Editorial Statement – A Declaration to Mets Ownership

Editorial Statement – A Declaration to Mets Ownership

Good morning everybody.

This is Mack, the owner and editor of Mack’s Mets. We’re been some form of a Mets blog since 1996 and finally settled into this site years ago.

I have had well over 50 different writers write here and, right now, we are dominated by five… myself, Tom Brennan, Reese Kaplan, Mike Friere, and, our newest addition, Erica Lay. Others currently write here, but their recent contributions have been few and far between.

I can’t speak for my fellow writers, but I am quite frustrated with the results from the parent club this season. My strongest concern is can this team ever turn this around under the current management and ownership.

I’ve told you many times in the past that you need to cut off the head of the snake to make something this bad change. Field direction could be better, even front office decisions should made by new younger blood, but none of this is going to matter in the long run if the owners of this business have the business acumen and baseball knowledge of those two guys in the balcony on the old Muppets television show.

Simply put, the Wilpon family needs to divest their ownership position in both the New York Mets and the SNY Network.

 I’m sure they are proud of their financial picture. They should be. And I’m sure internal accountants would be proud of the profit margins that have been grown since the days they begged people like Jerry Seinfeld to invest in the team and pull their corporate asses out of the fire. The problem here is that, if the Mets were The Stage Deli, the increased profits were derived by selling more bologna and less pastrami.

Profit is good. And the Wilpon family are successful businessmen. But their success lies in the real estate business not the business of baseball.

There must be a groupie factor here that makes this family stay as owners of the Mets.

The profit margins in high-end city ownership and rental space are far greater than owning a failing sports franchise.

And these guys should understand how far a refurbishing could go. A fresh coat of paint (new manager), some new kitchen cabinets (new General Manager), some new carpets (scouting system) and literally new dollars can be gotten for the same product that was unrentable a month ago.

I’ve told you many times that all these people know is money. And, if you take it away from them on a consistent basis, they will take the remainder of their money elsewhere. I’m sure they love to walk on the field and take their grandchildren in the bullpen, but supply and demand has always been the one barometer great business people fall back on.

Great business people who own hotels want your stay to go well, but they only really care if the hotel was sold out when you stayed there.

Restaurant owners love a good review online, but they can always erase the bad ones which will lead to their real goal… have no tables available.

And these guys probably know all the words of the ‘Meet the Mets’ song, but they have a fiduciary responsibility to their investors and Board of Directors to derive more income from ticket sales, parking fees, vendor rents, and merchandising purchases than the monies spent on operating the team, funding the suits, and paying the players.

I keep calling for the fans to stop attending these games in protest of the current ownership, but, as of last night (Sunday), I just don’t see that many empty seats. You can’t play worse baseball than the Mets are playing in June and yet nothing changes. The only protest is a feeble one on Twitter with a bunch of one liners about how much this team sucks.

Folks, I love this team. And I especially love the players I have met and the ones I am currently meeting online as they join the organization. This isn’t a player problem.

It is, and always have been, an ownership problem.

Fred… Jeff… I know there is very little chance that you are reading this and, if someone in the front office is, I don’t expect them to leave a copy of this in your in box, but if you do, please sit back and realize what you are creating here.

Hundreds of thousands of fans are literally sick over what is happening under your watch.

You have the power to make this a better world for all the Mets fans out there.

I no longer ask that you change General Managers. Sandy has been a loyal soldier for you and I understand how important that is in the business word. What I do ask is you sell your interest in this team to a new investment group, like the one that bought the Marlins recently.

The team needs more than a jump start guy. It needs a rebuild and only new, younger baseball experts can pull that off.

And to the fans…

You must put the pressure on here. I know you love hopping on the ‘7 Train’ and heading out to the game, but the buck stops with you. Stay home and either watch it on TV or follow it on the computer. Or even better. Take your significant other to Central Park and have a nice romantic walk (but get out of there before the sun goes down).