Hey folks, welcome to good news York. I'm Matt
major from growth mode technologies Joined as
always by my sidekick here Mike in his very fashionable
T -shirt he's rocking. Well, we've got a very
Extinguished guest today. So yeah, so you wore
a t -shirt. So I mean excuse me a v -neck It
doesn't have any stains on it. That's the what
it was. That's the impressive part I gotta go
v -neck and I've got to go not stained Mike tell
us who's joining us enough about you Okay. Joining
us today, the GM, the General Manager of the
Syracuse Mets, Mr. Jason Smoral. Hello, gentlemen.
Dude, it's so exciting to have you here. You
are a busy man and you took the time to come
sit with us schlubs. And can I say, before anything
else, I really appreciate you coming after we
visited the stadium and these two guys ran around
like clowns. The fact that you're even associating
with us still is pretty... Yeah, we really appreciate
it. Anybody that buys and wears a foam Syracuse
Mets hat, I will talk to any day of the week.
That's fair. I'm a little disappointed. No offense.
There's so much work that went into the outfit
today that you didn't. Go with the foam, Syracuse,
Smith's hat. I thought about bringing it out,
you know, bringing it because, you know, obviously
I wore it at the stadium. There's only so many
times and places you can wear that hat. It really
is, but now it would have been good. Now it would
have worn up those times. When we walked into
that, by the way, your shop there, the merchandise.
The team store. The team store, thank you. Where
it's fun to shop. The team store is wildly impressive.
Like, this isn't, you know, we're gonna get like
a nice little t -shirt. I mean, we've got...
with throwback jerseys, all kinds of hats. And
when Danny and I saw the full hat, we looked
at each other and we went, yep, we got to do
it. You see that, like yesterday it was at a
game and there's just... group having a conversation
and one of the women had one of those Hulk drinking
fists. Those are the kind of things, like there's
having a regular conversation and some ladies
just got a Hulk drinking orange Hulk drinking
fist. Casually walking around with a Hulk drinking
fist. That's the allure of sports and especially
the minor leagues. People don't understand the
fun of minor league baseball. Listen, I'll be
honest, I'm not a huge sports guy, but I've been
to a number of different places. And this stadium,
that whole experience is really top -notch, way
above what I would expect. What I feel like is
kind of our local team situation. So you're doing
a great job. I see it all the time. We're like
the best kept secret in Central New York. We've
been there for like 137 years. Wow. I don't know
the math, but professional baseball goes back
to like 1876. Yes. Yeah. So with the Syracuse
Stars. That was the year you were born. It was.
I look fantastic. You look awesome, too. Well,
it's my diet. Diet, doctor. Coffee and alcohol.
No. See, I am a huge sports fan. And but I had
the same reaction because listen you go around
the country and there are minor league clubs
that kind of live up to the name minorly you
get there and you're like, okay, this looks like
a You know a minor league club step above a high
school you pull into the what is the name of
the statement historic? NBT Bank Stadium historic
NBT VT Bank Stadium I feel like I was at the
major leagues. From the outside to the inside.
One of the last big ones built. So when they
were building the stadium, and this is the new
stadium that was built in 97, it kind of has
that feel to it. It has that upper deck. And
it kind of looks like a castle when you're coming
in. It really does. It's really kind of neat.
And you do. You come around this corner and it's
like... And people say they're like, wow, it
just kind of, it comes out of nowhere. It appears.
Yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful. It is. And I got
to say, even like the seating, I thought was
neat. Like we got a table. Yeah. Where can you
go to a stadium, I feel like, and sit at a neat
little table with a couple of folks. That was
great. The renovations, what it needed. So, I
mean, so, you know, I'm going into my 12th year
and we inherited old historic NVT Bank Stadium.
And then... The Mets purchased us in late 2017.
In 2018, we still had the Nationals on the field,
the affiliation with the Nationals. 2019 was
the first year that the Mets players were on
the field. And then we had been talking with
the county and the state and we got the renovations
done. So 2020, you know, COVID. So we didn't
open until 2021. We had that two years to spruce
up. And I think it was really good. uh, smart
way to invest the money because some of these
minor league teams are building these new stadiums.
They're $190 million, $100 million, uh, where
we had a perfectly good stadium. The county did
a great job keeping the infant structure up.
Everything was level. Everything was still good.
And it just needed a little facelift. So a ton
of paint, you know, a little bump out of the
team store, all new seats. Everything was fan
facing. Wow. And, you know, for $25 million.
We have a brand new stadium. Yeah, you know and
then that's signed a lease till 2043 and everyone's
happy and it's exciting and it's just reinvigorated
The team that's that's incredible and it shows
it's a fantastic facility and and we had a great
time Oh my god at the game. Tell us a little
bit about you guys You play a lot of games as
professional sports go, right? You do. You know,
I tell people all the time, I said, you know,
and I speak to sports management classes and
I say, you know, the dumb people go into sports
management and the dumbest of the dumb work in
professional baseball. We have, you know, it's
150 games for the whole season. We play 75. We
have a weird business. We're open 75 days a year.
for three and a half hours. And some of those
days are in April and May outside when it rains.
