14
2012
Amazin’ Solutions: How To Get Fans Back In The Seats At Citi Field
An article by 
As I sit here watching Shark Week, I can’t stop thinking about how I wish the Mets would be more aggressive. I know their financial situation isn’t the greatest, but as fans, why do we have to suffer for the bad investment choices of a few? It doesn’t seem right.
The saddest part of the story is, much like the poor seals that swim off the coast of South Africa, there isn’t much relief in sight for New York Mets fans.
As the Mets struggle to draw fans to the stadium, their financial woes will continue. New York is a very unforgiving city, and the fans will show their disdain with declining ticket and merchandise sales. The secondary market for tickets has to be killing the Mets right now. The Mets are being undersold by their own fans as they sell their tickets at discounted prices, trying to recoup some of the big money they spent on them before the season started. Now that the Mets are no longer in the playoff hunt, this trend will continue for the remainder of the season. If fans aren’t coming out to the games, the Mets miss out on the opportunity to lure fans into spending even more money once they have you within the gates of the stadium. I wonder if they’re making up foam fingers with the hand holding up four fingers, instead of one, because that’s where they’re going to finish this season in the NL East.
It already seems like the last thing the Mets want their fans doing is watching the game. Take a stroll out behind center field wall at Citi and you see distraction after distraction – a dunk tank, a booth to see how fast you throw, even an area to play Xbox. These things are better suited for Brooklyn Cyclones games. What ever happened to going to a ball game and filling out a score card? In other words, actually watching the game. I don’t know, maybe those gimmicks are the only reason why people are coming to the stadium these days.
It’s hard enough to draw fans out to the stadium when you are competing with high definition broadcasts. Personally, I would rather sit in the comfort of my own home and watch the game versus go to the stadium – and that’s when there is a formidable team on the field. I opt to watching games at home, but when I see Scott Hairston hitting cleanup, even I have trouble not changing the channel. There has to be a reason to keep the fans watching, and coming to the ball park. And with all respect to the season he’s having, it’s not Scott Hairston. Maybe that’s why they want to trade him now? Hmmmm…
Now the only question that remains is how do the Mets get the fans to start coming to games again?
I have a borderline controversial answer to that question. I think there is one player out there, that the Mets can sign, that will draw the fans out of the woodwork. But this player is going to cost them – that’s the rub. This player has the potential to be as polarizing as Tim Tebow was coming to the Jets. This player will put butts back in the seats at Citi Field, and fans will have a reason to actually watch the game, instead of squeezing in a game of MLB2K13 out behind the center field wall. This player will steal the back page from the Yankees. That player is none other than Josh Hamilton.
Josh Hamilton is arguably the greatest player in the game today. Josh Hamilton is a risk I would love to see the Mets take. Josh Hamilton will bring respect back to the Mets. Josh Hamilton will take the city by storm. I can see record breaking jersey sales, an instant boost in season ticket sales, and bragging rights as the Mets can proudly claim they have the best player in New York on their roster. Hamilton certainly comes with his baggage, but his upside far outweighs the downside.
Jim Mancari noted earlier in his segment From Left Field that the Mets have “a significant amount of building blocks in place.” In other words, things aren’t as bad as they seem. Maybe Josh Hamilton is exactly what is needed to pull all those building blocks together. While it’s not likely we will see Hamilton in a New York Mets uniform, it sure would be something special. With Hamilton wearing the Mets blue and orange, I can’t guarantee you they will be winners, but at least they will be watchable. And as an added bonus for the Wilpon’s, they may actually start making money again.
Amazin’ Solutions is a segment I will be covering for Mets Merized Online going forward. It will take an in depth look at the different issues the Mets are facing, and provide solutions for those issues. Sometimes, when the issues are so complex that they may not have a solution, I may just have a little fun.
About the Author: Mitch Petanick
Mitch is currently an Editor and Minor League Analyst for Mets Merized Online. His baseball experience includes being a former All-Conference collegiate baseball player who had numerous professional tryouts, and he is currently a hitting instructor. He has been involved with the game of baseball for over 30 years now as a player, coach, and consultant. Mitch is also a former Featured Columnist on Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @FirstPitchMitch.
