Thursday, September 02, 2010

DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES.

Kind mg.com commenter Harvey wrote in to say:

I"m a “Sunday” plan holder. Just got a call from Mets Ticket Office apologizing for the season and offering 2 free box seat tickets to any remaining 2010 game. I guess they don’t want acres of empty seats showing on tv (as if anybody is watching)

I know that attendees of the recent focus groups were also emailed a day or two later and offered free tickets to the weekend series with the Braves in September. My source was not told where the seats were, but they assumed that they would be somewhere in the Promenade, given where the Mets usually have handed out freebies in the past.

However, the seating location is not the thing I am the most astonished at.

I am the most astonished, however, at the notion that someone FROM THE METS is actually apologizing for the season. This is appropriate, and frankly, a long time coming. I believe that TBF is still incensed at the end of 2007, when the scoreboard flashed something stupid instead of “Thanks for buying tickets. Thanks for a great year. Thanks for coming to the ballpark even though we sucked.” There was zero acknowledgment that we paid and paid and paid only to watch the Mets lose over and over and over again. So this is a step in the right direction.

But it isn’t enough. Like everything else they do, they are doing it wrong. They are only doing it halfway. Where is the video of Jeff Wilpon and Mr. Met standing on the pitcher’s mound with an empty Citi Field saying, “We know you’re disappointed in this year. We are too. I want to personally apologize to all of you, and want to assure you that we’re taking every step to make things right for 2011.”  Where is Jeff going on Francesa to take phone calls from Mets fans? Where is the SNY pregame show where Kevin talks with a Wilpon about how disappointed they are and how they want to apologize to the fans?

I don’t do this for a living and I came up with all of these things in 15 minutes of sitting at my desk. There are other things that could be done. Emails, radio ads, postcards, take out an ad in the Sunday paper. It’s not hard to get the message across.

Of course, they then have to tell us how things are going to be different next year. I realize that in many cases they don’t know, or can’t say yet. But there are so many other decisions they could make right now. If they told us right now that, for example, they were lowering ticket prices - and really lowering them, not just reranking games from Gold to Silver - people might start to show up. If they were going to make sure that concession prices didn’t go up for 2011. Or, go for the totally blatant appeal and (like the new Rangers ownership) say that you are lowering the prices of beer and parking.

Hell, LOWER THE PRICES OF BEER AND PARKING FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON.

Seriously, this isn’t my job and it’s not hard to think of ways you could demonstrably show remorse, demonstrably show commitment, demonstrably show action.

So, don’t stop here, New York Mets: we’re listening. As always, we want to believe.

P.S. Here’s a tip: Don’t send out Dave Howard. He is rude, dismissive and condescending to fans.