It's a weird business, but every series is Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
So it's a challenge. And every business has its
challenges, every business has its obstacles,
every market has their different challenges.
So one of the ones in baseball is Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, six days
in a row. It's hard for people to go to a game
six days. Football plays on the weekends. Basketball
maybe plays one or two games a week. Hockey plays
one or two games a week. It's a different way
to market, different way to experience that.
We play six days a week. So we'll finish this
homestand. We'll have a week off. Then we'll
play 12 games in 13 days. We have two back -to
-back stands. So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, off day. Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It's a challenge.
It's a challenge for the fans. It's a challenge
to get people to go in there, but... We have
a great team, you know, staff that that that's
why we do what we do. Yeah. That's why every
night has to be an event. There's Taco Tuesday
and Wildcat and Wine Slushy and We Care Wednesday.
I love the moderation. Rolls off the top. Dollar
Thursday. Fireworks every Friday. Fireworks every
Saturday. A giveaway every Saturday. Kids eat
free on Sundays. Run the bases after the game.
You know, topical stuff. Seeing if Jim Morrison
is still alive. Yeah. Bring your cat to the bark.
That was a horrible idea. What a terrible idea.
Were they running all over the field? Five cats
showed up. Five cats. I've been wanting to do
Cat Day forever because we're just racist against
cats. We love dogs, right? Dogs get three days.
You're right, man. I'm a cat guy. I'm a dog and
a cat guy. Everybody gets a day. Dogs get three
days, right? So I was like, we're being unfair
to the cats and the cat lovers. Sure. Diversity.
I wanted to do it. And then I was afraid. I was
like, even I know a bad idea when I see it. You
know, but then Lehigh Valley did it. I said,
well, if they did it, I can do it. So this year
we announced Cat Day. The whole staff thought
it was a horrible idea. Cat lovers, animal lovers.
Everyone's like, that's the worst idea you've
ever come up with. I was like, we're doing it.
Originally it was going to be on a Saturday.
We're going to call it Caturday. And then we
decided to put it on a dollar Thursday. And then
someone, I get to take credit for it, but someone
came up with dollar purrsday. Uh, I said, let's
just do it. Right. So how bad could it be? Five
cats showed up. The over under was 15. So we
have the under, uh, not one of them was from
Syracuse. And this is the interesting fact. You
asked them. There was only five of them. I know
where they live. So, uh, uh, they came from Saratoga,
Albany, Utica, Oriskany Falls. And the closest
one was from Cato. And the people from Saratoga
brought their friends from Cooperstown. What?
That is wild. Everybody in Syracuse thought it
was a horrible idea. Oh, these people came from
Saratoga. They're like, where are all the cats?
These cats had harnesses. They had little carriers.
The one cat, Miso, from Cato, I believe. She
had a little bubble on the back of her things.
Her little head was sticking out. Ron Weasley
was from Saratoga. It was a gigantic... A Maine
Coon cat. It's the size of you. It's like you
are there. Wow. And he had this thing and he
was the best cat. These were all good cats. They
had a blast. It wasn't Toontz's, it was Zoodle.
Zoodle was from Utica. Zoodle was the first one.
Wow. This is I Love You. You are my spirit animal.
This guy... I can't remember my wife's anniversary,
but I know Zoodle is a cat from Utica. But you
remember Zoodle from Utica. I mean, it's a much
more memorable event if we're not. It was Moon.
Oh, it was Moon. Moon. You know, I wanted to
ask you, speaking about you say you play 150
games. Yes. There's been a lot of talk in sports
media about, you know... Are there too many?
Well, yeah, but overall what they're saying is...
They say 161? That's right. 162. And they're
talking about how they're trying to keep people
interested. Obviously with social media, you
know, sports in general are having trouble keeping
people engaged, specifically baseball. And I
thought about it from the frame of mind of, well,
look, baseball was invented long before there
were any distractions, let alone all the distractions
we have now. So I started thinking, you know,
listen to all these sports media. Wanted to hear
your thoughts on this these were the ideas that
I came up with that I thought you could on your
idea These are my idea to save base. This is
dangerous. Let's save baseball Brickville Catterday,
we're gonna do that I thought I want to see what
you thought. All right, and this isn't to save
the game The game is always going to be there,
but you know, they added the pitch clock They
did the base runner the extra base runner in
extra. So they're trying I thought let's just
break it down simplistically. I would love your
opinion on this. First of all, I think a salary
cap would be perfect because you've got teams
like the Dodgers, right? They have this gigantic
payroll and then teams in smaller markets like
Pittsburgh. They just can't compete. We need
more parity. We will. You know, that does not
compete or they choose not to compete. Well,
that's that's that is true, too. There are some
clubs that I believe just choose not to. So number
one is that might keep the money. My second.
thought was, but now this is where I really want
your opinion, because it would affect revenue.
But I thought, can we cut it down to a hundred
games? I mean, for the players themselves, right?
For the fans? Because once football starts, people
get really distracted. And then my third idea,
other than Caturday, was I just think MLB Network.
