You may recall that Steve Cohen once said, ““We have learned through three years of conversations with the people who live and work in Queens that serving the interests of the communities surrounding Citi Field must be at the center of this project,”

Well Steve, the cats need you.

The New York Post reports

Living in the dust of the Iron Triangle just steps from Citi Field, a colony of grimy and malnourished cats have called the neighborhood home for nearly a century.

As many as 100 felines have already been pushed out of the fields and into the shrinking auto body sector, which is expected to be the next chunk of land leveled to make room for the incoming soccer stadium, retail haven and residential space.

Further displacement would mean marching them to certain doom, animal activists warn. 

“They have nowhere to go but to their death. Nowhere to go,” Regina Massaro, the founder of Spay Neuter Intervention Project (SNIP) NYC. (via NY Post)

Steve Cohen, not just the owner, but also a fan of Mets history must remember that in 1969 a cat helped jinx the Cubs.  The Mets and cats go back 5 decades!

Surely Steve will not leave the cats to fend for themselves when a nice healthy check (“lunch money” for the sort of fellow who has been known to wrote large checks) could help these cats.

Nice job by the Post bringing this issue to light, and hopefully this makes Mr. Cohen’s radar.  After all..

, Bryan Kortis of Neighborhood Cats emphasized that hope is not yet lost — but said someone needs to take action before the cats leave on their own and spread the problem elsewhere.

“When you have that type of displacement, and there’s no strategy, there’s no management, it’s just whatever happens that happens to them. They don’t stick around and wait for the bulldozers to kill them; they’re gonna disperse. And they’re gonna disperse to wherever the closest food source and shelter that they can find,” (Bryan) Kortis told The Post.

 

Let’s see…

Winning Streak, check!

Cool Black Uniforms, check!

Everyone loves Lindor and he loves us!

LGM with some extra letters.  Extend Pete.  10 more years.

Fun viral OMG thing

The Grimace.

And yet…. 25,000 on a nice Friday night.

Steve – you broke the place.  I have been telling you this for a year now.  Keep ignoring me.  You had 25,000.

But don’t worry Steve, the NY Post carried the Mets’ water:

They are expecting the crowd’s roar — and its crooning — to grow louder.

“We expect to approach the high [30,000s], potential sellouts, especially those last two games against the Phillies [two weekends from now],” Jake Bye, the Mets’ senior VP of ticketing, said over the phone Thursday. “… We have some pretty sophisticated predictive models, and all signs point to having larger crowds than we’ve had in probably decades for these September series, which is really exciting.” (via NY Post)

Jake, Jake, Jake – listen to yourself.  You’re in a playoff race, even if it is expanded playoffs, and you’re talking about having the building with 7000-8000 empty seats.  You sound like a crazy person.

The Pos,t continuing to make excuses, pointed out that “Citi Field was far emptier earlier this year, bringing in an average of 24,071 through the first 24 games of the season. Maybe it was the colder-than-usual April weather.”

Yeah wow I can’t believe they were only average 24 with all that cold weather. Now it’s up to……checks attendance…… 25!  Wow.

Mr. Bye, continuing to sound like a crazy person told the Post,  “…fortunately, the viral stuff happened organically, we jumped on that. And we have an owner that lets us be creative and … make sure people have a world-class time and experience when they’re here.”

Which is a great story except….checks attendance… 25,000.

“We want to make the experience not reliant upon good baseball,” Bye said.

Well that’s good.

Look guys, there’s 15 years of blog posts you guys can read.  If you think OMG, black jerseys,  Grimace and a guy that told the fans to buzz off is the way to go, enjoy your 25,000.  You don;’t understand Mets fans.  You understand the CASUALS, but the casuals don’t stick around.  They never do.  What you’re finding out now is the people who were with you all along can’t even be bothered to come see an 8 game win streak.

Me?  Haven’t watched a single game all year.   Let me know when Lindor is gone.

Steve come on, this is embarrassing.

