankrupt and are excused from paying the debt…how far will MLB go? Who will they allow in as an owner? I’m talking new blood and not these old fart billionaires who have made this an exclusive Boys Club for years. MLB might need an overhaul overall, and with Selig’s contract up in 2012, there might not be a better time to impart this.
Similar to that tree in the woods, if the Mets and Dodgers fail in MLB, will anyone notice? Probably not. We won’t notice because the ownership club in MLB is strong enough to set it up that even those who are not the strongest (of teams) can and will survive. If MLB has gone to these great lengths to keep these teams operational simply by either turning a blind eye or extending lifelines, then I am expecting more of the same until the very worst has happened. And we don’t even know if it will come to that.
Keep in mind a few years ago, as I mentioned above, Selig wanted to contract the Twins and Expos. Now there’s suggestion that the Tampa Bay Rays are up for contraction. They went from one of the most exciting teams in baseball three years ago, to one that is barely finding an identity there on the Gulf coast.
Imagine that being a team in New York or Los Angeles.
Wouldn’t happen. There is too much at stake in those markets.
Too big to fail? Indeed.
About the Author: Taryn Cooper
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I believe that in the end the McCourts will have to sell. As to your point on the Wilpons, they built a new park based almost completely on massive debt and leverage from money they never had. They thought that CitiField was going to be a cash cow like it had been for other small market cities. They were dead wrong. Not only do they have enough money to pay that debt dwon, but they are struggling to just make the monthly interest payments. The team is also built on debt and so it the 67% of SNY that they own. It’s a complete house of cards and it will come crashing down. Without the fake billion dollars of Madoff money that they never had, they can no longer use that as collateral to restructure their existing debt or even qualify for new loans. Even without that lawsuit they were going to have this huge problem sooner or later. They have been borrowing against themselves for years and years. Even if they sold the whole team, the money they got wouldn’t even goto them it would go out to all the lenders. Sad story that WILL have a bad ending.
Kramer- you bring up some very valid points that I should have addressed but of course, they tie in line to what I was saying ultimately. CitiField in and of itself is a problem and that is an excellent point. They refused to address what the fans wanted/desired from a new stadium, and attendance suffered as a result. The other thing is how Greg Prince refers to it as a “Logezanine” in the Caesars Club area. This was supposed to be the “mid priced” seats and yet, my tickets in LF reserved (field level) are cheaper better (in some respects) and have all the perks those do. What’s happening is people just got frustrated as watching a crappy product and no emotional attachment to the stadium. What comes first – the fans or the good team? The good team at some points drew in people last year – towards the end, no one cared. Another point that was supposed to draw fans – the HOF induction game. The game wasn’t even sold out for pete’s sake. Adding insult to injury, Ollie pitched in that game (lol).
There are so many things they did wrong with the new park., and I can hardly believe what you said about the mid priced seats section being more cotly than your field level (nice seats by the way).
As for the product, I agree. They tried to sell us a pig in a blanket but the crust was too soggy and the pig is still a pig.
While most other new parks were geared to succeed because they were tweaked to favor the longball which draws the crowds, the Mets also went in the exact opposite direction making the homerun a rare occurence and the opposition always seems to hit more of them than we do.
They built a pitchers park ans showed up with Pelfrey, Maine, Perez and Redding as the supporting cast to Johan, instead of stockpiling aces like the Phillies did.
Kramer – trust me, I nearly fell over when they told me the price out there. It was also less than what I paid at Shea in 2008 in the Mezzanine! smh
yes it is very terrible that someone who owns a ML team doesn’t have the money to sustain the baseball team…..or is it?
I mean if you bought that local Deli in your neighborhood should you be required to spend your own personal wealth on keeping open a Deli that doesn’t make enough money to support itself? Just because some customers want to have the option from buying a sandwich from you only not enough of them for you to make a profit?
Isn’t that the REAL problem here? That the business of baseball is really not a business but a status symbol money hole that almost never turns a profit unless your getting luxury tax payments and pocketing them?
Is the problem really the owner? Or is it the business model that baseball has that can not guarantee profitability unless you make it to the WS?
Is the problem that the owners do not have enough money or the fact that a team who is $60Mil shy of the highest payroll in baseball didn’t generate enough money on baseball to pay that salary?
Again what are your choices as an owner?
Back to the deli for a moment….
If you were not making money selling those sandwiches what would be your choices?
Sell your customer cheaper cuts of meat or borrow money no?
How many Met fans want to see cheaper cuts of meat? Jump up and down and scream if you like that idea and will continue to support them?
Hmmm…As silent as I thought!
It is rediculous for any customer to expect that an owner is going to pour money from other successful money makers into maintaining a service you like to use once or twice a year. or 4 days out of 162!
And I find it quite absurd that we complain about someone not doing or not being able to do that!
This whole class warfare crap has to stop in this country.
The idea that they should spend all their wealth on keeping us happy or giving us options that we often choose not to use is just plain wrong!
If they are required to spend non-baseball made money to sustain our favorite baseball team then we should feel AS OBLIGATED to spend whatever portion of our money we can to at least support that effort as well.
There is nothing wrong with the Wilpon/Met situation a WS appearance wouldn’t solve but if we went to as many games as we would a WS entrant this money situation wouldn’t be!
We can blame the Wilpons for investing their money with a crook but maybe if they were not forced to sink personal money into an unprofitable business they wouldn’t need to look for a fund that promises a 16% return and could invest in other more reasonable opportunities even that hot FA player you all wanted them to sign this year!
At least that investment might generate a little more interest in seeing the team and having us buy tickets to go see and support them!
We all claim to be fans and the term fan comes from Fanatic!
Well how FANATICAL are you?
Well if you only saw 4 games last year then your a 4% fan!
Count up those ticket stubs folks!
And see what kind of support you gave the team.
If this team was a democracy and you got to vote on what the team did based on how many tickets you purchased I am willing to bet more than half of you would not even be registered to vote!