They should be more present at these minor league
ballparks. I think they should be going and broadcasting
from the parks and showcasing all the great things
you guys do. I've thought that a lot. You know,
you watch a major league game and they don't
talk about... Louis Angel Acuna, they don't talk
about his time in Syracuse, his time in Binghamton,
his time in Port St. Lucie, a picture of him
from St. Lucie, and a picture of him when he
was in Binghamton, well he wasn't in Binghamton,
we actually got him on a trade from Houston Nationals,
but Mark Vientos maybe is another example that
came up through the med system, and a picture
of him in Promote. the Binghamton Rumble Ponies,
and the St. Lucie Mets, and the Brooklyn Slate
Clones, and on those national broadcasts, and
it doesn't matter if it's Seattle, because the
journey that these players take is sometimes,
you know, they always talk about, you know, this
guy plays, you know, Dak Prescott, you know,
he went to like Old Mess or Mississippi State.
They talk about that all the time. Why don't
we talk about the journey that some of these
high school, these players, they might have gone
from high school straight to professional baseball.
They could have gone from the Dominican or Latin
country into professional baseball. There's a
story there that they could tell that would then,
does it shed more light? Yes. Does it shed more
legitimacy on the process of minor league baseball?
Because these baseball players are amazing. It's
a journey. And if you get to triple A, just to
get drafted, You're an unbelievable baseball
talent. But to get to AAA, we have AAA baseball
in central New York, in Syracuse, New York. These
baseball players are unbelievable. You can watch
what they do night in and night out. The Yankees
of tomorrow are sitting in that dugout. The Mets
of tomorrow are in our dugout. Boston Red Sox
come through. The Toronto Blue Jays come through.
We've seen these players in Syracuse for practically
nothing. Ellie Delacruz. where the Cincinnati
Reds, he had a home run over the scoreboard.
And he was just the best player. He's incredible.
He was there for a week and he was, I don't think
he made it the whole week. I think he had like
three home runs in like two days and they just
brought him up to the Reds. But to be able to
say that you saw him in Syracuse. It's like when
you say, I saw this band, you know, in... Cleveland
back in 96 before anyone knew who they were.
You can do that. I also feel like, you know,
you see in other sports like, what's her name,
Caitlin Clark, the young women's basketball star.
Suddenly she kind of became a star and brought
that whole thing up. And I feel like that's kind
of exactly the idea of this program is to build
some people up, but start with their story from
them and you get that, you know, build that marketing
along with the talent that. you know, don't only
discover them when they get there. And I think
that would help, you know, and we say all the
time, we specialize in people who don't like
baseball, you know, because we, as the minor
league, we don't have any control over the baseball.
People are often very disappointed when they
find out what I do for a living as a general
manager of the Syracuse Mets. I keep the bathrooms
clean in the vehicle. That's my main job. Uh,
you know, I don't decide who's playing first
base or whatever. We just are the hosts of the
team. You know, we provide the buses and the
transportation to make sure there's a dirt and
all that stuff. Uh, you know, so we can only
control, we control, we can't control the weather.
And we'd get to play in Syracuse in April and
sometimes March. So horrible. It's worse than
getting 38 degrees on opening day. It was the
coldest baseball game I've ever played. The players
come from like, they come from like, you know,
Dominican Republic or Venezuela. They're like,
it might be their first time. They might have
been in St. Lucie. They might have been here
or there. They might have been in another system
that only plays in the south. They're like, what
is going on? Why are we doing this? You know,
30 degrees is a great time to play baseball if
you're in the World Series. That's right. Not
if it's April 7th on a Wednesday. So, but we
can't control that. Yeah. And also we have to
do to make sure that our are what we can control
is awesome. So that's doing fun things, customer
service, cleanliness of the ballpark. We can
have the greatest promotion set and it could
rain. So you've gotta power through, you gotta
have thick skin, you gotta do the right thing,
gotta communicate that stuff to the fans. And
I think if the fans know that you're honest and
fair with them, and we're giving good dollar
value, that they will support us. with this mentality,
we're the number one attended sporting event
in Syracuse. And it blows everybody's minds.
It's awesome. Because they might come, you know,
yesterday on April 29th when it was, the thing
said it was 53 degrees. I don't know if I believe
it. Yeah. You know, and the park is a third full.
They're like, ah, I can't believe it. But as
it warms up and it fills up, we have that skeletal
girth. We do have 75 games, and we do have a
10 ,000 -seat arena, so it adds up. Yeah. That's
incredible. And it really is. I'm not just saying
this for the air. You really do create a really
fun environment. Like, when you think of going
to a game, and it's more about the full experience,
you do provide it. I mean, you can see the footage.
If you go to goodnewsyork .com, watch the episode.
I mean you are out there and your gold jacket
and your gold jacket only works on certain days
like it was cold yesterday and I don't have a
lot of work you can't wear the gold jacket on
a Wednesday April 29th and you can wear it on
opening day and that's and and that's what makes
baseball great and that's what makes the minor
league baseball great is specifically the Syracuse
Mets you really do a hell of a job man I Thank
you food to the the the atmosphere the events
and then the game itself so but we're brothers
and sisters in this and you know So we don't
compete against the Rochester Red Wings as horrible
as they are and let me just make sure we say
this on record as Horrible as Dan Mason is the
world's most horrible person general manager
of the dreaded horrible Rochester Red Wings I
mean, I was gonna say that We're brothers and
sisters with them, because we'll steal ideas
from them. Even though he's a horrible person,
he has some good ideas that I can steal every
once in a while. And hopefully they steal some
ideas from us. We stole Caturday from the Lehigh
Valley Iron Figs. So we don't compete with Rochester
and Lehigh Valley and Scranton. We share experiences.
