Transcript: Mayor Adams Announces New York Yankees' and New York Mets' Home Games Projected to Generate over $900 Million in Economic Activity for New York City During 2025 MLB Regular Season

March 26, 2025

Deputy Mayor Adolfo Carrión, Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Yankee Stadium and to the Bronx. My name is Adolfo Carrión. I am the deputy mayor for Housing, Economic Development, Workforce, and fun stuff.  

We're here today because opening day is tomorrow. It is the start of baseball season, and it has a huge impact on our economy, having the presence of these two major league baseball teams in our town. So whether or not you root for the Yankees, as obviously I do, or you root for the New York Mets, which we love, we are all rooting for our hometown, for New York City.  

You should know that we've broken all-time jobs records since the start of this administration, ten times over. We've reached 4.8 million jobs, and our population continues to grow. We are now at 8.5 million people who call New York City their home. These two major league baseball teams, these two institutions, contribute a great deal to the New York City economy. It is my pleasure to be with the mayor and with the heads of these organizations here at Yankee Stadium today, and it is my distinct pleasure to introduce the 110th mayor of the City of New York, Eric Adams. 

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you, D.M. And I guess this is a peek into the World Series, the Mets and the Yankees. We're excited about that, and, you know, baseball is back, it's alive, and it's more than just a game that you sit in the bleachers and enjoy. It is really a place of bonding, family members sitting together. I don't know that one could really fully appreciate how it plays a major role in bringing families and communities together to sit in a park, to enjoy moments that you would think about forever.  

I still think about Piazza's home run. I still think about the World Series independent races as I sat in the stands and in the bleachers. I think about 1969 and ‘68 and ‘67. I think about the days of Strawberry, the days of Doc Gooden. All of these things become the precursor to your life. When you're down in the ninth inning, there's always a comeback, and that's representative of what these teams mean for New York City.  

But I do want to say this, that at every moment of life, there's come a level of pain, and our hearts go out to the family of Brett Gardner and his family following the loss of his 14-year-old son. I can't imagine that pain, so we're thinking of you and your family, and you are in our prayers.  

But we are clear today. Today, we want to say baseball is back. Tomorrow is opening game for the Yankees. And whether you are a Yankee or Mets fan, when our teams play in New York City, we all win. The Major League Baseball season will continue to hit our economy out of the park, as Deputy Mayor Carrión pointed out. It is projected to generate over $900 million in economic impact for the five boroughs this year alone. And that includes the restaurants, those who are in the area, the joy that comes with this game, and it helps our record-breaking job year. As we said it two years ago, it was going to be our Aaron Jugg this year, and we accomplished that task.  

New York Mets home games are expected to generate $315 million. Yankees home games are expected to generate $594 million over the course of the 2025 season, creating good-paying jobs, good experience, and just an opportunity for us all to enjoy the prosperity of this amazing city. And so today's numbers show that our hometown teams continue to be a home run for our local economy. And New York City is America's biggest economic engine.  

And these two teams bring tens of thousands of visitors to flock to the games each time they take the field and it’s going to continue to expand this season. So each time someone spends money in a restaurant, a stadium, in a retail store, by buying apparel, or at a hotel, it infused money into our economy and played a major role of the recovery of our economy as bond raters have clearly shown that this is a great investment the city called New York.  

So we want to make sure that all of our chefs, our bartenders, our waiters, our retail workers, our cleaners, all New Yorkers are here to appreciate and take home a paycheck because of these two great teams. It puts money back into the pockets of working class New Yorkers and into cash registers at local businesses. And it helped with our tourism.  

Last year, 65 million tourists hit our city, the fourth largest in our city history. It continues to state that this is an attractive place to do business and to enjoy our sports team. The New York City economy continues to hit home runs like Aaron Judge and Juan Soto. It's a real winning combination of both these teams. So when you look behind us and you see the Brewers on the field, it just goes to show you they need extra practice to be able to compete with our team here.  

And so I really want to thank both these great franchises for just the economic boost and the memories that go with it. So New Yorker, it’s baseball season. Visit Yankee Stadium and Citi Field. Get to a ball game. Start your own memories. Allow your children and families to understand how this is still America's game, baseball. 

Deputy Mayor Carrión: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just to be clear, I come from a divided family. Some of us are Yankee fans and some of us are Mets fans. Very difficult discussions at the dinner table. It is really a great pleasure to introduce my longtime friend and we've collaborated when he was in government. And, of course, as the president of the New York Yankees, Randy Levine. 

Randy Levine, President, New York Yankees: Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Welcome. It's always great to have you here. Mr. Deputy Mayor, I'm happy to say that. Scott, welcome everybody to Yankee Stadium as we stand on the verge of another opening day.  

The mayor has been nothing but incredibly helpful to us and supportive of the Yankees since his time as mayor. He has helped drive these economic numbers. He's been there through some really hard times like COVID and the recovery from COVID. So I want to thank you for that. And Adolfo, when he was borough president of the Bronx. This stadium wouldn't have not been built except for his leadership. He is a remarkable government official and we're very grateful to have you here today.  

The Yankees are part of the fabric of New York City. We're identified with it, we are so proud of it and anything we can do to help this city give people a better life. We try and hire people from the city, people of all backgrounds. We do whatever we can when called upon, when asked to contribute in every way, whether it's the Yankee Foundation, helping people in need of help. Whether it's providing a brand for support in all aspects. So I'm very proud to see those numbers.  

