Mets Miss on Much Needed PR Opp

To no fault of their own, the New York Mets have suffered some negative publicity as a result of issues related to the country’s economic downturn.

The naming-rights of the Mets news stadium, Citi Field, belong to a financial institution that has received billions of dollars in bailout money. Many fans (and many more taxpayers) are understandably furious at the idea that the bailed out bank continues to honor its naming-rights and sponsorship deal with the Mets for $400 million paid-out over 20 years.

The Mets have also taken some knocks because of their most famous season ticket holder, now former season ticket holder – Bernie Madoff.

Before his multi billion dollar Ponzi scheme crumbled, Madoff had been a longtime Mets season ticket holder and owned a pair of Delta Club Platinum season tickets behind home plate (bought for $80,000) at the new Citi Field. The tickets, of course, were seized and are being sold-off on auction Web sites like ebay and Stub Hub with the money going into a fund for Madoff’s victims.

Although these two situations have not, to this point, devastated the Mets image or brand it has put the organization in an uncomfortable and awkward spot. When you consider the tremendous media attention the Mets have recently received for their relationships with Citigroup and Bernie Madoff, and then coupled with the opening of their $850 million stadium that’s funded by the sale of New York City municipal bonds (to be repaid by the Mets with interest), the Mets could seem adverse to their fans and community’s economic hardships and suffer some PR damage as a result.

Even though the Mets were just a victim of circumstance (to borrow a line from Curly of The Three Stooges) and did nothing to warrant this negative media and PR attention, they still need to act and spin the bad publicity. To this point, as far as I can tell, the team has remained quiet on these issues and has done nothing.

So when I learned about the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan auctioning off Madoff’s tickets I thought to myself, “Man, the Mets really missed a great PR opportunity”.

Wouldn’t it of been awesome if the Mets retuned the $80,000 dollars, received from Madoff for his Citi Field tickets, to the courts and attorneys handling the liquidation of the disgraced financier’s assets?

Then, after reacquiring the premium sets behind home plate, the Mets could have donated the two tickets for each game to a different charity or children's organization. Think about it: Each of the Mets 81 home games this season could have had a different set of underprivileged kids, hurt by the economic collapse, sitting in the best seats in the house.

This would have reflected the Mets as sympathetic to its fans financial hardships and could have helped the organization distance itself from the other entanglements causing negative PR.

Of course this would have cost the Mets $80,000 but they would have received ten times that in positive publicity.

I’m not suggesting that the Mets and their players are not already involved in numerous charities and terrific causes – because they are.

But whenever a client or organization suffers negative publicity, no matter how slight, you have to seriously consider if a PR plan needs to be devised and implemented.

Sometimes it does and sometimes it’s better to leave it alone.

The Mets chose to leave it alone. I think it’s time to act.