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Josh Hamilton is high risk/ high reward. Injuries are too frequent due to the damage he did to his body with drugs. But he would be an interesting player and would love to see them go after him.
As for this season, there are 23 home games left. The Mets need to get $$$. They need fans to enter the stadium. How do they do that? Stop making it so damn expensive to go to a game! $19.00 to park? Seriously?? What a joke. Make parking $5.00 the remainder of the year for games M-F and $10.00 Saturday and Sunday. Lower ticket prices dramatically. Their “dynamic” pricing doesnt go far enough. Unsold seats add zero dollars to the bottom line. Selling a nosebleed seat for $5 or $10 bucks is better than selling nothing. Im not paying $18 bucks to sit in the cheapest seat on a tuesday night against Colorado. And damn… lower the concession prices! Make it somewhat affordable to attend a game.
The thing to remember is seats and parking arent costing the Mets anything whether they are full or empty. It would be a lot better to have a lot of tickets sold and a lot people paying for parking than not. Concession items are marked up 4x-6x. Lower the profit margin on certain items. They will still make a hefty profit.
Great comment about getting more fans in the place if they lowered parking.I have been annoyed for 3 years to pay 19 bucks every time i go to a game.Another way you could do it is with tiered parking much like tiered seating.The farther you are in the parking lot the less u pay, etc.I read that in Comerica field in Detroit they have the farthest sections prriced at $5 to park.Of course, that would take an owner who cared about the fans and could think outside the box.Don’t hold your breath
Personally, I never did get all the fuss over restaurants, games, pools and other assorted distractions built into all baseball stadiums lately. I go to the stadium to WATCH THE GAME. Good, bad or indifferent, I want to sit with other fans, cheer/boo and WATCH THE GAME. If I want to eat out, I’ll go to a restaurant. If I want to play a game, I can play at home or go to an amusement park or arcade.
Your point is well taken, but I doubt any one player can “save” the Mets. Wasn’t that Jason Bay’s job when he came?
I’m more concerned about keeping Wright at this point. I dont even know if that’s possible when the front office is more interested in low cost options at every position like the Oakland A’s.
2 words: Karaoke Night
The only thing that will get the fans back is a new owner. That’s not going to happen until 2014 or 2015 at the earliest. Sandy Alderson was brought in here to cut payroll costs. The Wilpons are looking at the debt re-fi options on their big payments for the stadium, team and SNY for the next couple of years. Even with the Madoff thing behind them, folks, it’s still about the money. There will be no relief. There will only be a commitment to mediocrity that defines the Wilpon/Katz philosophy. Do what I do. I now spend my money on seeing the Mets on the road… going to Washington this weekend. Got tickets to see ‘em in Philly all season. I’m hopeful of a real exotic road trip next year to the West Coast or Miami. That’s money I could have spent at Citi Field. I won’t give it to the Wilpons anymore.
You do understand how revenue sharing works, right?
Here is what I dont get. For 31 of 32 years the Wilpons spent more than the NL average on payroll and were in the top five for 26 years. What makes you think any owner can come in and do that in this economy? You want to say they hired bad GM’s well the truth is they are 50/50 like most other owners. I dont get this fascination that the Wilpons are why Ike Davis and Jason Bay underwhelmed or why Johan Santana, Billy Wagner and John Maine had to have shoulder surgery I really cant make that connection as easily as most of you can. I simply don’t see it.
Exactly. The Wilpons have many faults, but cheap and not caring were never among them.
Yet that fact never stops you slurpers from blaming Wilpon for Sandy’s lack of getting anyone good using Money as the excuse!
Funny the Yankees have Twice the Payroll we do, outdraw us by 14.3K per game and they are in the same exact economy and market the Mets are in!
Are you really comparing the Yankees pocket book with the Mets? LOL.
The Yankee brand is the most recognized sports brand in the world.
As you stated, they put more fans in the seats.
