Tag: Citi Field
Jackie Robinson
Citi Field Celebrates Jackie Robinson
The Mets and Citi Field will host the celebration of 62 years since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier of baseball. The Citi Field Jackie Robinson Rotunda will be officially dedicated tonight. I’ve been critical of the Mets creating Citi Field as a celebration of New York’s baseball history but forgetting about the Mets. But it is nice on Jackie Robinson Day to have Citi Field be the center of the baseball world, at least for a day.
In the past few seasons, commissioner Bud Selig allowed players to wear Jackie’s number 42 that was universally retired in 1997. Some players wore it, and even some complete teams even wore the number. But today all teams will wear number 42.
I could go on about what Robinson did for baseball and the United States. But the real story is that the game that all of us love so much wouldn’t be anything like it is today if it wasn’t for Robinson. Now we have the chance to watch the best players in the world, not just the best white players. We’re all benefitting from what Robinson did.
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- The Spark: “Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?” (dir.yahoo.com)
Video: ESPN Citi Field Tour
ESPN’s Jim Caple does a tour of Citi Field. If you’ve seen other video tours of Citi Field there really isn’t much new here. But its always interesting to see different vantage points in the stadium.
Citi Field- Harrah’s Casino Sponsorship Deal
The Mets are breaking a major taboo in professional sports by signing a sponsorship deal with Harrah’s Entertainment, better known as Harrah’s Casinos. The deal makes Harrah’s a Signature Partner at Citi Field. They’ll have an exclusive Caesar’s branded club space and a heavy presence throughout the stadium.
This just goes to show how desperate times have become to attract marketing dollars that the Mets would engage in such a deal with a gambling company. Gambling and professional sports mixing has to be a major concern for Major League Baseball Commisioner Bud Selig.
It wasn’t that long ago that Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were banned from baseball for taking jobs at casinos doing personal appearances. That was 1983 when commissioner Bowie Kuhn banned them. They were later reinstated by commissioner Peter Ueberroth but the gambling taboo remained. Of course, who could forget the Chicago White Sox being paid by gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds?
From The Biz of Baseball:
Fans throughout the season will experience a variety of programming from offers to Harrah’s owned casinos in Atlantic City to themed nights that bring simulate the experience of being at Harrah’s and Caesars to the New York Metropolitan area. On opening night April 13 at Citi Field, the Caesars Club will welcome baseball fans by hosting a DJ, providing fans with a commemorative gift, along with providing opportunities to take photos with iconic Caesars personalities.
Harrah’s has also signed on as the exclusive Casino partner for prominent in-venue signage at Citi Field, including presence atop Citi Field’s left field roof, first and third base rotationals, and identification throughout the concourses.
Harrah’s promotional rights extend to the Mets’ minor league affiliates at Tradition Field (Port St. Lucie, Fla., home of Mets Spring Training and the St. Lucie Mets) and KeySpan Park (Coney Island, N.Y., home of the Brooklyn Cyclones).
It’s incredible to me that the Mets would become this desperate to attract revenue. Maybe building a 42,000 seat stadium wasn’t such a good idea. If they had more gate revenue they wouldn’t have to stoop to this level.
Mets Spring Suffers Huge Loss
In the middle of the worst U.S. economy since the Great Depression, the Mets felt the effects more than any other team in the Florida Grapefruit League this spring according to a report in the NY Post. Tradition Field suffered a year over year loss of 16.3% in ticket sales this year. That’s an average of almost 1,000 fewer fans per game over their 16 game home schedule. Compare that to the Yankees loss of just 1.6% over last year’s spring ticket sales.
The Arizona Catcus League losses were even worse. From the NY Post:
Teams in the Cactus League in Arizona suffered far worse drops, however. The Padres’ attendance fell a whopping 30.8 percent, while Texas dropped 26.2 percent and the Angels 25.1 percent.
In my mind, this goes to show that the Mets organization severely underestimated the effect that the current economy would have on spring attendance. They should have adjusted ticket prices and promotions to compensate for the environmental factors that they were up against.
The Mets didn’t bring in any “big splash” free agents that would draw fans to Tradition Field. Francisco Rodriuguez doesn’t really qualify in the same way that CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira did for the Yankees. Hopefully, the Mets learned a lesson the hard way and will apply what they learned to the high-end ticket prices this season at Citi Field.
Mets Top Stories- 4.6.09
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I’m sure, like me, that many of you watched Derek Lowe and the Braves put the hammer down on the Phillies. Lowe threw eight shutout innings of 2-hit ball. Of course, the dreaded comparisons of Lowe and Oliver Perez are coming out already. Why didn’t the Mets sign Lowe instead of Perez? We already know why. Perez is nine years younger and costs $24 million less than Lowe.
Onto the top stories of the morning:
CBS Sports has a good recap of the opening night game the Phillies and Braves put on last night. Of course, Derek Lowe was masterful and Jordan Schafer hit a homer in his first major league at-bat. Who says kids shouldn’t do HGH?
Kevin McCarthy of Metsopolis writes a preview of the Reds-Mets series starting the season in Cincinnati.
Mets Prospect Hub posts the opening day roster for the 2009 Binghamton Mets.
Ben Shipgel of the New York Times writes about Johan Santana‘s increased comfort level with the Mets this season. He’s become more of a vocal leader with the departure of Pedro Martinez and is fitting in well in the locker room.
Sarah Green from Ump Bump has a good photo essay of her day at Citi Field on Saturday.
Darren Rovell of CNBC writes that the Citigroup executives will be conspicuously absent on opening day at Citi Field. They won’t be throwing out the first pitch as you would have expected a year ago. If they’re at the game at all, they’ll be hiding in their luxury boxes.
Mike Steffanos of Mike’s Mets writes the first part of his Key to the Mets for 2009 series. At the top of the list is the fact that the honeymoon is over for Jerry Manuel.
The Mets Report 