There is an old saying that it is far more expensive to gain new customers rather than keeping the existing ones.
It looks to me like the Mets PR team got stressed that the Dance Team is being mocked, and they got the Post to do some cleaning up for them.
Per the Post, MetsVP of Brand Marketing Trisha Donlin, whose Linkedin tells us – My extensive experience in content production, particularly on TikTok and Reels, aligns seamlessly with the dynamic vision for the New York Mets – said…
“I had to think about what makes Queens, Queens and what makes New York, New York,” Donlin said over the phone Sunday. “That’s where I thought about diversity, different performance styles, street dancing. Looking at subway performers, looking at the fact that we have the greatest talent pool in the United States with Broadway. All of that played into the identity of this team.”
The team — led by head coach Gina Mormando, a choreographer and dance mentor for more than 20 years on Long Island — will perform before games and between innings, including during the T-shirt toss and seventh-inning stretch.
There will be times when the dancers are in the aisles with routines more freestyle than choreographed.
Now what’s interesting to me there, is the Mets seem to think they are a baseball team for Queens.
Obviously The Mets have great research about their own fanbase, but based on what I know about the fanbase by the Eyeball Test – I think they are overplaying this Queens thing, and I am FROM Queens.
I found this from 1998, attributed to The City Of New York, which had 15% of the fans being in Queens. Obviously, that’s from last century and a lot can change in 25 years. That study, again a quarter century old, had 26% of the fans from Long Island, which seems right to me.
The New York Times covered some frontrunnerism in 2015 – and tat too suggested a Nassau fanbase. But again, the Mets should have some actual data on where the ticket-buyers live.
The Mets have done this sort of thing in the past. There was the Los Mets initiative. There was the time they were going to tap into the “Asian market” in Flushing. What the Mets like to do is ignore the people that actually like the product.
“Of course you’re going to have long-standing fans that don’t want change,” Donlin said. “But we’re really optimistic that people are going to embrace this because the talent is really undeniable. This team sucks you in in a big way.
“It’s going to rally the crowd in a big way. … I think fans will see what we see.”
The Post also took some time in the article to wax Steve’s car, as a former coworker used to phrase things. I find the entire article curious, but to me it seems like someone in the organization wasn’t happy with the buzz, and told the PR team to pick up the phone and the Post played along.
I continue to have my speculation as to who is behind this and why Steve is feisty about it. Time will tell.
I will also be curious to see how Gary and Howie handle this.
And one more thought – what’s this franchise going to be like after a summer in which the fans turn on Steve, AND Steve doesn’t get his casino. Will he get bored with that project and get kind of hands off, while the dance team people run the show?