Not hard to figure out why they have money – even though they’ve got the highest payroll in the MLB.
Really? Was it always that way?
Were the Yankees the team in 1986?
If what you say is true why haven’t they been the highest spender for all of baseball history?
You seem to think they have money coming in that the Mets could never hope to get?
Maybe if the Mets dedicated themselves to winning as much as the Yankees have all these years the mets would have all the same revenue opportunitites you seem to think the Yankees have!
“You seem to think they have money coming in that the Mets could never hope to get?”
I mean you have to be kidding me. Can you please just let the Mets be the Mets and stop pretending they are on par with the YANKEE BRAND just because they play in NY?
The Yankees are a marketers wet dream. They are an iconic brand name. Nobody will ever be Manchester United in soccer, just like nobody will ever match what the Yankees bring in.
The world is different in 2012 than it was in 1986.
Heck the White Sox have dominated the Cubs in the standings, including a WS and the Cubs are still #1 in that market, no matter what.
The Angels have bested the Dodgers for how long now? Dodgers still #1 in the market.
The Mets are not the Yankees, they won’t ever bring in $ like the Yankees do so just move along.
Spoken like the Immature kids who wasn’t really alive and cognizant due to a big nipple obscuring what was going on around in the world in 1986!
The Yankee brand was WORTHLESS until Stienbrenner started spending to make the best teams possible!
The Mets outdrew them in the 80′s the Yakees were where we are today!
But you were too young to remember that aren’t you?
Just another example of a kid who thinks his short years on this planet is enough to make him know it all and that what he has seen all his life is what has been all through history!
If you had the experience of living through the 60′s and 80′s you would know the Yankee brand was REBUILT by Steinbrenner which means we could build it too!
We both have the same market and while they have a history the ones who all remember that history are dead and the majority of thier fans were like you Breast feeding back in 1986 and don’t know there was a time when the Mets owned the City in the late 60′s early 70′s and mid 80′s!
Wilpons have never been cheap – and I really believe Fred is a fan and wants to win.
The reality right now – IMO – is they can no longer really afford to own a MLB team – not one in NY anyway.
There are owners out there with deep pockets right now. We just don’t happen to have one of them.
Srt
Can you do us all a favor and list all the owners who have had to pay money above thier revenue intake to pay for the team they have?
Please I would really love to see how Deep Pockets is what is helping other teams spend money compared to us who needs a deep pocket owner to field our team…
I would love to see a list of the teams people think are spending thier owner’s personal money to have the team they have as opposed to those who don’t need thier owner to subsidize thier operation because they make enough money to pay thier bills without having to have their owners write checks out to subsidize a money losing business.
NONE!!!! Metsie
Frank McCourt sold the Dodgers and left way better off finacially than when he purchased the team. He left richer and the Dodgers didnt do crap while he was the owner. And the Wilpons are in the best baseball market in the country.
THIS! LOL
Correct Answer!
The NY METS are the only team who lost money last year and needed thier owners to rescue them from defaulting on thier bill paying.
And if the owners were as broke as everyone suggests then they would have not had the 70 Mil the Bills (Plus interest of the bridge loan they took) and the team would have been sold off by now!
People think the owners should be in the business of spending thier millions on entertaining us!
Thats not a Business thats a Charity!
These guys all talk about Business to excuse the lack of trying to be competitive…
But what they really think it should be is a Charity that Wilpon should spend his own money to make them happy despite the fact they are the reason the bills aren’t getting paid in the first place!
The new Dodger ownership has no problem spending money.
The Yankees the same.
The Nats have deep pockets.
The Angels spent projected money to get Pulols and others – based on that TV contract they’re soon going to sign.
That’s just off the top of my head. I’m too lazy to do research for others.
Believe I read where the Phillies are getting a new gazillion dollar TV contract too for 2014, and they were going to tread water and try and get under the luxury tax for next season.
Thats right but you thats not because thier owners have lots of thier own money to spend it’s because thier teams make money and draw fans because they HAVE SPENT on players people want to see!
