Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Season Subscriber Benefits

Mets season ticket holders are getting their season ticket renewals in the mail. Got mine yesterday.

Inside, a copy of the 2010 schedule. Ticket prices of each tier of games have not changed much, but you notice there are less gold games, automatically decreasing the total cost of the season. The overall decrease? 2.9%. My seats are in the Promenade Reserved Infield. I can't complain about the prices. I was shocked at how low the cost was last season for the inaugural season at the park.

Here's my issue with the Mets in general. Their benefits fall a bit short. Just last season their started a split payment plan. A nice start compared to what they had before 2009, when they hit you with one big charge. However, in the days where credit card interest rates are skyrocketing, the least they could do was offer a six-month pay plan. The Rangers play half the games the Mets so, yet they offer an eight-month pay plan.

In the 'New for 2010' page, there is "Expanded Club Access." Sweet! Finally, if I'm freezing my ass off in April I can finally escape into the Promenade Club at the very least to warm up for a few innings. Wrong. On the other side of the page is list of every seating category (37 of them!!) on the left side with list of clubs along the top, and checkmarks underneath for which club each tier has access to. The only ones without a checkmark? Promenade Reserved and Promenade Reserved Infield. They are allowing Promenade Club holders to go to the Caesar's Club. How about just allowing everyone access to the Promenade Club, or at least those with a season ticket??

In the final game last season, they allowed us to participate in the DynaMets Dash, which was cool. Anytime you get on a major league field (or skate on the Garden ice, which the Rangers allow once a year), it's an experience. This season the Mets are offering tours of the field, dugout and clubhouse, which will take place in December. The Dash was great, as it got you on the infield dirt. This time, it will be nice to see how big that Met clubhouse really is.

There are also '"Take the Field With the Mets" Days', Mets Yearbook, and Mets Magazine opener edition giveaways in addition to the customary gift and media guide you get each year. These are all improvements and steps in the right direction, but the Mets can give us more, and if there ever was a time to do it, the time was for this season. Despite their efforts, they might have dropped the ball. That being said, will I renew? Probably. It would take a super f- you for me to drop.

Speaking of benefits, the Rangers had their annual fan forum last night, as reported nicely by Mrs. Hurley. I don't ask questions at these things, but if I were to ask one last night, it would be something like she suggested: Henrik needs to just snap at the next guy who runs him in his crease and use that stick.

The end of the evening featured a trivia quiz, with each of the five players in attendance giving away their Rangers jersey for those who get the correct answer. This contest in previous fan forums featured crappy questions which fans lucky enough to be next to the host got called on to provide the correct answer. They improved on that with some doozies last night. Which current Ranger was picked a few picks after Enver Lisin was picked in the second round of the 2004 draft? Getting that one is deserving of a $300 Ranger jersey. The answer was Dane Byers.

Lisin, by the way, is my new favorite player. The kid is hilarious, and you really see why the guys get a kick out of him.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

It's Been a While

Since we last posted, the hockey season is back in full swing and we just witnessed what we all feared- a Phillies-Yankees World Series. Let's try to sum up the month of October and hope we do not have to do this again a month from now.

The Yankees are the World Series champions. Congrats to them. You should be the champs when you outspend the team behind you in annual player salaries by $60+ million. That team behind them is the Mets, but we won't go there. I hope the Mets were watching what the Yankees did to the Phillies. That means Oliver Perez has to return to 2007 form and another lefty is needed in the bullpen. Lefties, lefties, lefties.

As long as the small market teams keep pocketing their luxury tax money and never bitch about it, this will go on forever. The Yankees will be there every year. They will never see the dark ages like they did in the 80s. Major League Baseball needs to put something in place to limit free agent spending, while allowing teams to pay as much as they want for homegrown talent or players acquired in trades. Think about it- owners won't go throwing money around because they can't and roster turnover will not be as frequent as it is now. Teams will be good because of drafting and trading and not because they have the money to splurge on each and every all-star available in the winter. It's not a team salary cap, but a new-player-acquisition cap.

Don't get me wrong, credit the Yankees for spending wisely, even if they did break the bank. All the moves paid off. Who had a bad year on that team?

The NHL could use this different cap as well. A hard cap as it is in place now, creates what is now a free agent frenzy on July 1. Sure it bring a buzz, but it also brings a completely different team come training camp. What happens when your 4th round draft pick turns out to be a gem and his contract is up, but you're up against the cap? So long buddy.

The Rangers are nothing without Marian Gaborik. Hopefully they can adjust to the gameplan Vancouver had for them, which shut him down big time. Dubinsky and Callahan are the guys that have to get going. They've been around for a few seasons now- it's time for them to approach the peak in their development.

Like last season, you can thank the good start to the season. Unlike last season, hopefully we don't limp into the playoffs and have another early exit.

The last three champions in MLB and the NHL have been the Phillies, Penguins and Yankees. Ugh.