In a follow-up to the S&P story making the rounds today, the New York Times reported that according to S&P the Mets project a better than 10% increase in attendance for the 2012 season.
S.&P. also described as “aggressive” the team’s preliminary projection that attendance will rise to 2.5 million in 2012 from 2.29 million last season. It said attendance was likely to keep falling and that a third of its luxury suites are up for renewal in 2012.
And here I thought I was the optimistic one…
Original Post 12/28
According to Mike Ozanian of Forbes, Citi Field had its rating outlook downgraded to negative by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services today.
The Mets and SportsNet New York, the regional sports network that is 65% owned by the MLB team, have almost $900 million of debt coming due on the two properties by 2015. In addition, the Mets, who lost $70 million after debt payments in 2011, must pay over $40 million a year in PILOT bond payments from stadium revenue. Attendance at Citi Field fell in 2011 and is likely to fall again in 2012 as the team is cutting payroll and lost its best player, shortstop Jose Reyes, to the Miami Marlins after this past season.
Forbes also reports that the Mets have yet to sell any of the ten 4% stakes in the team they have been trying to sell for over six months. Each stake is available for $20 million to new investors.