How much do the Dodger owners subsidize thier team’s Payroll?
Please show us how much money the team as an entity lost that their owners had to foot the bill and pay the difference from thier own wealth!
Leroy had the correct answer…
the NY METS are the ONLY team last year who lost money and had to have thier owner pay the bills to cover the losses!
If they were really as broke as you think they would have not been able to pay those bills and lost the team by now!
No other team needs a deep pocket owner to help pay the bills!
And if the mets didn’t have an Front Office who did more to drive people away from attending the Mets wouldn’t need on either!
I don’t believe that’s the case with either the Yankees or the Nats.
As I said, don’t know the status with most other teams. Just know these few off the top of my head – either have deep pockets or are banking on near future expected boatload of revenues.
The Mets….not so much. We slashed payroll and I see no evidence the Wilpon’s Mets will be in any better financial shape next season they they are this season.
So you think both the Yankees and Nats are spending more than they make which is why they have good team?
Is that what you are claiming because thats the question I asked you to name.
teams that are spending more than they make in attendance REQUIRING a deep pocket owner to spend his own money to keep them where they are and paying the bills…
I believe more than one club is investing in their team – yes, spending more – in hopes of seeing the return on that.
Sometimes, you have to spend money to make money.
With all the money the Wilpon’ s Mets owe out right now, I don’t see anyway on this green earth where they’re going to spend what they don’t have right now. And no, I don’t think there is anyway they’re digging into their own pockets to do it. Heck….with the state of reality market right now – which is where they made/make most of their money – I don’t know if they’ve been making any money there either.
That’s really all I was saying.
Please name the teams you believe are losing money and being paid for by the Owner’s personal wealth.
Yes you have to spend money to make money….
But you don’t have to spend the owners money because as I have tried to tell you time and time again, Buy a good player and he draws enough to pay for himself and then some!
Proof look no further than 2005 where they only won 12 more games than 2004 but drew 6.3K more per game without Wilpon signing a single check to pay the bills!
Metsie, I never said anything about teams that were losing money and being funded by an owner’s personal wealth.
But SRT that precisely whatyou seem to be sugesting needs to be the case when you say:
“There are owners out there with deep pockets right now. We just don’t happen to have one of them”
There may be lots of owners with deep pockets who own major league baseball teams but none of the owners needs those deep pockets to spend on thier team.
Which is the point I’m trying to get accross here.
The problem isn’t that the Wilpons are unwilling or can’t spend money because spending money isn’t about how much they have but how much the team makes!
And what you make is dependent on what you spend to make the team promising and hopeful!
And if you spend to do that the money you spent is offset by the money you made with profit and interest.
The Yankees didn’t spend like crazy merely because the Owner had a lot of money he had nothing to do with.
They spent like crazy because it was the spending on great players that filled the seats and paid for all the spending!
Now at some point you have to stop spending MORE because your stadium can’t increase the revenue anymore due to the fact you sold out the seats.
And in that case having a rich owner might help you go slightly over budget to win and maintain that attendance in the short term.
But we are no where near that point yet and anything we spent could be easily translated into dollars that do not have to come from the Wilpons bank account!
All we have to do is go after and spend on a player that people want to see. They will go to see him and they will pay the freight he cost us to get him.
Thats what all the other MLB teams do!
They will spend to make money and the only time they should think about how MUCh they spend is when they spend and draw to a point where increasing revenue due to ticket sales is no longer available to them!
Then you look to purge a 25 Mil all star to get a 10 Mil almost as good as him guy.
Spending money and spending is wisely are two different things. Spending it on “names” with no concept of building a good team to just sell tickets is useless to fans who want another World Series. Besides that they are crooks who are in bed with swindlers who care more about real estate development than baseball…IMHO.
The likelihood that the Mets could even entice Hamilton to play for them is remote. Frankly, they would probably be his last choice among all MLB teams. He is clearly not a NYC guy and if he wanted to play in NY at all, it would be with the Yankees. Plus, do you really think the Mets would offer the over $100 million it would take to sign him when they have to pay Bay and Santana and hope to sign Wright and Dickey ?
