The bombshell news of slugger Juan Soto’s 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets dropped one week ago. And as one might expect, the signing brought an immediate boost to ticket sales.
Mets owner Steve Cohen tweeted Saturday evening, “I want to thank Mets fans for responding to the Soto signing. Ticket sales exploded this week vs last week. We were 18th in MLB attendance last year . Any predictions where we end up this year?”
Cohen didn’t share specific ticket sale numbers, but those are expected from the team this week.
The billionaire hedge fund manager also replied directly to some of the replies to his tweet. In response to a fan who asked, “As a Port St Lucie resident I’ve bought 5 spring training games tickets since the Soto signing, does that count?” Cohen said, “Of course it counts, ty.”
And to a fan who griped, “I want delta seats but was told ten days ago you were sold out, then you gave Soto 22 seats. Im trying to hand you 80k. Take it,” Cohen asked, “Why do you listen to uninformed media?”
Soto’s deal is the largest athlete contract in the world, has no deferrals, and has bonuses that could bring the grand total higher than $800 million. The price tag is almost 10% higher than Shohei Ohtani’s jaw-dropping 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers a year ago.
The size of the Soto signing took the Mets out of their comfort zone, but as Cohen said, “If you want something that’s amazing, it’s going to be uncomfortable. It’s never going to be comfortable.”
Cohen will no doubt get more comfortable if the Soto signing bears immediate fruit in the form of ticket sales, merchandise sales, and wins on the field.