And to those who merely hate the Wilpons and want them to sell think about this…
Say they sell, you sure they will remain the NY Mets?
Cause the last time a franchise had money issues like this Canada had two baseball teams…
How many do they have now?
And how well is that franchise that moved to Washington doing in the standings?
I suggest if you guys really care about the Mets and how much they can spend on the team that it is time to pick up the phone and buy whatever package you can afford.
In the end you will be glad you did because those who had season tickets are usually the only ones to actually get WS tickets when the team does manage to get there!
You can’t say you would have gone if they got Cliff Lee or Dan Uggla.
The reason they didn’t get them is because you didn’t go and they are going to be forced to sell you cheaper cuts of meat until you decide to patronize the business often enough to make it profitable to the point that it doesn’t need another entire business to be successful in order to stay afloat!
Bravo.
Im with you on a lot of this stuff. But don’t forget that watching the game on t.v. also creates revenue for the team. Wilpons own SNY which is more or less Mets $$. Higher t.v. ratings lead to competition amongst advertisers to fill those commercial breaks. So while you can say a person who goes to 4 games is only a 4% fan, while in fact its closer to 5% (sorry nitpicking), you have to think that merely watching a game on tv also aids to team revenue. I also don’t care how much beer and hotdogs me and you may consume at a game, I don’t think it will equate to Ford $$ or Just For Men $$. But all in all I liked your rant.
None of the money generated by SNY can leagally go towards paying the team’s bills! they are seperate business’ with their own shareholders and investors so your being nieve in your interpretation of where they get their money!
It does not all go into the same kitty!
If major league Baseball decided that ESPN would be the only network that could televise baseball then SNY would be SOL! They are seperate entities and success in one does not mean you can bail out the other with the profits!
Another point regarding SNY (because I think some people elsewhere were asking about whether the Mets could sell and if they could, why wasn’t it available) is b/c there are laws with the FCC and cable providers (something along those lines) that prohibits a sale or leaves it with a lot of regulatory red tape…
Yes Coop but those FCC regs are geared more towards those who already own media companies. The regs are more for monopolized control over media and not so much red tape.
But there are other reasons why the Network would not sell. (and this is really my expertise subject) SNY’s worth is calculated based on the contracts it has with MSO (the cable companies) and their number of subscribers. So SNY has no value outside of the market it has those contracts in. You couldn’t just move SNY to say toledo because they still have to honor the contracts with the cable companies for the channel space. That means that unless the team stays in NY there is no reason to buy SNY which is going to be a stopping point to any sale. What would the Wilpons do with a sports network that has no team (Can you say MSG in the summer?)
Now more about SNY profits….
All the ad revenue goes to SNY, the only thing the mets get is a fee for the broadcast rights. Probably a little more than they would get from say MSG but still in the range of what that contract is worth. SNY can only pay so much as watching is no different than going to a game only the difference is how much the advertiser will pay to get his advert on the air.
Yankees have the highest payroll in the league, watch a Yankee game on yes sometime. Even the introduction by the announcers are sponsored because they need to generate as much money as possible so they can pay the team more to sustain the salary.
SNY has tried but if no one wants to advertise they can not contribute more.
And whatever money is made we call BLUE money. It doesn’t really ever get paid it just shows up in different books.
so if 10 Million people watch every game the club makes the same amount of money from the network as it would if only 10 people watch the game. The only affect is SNY loses the money not the club!
SNY still has to make it’s contractual payment for the right to broadcast.
It doesn’t get lower based on the ratings nor does it go higher based on the ratings. And while Wilpon family owns it and makes some of the profits the profits are not theirs to do with as they wish. There are many other investors (Time Warner being one of them, why do you think that are located in the old CNN studios of the Time Warner building?)
Thre bottom line we need to consider is this…
Fact one! the team is LOSING MONEY!
fact two if someone were to WANT to buy it are they going to buy a business that LOSES money? Are they going to spend another Billion on the stadium and Network to make up for it?
OR
Are they going to buy JUST the team and see if they can’t try and turn a profit and if not take it someplace where it can make one?
SRT you may be able to get to every game if they sell the team! Because whoever buys it will not also buy the debt and costs associated with the Network and the stadium! And without those being bought it is highly unlikely they will bother to keep the team in NY.
Especially not if it can’t make money in the largest market on the planet!
I think the individual teams control most of their broadcasting rights.
Other than that, ya, they couldn’t mix SNY with the Mets like that.
Wow Metsie. This is a blog post in and of itself! I’ll try address your major points, as best as I think I can…
OK first thing (since it’s fresh in my mind from the bottom of your post), I wasn’t exactly advocating getting Lee, Werth or Uggla – I don’t think I got that across but I just wanted to point out that the Mets troubles were FAR more than just getting one of those three players or any of the FA class out this year. Now that THAT is out the way…
The profitability factor: it is my understanding that only the truly profitable teams are the smaller market teams. I have no idea what Tampa’s finances are but I do know they are not only one of the cheapest tickets in the league, but that they NEVER sell out a game (also have a low payroll). Now Pittsburgh and Kansas City, as examples, have great stadiums and not so great teams. They benefit from revenue sharing and keeping their payrolls low. Their teams suck, but I like the experience in Pittsburgh and from what people tell me, it’s also great at KC.
As for where the owner and fan converge meaning – owners sunken costs vs making revenue from fans. There’s definitely an intersection there. The problem is, as we’ve seen over time, the Mets have done a horrible job at not only managing their money but their players and team spots. T Agee and I have been harping over lack of development that the mets often pay for past performance of players who gave their best years to another team. How exactly does that help future profitability of the team. It doesn’t! I won’t go so far to say that the Mets are in “rebuild” mode because the TEAM (barring money issues) is going through a restack/regroup, and have never had a long term plan pan out or had anyone with a vision. I am hoping that sandy Alderson’s team can provide a long-term solution. Under the Wilpons, the Mets have had a crash-and-burn philosophy that is NOT sustainable.