We share best practices. And we'll call each
other. We'll talk to each other. We'll say, hey,
this is a great idea. You should think about
doing it. That's great. We just saw him cut a
WWE wrestling promo. That was great. I want Dan
Mason to come back with a rebuttal on that one.
Oh, he will. Okay, good. Tell you what, T. He's
not surprised it's already not there. This is
live. He's probably already done it. This is
Warrior vs. Hogan. I'm loving this. No, this
is awesome, man. I'd love to hear just a little
bit about, you know, you've got this crazy season,
you got 75 games, but then what happens the rest
of the year? Do you get to just kind of relax?
Play video games and drink. All right. Cool.
That's the perception, but the reality is it's
a year round gig. Yeah. And, you know, you get
to take the pedal off the gas a little bit because
you just don't have to finish the night with
a baseball game. Sure. You know, but it's still
every day of the week, it's still... Sometimes
it's seven days a week because there's community
events. There's things to go to. So there's no
off season. They've extended the season a little
bit. We used to end at Labor Day and then that
was kind of nice. You'd end at Labor Day and
you had the month of September to get your breath.
Then you get back into it in October. Well, now
we end at the end of September, and October is
the next month. Right. So there's no bring. Yeah.
We just kind of keep going, and we start the
planning for next season in this season. So,
I mean, we even start renewals in July. If we
have a schedule, we'll start renewals in July.
You know, group renewals, season ticket holder
renewals, coming up with the right idea, seeing
how the schedule lays out. The off season is
all the business stuff. It's it's budgeting and
it is is HR stuff and exit interviews and check
-ins with the staff and and Purchasing because
we have to buy stuff so far Sure in advance stock
up of things capital projects, you know, how
do we keep the stadium fresh? So there's always
something going on Yeah, it never ends and and
then just in in season. It's just dialed up to
11. That's incredible. That's It's it's a whirlwind
no doubt It absolutely is. I wanted to also just
ask you a little bit about staff. So specifically,
do you have positions open at different times?
And then also, even if you don't, people that
are interested in baseball and interested in
maybe a career like this, what's some advice
how they can get into that? Dumb people get into
sports management and the dumbest of the dumb
do is baseball. I'm only half kidding. Some of
us love it. The important thing for the youngsters,
I mean, a couple of things on this whole thing.
First and foremost, pound for pound, Syracuse
Mets have the best staff in professional sports.
We met them. And they're the engine that makes
it go. And we have the smallest staff in AAA
baseball. Oh, wow. We're smaller than a lot of
double A teams. So when I say pound for pound,
we're the best pound for pound. We are the best.
Yeah. You know, the Katie stewards that manages
HR and all the business operations and all the
purchasing and the team store and you know, everything
else I put on her, on her plate. Uh, you know,
she's amazing. Brian Pawpick is another assistant
general manager and everything that he manages
that has just elevated the stadium to keeping
it where it needs to be, booking all the hotel
rooms, booking the bus travel, booking all the
air flights, and at the same time making sure
that those bathrooms are spick and span because
a clean house is a happy house. To Will Camiso
and the ticket office and the ticket department,
the whole group's division. Phoebe and Katie
and Billy Schultz and Stephanie Delaney to go
out, you know, and we come to this area where
I'm very familiar with where your offices are
because there's a ton of small businesses around
here and we've got to go and knock on those doors
to say. would you like to come to a baseball
game? And in what way would you like to come
to this baseball game? The answer is either no,
get out of my office, which is fine, or what
do you got? Maybe a season tickets, maybe it's
a flex plan, maybe it's a hospitality party,
whatever it is, but that goes on all the time.
John Stewart on the grounds crew doesn't just,
he loves doing grounds crew work, you know what
he doesn't love doing? He's also the sign guy.
He's also, hey, we need some shelves built guy.
Yeah. Hey, we have to go transform the stadium
into this. Uh, you know, so he and his staff
are amazing. Anthony Sanchetta upstairs, you
know, he, we do all of our own graphics. We do
all of our own social media. Uh, and he does
all of that while he hires the cameraman and
hires and trains young kids to do the replay
machine and the tricorder. Wow. a television
show, a radio broadcast, all the graphics in
the house. It's incredibly impressive. To be
able to manage all that stuff, plus the concessions
and all that stuff. So we couldn't do it without
our staff. And not all staffs are created equal.
And our staff is the best. That's incredible.
So you say the smallest staff in the miners,
is that by design, by choice? Are you understaffed,
or you want to keep it the way you have it? Well,
it's... I don't think you would not design it
this way. Sure. You know, and so we have 19 people.
Really? Two of those guys are accountants, and
three of them are, two of them are groundskeepers,
and the rest of us do this, and some staffs are
40, 50 people. It started by necessity. Sure.