First of all, the Rangers would have to be insane to let him go. He’s the feel good story of the decade and a tremendous player.
Second, we have no idea what he would want. He may want to stay in that area or go out west or something.
Third, he’s in his thirties and has a habit of going face first into outfield walls. I’d be concerned about that.
Hamilton is currently a great player. Hamilton is exactly who the Mets need to stay away from. Wrong side of 30, injury prone, expensive, and that little substance abuse issue hanging over his head. NYC would probably kill him. I disagree with the assertion that the Mets have a bunch of developing talent. Their outfield is horrendous both hitting and fielding, their catcher is bad…and there is nobody on the way, 2b is a void defensively, 1b is in question until Ike can prove himself. This year raised more questions than answers about him. You have Tejada, Wright and Dickey, and maybe Ike….the rest is in need or serious repair. One guy isn’t going to do it and with the horrible ownership we currently enjoy I doubt much help is coming soon. They will try to sell us on Wheeler, Harvey and a couple of other “arms.” Duda, Capt Kirk, etc are 4th outfielders. The Mets system has a guy ranked as its 7th best prospect who projects at the high end to be a 4th outfielder. Marvelous. Other than the pitchers and maybe some youngsters far away from the bigs at this stage, there is no real high impact help on the way so one guy isn’t the answer. Maybe seven guys!!! A high end starter, two relievers, three outfielders and a catcher. Then we can talk LOL.
As I have tried to impress upon the folks here time and time again….
The issue with Attendance and profitability is all about the HOPE of a winning season and competitive baseball.
Not during the season but in the offseason where Season Ticket are purchased and set the guaranteed majority of your revenue.
While everyone is so interested in complainaing about the Wilpons inability to pump thier own personal wealth into a non-profitable business, they never stop to think that no owner should ever have to pump his own money into a team just to sign good players. The Steinbrenners with the highest payroll in baseball has never once had to go into thier own pocket or checking account to restock and improve thier team! NOT ONCE!
They draw over 43K attendance per game while we draw somewhere just north of 28K.
Was it all thier winning that has done that? I suppose you could say that but will point out that they only drew 23K and 28K in 1995 and 1996 years that they made the LDS and Won the first of thier many World Series appearances. So it’s not just the winning that brings people to the stands.
in 2004 we had an attendance which is about the same as we have today. and we won nothing in 2004 with a 71-91 record on the season yet in 2005 the attendance jumped from that 28K to 34K and it sure wasnt’t those extra 12 wins that made that possible!
It was all about what happened in December and then again in January that made ticket sales jump approximatly 6K in the matter of an offseason!
Sign someone who is really good and gives hope for a good season and people will pony up to see that entire season as opposed to the wait for the winning that might inspire someone to go to an extra game or two than before but will not get you that full season of revenue you need to ensure your team is on a stable financial footing!
Look at this team and what the fans say about it. We are relying on Kids who many think aren’t special and are unproven enough to go buy into a full season despite the fact they agree with the concept of relying only on Unproven kids who may or may not be special as a way to build your team!
If you believe thats the way to go then you should put your money where your mouth is and start buying those season tickets so that there is money in the coffers to go and get those kids some help.
Look around this team and roster and there isn’t a single player that the entire Met Fanbase agrees is a good player (Even David Wright gets debated here!) and even if you think Wright and Dickey is accepted as great baseball players no one believes they are good enough to make this team good enough to plunk thier cash down on a season ticket.
So how do you solve this?
GO and get a big name to draw the fans, give them hope and pray that enough fans are given enough hope and have enough money to buy those season tickets that pay the majority of the bills!
The Belt tightening approach only works if sales are good but just short of profitability and there are expenditures that do not directly relate to those sales figures that can be purged without hurting revenues. Belt tightening usually is about reducing the extra layers of management, Making fewer office emloyees do more for the same money they already make allowing you to reduce staff!
