Venue Detail
New York Mets
RSV Pro Facilities Report
February, 2016
New York Mets
12301 Roosevelt Ave Flushing, NY 11368 Phone: 718-507-6387 Fax: 718-507-6395 URL: www.mets.com Owner: Fred Wilpon League: Major League Baseball, National League, Eastern
Venue
Citi Field, 12301 Roosevelt Ave., New York, NY 11368 Owner: City of New York Managed by: Team Built: 2009 Capacity: 42,500 Permanent concession stands: 300 Concessionaire: Aramark Suite caterer: Aramark Soft drink: Pepsi Cola
Naming rights
Sold to: Citigroup Price: $800,000,000 Term: 20 years Expires: 2026
Ticket prices
Season tickets range from $389 to $32,070 Single tickets range from $11.00 to $450.00
Attendance
2013 average attendance: 26,695 2014 average attendance: 26,528
Suites
Quantity: 54 Term: 3 to 10 years Price: $250,000 to $500,000 Seats: 12 to 24
Club seats
Quantity: 7,800 Term: 3 to 10 years Price: $4,050 to $40,095
Financing
The estimated $765 million project – up to $600 million from the team for the ballpark and $165 million from the city and state for infrastructure, site preparation and other costs – prompted little community opposition.
The Mets expected to be in a new ballpark shortly after the dawn of the 21st century. Its lease at Shea Stadium expired in 2002. The team seemed on the verge of being a part of a deal to fund new ballparks for them and the Yankees when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center. The attacks changed the city's priorities and pushed the ballparks off the agenda. That changed in 2006 when the team was able to put together a ballpark deal.
The new ballpark’s design tips its hat to the former Ebbets Field. It includes 54 luxury suites.
The Mets avoided major resistance because they built the new ballpark east of Shea, in their parking lot, so little changed once construction was complete.
In planning a smaller ballpark than the one they are leaving, the Mets are following a baseball trend. The 42,500 seats are 12,000 fewer than capacity at Shea, which only occasionally sold out.
Unfortunately, the new ballpark does not seem to be paying off financially.
The Mets’ ballpark-related revenue, including parking, concessions, advertising and more, has all together dropped more than 30 percent since Citi Field opened in 2009, and premium-ticket sales have fallen almost 50 percent, according to financial records.
Newsday reviewed hundreds of pages of documents, it obtained under the Freedom of Information Law from New York City. The documents provide a partial window into the cash flow of the franchise.
The records do not include some line items that would be found in other parts of the Mets’ operations and are designed to show only that the Mets can repay their debts to the city. Not included is revenue from the team’s television contract with SportsNet New York and minor league operations expenses and the player payroll. Other records show that the player payroll was $142 million last year and is estimated to be $90 million for the 2012 season.
The records outline the financial performance of Queens Ballpark Company LLC, the subsidiary of Sterling Mets that is responsible for Citi Field operations. Queens Ballpark is required to report its financials to New York City’s Industrial Development Agency because the agency issued municipal bonds used to pay for the ballpark.
Queens Ballpark reports the ballpark revenue that the company plans to use to make its $43 million in annual bond payments. The financial statements also reflect ballpark-related expenses, such as maintenance costs, and additional revenue from concessions and parking, the $20 million annual naming rights payment from Citigroup, and $26 million from ballpark signage and advertising.
Dave Howard, the team’s executive vice president for business operations, said the financials of Queens Ballpark Company do not reflect the team’s overall economic picture.
The revenue in the financial statements, with premium seats representing the biggest chunk, is supposed to show the city that Queens Ballpark can make the bond payment.
“This is the defined revenue stream pledged to back up the bonds,” Howard said.
The financial records filed with the also city show:
- Concession revenue alone dropped 28 percent since 2009 to $10.9 million in 2011, and parking alone fell 37 percent to $7 million in 2011.
- Ticket sales for 10,635 premium seats, about 25 percent of the 42,000-seat ballpark, declined from $99.3 million in 2009 to $50.6 million through the end of the 2011 season.
- The Mets pay $1 million annually to lease the ballpark.
- Expenses for Citi Field have stayed between $85 million and $88 million since the ballpark was built.
The Mets are projecting an increase in premium-ticket sales revenue, from $50.6 million in 2011 to $56.5 million in 2012. Concession sales are expected to increase, from $10.9 million at the end of September last year to $14.3 million this year, according to the Mets’ projected 2012 budget. Meanwhile, as luxury suites come up for renewal, revenue there is budgeted to drop to $6.7 million from $7.7 million in 2011.
Howard attributed the drop in premium ticket revenue to cutting prices by as much as 40 percent since 2009, which he said was in response to the economic downturn and on-field performance.
Mets principal owner Fred Wilpon said during his annual state-of-the-team address in Port St. Lucie, Fla., that robust ticket revenue is essential.
“We have a diminished population coming to Citi Field,” Wilpon said. “We need that revenue. We just can’t do it on air. We need that revenue to support, and the only way we’re going to get that revenue is if we have a competitive, interesting team on the field.”
The Mets’ total annual attendance declined 26 percent from 2009 to 2011 – from 3.2 million to 2.3 million. Nationally, baseball attendance was relatively steady during that period.
As a result of shrinking attendance, revenue at Citi Field from concessions, parking and advertising slipped each year, with the only uptick from luxury-suite revenue, which is mostly based on multi year contracts. The Mets went from $3.8 million in 2009 to $7.7 million in 2011.
The Mets pay no rent at the new ballpark.
The Mets set a new high for naming rights deals with an $800 million agreement with Citigroup to name the team’s new ballpark.
Under a 20-year sponsorship deal with Citigroup, the ballpark was named Citi Field, displacing the name of William A. Shea. Shea, a lawyer, helped bring National League baseball back to New York in 1962, five years after the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants left. Shea Stadium opened in 1964. (Facilities, Baseball, MLB, Professional Sports, Venue)