Steve Cohen isn’t mincing words when it comes to New York Mets fans.
Addressing the media down in Port St. Lucie, Florida, where the Mets hold their spring training, Cohen’s pointed remarks about a myriad of topics raised eyebrows. But one comment in particular could draw the ire of his club’s loyal fan base.
“That really bothered me, 18th in attendance when we’re right in the middle of a pennant race,” Cohen said, via Manny Gomez of NJ Advance Media. ”I’ve said this before, the series against the Nationals, right before the final Philly series. I think there were 18,000 fans in the stadium during a great pennant race.”
It’s important to take Cohen’s statements with a grain of salt. While he is (mostly) correct that the Mets finished 17th in average home attendance during the 2024 season (29,484 fans per game), the team was well on its way to the postseason by the series he referenced in his example.
Instead, it would be more accurate to say that number was skewed by, say, an 0-5 start in April or failing to climb over the .500 mark before June rolled around. Nonetheless, that attendance figure does stand, and it doesn’t look great for a team that had the highest payroll in the sport while playing in the biggest city in the country.
Of note, the Mets finished behind teams like the Los Angeles Angels, Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies and Seattle Mariners in average fan attendance last season, not to mention the usual suspects like the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and others. That first group of teams should reinforce the point Cohen was making.
But is Cohen right to call out Mets fans for not showing up in 2024? It’s complicated.
Firstly, the billionaire owner does not own SNY, the Mets’ TV network, which eliminates a potential revenue stream for Cohen. You might not think that’s a big deal, but Cohen didn’t make his fortune running negative balance sheets year after year. Therefore, he relies heavily on ticket sales to recoup some of his investment.
Regardless of fan engagement, though, Cohen does invest significantly in New York’s on-field product to a fault, as demonstrated by the historic 15-year, $765M contract he gave outfielder Juan Soto this past winter. And that should mean something to Mets fans after years of stingy behavior by the Wilpon family.
Ultimately, it will take more than one magical season for Mets fans to fully buy in, but Citi Field was electric during last year’s postseason, offering a glimpse of what could lie ahead for New York’s attendance prospects.