Mets worst of the worst at the ticket booth
Attendance is down throughout the league and while there are some winners, there are also a handful of losers. The worst of the worst are the New York Mets, who have sold 6,852 fewer tickets per game then they did last year in their inaugural season at Citi Field. That’s way down from their last season at Shea Stadium when they got over the 4 million mark. That average should go up as the weather improves but they're on pace to average fewer than 2.5 million and their chances of getting back to the 3 million mark are remote.
Right behind them are the struggling Cleveland Indians. In the 1990s, they set the record for consecutive sellouts (which has been broken by the Boston Red Sox) and now they find themselves at the bottom of the attendance list.
The Twins are at the top as far as increases. With the opening of Target Field, 14,129 more fans per game are buying tickets. Overall, the Twins are sixth in baseball.
Mets offer fans tours of Citi Field
I’m not sure if the Mets are just looking for new revenue streams because of their declining attendance, but they’re offering tours of their new(er) ballpark beginning Memorial Day weekend. Fans will get to take a look at the press box and production areas as well getting to go out on the field. Ticket prices are reasonable ($10 for adults) and I’m wondering if Comerica Park offers something like this because while I’ve been out on the field, I’ve never seen some of the behind-the-scenes areas like the press box.
Mets want Islanders as next door neighbors
The Mets are in the news quite a bit this week. This time it’s because the team’s chief operating officer, Jeff Wilpon, confirmed that he’s spoken to the NHL’s New York Islanders about bringing the team next door to Citi Field in Queens. There’s also some speculation that the Islanders may be sold and that the Mets could be who buys them. For now though, a lot of this is just talk and nothing solid has been presented to Queens.
Texas Rangers stalemate
The Texas Rangers have been in the news quite a bit the last couple of weeks because of the hang-ups in the sale of the team. In a good summary, Richard Sandomir gives a run down of what’s happened so far with MLB Commissioner Bud Selig spelling out his “best interests” powers to try to expedite the sale. The sale is being held up because current owner Tom Hicks’ creditors think the teams is being sold for less than what it’s worth.
Former Commissioner Fay Vincent has already opined that the “best interests” clause wasn’t intended to be used against lenders and economist and author Andrew Zimbalist said the rule doesn’t even apply because it’s supposed to be used for internal matters within the league. At this point, it appears that the creditors are pressing the league to allow a new bidder to come into the fold. That way they can recoup some of their losses and if a better bid didn’t materialize then they’d accept the offer made by the group led by Chuck Greenberg.
Brewers extend PDC with Brevard County
The Milwaukee Brewers extended their player development contract with the Brevard County Manatees through the 2012 season. Brevard County plays in the Florida State League and they’ve been a Brewers affiliate since 2005. Prior to that, they were affiliates of the Florida Marlins and the Montreal Expos.
Brian Borawski is a member of SABR's Business of Baseball Committee and writes about the Detroit Tigers at his own website, TigerBlog. He welcomes comments, questions and suggestions via e-mail.
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