As for selling the team, as you bring together towards the end, that’s the background to this piece. I doubt the mets will go anywhere. That’s the idea of too big to fail. The Expos are a horrible example because they played in a city/country where baseball is secondary, and could not draw attendance. That’s why Tampa is also a good example of contraction. It’s sad because only three years ago (and even last year), they were one of the most exciting teams in baseball. they can’t afford to keep their big ticket players (like Crawford) not b/c the team sucks but because they can’t draw people (I think their crappy stadium has a lot to do with it lol).
The Mets are different. The passion and loyalty in the fan base is there. People are disappointed. That’s why the fans have not turned out. That’s short hand. But you get the point, I’m sure!!
Oh Coop, first off don’t take what I wrote as really directed at you or what you said. Yes it was in reply to your post but what you said was not really the target just the motivation to say what I have been thinking for quite awhile whenever someone complains we didn’t play in FA or spend as much as the Yankees did.
I am especially against this notion that you need to be rich and waste all your wealth on supporting a consumer business the consumers don’t support themselves and that because they are rich the money doesn’t mean anything.
I mean if that were fair I would rather they shut the team down, pick 140 of their best ticket buyers and give them each a Mil to start their own business so maybe the economy gets out of the sesspool! LOL
As for your new points:
Yes the small market teams are profitable because they only have to make 50-80 Mil (some even less) which over 82 games and 20-30K per game in ticket sales is an easy to recoup cost. Add to it they get all that tax money that the Yankees pay every year and how can you NOT make money!
But also you need to look at those profitable teams…Where do they play and WHO is their competition.
As I discussed with Tag in the 20 year thread.
Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pirates, Tampa just about every small market team is a one horse town!
If you want to see baseball in Atlanta you have no choice but to pay the Braves to see one! Same for Philly and just about every other team you can mention save LA, and Chicago! Even Boston is a one horse town!
In NY if you want to see baseball who are you going to see? Well if your entertaining guests or clients your probably going to a yankee game!
So the issue of ticket sales and profitability has as much to do with where you play as it does how much you spend and how successful you are!
Complicating things are the inflated player salaries! Calculate what the guys who make 20 Mil per make per hit and compare it to what some average guy makes per hit and you will find your paying about 4 times as much per hit for the big name and unless there are butts filling seats to pay for that there is no sense in paying that.
BUT
Should the teams ever decide to go that route they will be dragged into court and sued for COLLUSION!
Have the Mets really done a horrible job managing their money?
Lets see….
The past three years they have had a salary roughly 120-140 Mil. That comes to about 360-420 Mil. Of that amount you can safely say about 60 Mil of that may have been wasted on Perez and castillo.
If you want to say Beltran was wasted money pray tell how can you predict he is going to get hurt or Santana as well? that is normal risk for any team!
Did they take un needed risk or was it the fact that 2009 was so bad that they didn’t have enough money to correct the situation and invest in new blood?
Their money and attendance problems are more the result of two injury proned seasons than a lack of proper money management. Truth is their money management woes are all on things NOT related to baseball and if the baseball franchise was drawing enough business to pay for itself Madoff would not be an issue here.
Why is it an issue now?
Because fans WHO DO NOT ATTEND yet INSIST we go sign Jason Bay (remember all the stories about the delay in signing him last year) or Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay or Dan Uggla or (Insert Name here) before they will attend a game!
They said the same things when we signed Beltran and Pedro and Delgado yet they soon forget the promise once those players run into any issue that hurts the team.
If we had developed youth in the way the small market teams do how much would attendance increase?
Answer it WOULD NOT! It would DECLINE even further!
and then when we had that core there wouldn’t be enough money to keep it for very long nor would we be able to supplement it with a Big Bat FA because again it would only be possible if we had some other unrelated business that was used to supplement what the other could not achieve on it’s own.
As for too big to fail well there is no such a thing. If I wanted to spend a Billion dollars to buy a team I would want to run that business in a place where there is ZERO competition, someplace where the fans go to see their team no matter what just as Boston, Atlanta and the Phillies have!
Then I know I am going to get ALL the baseball business in a market, have regular attendance that is not tied to winning a WS, and does not get compared to the guys accross the street.
So yes the franchise will remain, only the location will change!
As for the reasons the WIlpons don’t want to give up control is simple.
They own a team and a stadium and a TV network that the profits are all tied to the same market. IF they can manage to hold on until the team gets turned around and can be sold for a profit they stand to make a ton of money!
The team itself is the only NATIONAL asset. SNY and the stadium are both local entities. If they are forced to sell the team they will probably not get a buyer who has enough money to sink into a team that plays in NY while also taking on the network and Stadium costs.
And that means a MOVE to someplace where the competition is less, the costs of doing business is low and where you get people to come to a game and maybe even sell it out despite the team being .500.
take a look at a tourist brochure for Arizona and tell me what else people will do there during the summer if the baseball team sucks?
As SRT pointed out it is a bad economy, Workers want more money while others just want jobs. We can’t all afford to buy season tickets and have to watch and spend our money in more important and wiser ways.
And yes the Wilpons will have to as well.
But if we fans for one moment would put ourselves in the situation the owners are in and looked at how much sense it would make to pour your life savings and unrelated profits into supporting a business where a guy who works two hours a day makes about $30,000-60,000 an hour. You would probably have a very different perspective on what owners should have to do and how they manage their money!
If you don’t pay the high salaries and just play developed kids no one shows.
If you DO pay for stars and they get hurt, no one shows!
If you do manage to win some games after everyone has already cancelled their season tickets then even winning a WS leads to losing money!
The fans have to decide that demanding high priced FAs every year is folly or demanding a winning team before they will support it will never allow the owner to make a winning team.
But to say the owner should be obligated to lose non baseball money to make us happy or to field a winning team that we may or may not decide to support is a hubris and unfair practice that we fans should get over!