We were the Syracuse Chiefs, the team that probably
shouldn't exist, team that should have gone away,
and was saved. you know, multiple times over
the course of the history of the team, you know,
starting in the 60s, and then again in the 90s,
and then again, you know, in 2013. So, you know,
we had to do more with less. And we just kept
asking the staff to do more with less, and they
just kept doing it, so we're just used to it.
Yeah. Other people come. You know, the New Hampshire
Fisher Cats, a couple years guy came, and he
was at the stadium. I was talking to him. He's
the owner. And he was like, wow, this is amazing.
So how many people do you do this with? I was
like, we got 19 people. He's like, we got 19
people. He's like, I got 35 people. I was like,
I don't know. So it's a testament. That's great.
And it works. It's mean. It's mean. But we'll
burn some people out. We're not afraid. So it's
a lot. But we have a different philosophy. I
have a philosophy of just get your work done.
as strict and as prudent of it's a nine -to -five
job and it's this and that, just get your work
done. And if your work is done and we're doing
it for the right reasons and it's for the end
result of the good of the team, the good of the
brand, the good for the fans, and you're happy
with your work -life balance and the work is
getting done, then that's what's gonna work for
us. That's awesome. Are you anticipating, everybody
in the area is obviously very excited. about
Micron coming. Is there any sort of prep that
goes into as far as marketing or preparation
for that? Are you guys anticipating anything
with that? No, we just do us. I think it's important
to know who you are as a business, as a person.
Be comfortable in your own skin. We have learned
that from a lot of people over the years. And
we're just gonna do us. And if our vision is
right, our vision is true, and a gigantic business
comes into town and fulfills its potential promise
of 9 ,000 more jobs and 27 ,000 more people in
the area. That's 27 ,000 more cats, by the way.
It could be. And we're doing our thing. And our
thing is good. Yeah. And people are walking out
there saying, hey, the Syracuse Metzorostomy
should go. Then I think that we're gonna benefit
from that. So we have to be true to ourselves
We don't need to glom on to you know micron coming
in if we're good. You got the right recipe already
Yeah, I agree then then you build it. They will
come sure. So hopefully Micron wants to get involved
with us and we'll obviously knock on their door.
Sure You have to invite somebody to come check
you out. Yeah, and we'll see what happens. That's
that's great One last question I will ask you.
I have one more. And I'm curious, and if you
don't even want to speak on this matter, that's
cool, but is there any competition around the
city versus the other kind of bigger sports venue
options? Really, you know, we compete with going
to camp. Gotcha. We compete with, you know, we
compete with travel baseball and travel speaker
and travels, you know, whatever's, you know.
Do we compete with the Irish Fest or the Polish
Fest? It's a Saturday afternoon. But again, we
got six games. So maybe you want to come to us
on Dollar Thursday. There's enough people around.
There's 440 ,000 people in Onondaga County. There's
660 ,000 people in the surrounding area DMA.
We would love 6 ,000 people to show up. So if
6 ,000 people show up, there's still some 659
,000 people that have to go do other events.
We actually need other things to do. I think
that again, it gets back to knowing who you are,
our product, it is what it is, the schedule is
what it is. you can't control those things, control
what you can control, and work with those people.
We work with the Polish Festival, we work with
the Italian Festival, we work with the Irish
Festival. We've always promoted, one of the first
things when I got the job was to promote the
puck drops for the Syracuse Crunch. We work with
Syracuse University, so we work with the Amphitheater,
and we will promote their concerts and give away
tickets to the concerts. We work with the New
York State Fair. We embrace everything that makes
our community great. And then those guys embrace
us. And that's the balance that you need to make
a community work. Exactly. Everything you describe
is just a good functional community. And I love
that we see folks in charge of these massive
things that have that very community -based mindset.
We're working with Syracuse Stage tonight. And
we're working with Syracuse Stage over the course
of the years when they have something that's,
you know, they have a new play that they have.
that they've commissioned called the National
Past Night. You remember when, like years ago,
there was some report coming out of Cuba that
they were sending sound waves into our embassy
and people were getting sick? So somehow they
commissioned a play. Somehow they're taking that.
And the Houston Astros cheating scandal and a
play is coming called the National Pastime to
Syracuse stage. We're going to learn all about
it tonight on Dollar Thursday, which is Copa
de la Diversión as we take the field as the Congueros
de Syracuse and I can butcher the Spanish language
on the field in my pregame. That is phenomenal.
This is incredible. That's a lot of info to get
through right there. I'm trying to... The most
important part is it's Dollar Thursday. Right.
And what time's the game? Our games generally
start at 6 .35. The gates open at 5 .30. You
know, and I always get back to the things that
shock people. And if you take a look at the landscape,
nobody does what we do. Right? And this day and
age of complaining about how expensive everything
is, and this, that, and the other thing. Taco
Tuesday. We have food discounts, uh, 50 % off
wine slushies on Wednesdays, $5 off Wildcat chicken
wings and the stuff in the store. Another food
and drink discount. Dollar Thursday, $2 for a
national casing, world's greatest hot dog. Uh,
the Hoffman, Hoffman hot dog and the Cooney.
