Mets’ Biz Numbers Just as Amazin’ as their Play on the Field

September 25, 2006

The New York Mets are having a season that any team executive would dream about: Their 90-plus wins will easily be the most in the National League and the team’s attendance should finish upward of 3.5 million, a healthy increase from last year’s 2.8 million.

Still, we were wondering just how much of an off-field dividend the team’s on-field performance has produced, even before postseason play.

By multiple measures, the Mets are producing there, as well. Television ratings on the team’s new regional sports network, SportsNet New York, are up a remarkable 93 percent compared with last year’s numbers on MSG Network, as the team is earning a 2.9 average household rating. Traffic on mets.com has increased 40 percent, and licensed apparel sales have increased upward of 30 percent.

On the sponsorship side, revenue is up about 10 percent, as deals signed in-season included Casio and the N.Y. State Lottery, with incremental hospitality-laden packages and postseason publication ads expected to swell those coffers further.

With an Ebbetts Field-inspired new ballpark set to open in 2009, the team has begun pitching potential sponsors. They are looking for a handful of “signature’’ partners after naming rights to the park are sold.

“We’ve got a great team and an attractive new building to sell, and I’d obviously rather have both,’’ said Dave Howard, executive vice president of business operations.

Season-ticket sales at Shea Stadium are at about 18,000, because after that number, the quality of the seats begins to decline. In a projected 43,000-seat ballpark, Howard is projecting that the team’s season-ticket base could be as much as 25,000. “We’re already starting to talk about what that cutoff number would be,” he said.

CAN RANDOLPH CASH IN? While we’re on the subject, Mets manager Willie Randolph is trying to bring a World Championship to Queens for the first time in 20 years, and we figure a good postseason run could also burnish the ex-Yankee’s credentials as a national endorser.

Thus far, the Mets skipper has deals with some of the team’s largest corporate patrons, including Verizon Wireless, Champion Mortgage and Subway. With the lure of a “Subway Series’’ in the offing, Subway is already looking at ways to extend its Yankees and Mets sponsorships, one that’s used both team’s managers in a well-leveraged local New York campaign for the last few years.

Also on the front burner for Randolph are national auto and memorabilia deals, instructional DVDs, and possible Willie Randolph Baseball Academies.

Randolph’s managerial contract has another year to run, but we assume that would — or could — be torn up given a successful postseason in Queens.

Reed Bergman’s Playbook Inc. handles Randolph.

Original article published by the Sports Business Journal.