We all had no problem with their money management when we first got Beltran, Sanatana, Delgado, K-Rod, Bay and even when we signed Wright and Reyes!
The fact that we now refuse to pay for those signings says more about OUR dedication to the franchise than the Owners.
You know Fred constantly says he loves this team and really wants to see it win…
Well lets face he sure HAS put his money (and some other peoples money as well) into seeing that!
And I want the fans to look at their contribution to that effort and tell me they have the moral soapbox to really complain about them!
And to be fair Coop I’m not really throwing you into that group. There are quite a few others who shouldn’t be in there either.
I just feel that the old Let Him without Sin cast the first stone should apply here!
Yes they have money problems and yes they could have been smarter with the money.
But even if they were smarter with it if we don’t support the moves that WERE good by going to the games it won’t matter if they made every perfect move. Because they wouldn’t be able to keep it unless we start showing up regularly and support the good moves to generate enough money to correct the bad ones!
I’ll go along with everything up to the point of buying X amount of tickets makes you an X% fan.
I’m a die hard Met fans since 1968. Circumstances, not the least which include geographically, prevented me from attending more than one Met game (last season) since 1987. However, I get SNY and I watch all but 1 or 2 games a year. The fact that I’m not in the stadium doesn’t make me less of a fan.
I’ll add the caveat though that if personal circumstances were different, I’d be a season ticket holder.
I’m sure there are folks like you SRT (I know a few who have geographic limitations to following the team like you) who do other things to support the team like buy shirts or jerseys. Merchandising makes money for sure. Which is something the Mets have NEVER done right. I know bringing up Manny Ramirez is like beating a dead horse, but the Dodgers made a KILLING off the whole Mannywood and shirts and Manny-hair-hats, etc. Of course, they didn’t want to deal with the drama. But it killed me going out there and it was this wonderful wonderland of Dodger things and merch, and I come back to five guys wearing sombreros during an Oliver Perez start called “Ollie’s Army.” They missed the mark. Anyway, you go to Fenway, you can get any player shirt. Citi Field, I could find a million discounted Murphy shirts…none of Jon Niese or RA Dickey or Angel Pagan – the stars of last year’s team (well, stars not in a traditional sense, you get what I mean).
SRT just for the record I am not saying your not a fan for not going to games.
But a fan doesn’t really care what happens he loves the team no matter what!
If you support the team without ticket sales though you really have no right to complain they don’t spend enough of THIER money to keep YOU (who doesn’t spend any) for your own personal amusement.
Should Movies be free too? Just because there is no theater showing it near you? Does that mean you should be able to get it for nothing or complain they didn’t spend enough on special effects when you saw it on TV when commercials payed for it?
I don’t claim that you have to be a seasopn ticket holder to be a fan but if you really want to have a say in how much they spend then you should be ready to hel;p pay for that expenditure. Now your circumstances prevent you but they should also prevent you from demanding they go spend on this or that!
If I was your neighbor should I have the right to tell you to spend a couple of million on your lawn because I see it and despite the fact I can’t really play on it I do enjoy looking at it from my house?
Disagree completely Metsie. Using your Deli example what the owners have continuously implied is that the sandwich we’re buying is one of the best sandwiches available in any deli, any city, anywhere in the world, yet when you eat the sandwich something’s not right. It’s not as good as the owner and advertising implied it would be. It wasn’t satisfying but you figure it was a bad day, it’s in the neighborhood, you know the guy, whatever.
You keep going, same result, but again, it’s right around the corner. You might not go as often but you still go. Sometime around 1993 every customer that bought the sandwich gets violently ill and the owner is forced to speak out publicly on the matter. He states that he was buying the most expensive meat but that he know realizes that there is no correlation between what he spends and how good the sandwich turns out. He resolves to embark on a program to ensure he provides only the best product but as any business owner will tell you it takes time to rebuild the reputation and regain the clientele. He decides to short circuit the whole “new approach” but uses some of the remaining stock along with some of his old connections and the results are pretty good, for a while. You think he’s finally figured it out.
Well it isn’t long before the lack of handpicking the produce and buying the most expensive, but end cuts, of meat lead to another breakout of food poisining about a decade after the first.
Once again the owner steps up. States how he is “painfully” aware of how spending a lot for the ingredients doesn’t mean their going to translate into a winning sandwich. By this time you’ve had sandwiches at other deli’s and you realize that most of them know how to do it. Their sandwich is consistently deliscous. Not always the best but no where near what you’ve been getting from your deli. The one you grew up next to. The one that in your youth was usually good, occasionally great and always fun. The one that was boarded up for a while when the original owner passed away but still retained the great customer goodwill because of the amazin’ sandwich it occasionally provided. The one that turned it all around and recaptured it’s former prominance after someone who knew nothing about the business bought it and turned it over to true professionals who knew how to run a deli.
After a great run it was bought out by the new owner who soon forced the guy who turned it around out and here we are all over again. Two outbreaks of food poisening in 10 years But this time he’s learned. “painfully” as he put it.
They turned to a professional from the neighborhood, a guy that had worked for them in the past when they had been good for a time. An energetic former employee with some really good ideas and new connections. Everyone knew him, everyone liked him, everyone knew he was going to make good.
He soon had the place humming again, the neighborhood buzzed, he brought in some top quality counter people and before you knew it, it was SRO out into the street, just like the old days. Three straight years of SRO. The owner couldn’t have been more pleased. His Deli had recaptured the place it had held in the neighborhood as the place to be.
In a nod to the once again thronging crowds the owner and GM decided to spend even bigger on the deli meat, raising their customers expectations with every new variety they brought in. Once they offered only the basics but now they had more exotic offerings from all over the globe something that had been sorely lacking around here for way too long. Prosciutto, Arroz con pollo, Pernil, Southern smokehouse BBque, salmon steaks from the great Northwest, Arepa, culinary favorites from NJ like the Schowenputz, Ropa viejo, Maine lobster, Camerones de Culican, Georgia pulled pork. Finally a breath of fresh air around here. Someone who got it, someone who knew what we wanted but still there was something…..You couldn’t quite put your finger on it but something wasn’t right. Some meals were good right up the end before they dissapointed, others were bad right from the start.