Way better than the Zweigel's hot dog served
by the Rochester Redwings and the world's most
horrible person, Dan Mason. Yeah, Dan. You're
going down. And $3 .16 cans of beer and 1911
hard cider. We can get a Saranac craft beer for
$3. Fireworks every Friday with a fizzy Friday
with a deal. You buy a ticket, you get two craft
beers or two canned cocktails. Again, it's gonna
save you 50 % if you bought that at a regular
price. Kids eat free on Sunday. Jeff the Magic
Man's there doing free balloon art. Run the bases
after the game. I mean, nobody does what we do.
That's awesome. And we're going to keep doing
it. And we'll play to the people that show up.
And if they have a good time, they're going to
keep telling their friends and their neighbors.
And I don't blame people for not coming out on
a Wednesday night. I mean, on a 38 degrees? Sure.
I mean, it's 50 % off a wine slushie. But guess
what? There's a Wednesday in June where I'm going
to get 50 % off of that wine slushie. Could be
warm. I mean, honestly, your biggest competitor
would be the weather. The weather is probably
our number one. Yeah. You know, and this is what
I meant. I want to reiterate. I'm not just saying
this because Jason's on the show. I'm telling
you that this is they go above and beyond other
minor league clubs to create that experience.
And I don't know that we do. I think this is
what we all do. I think if you went to Nashville,
I think if you went even to dreaded Rochester,
New York, Dan Mason, we're led by the world's
most horrible person, Dan Mason. They thank you.
I'm going to need one of those. They do an awesome
job. They have great food and great fun. And
Rochester is doing it, and Buffalo is doing it,
and Worcester is doing it. And we're all like
this. When I say that we're a brotherhood and
sisterhood of the minor leagues, if you've worked
for any extended period of time in minor league
baseball, And it probably extends to some other
minor league sports, but specifically minor league
baseball. And I meet you and you said that you
worked for the Chattanooga lookouts, or you worked
for the El Tuna curve, or you worked for the
El Paso Chihuahuas. We know. The fact that you
even know the names. You're already on the same.
We're already there, because all the stadiums
are very similar. We're all doing this for the
fans and for the fun. Because when it works,
it's amazing. It's so fun. And that's the perk
of the job. And a million years ago, when I started,
1990, three in Watertown, New York. My boss,
Jack Trotz, he made me sit out front at the gate
and thank people for coming and just shake their
hands. If there's a problem, deal with it. And
if not, just thank them for coming. Let them
know we got a game tomorrow night. Let them know
we got a game the next day. And I do that to
this very day. And I sit out front and I shake
people's hands and I thank them for coming. And
you just see the smiles on people's faces. And
now here, scooch is there. and you see the kids
just go up and get a picture with Scooch. You
see adults go up and get a picture with Scooch.
Last time I took a picture of like 10, you know,
they see college kids with Scooch and they just
had a blast. Somebody came, he's been in the
city for four years. He's from the Bronx, Yankees
fan. He's never been to a ballpark, never been
to a game. Somebody brought him last night and
he said he had a blast. You know, so. There's
opportunities out there, and you don't know that
unless you're out there with the people and talking
to them and inviting them into your business.
And just to back that up, that is how I met you.
Danny, when we went to shoot the episode at the
park, we're standing there, and Danny goes, you
know, I probably should try to get you to meet
the GM, Jason. I'm thinking, oh, God, I would
love it. I'm thinking I'm going to meet a guy
in a suit and I'm going to go to his office.
And I go, yeah. He goes, actually, there he is.
And I look, and there's... I go, where? He goes,
there. I'm like, that guy? He's got a gold coat
on and flappy hat, and he's going, ooh, top coat
too. And he's slapping hands with the band. I'm
like, this is amazing. So you really are out
there with the fans, and I love that, man. That's
what we do. That's how we roll. That brings me
to my last question, which is, I'd love to get
your opinion on this. Speaking of fun, right
now, there's this trend. There's a thing called
the Savannah Bananas. Oh, yeah. And they, you
saw this event, didn't we talk about this event?
I'm the one that brought it up. You are the one
that brought it up. You may recall. You may recall.
And, you know, they're like the Harlem, for those
of you that don't know, they're like the Harlem
Globetrotters of baseball. Don't say that to
Jesse Goff. Oh, sorry. The general concept, but
yeah, they go way behind. Oh, he's the owner
of this event, okay. Well, what I mean is, it's
along the same lines of just an entertaining
experience. Do you, is that... amongst your peers
in the business, do they feel like a threat to
the game of baseball, or do you feel like it
complements that? It complements, I mean, it's
what we all would wish we could do if we didn't
have rules. Yeah. I don't know that we'd be able
to do it to that successful level, that awesomeness,
but it's such, they came here a couple years
ago, we were lucky enough to have them, and you
have to see it live, you have to experience it.
And I think some of the most amazing thing was
they came to Indianapolis and we were talking
to other teams to, to say, Hey, what do we need
to prepare for? You know, we've heard all these
rumors. So, you know, we can get on the phone
with Randy Lewandowski who runs the Indianapolis
Indians. And he was an old school guy. He's old
school. And Indianapolis is just one of the most
well respected minor league teams. Uh, and Randy
Lewandowski says it is the single most exciting,
greatest. baseball event I've ever seen in my
life. Wow. And then they came here, and it's
the single most amazing baseball event you've
ever seen. It's incredible. They're the best.