Belt tightening is never about cutting marketing or selling cheaper product because what you save there is offset by the reduced sales that result. In the business workld it is called chasing your tail!
We had a salary just south of 150Mil in 2009. Yet the team as a business didn’t lose a penny!We didn’t win but we drew 39K to the stadium anyway!
If Beltran had been allowed to have his surgery at the time he got hurt he might not have been lost for half the 2010 season, Might not have struggled as much during the prime drawing period of July and August and maybe would have been enough to get those who remained as season ticket holders to reup for 2011.
We Reduced Salary in 2010 from 149.3M to 134.4M and lost 50 Million in revenue and we lost 7.5K in attendance per game
We then reduced Salary an additional 15.6 Mil and wound up losing 70 Mil for our efforts due to another drop in attendance of 2.6K per game!
Anyone see a pattern in those figures?
This year we cut an additional 25.5 mil and are on a pace to have lost about 5K more in attendance. Think we are going to turn a profit this year and solve anything regarding the financial state of this team?
Has being cheap actually allowed us to maintain our sales while reducing our overhead?
HARDLY!
You have to give the fans hope and it doesn’t mean just go and sign the best free Agent available every year but thats IS one way to keep people buying.
It also means you have to give them hope whenever you address them and not make statments to the press saying:
1 – This team is not ready to go after a playoff
2 – We are shooting for a few years from now (leading them to say ok I’ll wait to buy till that day comes)
3 – Sign no name cast offs as your only major move for an entire offseason around the time people are deciding should I buy season tickets or not
4 – Make jokes about how broke the team is and needing tire sales on the way to florida when what you should be tweeting is “Looking forward to the Winter meeetings to see if we can improve this team enough to make the season a full one”
5 – giving up on the team two consecutive July’s in a row without lifting even one finger to try and improve what makes you feel the season is hopeless.
6 – By letting the few players people wanted to see go in the name of the bank balance of an Owner none of the fans really like much
7 – By not vascilating whenever the two allstars that remain on your team are brought up about extending them to a longer term contract.
8 – By not reversing yourself on what you said a week ago leading the fans to think that you really are just guessing from one hour to the next on what your plan is.
9 – By not trying out the same guys you deemed failed weeks ago hoping that doing the same thing over and over will lead to a different result. Einstien said that is the definition of INSANITY!
10 – Stop whining to the press about how bad things are and start making them BETTER even if it is a lie so that you might sucker more fans to pony up those ticket sales you keep complaining about not having a stifling your ability to build a good team that no one else seems to have a problem building or spending on!
This was meant to be sent as a fan post but since it fits so well with what Mitch was talking about I decided this was easier for all involved.
Sorry for the length!
I’m with you Metsie…very well said
Amazin’ Solutions: How To Get Fans Back In The Seats At Citi Field”
FREE TICKETS!
I have another marketing plan that might help next year…
Double the ticket prices for Lizards but tell them it’s all you can eat crickets!
I get offered free tickets all the time and still don’t go lol
If they just paid fans a dollar a game to go see them they might make a ton of money just selling $5 Dollar Footlongs at Subway for $15!
As my post above was trying to illustrate this is a signing that this team should be looking for to put people back in the stands.
You get a player that gives people hope and they will come back to the stands your revenue will go up and you won’t need to worry about the bookeeping just what the next move you can make to improve the team is because Money is no longer your focus!
I wouldnt touch Hamilton he’d be out every night in NYC smoking crack junky overload….besides he doesnt fit the Wilpons criteria of what a Met should be….A choir boy! doesnt matter if he can play or not but is he a nice guy whom does charities and smiles for the Camera
If the wilpons owned a football team they’d let Drew Brees walk to sign Tim tebow
Mets will sell record breaking ticket prices if the Wilpons had a press conference tomorrow stating they were selling the team.
BBLB, That last sentence is very cryptic.I have an idea how to get a sellout.Advertise some 5 cent beer nights.Maybe everyone will get tanked up and rip the place down.Than we don’t have to watch anymore.thie year.
Citi Field is like some damned carnival complete with the freak show in our outfielld.