Members of the New York Mets organization set a record for the most money brought in by a team that lost the World Series, bringing in over $300,000.
By Aniello Piro
Major League Baseball announced Monday that each share for the losing Mets was $300,757.78 per player, a new record. The previous record for a team that lost the World Series was $291,667.68, which was set by the Detroit Tigers in 2006.
Not bad for second place.
To put this into perspective Matt Harvey’s annual salary is $614,000, so he brought in almost half of his yearly earnings by losing the World Series. The crosstown rival Yankees earned shares of 13,979.99 following their one and done postseason.
In total, the Mets gave out 44 full shares, 11.05 partial shares, and 25 cash awards. All from a pool of $16,771,715.82.
So what exactly does this mean? Well, it means the team made a boat load of money for coming in second place.
It is projected that the Mets payroll will be in the same ballpark as it was last year despite hauling in upwards of 69 million dollars from the postseason alone. At the end of the day, the players and ownership are happy, but the fans are still left scratching their heads wondering when the Mets finances will reflect that of a team playing in the biggest sports market in the country.
Aside from the playoff revenue, the team is expected to have increased sales of season tickets for next year, unsurprisingly. This means concessions, parking, and merchandise should all be on the financial incline. SNY viewership was the highest since it’s inaugural season in 2006, and the Mets blog network (Metsblog.com) has never been more active, meaning ad revenues are surely increasing.
Financially, it’s no secret that the Mets are on the upswing. However, given the likely small increase in payroll, you can’t help but wonder how the Bernie Madoff mess is still hampering the Wilpons. Until the Mets crack the top 10 in payroll, fans have a right to be wondering where their money is going.