NEW YORK CITY

BINGHAMTON

My friends the Mets have a new ticketing idea…let’s see what this one is.

METS INTRODUCE METS FLEX, A NEW FLEXIBLE TICKET PLAN AS PART OF 2025 SEASON TICKET MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM

 

Mets Also Unveil New Creative Campaign Focusing on Making Memories at Mets Games

 

FLUSHING, N.Y., September 5, 2024 – The New York Mets today introduced Mets Flex, a new flexible ticket membership plan for the upcoming 2025 season. Mets Flex includes six different pricing tiers for fans and provides access to a range of marquee games during the 2025 season.

Based on market research and ongoing feedback from the Mets fan base, it became clear that fans desire to have greater control and flexibility around which games, and how many, to attend without being locked into a traditional, fixed season ticket package. With this flexible membership program, Mets fans can select from six different tiers and add a minimum spend to a “bank,” which can be used to buy tickets throughout the season at their convenience.

MY TAKE:  Over the years the Mets (to be fair, under previous ownership) go back and forth on this.  When sales are down, suddenly plans get thinner and you can flex.  When the Mets make the World Series suddenly it’s 20 game plans that are mostly what you want but also Tuesday night against the Marlins sucks to be you.

As for a “bank” – unless you’re particular about “your” seats and like sitting in “your” seats, I find that 100% of the time you are better off waiting and hitting the secondary market.

“Our general approach going forward is to be far more fan centric, enhancing our fans’ accessibility to games through structured discounts and the ability to sit in different areas around the ballpark for a customized experience,” said Jake Bye, Senior Vice President of Ticketing at the New York Mets. “This flexible option was something we heard consistently from Mets fans and using that feedback and the data research from our analytics team, we created multiple program tiers designed to give fans even more options to create a package that meets their unique needs.”

The 2025 season-ticket renewal period is currently open until September 16^th for existing members. Beginning today, new 2025 memberships will be available to purchase. Single game tickets and other packages are subject to dynamic pricing and will be available at a future date.  Benefits of being a season ticket member include early access to Citi Field special events; food, beverage and parking discounts; the convenience of preemptively exchanging tickets; Post Season access, and access to exclusive experiences and events throughout the year.

Memories are Stories Waiting to be Told

Further supporting the season ticket renewal window and the new Mets Flex plan, the Mets have also introduced a new creative campaign which will be running across digital, social and linear television. Leaning into the nostalgia of baseball, the new short film and commercial spots focus on the life-long memories that are created at Mets games, whether that be an iconic moment on field or connecting with friends and family in the stands. Watch the full spot here.

MY TAKE: The sentiment here is on point.  Nice job.  Whoever hired the “actors” should be fired because almost everybody seems fake (the pizzeria guy seems real.)  Some terrible acting.

“Going to a baseball game is more than just a sport. It’s a collection of moments, stories and experiences that bring people together in unique ways and create lasting memories,” commented Andy Goldberg, Chief Marketing Officer, New York Mets. “These unforgettable memories become the stories we pass down to family and friends. This new campaign shows that it’s not always the play on the field, but the time spent with our family and friends that we remember most.”

The new making memories creative will begin going live today across social, digital and television.

Fans can learn more about the exciting opportunities to become part of the Mets Season Ticket Membership family with the Mets by visiting www.mets.com/memberships.

….

So not bad, but here’s the thing Mets – you’ve keyed your brand around this guy.  So even though most of my fellow fans will forgive anything as long as teh stats are good enough, my wallet is closed until he’s gone.   You cannot do this to the customers.  Believe someone when they tell you who they are.

I see what the Mets are trying to do here.  I mean, we all do, they tried to do a Rangers-meets-Mets style jersey.

The thing is, it doesn’t work with 4 letters.

it’s also accidentally dissing fans of the Islanders and Devils.

Now, had the Mets spent 15 seconds generating AI ideas, they could have done things like this.

or you know…this..

Best Owners in Sports.