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Let's see ... The Mets at $700.00 (sleeping bag not included) or a Breaking Bad all nighter for free?
Mets fans invited to sleepover in outfield tonight while team plays in Arizona
You know it’s been a tough season when a baseball team invites its fans to a 15-hour party at the ballpark — and the players are 2,400 miles away.
But that’s what’s happening at Citi Field tonight, when the Mets host the first ever Citi Field Sleepover. For $200, each fan gets the chance to sleep in the outfield, enjoy dinner, a late night snack and breakfast, and watch the Mets-Diamondbacks game — being played at the D-backs’ Chase Field in Phoenix — broadcast on the jumbo screen.
The event, which also includes a ticket to the Mets-Brewers game Sept. 28 at Citi Field, is one of many special promotions the Mets organization is hosting this season.
"It’s a different, unique experience for fans. A lot of them have never been on the field," Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said. The team is capping the event at 500, and have sold more than 350 tickets.
"You’re not looking to make money, you’re hoping you build, get more next year, more the third year," he said. "You try different things and see how it plays out."
The Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers are among the Major League teams that have hosted similar overnight events, and many minor league teams have done them, too. They’re very popular in Camden, where the Riversharks usually sell out the 800 spots to each of the four overnights, group manager Kim Perno said.
But the Riversharks host their sleepovers when the team is playing at home. And the tickets are $25.
"We really try to incorporate the game," Perno said, adding that this season’s final sleepover is next Friday.
The Riversharks package includes a 200-level ticket, dinner, post-game fireworks show, a movie, breakfast and a 90-minute baseball clinic on the field the next morning.
That’s the big draw, Perno said. "A few Rivershark players assist in that, so the fans are getting one on one time with Rivershark players."
The Mets have held many special events — from Star Wars night, when hundreds of Obi-Wan Kenobis and Darth Vaders paraded on the field to post-game concerts featuring Foreigner, Nas and O.A.R.
"We get a four to five thousand bump when we do these concerts," Horwitz said. The final is Aug. 23 with Third Eye Blind.
Going into last night’s game, the Mets are 52-60 and 16 1/2 games back in the National League East. Average attendance at the 45,000-seat Citi Field in Queens hovers around 27,000-28,000, Horwitz said. A boost of 20 percent for a post-game concert is a good return, said Laurence McCarthy, a business professor from Seton Hall University who teaches sports marketing.
"There’s food and drink and parking at least, and if you have children along, look at Disney when they come to town and how much they make on concessions," he said.
Some promotions — including tonight’s sleepover — are intended to deepen the team’s relationship with current fans. The concert promotions are meant to bring new faces to the park.
"It’s not a baseball crowd that’s coming, they’re not there for the game," McCarthy said. "But the hope is having come, they’ll have a great time, they’ll consider coming back."
The cross-town rival Yankees haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, even during this season, when many of the star players have been hurt and the team’s break-even record has them in fourth place.
"If people are knocking down the walls to get in, you don’t have to do these promotions," McCarthy said. |
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