In a report from The Post Standard, the New York Mets have purchased the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs from the Community Baseball Club of Central New York Inc. for an undisclosed amount. The purchase will likely soon end the Mets relationship with the Las Vegas 51s and will give the Mets a permanent Triple-A home.
Currently, the Chiefs is a the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Their affiliation agreement ends after the 2018 season, which is also the same time the Mets affiliation with the 51s will end. If neither team seeks an early exit from their current affiliation contracts, this will leave the Mets owning the Nationals Triple-A affiliate.
The acquisition, which has not been publicly confirmed will be announced at NBT Bank Stadium tomorrow afternoon. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mets Chief Operating Office Jeff Wilpon and Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney will be on hand for the announcement.
In a bit of irony, the Mets were able to make this purchase in large part due to the Chiefs financial issues. As recently as 2013, the team lost $1 million leaving the team on the verge of bankruptcy. Things have improved of the past few seasons with the team seeing an 11% increase in attendance.
Overall, this agreement should prove to be a positive one for the Mets. The logistical issues presented by having their top minor league affiliate in a different time zone is now gone. This will also end the issues of trying to evaluate pitchers and hitters in a Coors Field like hitting environment. Finally, it will also increase the Mets presence in the State of New York with their Double-A team in Binghamton. Over time, this could lead to an increase in the amount of Mets fans seen in the state.
I’ve been pondering this for a couple of years now. I’ve been seeing more and more AAA clubs aligning with their closest and most natural geographic major league matches essentially taking those affiliates off of the market for good.
I’d figured that buying a team was the Mets best, and possibly only chance of getting a team anywhere east of the Mississippi. I just never imagined they’d be bold (or creative or clever) enough to go that route.
I would have preferred the Rochester AAA team, but this is still be big step forward for the Mets.
Was Rochester even up for sale?? Curious as to why you’d prefer Rochester anyway:
Syracuse is closer to both NY and Binghamton than Rochester is. Syracuse is available to the Mets in 2019. Rochester not available until 2021. .. Lastly, the county just increased the amount the Red Wings have to pay for using the stadium. They settled for an unannounced amount. But the previous deal had the club playing a million dollars.
Lived in Rochester for 6 years and prefer it as a city to Syracuse, but do not believe it was for sale.