Good morning.
I write this kind of
post once a year around this time in the off-season. I think it is time again.
I spend a fair amount
of time on Twitter, reading what my 700+ Mets followers say about the team they
love and follow. Frankly, there isn’t much being said nicely.
The hate level is
getting close to what I used to see when the fan base targeted their venom on
the Wilpon family, demanding them to sell the team. Remember that billboard that
was taken out behind CitiField Stadium?
Teams like the Los
Angeles Angels and the New York Yankees just seem to be playing in a completely
different league than we do. Others are scooping up those released
International prospects that were set free from Atlanta. And all we have done
is sign a career minor league outfielder and a damaged ex-prospect pitcher.
I understand the fans
pain, but I never understand how they channel it. And, I try to remind them
every year that the only way they can influence this team as to how they
operate in the future is to take the steps necessary to let the Mets front
office know that they want more bang for their buck.
And we are talking
bucks here. That’s the only thing the Wilpons understand and I’m sure they
chuckle in their offices about how much money the fans spend on parking,
tickets, food, and merchandise while they bitch and moan about how the team is
run.
I try to remind
everyone how successful the guys over at 7-Line are, creating a Mets following.
It took time, but they got it done. Well, what about the reverse of this?
Why
can’t someone begin to create a rally outside CitiField to protest how this
team is operated? Why not lead a ban on the sale of merchandise at both the stadium
and online, plus tickets to the games? A half-filled stadium at home games will
create a two-fold result. One, it will give the press cameras a chance to show
the baseball world that the fans have had enough of this family, and secondly, it
will immediately take bucks out of the pockets of the family.
It’s too late to do
anything about this Hot Stove season. The Mets will not participate at any
level that will satisfy the Mets Twitter family and the projected team that
they will put on the Flushing field come spring will not be competitive enough
to make it to the World Series. In addition, it doesn’t look like they are
going to do enough to make this team a playoff contender in 2018.
That’s fine. Set your
goals for the 2019 season. There is going to be a very talented group of free
agents after the 2018 season and now is the time to begin the process of
emptying both the seats and the cash registers of the Mets stores and kiosks
(sorry 7-Line).
And don’t expect the
7-Line Army to join in with you here. They are now joined at hip with the
front office, with official promotional events and clothes rights inside the
stadium. They can’t play on both sides of the fence which is fine.
But… if one of you gets
that billboard back up… and another posts a picture on Twitter… bring in a
third to find 10 friends to march back and forth on the Shea Bridge (prepare to
be asked to leave) with protest signs, calling for a boycott of this team until
the front office invests the kind of money a team should do in the media’s
number one market... then those 10 people could grow to 20, then 50, and so on... and
the organized protest is on.
I’m telling you.
You and your fellow Mets fans can make the
difference here.
13 comments:
Organized protests are very effective, I agree.
If Mets' fans speak with their wallets, it will likely make a difference. A half empty CitiField
would certainly affect the bottom line, but would it be enough to get the Wilpons to act?
Sadly, I think the best chance we have as fans going forward will be with a different ownership
group (look at the Dodgers before and after spending habits as an example). I am not sure
how fans can get that to happen?
Mike
I don't get your logic. Wanting them to spend more is one thing, but a plan that gives them less to spend seems to contradict that.
Do you really think that they don't know that a better team = bigger crowds and more profits? If people are unhappy and want to stay home, or if they love the Yankee way so much that they want to switch, they have the right.
But saying that giving them less so they'll spend more makes no sense to me.
Bill -
I have no idea how you can't see the logic in what I wrote. I am sorry that you missed the point.
If the Wilpons do indeed know that a better team would be more profitable as you say, then you can draw one of two possible conclusions. They don't consider the Mets a primary revenue generator and are so risk averse that they won't pump the money into the club necessary to generate additional revenue as they are satisfied with the status quo. The other conclusion is that they indeed think of the fans as a bunch of mindless clowns who will continue to support the team no matter what, so why bother cutting into the profits or taking the risk by spending more?