And the fans just love it. We're like, we were
terrified. Yeah, it's general admission seating.
There's 10 ,000 people at general admission,
but nobody has a seat. There wasn't one problem.
Wow. Everybody was cool. And they have it down.
The players were great. Jesse was great. The
entertainment is great. You think, you know,
we're bringing these people in three hours at
a time. They entertain you from the second that
you show up to the second you leave. And when
the players go out there, this might be the best
thing. So at the end of the game, the players
were out there for an hour and a half signing
autographs for every single fan. You know, I
think that is what I wish that we could get more
interaction with our players and get our players
more involved in the community. The hard part
is that they play baseball every day. Yeah. You
know, there's not, there's not a goal. We're
going to finish this series with the, with the
Scranton rail riders. And then next week we can
go to libraries and we can go to the mall. We
can do this. They're getting on a bus. We're
actually getting on a plane. We're going to Jacksonville
to play the Jacksonville jumbo shrimp. My early
baseball names are the best. Right. Are the best.
Wow. Yeah. The isotope. No, I love to hear that.
And honestly, um, I'm glad you asked that question
because. A lot of what you've been talking about
that whole time is what I see from them promoting
excessively the Savannah Bananas, I'm saying,
which is their fan experience. And every bit
of thing that you watch about their business
strategy and things like that, it's all about
100 % for the fan, which is exactly what we've
heard you talk about this whole interview. They're
able to take it to 11. Yeah. So we think we're
at 11. There might be a 12. That's only because
they are able to... If you could take it to that
12, like you said, you would. And that's what
I mean, is like, within the rules of the game,
you... He'd look awesome in that yellow suit,
I'm just saying. I should be orange, though.
I have a hat. You took it to the max. You take
it to the max, though. You do! The experience
at the Syracuse Mets games are as close to Savannah
Bananas as you can get without it. You know,
without it being this absolutely. So Jason, we're
going to, uh, we're not going to take much more
of your time here, but I just want to make sure
we get all the links and things. So people want
to go to the game is the best bet. Grab your
tickets in advance. Is it get them at the gate?
What's, what's your recommendation? You know,
there's just really to give options. So, I mean,
there's always a ticket available. You know,
it was very, we sell out on education days and
you know, there's a big player coming back. You
know, that's the, it's nice to have that skeletal
girth. Excuse me. Little league night. Some of
the nights are a little bit busier. Uh, but syracusemets
.com you can get everything online. You want
to skip the fees. We still have paper tickets.
Uh, you can still just go to the, to the box
office, but we have great things like the flex
plan. Uh, and the flex plan is, is 10 undated
vouchers. Uh, it's $125. So it's $12 and 50 cents.
You pick any game, any seat, uh, and you just
exchange that voucher and you come in. Season
tickets are affordable, but with our season tickets,
if you don't come. to the Wednesday game and
you go to opening day and then there's the next
day and it's still 30 degrees and it's Wednesday.
And you don't want to go? Those four tickets
you can redeem for any game for the rest of the
season. So if you're a business and it's a great
investment because guess what? I'm not going
to any games in April. And I had four season
tickets and you guys had 12 games. You now have,
what is 12 times 24? It sounds like a lot. But
now you could bring your employees, bring your
family, bring your friends, donate those to a
high school team, whatever it is. And they could
come to the 4th of July. They could come to Little
League night. They could do whatever they want.
That's incredible. So many different options.
So I encourage you to go to SyracuseMets .com
to check it out. Give a phone call. We'll all
pick it up. And we'll try to talk you through
whatever is the best thing for you in your situation
to come and hang out with us. And go to SyracuseMets
.com unless you're Dan Mason. Yeah, Dan Mason.
Yeah, Dan Mason hate night. That's what we gotta
do. And that actually might be an idea. Dan Mason
hate night. I'm not off -board with that. Listen,
if I owned a baseball team, my friend, Jason
Smoral, you would be the guy I would want as
my GM. Thank you for coming. Can I be the president
and then I can hire Dan Mason so that I can just
yell at him every day? That sounds great, Adam.
Yeah. Make him go clean the toilet, Dan. Whatever
he does to him, it's a horrible idea. Yeah. Oh,
what was it? Nah. We're just not gonna do that.
God. I don't even know this guy. I'm in. Let's
go. And the best part about it, he's literally
the best person that's on. I had a feeling. I
hate him. Jason, thank you so much for joining
us here on Good News York. You are welcome back
anytime. Thank you so much. We're happy to promote
all the fun things happening at the ballpark
and we will definitely be back out there to do
some more fun stuff. Don't threaten me with a
good time. Go to a Syracuse. I double dog dare
you. Okay, well now I have to. And he'll bring
the hat. I will bring the hat every time I go
to a Syracuse Mets game. Then you can accessorize
it as you go. You can get the Hulk fist. You
can get another foam concoction. Yeah, is the
Hulk, not the Hulk, is the gold jacket a you
thing, or is that available? The gold is not
available, and it is the world's greatest Mets
jacket, and it is, there's a story behind it.
John Wallace, the basketball player. Oh, yeah,
okay. Has a friendship with Archie Wixson, the
director of facilities with Onondaga County.