Instead of just the stale Reingold he offered Presidente, Bud, Polar, Guinness, Buccaneer, Coors, Corona. I sampled them all, even the God awful Medalia light (in the 10 0z can, the ultimate indignity)
The owner expanded into the space next door and built out a beautiful dining area. The takeout business was doing well but to help pay for it all he had to start skimping on some of the ingredients. Day old bread, a cheaper mayonaisse, 2nd rate spices, listless lettuce, sidewalk ripened tomatoes, olive oil imported from the former Soviet Union. The customers started noticing. Business fell off. Luckily layoffs weren’t necessary as many employees were out on workers comp. Shortages of ingredients became more and more common. The Breadman stopped delivering, sometimes the customer had to have his sandwich on a thin wrap, unripened tomatoes became a fixture. Soon a 3rd round of food poisoning hit the deli’s customers, causing a violent outbreak of nausea with all the accompanying symptoms. There was no longer a line at the takeout or the sit down, in fact there were very few people there at all.
A full investigation ensued, the same exact menu had been wildly successful elsewhere. What was the problem? The health Department looked into the matter and concluded that the owner (and his son) had been purchasing the leftovers from other deli owners as they diligently rotated their stock. Weeding out the soon to expire top shelf ingredients and replacing them with fresh ones and palming off the soon to be rancid ingredients on the owner who passed them along to you and I.
The other deli owners then went off to the new produce market and carefully sifted through the various bins for the freshest and best ingredients for their customers. The owner and his son of our neighborhood deli went home to Locust Valley and Greenwich and went to bed.
The ingredients were all past their shelf life, that’s what caused everyone to get sick…. for the 3rd time. Now we have the owners son talking about how “those who fail to remember the past are condemned to relive it.”
Hmmmm. I think I’ve heard that one before.
Even if you make the best sandwiches with the greatest ingredients in the world will you eat there everyday to keep it open?
If the mets won the WS would you buy a full season plan next year?
Probably not cause you can’t afford them!
So even if you like what they did you can not REWARD them for thier efforts enough to offset the cost of that effort!
AQnd if that is the case you can’t complain they had to use cheaper ingredients due to the fact you can afford to eat there everyday!
I have been asking the Mets to back off the 25-100 million dollar contracts for almost 20 years now. Start spending 10% of the MLB roster above what their doing now on the draft and IFA’s. Scouts and development staff.
They are constantly running out of players because they get them when their on their last legs.
From 1983 the attendance went from 1.1, 1.8, 2.7, 2.7, 3.0, 3.0, 2.9, 2.7, 2.2, 1.7, 1.8, and finally 1.1 in 1994 after the debacle that was 1993.
See any correlation between winning and tickets sold?
The Mets used to ALWAYS outdraw the Yankees. This town was known as a NL town. The Yankees talked for years about moving to Jersey. The reason the Yankees sell out every year is because of their huge fan base. The very thing we used to have.
The Yankees have the huge fan base because they have gone to the post season 15 years out of 16. The Met Fan base used to be younger than the Yankees, no it’s older because 90% the kids born between 1985 and 2005 are all Yankee fans. Why? Why do you think?
The Met business plan has been to raise expectations by spending huge dollars on other teams players who then dissapoint and oftentimes embarrass the team. The Yankees have strong continuity because of their homegrown stars who seemingly have been here forever. Many of our memories of the last 20 years are of Bonilla, Saberhagen, Coleman, Burnitz, Henderson, Vaughn, Alomar, Wagner, Castillo and Bay as well as 2 blown postseasons followed by 2 losing seasons. ELEVEN LOSING SEASONS IN THE LAST 20 YEARS.
Every business owner in the world knows you have to GROW your business if you want to be successful. That means putting money back into it to provide for continued success later. Pizzaria’s purchase NEW ovens, Accounting firms purchase NEW computers. They don’t buy OLD ovens or OLD computers. They don’t take other firms leftovers, they look for the best and the brightest, not the oldest and most decrepit.
Your assertion that the Mets cannot sell enough tickets to turn a profit in NYC is as laughably ridiculous as George Steinbrenner’s assertion that “now one wants to come to the South Bronx.”
And if they did that you would be the only one there watching him…
How much you going to pay for that ticket?
Pirates do that have they won?
Nats do that have they won?
Does anyone go see them?
NO!
Then doing what they do will make us go bankrupt faster than buying a 100 Mil FA because at least someone will go see that guy!
If we had drafted all those guys you say would have been good choices how many would still be here if we were watching our pennies each year?
Answer NONE they would all be traded so we could develop three more guys we would trade after one good year in the majors so we can get 9 more guys we doi the same thing with.
The mets already have that business it’s called Buffalo!
I know you believe that drafting is the key to winning.
But it is not the only thing you need to do.
NO TEAM that has ever done what you propose has won!
EVER! Cept maybe the Marlins one year…and what happened right after that?
FIRESALE!
I never said that the draft should be the only thing we do. We should be huge in the IFA market and the draft. Supplement with a couple of ace frontline starters AFTER we have a competent starting 8.
We should always have a good strong bench that can actually do something. We should also have a number of arms to pick through for the bull pen.
Making a mistake in the IFA market might cost you 1.4 M (Fern) at the absolute most. Cost you no games, take up no roster spots and doesn’t detract from your ability to win now one iota. Either does drafting players who are good enough to make the All Star team. Not only does drafting players who have the ability to make the All Star game help you win, they also ATTRACT people to come see them play.
Having a revolving door of players coming in and out of here, most with expectations second in size only to their paychecks only to get hurt, play poorly or both doesn’t allow your franchise to move forward and grow a fan base. Winning and continuity do allow you to grow a fan base. Which comes first? Who cares.
