Mets act fast on ownership tweet, other ‘distractions’

[hrmjustin]

Howard Megdal

When a sports radio host read a listerner's tweet on air earlier this month urging the Mets' owners to sell to Mark Cuban, team management was all over it.

Mets senior vice president for marketing and communications David Newman, who reports directly to Mets C.O.O. Jeff Wilpon, emailed WOR management about it to ask for a recording, according to a source who viewed the correspondence, and subsequently expressed concern about the fact that the tweet had been read at all.

Newman refused to comment on why he'd sent the email, but his containing action dovetails with the larger mission for Mets brass these days: In the absence of money to spend on the actual team, work hard at P.R., controlling dissent where possible and otherwise shifting focus from debt-ridden ownership to any other possible problem, large or small, legitimate or manufactured.

At this point, the list of scapegoats that's been peddled by the team's owners, usually anonymously, is hard to keep track of. It includes the manager, the general manager, a pay-now, win-later business model for ticket sales and payroll (so those no-show fans are to blame), various players' attitudes, and the stadium.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2014/05/8545847/mets-act-fast-ownership-tweet-other-distractions?top-featured-1

[hrmjustin]

3. I hope the team stays in WNY and no trump.

[rocktivity]

2. Meanwhile, in Western New York

Donald Trump and Jon Bon Jovi mentioned as buyers for Buffalo Bills

Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly is prepared to make a bid to buy the Buffalo Bills. Donald Trump's on board, too. Don't discount the family of Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs. And include New Jersey rocker Jon Bon Jovi's name for added spice.

It's not every day — or every year — an NFL franchise goes on the market as the Bills are, following owner Ralph Wilson's death last month.

Wilson's wishes to have the team sold rather than passed on to his family raise the possibility of the Bills relocating from the city that's been home for more than 50 years. Toronto and Los Angeles are potential landing spots because owners would have an opportunity to make more money than in Buffalo, the NFL's second-smallest market...

Buffalo Bills fans pushing Bon Jovi music ban

As far as some Buffalo Bills fans are concerned, rock musician Jon Bon Jovi can live on a prayer anywhere but western New York.

A Bills fans club recently founded to keep the NFL team in western New York has started an online petition to ban songs by Bon Jovi. The New Jersey rocker has been linked to a Toronto-based developer interested in purchasing a franchise and moving it to Canada's largest city.

The founders of 12th Man Thunder are asking Buffalo-area bars to ban Bon Jovi's music from being played by DJs, live bands or juke boxes. They say so far 28 businesses have established "Bon Jovi Free Zones."

The group says more than 3,500 people have signed its online petition supporting efforts to keep the Bills in western New York.

rocktivity