How anyone can rationalize what they are doing as perfectly acceptable is beyond me and Mack has a very valid point. If the built-in cash cow stops producing milk they will either have to spend to get the fans back or try to palm the franchise off to someone else. Either is perfectly acceptable to the rational Mets fan.
Mets Fans Lives Matter
We can just change the channel and get other interests. The Wilpons are the Kim Jong Uns of baseball.
Reese -
THAT'S the point I've been making for years.
The Mets are NOT a primary source of income for the Wilpons.
They are in the business of building... buildings... many of which bring top dollar rent... without tenants that have agents.
Hi guys. I agree 200% with Mack. I've felt for years that the Wilpons are the root of the problem. I don't think they are evil, or that there is some dastardly plan. I just think they are completely the wrong people to run a ball team. They are not good at it. I'm sure they want to win, but their way of doing business doesn't work in baseball. My impression was always that most good moves in the 70s and 80s came from Doubleday. And hey, let's face it, one of the best things the Wilpons ever did involved a Ponzi scheme, so....
I'm afraid that after 30 years, my allegiance to the Mets has finally faded a bit. Perhaps it's just me, but I feel there must be something about the way we started hoping and were let down, and then you see the Yankees do exactly what you'd hope we could have done. It's not even failing, it's the not really trying that gets you. They never take smart risks, never, never.
So, maybe the time is ripe for this. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a real, genuine move out of Metsland.
Best of luck. I'm not in NY so my boycott won't really help... But if the Wilpons leave, I'll be back!
The Fountain of Negativity is starting to overflow here. I just can't play that game, I guess.
If I go to a local business and am unhappy with the way it is run, I will voice my displeasure to management. If the changes that I want aren't made, I go elsewhere.
If I hate the food at my local restaurant, but continue to eat there and tell people that I do so out of loyalty, I expect to get strange looks.
I don't organize boycotts, I don't tell the owners to get out, I just go elsewhere.
Like them or not, the owners aren't going away. If you like the owners of the other team in town, go there. But putting yourself in a situation you hate, when there are other options available is the definition of masochism.
The Marlins were just bought by a group with lots of money, and the first moves they made were to dump their biggest drawing cards and put others on the market to save $$$. Would you like that to happen here?
At the start of the season, we had a team that was picked by the "experts" to be heading to the post-season. We spent a lot of money to re-sign Yo and Walker, among others, and kept Bruce when cheaper options were available.
Things fell apart because of an unbelievable series of health issues, not because of $$$. A hundred fifty mil is not peanuts, and Alderson said he had the green light to be buyers in July if we were in contention. It just didn't work out, but I still root for the team to win.
So if people living in Georgia and Wrst Texas decide to boycott and go to fewer games this year than the zero they weny to last year, that's their right.
I stuck it out through the Dark Ages of the M. Donald Grant years, I suffered when the "Worst Team Money Could Buy" lost over 100 games despite one of the highest payrolls in MLB, and when that was repeated 10 years later.
It's my team, with all its flaws, and no boycott will keep me from going to Citi at least 10 times a year.
But that's just me.
Bill, I take your points, they are valid. But to me a ball club is different than a restaurant. It's not just a business, it "belongs" to the fans, it's a community as well as a money machine.
I happen to have lived all over the place throughout my life, and so I always see the way things are in other countries. It is very common in Europe for fans to organise protests to force owners to pass on the reins to a new group. The fans feel it is their club and the owners should move on if they don't want to win.
I do think this is not just negativity, the Mets are a very painful team to support and they have one of the worst ownership groups. I've always felt this. I could write a book about the many ways they could have strengthened the team by simply being a little more daring, trying a little harder.
Anyways.
Actually, thought it was worth mentioning:
- what they do at English football clubs to protest, is they will attend the game and then all walk out at an agreed time. So imagine 10,000 fans all walking out in the third inning. It is quite a statement.
Bill
So, let me understand what u are saying.
You don't like the content or direction of Mack' Mets
Does that mean you are leaving here?
Mr. Han, glad to see you posting. Hope all is well. Like your 3rd inning idea.
No. As I said about the team, I am loyal even when there are parts I disagree with. If I get to the point where I feel the way about the site that so many here feel about the team, THEN I'll leave.
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