If we had drafted Brian McCann instead of forfeiting the draft choice for two years of David Weathers, he would have helped on both ends. Same with Pedroia. Two guys here for at least 6 years each costing ownership a total of 10 M each and either recycled for 2 more picks (each) or hopefully resigned for 4-5 more years. Now you have players who A) play well, B) Help you win and C) that people get to “know”, like, root for and want to go see.
Ubaldo Jimenez. We tried to sign him for 20K. His family declined because of school. Next year Colorado got him for 50K as long as he could finish his last 2 months of school.
For what we paid Oliver we could have signed 720 Ubaldo Jimenez’s. What do you think was the better value? Even if Oliver had turned into Sandy Koufax we would have been better off with the prospects. So far Jimenez has earned 2.4 M in 5 years.
Instead of signing Alou we could have drafted Mike Stanton and FINALLY had a RFer and 6 years of him IN HIS PRIME would have cost 5 M less than 100 games of Alou over 2 injury plagued seasons in which just one or two more wins would have made all the difference in the world.
Shea stadium has drawn over 3 Million fans 5 times and 4 Million once. There are 20 Million people within a 2 hour drive of Citi Field. It’s already been proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that having a winning team (and a little continuity) would bring sell out after sell out. Where are you getting this fire sale nonsense?
the problem with what you propose is time.
You seem to think it can be done in less that 6 years. Thats the folly.
I challenge you to come up with any team who has those 8 guys in less than a decade. Braves didn’t produce 8, Phillies 7 at best, Yankees had 4 or 5.
Not even the 86 Mets had that many developed players.
and even if it WAS possible no GM would keep his job long enough in NY to see that plan through.
Even if it took only 8 years (a player per year) that’s 8 years. Omar got 6! and he DID get close to a WS! Made a team that was competitive 3 out of 6 years yet he got the sack!
The problem is NOT the plan I keep telling you that.
The problem is NY will not wait that long for your plan to work!
Before it can work the guy implementing it will be gone!
And even if he got the 8 guys in 6 years there would be no money to spend because no one would be going to the games while he was getting them!
You can always come up with an objection for anything that you don’t want to do. Starting from scratch it took Frank Cashen 4 years. The Mets then went on to have 10 years of solid and 5 years of fantastic attendance.
Omar had to basically start from scratch aside from Reyes and Wright. He could have gotten the exact, or better, or much better play id he had signed plan B free agents instead of plan A. Plan B free agents don’t cost draft choices. In many cases we could have have gotten better play while spending less money and making less of a commitment in time.
That would have led to more attendance.
Instead of Alou (2/15) lets say he drafted Mike Stanton (RF taken care of for 6 years, no commitment avg salary 2 M per year)
Let’s see 6 years at 12 M for a player in his prime or 2/15 M for a 40 year old? Tough decision.
Instead of drafting Kunz Vineyard, Moviel and Rustich in 2007 if he had drafted Tommy Hunter, and Jordan Zimmerman we would have had 2 good young arms in the rotation right now.
Instead of 2 years (out of 4 at a cost of 44 M) for Wagner we could have had Kyle Drabek for the next 6 years at an avg salary of 2M.
Instead of K-Rod (3/36 – 4/54) we could have Mike Trout in CF for 6 years starting in 2013 at an average salary of 2M.
Going back further if we had drafted Brian McCann in 2002 instead of forfeiting the pick for 2 years of David Weathers we would have saved a lot of money and been much much better behind the plate from 2006-2012, at least.
We wouldn’t have suffered the poor play of Brian Schneider and almost guaranteed would have won one more game in 2007 and two more in 2008. That would have put LOADS of money into the Met coffers.
You cannot make up for poor drafting by going out and giving up a draft choice without it seriously effecting the team down the road.
If your going to give away so many draft choices you damn well better draft well when you do keep your picks and you have to go out of your way to pick up some picks by letting guys go here and there. The combination of us doing/not doing those things is the reason we always have so many holes to fill.
You cannot every single year put the cart in front of the horse or by the time you fix RF, LF and 2B you have to turn around and fix C, SS, and 3B. You can never fill all your positions with competent players at the same time unless you got them all at the same time.
The chances of being able to spend 10-20 M for 8 roster spots in the same free agent year is very remote and highly unlikely from a financial standpoint and in and of itself is as bound to produce good play as it is bad play or time on the DL.
Cashen didn’t start from scratch!
He had the previous regieme’s farm full of #1 draft picks to trade away to get what he got!
He didn’t draft Neil Allen…someone else did. Thats who got him hernandez!
You seem to think Cashen did it all by himself but he did not He had those 7 years of massive losing draft picks in his farm that was not his and then traded some of that away to get other things he needed.
And how long did he sustain that? As long as the Braves and Yankees?
Why didn’t he have his decade of dominance?
And tel me what was the first move cashen made when he got here?
Was it stay away from the big contract?
Explain Kingman and Foster then please!
You see he didn’t do what you think is possible either.
He had a 7 year loosing franchise that had a decent farm already that he was able to improve to the point where he had some core.
Count how many core players they had from that and tell me it was 8 guys…
Best I can count is maybe 5!
Gooden, Backman, Dykstra and who else?
Santana?
F**k it Metsie, Your right. Let’s just continue to draft bust after bust after bust or send all our draft choices to other teams so we can pay them the most while getting the least. Good idea. It’s worked so well around here over the last two decades, what was I thinking?
draft bust after bust?
It looks like to me we have a lot of young talent in camp this year that’s ready to help the Mets right now. And that’s not counting Ike Davis and Mike Pelfrey.
Gee 21st round, Thole 13th round, Niese 5th round, Murphy 13th round, Parnell 9th round. Every team get some guys from the later rounds. None of these guys are all around very good players. They all might be some day but the majority of the players that lead you to the playoffs come from the first 2 rounds. The first 100 players taken.
