The Mets on Thursday announced that they have "resumed their partnership with Tradition Florida for the naming rights to their spring training home in Port St. Lucie," according to Laurel Pfahler of TCPALM.com. Pending approval by the St. Lucie County Commissioners in a special meeting Friday, the ballpark will "once again be called Tradition Field, its name" from '04-10. Core Communities, which "previously oversaw the Tradition development, took over naming rights in February 2004." But Core Communities in March '10 "terminated its contract -- three years early -- after failing to make a $95,000 payment that had been due to the county at the end of 2009." Digital Domain Media Group "won the naming rights in 2010, but ended its contract with the Mets during a bankruptcy filing in September." The stadium has been called Mets Stadium "in the interim, while St. Lucie County and the Mets worked to find another partner." The five-year deal is worth $75,000 for '13, but that figure "could change from year to year." The Mets and the county "split the revenue from the naming rights" (TCPALM.com, 2/8).
TAKING A GAMBLE? In N.Y., Calder & Campanile noted opponents of the Willets Point casino project near Citi Field said that the city "should have revealed that the Mets’ owners proposed building a casino next to the stadium." Others said that they "fear that the casino plan -- which the city axed from a 2011 proposal by team owner Fred Wilpon’s Sterling Equities development operation -- could be added back." New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is "receptive to a casino near the stadium, the state Legislature is considering an amendment to allow Vegas-style gaming in New York," and N.Y. Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be out of office next year (N.Y. POST, 2/6).
