As a full-time student in college, it can be hard to finance your day-to-day living — nevermind scraping up the money to attend your favorite sport team’s games. While this may not be necessarily as drastic for baseball, as tickets are usually cheaper in comparison to basketball or football, it’s still an obstacle that many students struggle with. In order to combat this, the New York Mets announced on Mar. 31st the ‘Mets College Student Ticket Offer Program.’ With the Mets playing at Citi Field a mere 15-minute drive away from campus, this program is one Queens College students should look into.
In order to qualify to take full advantage of this program, one must be… well… a student in college. Individuals interested should text COLLEGE to 48593 to receive student ticket offers by SMS, or fill out the registration form located at the bottom of this article. Those who participate will receive a ‘$15 price point’ on tickets and will include access to a $5 student menu for concessions at the stadium.
During games taking place on Mondays through Thursdays, there will be a special stand for college students from the time gates open to when the first pitch is scheduled. Located behind Section 433 on the Promenade Level, students will be able to grab any of the following items for $5: hot dogs, pretzels, popcorn, 22oz soda, and 20oz water. The best part, however, is that the first item comes free with the student ticket! For students 21 and older, a 12oz Coors Light will be sold for $7.50.
Jake Bye, the Senior Vice President of Ticketing & Premium for the Mets spoke about the reasoning behind instilling this program in a press conference a week before its launch.
“New York has over 600,000 college students, that blew my mind when I saw that number — over 110 schools and universities. We’re creating a very affordable $15 price point, it’s all going to be through text and we’re going to validate college students. But [we’re] really going after a group that has been priced out of Major League Baseball consistently,” Bye said.
The Mets at the time of writing this article have the ninth best attendance average in the MLB, with around 36,000 fans in attendance through the six home games played to this point. That number is nearly 3,000 more from the previous year, as the Mets averaged around 33,000 fans through the 77 home games Citi Field hosted. No information has been made public about how many students signed up with this newly-added student ticket plan this year.
While it’s worth noting that the Mets’ cross-city rivals, the New York Yankees, have a similar plan where students can receive up to half off on tickets, the Mets are drastically closer to Queens College. The Yankees play in the Bronx; over eight miles away from campus in comparison to the less than two mile journey to Citi Field.
If you are interested in signing up for this program, text COLLEGE to 48593 or visit here to register online.