Since 1998 we’ve drafted Jason Tyner, Pat Strange, 1999 Neal Musser, Jake Joseph, 2000 Billy Traber, Bobby Keppel, Matthew Peterson 2001 Aaron Heilman, David Wright, alhaji Turay, Corey Rangsdale 2002 Scott Kazmir, 2003 Milledge 2004 Phillip Humber, Matthew Durkin, 2005 Pelfrey, 2006 Kevin Mulvey, 2007 Kunz, Vineyard, Moviel, Rustich, 2008 Davis, Havens, Holt Rodriguez, 2009 Matz, 2010 Harvey in the first, supplemental or 2nd round.
There are probably many names that you do not recognize there. That’s because they washed out.
Many times we didn’t even have a first round pick. Many other times we didn’t have a 2nd AND a 3rd round pick.
When you compare our drafting vs our competitors in the early rounds PHIL:Rollins, Utley, Howard, Hamels, ATL: Heyward, McCann, Freeman, Escobar, Hanson, Wainwright, Johnson SF: Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner, Posey it’s not even close.
And don’t tell me it’s OK that Humber and Mulvey busted because we traded them. It’s not the idea at the time of the draft to pick guys who bust so we can foist them off on Minnesota.
So yeah we got a few guys. Omar brought some depth and some raw high ceiling talent in the low minors but how about our early round busts going all the way back to the end of Mcilvaine’s run.
You don’t think that has anything to do with us not being able to develop a 2B since Fonzie left? A RFer since Strawberry left? A LFer since Cleon left?
We are drafting people but we’re not getting the kind of talent out competitors are getting. We’re then forced to go big dollar/long years to fix it and whether it’s by trade or free agency it cost us prospects or draft choices.
Why not make a concerted effort to address your needs 4 years ahead of time rather than every off season when the choices aren’t as many, the players are older, cost more and frequently aren’t as good as they were before?
You could make a solid legitimate All Star team out of the guys Philly, Atlanta and SF have drafted in the first 100 picks of the draft. We could add Wright and maybe down the road Davis and who knows maybe Pelfrey but that’s not enough and Pelfrey doesn’t equal Lincecum, Cain or Hamels yet anyway. SF has a 1st basemen from the 9th round named Brandon Belt who looks like the heir apparant to Pujols as the NL All Star 1B. It’s not a good situation. It’s much better than it had been but still much worse than most teams and the single biggest area of improvement needed in our entire organization.
Atlanta has 5 pitchers rated in the top 100 prospects, we have one. We’re behind and getting farther behind all the time.
We didn’t draft busts.
We didn’t coach them properly!
Just look at Mejia for a case of how those draft picks were being managed!
You keep citing lost 1st rounders and lost picks, never mention the fact that the picks Omar had were bottom rounders because we were competitive 3 out of the 6 years
and then blame them for being busts?
WE WERE COMPETITIVE!!!!
Until the health broke down!
If the Mets has drafted Dustin Pedroia, Mike Stanton, Brian McCann and John Lester (all 2nd round selections) you couldn’t even GET a ticket to the game unless you purchased a full season package and it would have cost 150 M less than what Perez, Castillo and Bay cost.
Robinson Cano cost 250,000 to sign and lived right next door to our top international scout. Ubaldo Jimenez cost about the Rockies 50 K. We offered 20 K the year before, got turned down and never went back.
How many tickets would you have bought (if you could even get them) if the Mets had spent a total of 5 M on Jimenez, Cano, Pedroia, Stanton, McCann and Lester compared to how many have you bought with them spending 150 M on Bay, Castillo and Perez?
“’m talking new blood and not these old fart billionaires who have made this an exclusive Boys Club for years.”
That right there, I think, is one the biggest problem MLB has. Its run like a Country Club where as the wildly successful NFL (current labor issues not withstanding) is run like a business.
And that gives me another scary thought: What if the Mets weren’t the only ones with these troubles getting covered up? What if the reason the other owners aren’t demanding ivestigations or anything is because they know that several teams have these same financial issues? Perhaps that is the main reason they wouldn’t let someone like Cuban in: they would expose what is going on behind the curtain.
Donal, not sure if read the Huff Post or saw this article, but it was basically tying in how MLB is a monopoly. The reason they had a “bye” essentially from these old antitrust rules because they are able to say they have separate owners and each runs their own operations. Yet (as the article concludes here in quotes) “If Bud Selig can issue a check to the Wilpons and the Mets for millions, along with the many other centrally-run operations by the owners that benefit MLB, then it is a national business entity, and it should no longer enjoy the unfair competitive advantage that it wields.” Very interesting read.
I’ve known about their anti-trust exemptions for a while. I think their reasoning has changed in recent years, though. I’ve heard people try and claim that they there is no “baseball business” and that they are in fact part of the entertainment industry, which would allow their loans to each other and such.
I’m pretty sure its just that they know the government either can’t or won’t really do anything to them.
I wonder if they could restructure baseball to work like a co-op building. The owners wouldn’t buy a team, but rather shares of the league and they would be executors of a certain team.
Yet how funny it is that whenever the Owners say this during the collective bargaining agreement the fans always cry bull and back the guy who makes 30-60K an hour!
All because they believe in the Unions!
Isn’t that pretty much what is going on in the rest of the country right now?
I have always been a union guy but some unions ask for TOO much and get too much and once the cost of producing becomes too great the business as a whole fails and has to look towards cheaper ways of doing business.
Oakland is an example and I am sure the Union hates them for the moneyball things. Screwed up their whole salary grab!
They wouldn’t allow contraction because that would mean fewer idiots bidding up players salaries to well beyond their performance worth when if the market were allowed to work as normal those business’ would close meaning salaries would be more sustainable for the rest.
At what point is enough enough?
Why is Football doing well? Two words SALARY CAP!
Say that to a ML union rep and you will get a 44 Oz louisville logo tatooed across your face!
