Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Sad State Of The Mets Remains Very Sad Indeed
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 4, 2012
Modified Mar 4, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 4, 2012
Modified Mar 4, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Between cutting coupons, selling off pieces of their outfield, and drastically lowering expectations about the team's immediate future, the Mets really haven't had an inspiring off-season. More recently, Ike Davis has been diagnosed with Valley Fever, David Wright is grumpy about being called an "underdog," and Irving Picard's $386 million lawsuit won't go away. Now according to financial records, Citi Field revenues have dropped more than 30 percent since it opened in 2009, and Mets ticket sales are down by nearly 50 percent in that period. Maybe GM Sandy Alderson wasn't joking about that fundraiser for gas money.
Revenue for parking, concession and attendance all dropped, with overall attendance declining 26 percent over the three-year-period; ticket sales for the 10,635 premium seats also declined from $99.3 million in 2009 to $50.6 million through 2011. The seats are about 25 percent of the 42,000-seat stadium. We spoke to one season ticket holder who had a slightly half-glass-full take on the ticket situation: "Our tickets have fallen about 300 percent-plus in price since the ballpark opened," he told us. But he credits that drop on dynamic pricing:
But part of that is that they are going to dynamic pricing. So I would say they launched it was overpriced by 200 pecent. But now season ticket holders get a significant discount. Walk-up buyers will pay more, for the first time ever... And what people forget is that it was very hard to buy tickets in 2009—they were in great demand. So it's hard to say they were THAT overpriced. To the Mets credit, they have adapted to the market quickly. The real folly was not rewarding season ticket holders earlier than they did.
Last year, the Mets put a bunch of tickets on Groupon, and season ticket holders were furious. I complained to the head of ticket sales and she said she had had "hundreds" of complaints.
Even so, in the wake of these depressing ticket sales numbers, those Mets Rejected Promotional Dates don't seem like such a bad idea—"Free Financial Advice Night" could really come in handy for some of the Mets' number crunchers.
Tagged
baseball
citi field
mets
mlb
money
sadness
ticket sales
tickets
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .