A business proposal to investors leaked last week claimed the Mets would not include season ticket plans for the money-hating few willing to pony up the $20 million to own a portion of the team. After much criticism, the Wilpons proposed a new plan – each season ticket packet will include Knicks and Rangers games.
“There isn’t a hotter ticket in town,” said Leena Greenberg, head of ticket sales. “We figure for every four Mets games you buy, you get four tickets to a Knicks or Rangers game because they’re pretty good this year, right? I don’t follow sports.”
Since the day Jose Reyes signed in Miami, the Mets have sold four season ticket plans. At the current pace, they’d be looking at the worst attendance in the history of professional sports.
“Fred [Wilpon] asked me to ‘Help a brotha out,’” Knicks and Rangers owner James Dolan claimed. “No lie, those were his exact words. We’re doing really well, so I threw him a bone.”
The Mets are hopeful that by slashing prices and including hard-to-get entries to Madison Square Garden, they’ll attract some of the fans who jumped ship.
“I buckled and bought a pack for Christmas,” said long-time Mets fan who goes only by the name Jonesy. “For $500 I got 10 Mets games, a Knicks game and a Rangers game. Four Knicks tickets alone cost $500, so I got the Rangers game for free. I’m throwing the Mets tickets on StubHub for $3 a pop and crossing my fingers that I get that for them.”
The Wilpons hope the gimmick will push ticket sales over the projected 300 they were dreading in 2012, and admitted that if this didn’t work, they’d allow fans — like prospective investors — private use of Mr. Met.