What does it cost a player to do his job each year? How many hours a week do they put into making the product better? How much of the stadium costs and medical staff do they contribute to?
Sure people go to see the players and they wouldn’t go if there were no teams that marketed and laid out the money to open and staff the stadium so they could go.
Football they are arguing over 9 Billion Dollars! and how to split it!
And there will likely be a strike or lockout until it is resolved.
and you know what the end result will be?
Higher ticket prices to fans, More expensive concessions and souvenirs, A price jump on season tickets and in the end the ONLY one who gets hurt is US!
You have to either be crazy or egotistical to want to own a professional sports franchise.
So thats why thats who owns them!
because you pay too much for staff, your profits are tied to performance and even when you win the profit you make is barely above break even!
And thats just what the guy who won the WS does!
“Yet how funny it is that whenever the Owners say this during the collective bargaining agreement the fans always cry bull and back the guy who makes 30-60K an hour!
All because they believe in the Unions!”
Actually, most of the vitriol I hear tends to be directed at the players. Not scientific, just my POV.
“Why is Football doing well? Two words SALARY CAP!”
And better revenue sharing, marketing, community outreach, embracing technology to be more accessible to fans…the NFL does a lot of things better than MLB.
And they have the MONEY to do that because only one player (usually the QB) actually makes 20 Mil in a single year. And the rest make less so they can pay that guy!
They also don’t have to pay to support a minor league, The games that no one shows up to do not get nseen on TV, You can only buy the ENTIRE season when you buy season tickets not the 10-15 game special, You only have to pay for travel 8 out of 16 game (soon to be 9 out of 18).
And the majority of the money is paid as a signing bonus which lets them cut a player anytime they deem him not worthy of keeping and do NOT have to pay him the remainder of his base salary! (ala Olliver Perez!)
If Ollie were in football he would have been cut already and that 12 mil could be put towards some other player!
How did Football get that way?
because they were strong when they dealt with the union and didn’t capitulate the way the baseball folks have.
As a result they also have the strongest Roid testing of any league and can calculate how much they need to make every year because their salary costs are KNOWN!
We don’t even know how much we owe K-Rod in baseball. How can you plan for money when you don’t know how much you need?
The reason football is profitable is they faced head on the union and won.
But the baseball fans don’t ever care about what is right they just want their sport and don’t care how much it costs someone else!
Football is also a 16 game season vs baseball’s 162.
Also, you’re not getting rid of the minor league system anytime soon. And you can’t. The NFL has the the crooks and hypocrites of the NCAA to act as their scouting and farm system.
football fans don’t care much either “Go ahead and accumulate brain damage, WE WANT HITS!”
All this talk about the Mets ownership and their money problems reminds me of when I used to play MVP 2005. It allowed me to set all the prices for tickets, concessions, promotions, etc.
I think a big step the Wilpons could take towards resurrecting this problem is with the reduction of ticket prices. Now I know they have reduced ticket prices for this upcoming 2011 season, and although I have not personally seen what the prices are, I have heard that there were significant price drops.
I think a huge deterrent that drove Mets fans away from attending games, aside from poor performance by the club, was the astronomical ticket prices they set for the first few seasons in Citi Field.
This isn’t football where there are only 8 home games a year, there are 81 home games to collect revenue from. So why is it that fans are paying nearly half of what a football ticket would cost to see a baseball game. It is absurb.
In MVP 2005, I had to constantly balance ticket prices with game attendance, such that at some price point, I would get the maximum attendance possible. Once I exceeded that price point, attendance would begin to drop reducing my overall profits.
Right now for the Mets, No one is attending the game. Poor performance only further drives fans away, but there is a hypothetical price point that fans will attend games regardless of the team’s play.
I think the Mets could benefit from being more creative in their marketing. There are hundreds of ideas waiting to be utilized. On another note, enough with these lame ass cheap promotional give aways, give us something of substance. Have in park drawings for Mets stuff, where you have to be there to win.
The point is, the Mets ownership built this big grandeoso stadium, and then stuck the fans with the bill by raising ticket prices through the roof. I think the Wilpons should think about taking some temporary losses to re-spark fan interest in this team and this ballpark. Give away tickets, reduce ticket prices significantly, offer single game upgrades to people who bought ticket packages. Hell if I can pay to upgrade from coach to first class, why can’t I pay to upgrade from upper deck to field level (especially if no one is sitting there anyways). Reduce the price of concessions so that people can actually afford the food.
I think the answer is right there in front of them, they just can’t figure out the problem. The problem is that the fan base has lost all confidence in the ownership and this must be restored or relinquished to a new owner.
Jeff and Fred, I know money is tight, but you can either sell the team at a huge loss, or try to re-write the ship by resparking fan faith and interest and pricing tickets and other stuff with in the general populations reach.
Why don’t they just try drafting the best players rather than the one’s who have less talent and leverage and will sign for the slotting “guideline.” Everyone else does that.
You don’t think that Utley, Rollins, Hamels and Howard were slot selections do you?
Were you under the impression that Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Bumgarner, Wilson and Bumgarner were slot selections? Wrong again.
Why would any business allow their competitors to get the best players while they continue to draft one washout after another every single year? Except of course when they forfeit the pick for a someone who will soon be on the DL.
That’s why attendance has gone so far down. Shea was a dump, Citi is a palace compared to that place yet people went to Shea. Yeah it had it’s disapointments but nothing like this place. One old decrepit former All Star after another.
Why not put some REAL money, time, effort and resources into BUILDING a team instead of giving us all these old Blue Jay’s, Cardinals, Pirates, Red Sox, Royals ect ect ect.
It’s just the same old crap with the Wilpon’s. Save every dime now and pay a fortune later so you can disapoint the fans one more time. 1993, 2003, 2009, it’s all the same. Top payroll in the NL and either 90 or 100 losses during the season and after each collapse they claim they’ve learned their lesson and then just go out and do the same thing all over again.