I love the Mets. They are the greatest topic ever to blog about.
Not only do you get at least 162 new topics every year, they are always willing to provide a soap opera.
So far this morning, CharlieSamuelsGate is back – and you know that’s going to end well with everyone’s hands being clean – and the Times brings up that maybe perhaps the Wilpons had some financial problems even before the lawsuit:
For instance, revenue from about 10,600 club seats and suites and from advertising and concessions dedicated to paying off the Mets’ new $800 million home, Citi Field, fell tens of millions of dollars short of forecasts made just two months before the season began in 2009. That was followed by a nearly 20 percent decline in attendance in 2010 and a resulting slide in revenue that was compounded by an increase in stadium bond payments.
Well that’s unlucky isn’t it?
…
On twitter last night there was an interesting premise: would the Mets be in better financial shape had they stayed at Shea? I imagine (unresearched) they would be drawing around two million, but maybe without the stadium financing they wouldn’t be hamstrung?
Then again picture the mood of the fan base with two collapses and two disasters without Shea Goodbye and obstructed views at Citi Field to distract.
They’d be in worse shape, revenue wise, if they hadn’t built Citi. Sure, maybe they don’t have as much debt, but tons of people bought season tickets going into 2009. (and 2008 in anticipation)
The Mets drew 3.5 million in 2008, they don’t top 3 (if that) if not for Shea Goodbye.
Remember the end of 2009 and 2010 when they sold 20k tickets and like 10k people showed up? It’d be more like they sold 10k tickets and 5k people showed up.
Can you imagine going to Shea late in 2009 with guys like Alex Cora playing? wading through the stagnant water on the concourse to get a cold hot dog and missing half the game (that sucked anyway) because the cashier’s credit swiper doesn’t work and their don’t have enough bathrooms?
It all flows from the product on the field. If the Wilpons had been competent at putting a good product on the field, revenue wouldn’t have fallen short.
Remember that by the end of 2009, you could routinely get tickets for below face value on StubHub. That means that any tickets not sold well in advance weren’t getting sold at all. It also meant that a lot of those already-sold tickets were going unused, and an unused ticket means zero concessions revenue.
In order to be able to pay off the ballpark, the Wilpons don’t just need to get people to buy tickets in advance, but they need to have a sufficiently compelling product on the field that people can’t wait to use the tickets they’ve bought, and certainly don’t regret doing so.
After four consecutive seasons of either late season collapses or consistently poor play that precluded the possibility of a late season collapse, Mets fans aren’t just going to take the Wilpons’ word for it that things will be better this time around. The only way to have sold out games in September is to be in first place in September. June just won’t cut it…