At Saturday’s QBC I had the pleasure of hosting the annual Meet The Mets Executives panel once again joined by Mark Fine, Executive Director of Marketing, Will Carafello, the best social media guy in the game, Sr. Director of Social Media aka @mets, and my first time with Kenny Kaperda Executive Director of Ticket Sales.
I scribbled a few notes on my prep-sheet, so let’s see thoughts I can shake loose of my brain this morning. I’m still fighting off The Virus and at this hour have a splitting headache and am squinting to type this.
6:40 Starts – Kenny said that their research shows…I am paraphrasing here….that most fans show up in that last half hour before the game and that most travel by car. So while they see why it might work for Brand Y to try 6:40’s, the thought is that it would create a stress point on the car going Mets fan. I’m majorly paraphrasing there, but that was the gist. They also have discussed 7:05 starts.
Seaver Statue – @Medigaoon had armed me with what used to be a Tom Seaver figurine, now painted gold, so I sprung it on Mark Fine. While I did not get the vibe that a statue is in the cards, Mark suggested that Something Seaver Related is coming down the pike as part of the 1969 festivities. Now before you all run with that, keep in mind that there’s nothing definite there, and keep in mind that what a lot of us hear in the back channels is that Tom is not well….so if you’re imagining some sort of Seaverpalooza I think, unfortunately, you need to temper your expectations and be happy if you get a Tom waves to the crowd.
The Wilpon Dome – as we head into season 11 at Citi Field (wow)I asked if the park could somehow be middle aged already? These Mets Executives have no sense that the Mets will be moving to another stadium.
Spoilers – we had a good chat about spoilers, cord-cutters, and the laws of physics and Will explained the challenges of speaking to different audiences, whether that being Mr. Met saying “lit” or waiting two minutes to post a HR and then getting yelled at by people who say that clip is from two minutes ago. To me, Twitter Itself needs to add a “live sports delay” option. Fortunately the Twitter for Mac now delays tweets, although that just seems to be annoying rather than a feature.
What’s New At Citi Field? That will be announced on March 21st.
Why won’t they sign (insert player here)? I asked the question because you guys accuse me of being a sellout. Mark reminded me that he is not the General Manager, but he did have really great things to say about Wags. But no, Mark Fine, executive Director of Marketing will not be signing free agents.
Now for this next section I want to parse language. There are phrases we all use, and they can be misinterpreted. Phrases like “talked about” “considered” “no plans yet.”
Example – @Ceetar and I did consider starting a blog about an MLB Expansion Team. We talked about it on Saturday. Now I will point out that there is no expansion team, and if there is one it doesn’t necessarily mean that I will go through with it.
Example – no plans yet. I have no plans yet on what I will have for dinner. I have no plans yet on which video games I will play all afternoon. That being said, it is likely I will eat dinner AND play video games. I have not yet discussed this with anyone and have no plans yet.
OK got the preamble…
Honoring the 2000 Team in 2020. There are no plans yet. CALM DOWN DID YOU NOT JUST READ WHAT I WROTE. I didn’t say the Mets are not honoring 2000, I just said there are no plans yet. They are aware of the anniversary.
The 20th Anniversary of the Mercury Mets – The Mets do not plan to do anything on field. They may do something on social. I even asked if there was any amount of nagging I could do to change their minds. There is not.
Again, thanks to Kenny, Will and Mark for coming by. Double thanks to Will for even talking to me as I razz @mets twice a day.
…
I updated this post on 3/8 to fix two typos. I did not change the meat or meaning of the text.
