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New York Mets will not be radio in upstate New York

"Upstate" is an interesting term that few residents north of Middletown or Poughkeepsie" use. Residents in Syracuse might refer to their part of the state as Central New York. Utica-Rome calls itself the Mohawk Valley, the Adirondacks are often called the North Country, Alabany "the Capital District."

The area from Rochester west is called Western New York, occasionally the Niagara Frontier, which is Old School. And as has been notedin this thread, "Upstate" is predominantly dedicated to the Yankees. AAA ball from Syracuse to Rochester to Buffalo once was all about the American League. The National League Mets were once briefly affiliated with the Biffalo Bisons. It wasn't a good fit.

The best years of the Bisons (then briefly in the American Association) were as an affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. The Bisons are now back at home in the International League, where they were a legacy member.

In the '80s, the Bisons slipped all the way down to the Class AA Eastern League, with the Pirates and Indians as their big-league clubs. The building of Pilot Field was the impetus for Buffalo's return to AAA and its amazing attendance boom. I remember seeing the Bisons' team bus in the parking lot at New Britain Stadium, with "Here come the batterin' Bisons" on the front, and "There go the batterin' Bisons" on the back, accompanied by the team logo of a scowling, snorting bison getting ready to take a swing. They were the only visiting team with a customized bus. The others bore the names and logos of various charter transportation companies in those teams' cities. That was an indication to me that Bisons management had bigger things than the Eastern League, with its trips to Waterbury, New Britain and Albany, in mind.
 
Yes, there are always exceptions. The Criminal Justice system also uses the word "upstate." If "you're going upstate," your destination is Attica, Elmira, or Danemora, none of which is a preferred destination.
 
The 'wrong coast' also applies to the Seattle Mariners. Very few games are broadcast nationwide, they have a multi-year contract with Root Sports NW. You have to go back to the Bush administration when they were on OTA TV (KSTW had some games when they were UPN, but the majority were still on then-FSN Northwest.)
There's a reason why some people call ESPN the 'Eastern Seaboard Programming Network', you never see Seattle games on there, not even Sunday night baseball.

The Mariners co-own Root Sports with Warner Media. They seem quite happy with the arrangement. But you won't see any local OTA games as a result!
 
The "penny pinching" probably makes sense in light of the low return prospect that the product offers. This is a business, not a hobby.

Yes, but when looking at the business you have to look beyond strictly advertising revenue. The Mets just bought the Syracuse minor league affiliate. It might make sense to have the games carried there to further the Mets brand. Perhaps they would sell more merchandise. To simply give up on the network a week before the season with no public explanation is to quote Wayne Gretzky a "Mickey Mouse" move.
 
Then again, the minor league team has a relationship with the competing sports radio station The Score, owned by Cumulus.
 
I was trying to listen to WCBS AM yesterday during the night Mets broadcast...even with my loop antenna on the roof, the signal reception was very poor fading in and out. I don't understand why some other stations in the Hudson Valley don't carry the Mets at least for night time games.
 
Yes, but when looking at the business you have to look beyond strictly advertising revenue. The Mets just bought the Syracuse minor league affiliate. It might make sense to have the games carried there to further the Mets brand. Perhaps they would sell more merchandise. To simply give up on the network a week before the season with no public explanation is to quote Wayne Gretzky a "Mickey Mouse" move.

Look the money for Jacob deGrom had to come out of some part of the budget!! LOL
 
And BTW if you are a REAL baseball FAN, you can't shell out $20 (for the season) to hear a live audio feed of the game?? ~~~ or $120/season allows you to see all the games through MLB.TV. C'mon ............
 
And BTW if you are a REAL baseball FAN, you can't shell out $20 (for the season) to hear a live audio feed of the game?? ~~~ or $120/season allows you to see all the games through MLB.TV. C'mon ............

The Mets don't have a whole lot of those kinds of fans. They'll listen if it's easy and free.

But I can understand why the team only cares about its own platform, and blows off radio.
 
I used to DX and listen to out of market games; I remember when growing up in NJ hearing Cubs games on WGN and White Sox games on WCFL, KMOX had the Cardinals, etc. I even picked up a few weekday games in the summer on Armed Forces Radio (SW). TODAY DX is passe for hearing games
 
And BTW if you are a REAL baseball FAN, you can't shell out $20 (for the season) to hear a live audio feed of the game?? ~~~ or $120/season allows you to see all the games through MLB.TV. C'mon ............

Most radio listening is done in the car. Hit one button and go. No one wants to sync their bluetooth, pull up the app, and wait for it to start working.
 
Most radio listening is done in the car. Hit one button and go. No one wants to sync their bluetooth, pull up the app, and wait for it to start working.

Or, simply hit it up on SiriusXM satellite radio. It's not really that complicated.
 
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