And Archie has this jacket. I said, Archie, I'm
going to need to wear that jacket. I'm going
to have to take that. He goes, well. He goes,
you're gonna need to wear it out. If you gotta
give it to you, you gotta wear it on opening
day. I said, that's the point. That was why I
was. So it's a little small for me. I don't,
I think maybe that's why John Wallace gave it
to Archie Wixson because obviously the fit in.
But I wore it to Citi Field last year for the
playoff games. And if you wanna feel like you
are the world's most important person, wear that
jacket at Citi Field during a playoff game. Everyone
can walk by and everyone's just like, their mouths
agape. Now that was so great. That makes me that's
another question. Sorry. That makes me think
I believe John Walls had this Mac jacket custom
-made Wow, really? Oh, yeah. I did not see another
jacket like it If there is there's five of them
on the planet. It's amazing. Damn. It's one of
the it's the snap Yeah, I remember with the you
know, it's shiny pictures and you can't wear
it on Wednesday April 29th Yeah, you know wear
it on opening day. So when you go to a major
league game like that. Yeah, that's game Do they
roll out the red carpet or are you just like
another, I mean, do they treat you the way you
should? The Mets took incredible care for us.
The Cohen family invited all the minor leaguers,
everybody. They brought everybody to the game
that wanted to go. They paid for transportation.
They paid for a hotel. You could pick one of
the, you know, if you wanted to go to every single
game you could, but they weren't paying for all
your hotels and all that stuff, but they brought
us down there. They couldn't have been more gracious.
The Mets are a fantastic organization. We're
not even owned by them anymore, and I'm still
gonna say that because they are top notch from
top to bottom. That's incredible. I have one
quick thing I know. You're reminding me all this
shit. I gotta tell you this. So my wife, I was
born into a Mets family. Good people. And when
I asked my father... Mets fans are real fans.
Well, I'm a Yankees fan. Here we go. Okay, thanks
Danny. When I asked my father -in -law if I could
marry my wife, he said one minute. He got up,
he went into the garage, he came back with a
sledgehammer and he sat down and he said, proceed.
So I do the thing. He says, all right, you can
marry my daughter under one condition. And I'm
serious. I go, OK. He goes, if and when you have
kids, they have to be Mets fans. And to this
day, both my kids are Mets. I have to bite my
lip, but they're Mets fans. And that's why Mets
fans are Mets fans. Exactly. And when I proposed
to my wife, I bought a brick at Citi Field. And
we went to a Mets Yankees game. And I forget
what the excuse was, where we had to go find
this brick. But all of a sudden, we found it.
And I said, hey, look at that brick. And it said,
Katie, Katie, you know, I don't want to say my
wife's maiden name, but Katie, will you marry
me, Mike? And she was like, what? And I got down
on a knee, we took a picture, and all the Mets
fans were like, shut it. We're Yankees here.
So we have a strong tie, as much as I'm a Yankees
fan. Come on over. No, no. Just the Yankees,
but I do have a big spot in my heart for the
Mets now, especially because of you. Is that
still there, the brick? The brick will be there
forever. That's incredible. Yeah, and we have
a picture, we have a frame where it's the picture
of the brick, then we have a picture of me proposing
to her, so friends of ours were there, they took
a picture, and the third one, we're gonna take
my kids, with my wife and I, to a Yankees game,
and we're gonna get a picture in front of the
brick with the kids, and that'll complete the
frame. Look at this, look at this. Met's fans
are hardcore. Well, I'm a Bills fan, and it's
the same mentality. You know? Very similar. And
that's why, you know, I love them. Yeah. And
I love you. Their Mets fans are nuts and weird.
Probably the people want the Syracuse Mets to
come to their city. Yeah. Because Mets fans will
come out, use our radio broadcast team. You'll
be listening to the game. They'll be like, there's
a lot of orange and blue here in Charlotte tonight.
There's a lot of orange and blue. Jacksonville,
when we come to Jacksonville, there's gonna be
a ton of Mets fans just show up. That's all.
They'll be like, oh, we want Syracuse to come
back. Absolutely. It's all the people that left
New York and live in Florida. Yes, 100%. Yep.
That's awesome, man. Jason Smoral, GM of the
Syracuse Mets. You gave us way more of your time
than you needed to, my man. Thank you, man. We
love you. We really appreciate it. We will be
at the games. SyracuseMets .com. What's the next
game? Do we talk about it one more time? Tonight,
tonight, and then tomorrow night, and then the
next night. And then the night after that. I'm
just thinking about those discount hot dogs,
and of course the ice -cold Utica club you saw
there. Oh, and the pierogies. So good. The perogies.
I don't know if I... Perogies, no S. Oh, sorry.
I don't think I knew they had those. We have
them not only on a vegetarian cart, but we also
have them deep -fried, deep -fried buffalo chicken
wing pierogi. Oh, you dirty little man. Well,
that's it. I'm buying season tickets. Yeah, exactly.
And with that, folks, thank you so much for joining
us on today's Good News York. This has been an
awesome episode. I'm really, really excited to
see the squad. I think folks are going to love
it. So, Jason, thank you so much, man. Thank
you, guys. I appreciate it. And we'll tune in
next week. Thank you. Later.