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Mets To Honor Tom Seaver With Citi Field Address Change, Statue

A Seaver statue could be unveiled in June during a celebration of the '69 World Series title teamGETTY IMAGES

The Mets yesterday said they are permanently changing the address of Citi Field to honor Baseball HOFer Tom Seaver, who recently disclosed he is retiring from public life due to a battle with dementia. But the club's move to change the name of 126th Street in Queens in front of the ballpark to 41 Seaver Way, also denoting his uniform number, long predates Seaver's advancing health issues, and is part of multiyear efforts to honor the franchise icon in multiple ways. Mets leadership, particularly COO Jeff Wilpon, are also discussing with Seaver's family about creating a statue of the famed pitcher that could have a design unveiling in June during a weekend celebration of the '69 World Series title team and then a formal opening in '20. "We've been working on all of this for several years," said Lou DePaoli, Mets Exec VP and CRO. "And in the case of the street renaming, it's not just a ceremonial thing. It's a full, legal and permanent renaming, and required that we work closely with the borough and city." The Seaver statue would be the first in N.Y. honoring a pro athlete, though the Yankees have one for the late George Steinbrenner at their Spring Training complex in Tampa. 

UPSCALE CONCESSIONS: The Mets, like the Yankees on Wednesday and many other MLB teams this week, unveiled an extensive series of new food and beverage offerings for the '19 season, including the arrival of Brooklyn-based Emmy Squared Pizza as Citi Field's new official pizza. Similar to Yankees concessionaire Legends Hospitality, DePaoli said a move toward heavily discounted concessions, such as what the Falcons, Ravens, Marlins and others have done, would not be workable at Citi Field. "We’ve spent so much time building a brand around our food quality," DePaoli said. "We've elevated our offerings year after year, brought in marquee chefs and so on, and to move away from that doesn't fit into our game plan and our brand."

ATTENDANCE OUTLOOK: The Mets are also projecting an increase in '19 year-end attendance, which would reverse two straight years of decline corresponding with non-playoff seasons, falling to 2.22 million in '18. DePaoli did not indicate specific numbers for '19 sales to date, but said "we've budgeted for a healthy increase and we're ahead of even that pace." In addition to the arrival of new Exec VP & GM Brodie Van Wagenen and player acquisitions such as 2B Robinson Cano and P Edwin Diaz, the club's promotional calendar includes several brand tie-ins with Marvel, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and WWE that involves multiple themed bobbleheads and other giveaways. "These connections with other segments of pop culture have become really key pieces of our promotional calendar and marketing strategy," DePaoli said.

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