I'm very proud on behalf of the Steinbrenner family and the whole Yankee organization that we contribute. And hopefully we can even do better than those numbers. And I'm so happy to have Scott here. You know, the Yankees and Mets are fierce competitors on the field and that's the way it should be. But when it comes to doing right by the city and doing things to help people of the city, we're shoulder to shoulder. And I always believe it'll stay that way. Thank you, guys. 

Deputy Mayor Carrión: Thank you very much, Randy. And now it's my pleasure to introduce the president of Business Operations for the New York Mets, Scott Havens. 

Scott Havens, President, Business Operations, New York Mets: Thank you, deputy mayor. Good morning, everyone. Generally, I'm more comfortable in Queens, but I appreciate the warm introduction from Randy here at Yankee Stadium. A special thanks to Mayor Adams and his staff for organizing today's event. As Randy said, we are rivals on the field, but we are shoulder to shoulder off the field. And we're part of Team New York City for sure.  

New York is obviously a sports town and our fans are incredibly knowledgeable. And it's also deeply, deeply woven into the culture and it brings us together around shared moments. I was happy to hear Mayor Adams share many moments that I also have from the 1980s and beyond. But also, it is an incredible factor in driving economic development for the city, as noted.  

The game itself is only really part of the story. Obviously, we both play 80 or 81 games in our respective stadiums and hopefully 10, 12 more perhaps in the postseason. But the revenue derived from ticket sales and merchandise and food and beverage and the bars and restaurants filled up to watch our games is significant. But it's a 365 day impact from our teams.  

We hire hundreds of full time employees, many of which live in New York City. We also hire thousands of seasonal workers working closely with unions to staff electricians and plumbers and guest experience folks. So the impact is tremendous. We also, as the mayor noted, we think of ourselves as a magnet for tourism. A lot of people from around the world increasingly come to New York City, which doesn't really need baseball necessarily to get people to come. It's one of the world's great destinations, but they come here in part to watch baseball.  

I'm also very proud of the work that the amazing Mets Foundation does within the community run by our owner, Alex Cohen, generating awareness and providing funding for local sports, for schools, for a lot of nonprofits and health facilities in the communities. Since 1962, we’ve played a critical role here in New York and the revenue generated obviously has helped fund some of the public services, infrastructure and economic development projects. Our ambitions are high in Queens and we expect our contributions will be higher going forward.  

So tomorrow we have opening day. We're on the road, of course, in Houston. But we're really excited about this season. We have six games with the Yankees, only four last year. We have six, which is great. The city comes alive during the subway series. And if we're lucky, this happens to be the 25th year since the year 2000. And I think we would like to have another shot. It was close last year. But we are honored as New York Mets and on behalf of Steve and Alex Cohen to represent the city and help drive it forward. So thank you, mayor. Thank you, Randy, for being a generous host here at Yankee Stadium. And let's go, Mets. 

Deputy Mayor Carrión: He snuck it in. Thank you, Scott. And as Scott mentioned, New York baseball is also a driver of New York City tourism. And we have broken records in tourism, the highest growth that we've ever seen, the highest numbers we've ever seen in just this past year alone. As I said earlier, the population growth, the number of jobs, the support for small businesses, the ripple effect that these institutions have with their presence here is very important. And that's why we're here today to celebrate that and to open up baseball season. Now I will bring the mayor back and we will take on topic discussions about the start of baseball season. 

Mayor Adams: [Juliet], before I answer any questions, you have to say if you are Yankees or Mets. 

Question: Yankees, I’m a Bronx girl. So actually, my question is, you made reference to this, are there any sort of numbers that you project if there was a Yankees and Mets World Series? It's happened before. 

Levine: We don't jinx any of that. 

Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy, Communications: Just one thing to point out. Last year, the Yankees and Mets in the playoffs, with the women's WNBA Liberty, brought over $200 million in playoffs to our city. So if the Yankees and Mets, it would definitely be significantly more than that.  

Question: Yeah, I'm a cricket fan, but baseball's America's closest sport to cricket. So I'm a Yankees fan. I love to come to Yankee Stadium, have a beer, at El Fresco down the street. How is the backlog going in terms of bars and restaurants getting licenses to have outdoor dining? 

Mayor Adams: I know we put something, it was mentioned in our briefing today. There's something coming on in the City Council today, I believe. But listen, I'm a fan of outdoor dining. We have pushed it through. It was an amazing concept that was put in place under the former mayor, saved 100,000 jobs. The industry is booming. You can't get reservations now in the city. The economy has reversed in such a rapid fashion.  

You know, I'm the nightlife mayor, and I knew that by keeping these establishments going, the bartenders, the waiters, the waitresses, everyday people were employed. And so we want to get it done. We want to make sure that the changes we made under the proposed bill, that we're able to get it done. I believe something is taking place in the City Council today, but we're pushing it forward. April 1st. All right. Thank you.  

Question: A question for you or anyone who wants to answer, but any specific partnerships that the Yankees and Mets are doing with local businesses that you guys might want to highlight as examples of how– 

Mayor Adams: Do you guys want to talk about that, local businesses? 

Levine: We have many, many of them. There isn't one between the Mets and us. That opportunity hasn't arisen, but we would be open for it. But through the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, the local bid here, the local regional trade organizations here, we're involved with every single one.  

Whenever people come to us, we respond. Brian Smith, our vice president of Community Affairs, is here. Everybody has him on dial, and he picks up right away. So we do that. We also, through the benefits agreement, when we sign Yankee Stadium, we provide funding for a lot of small businesses and community organizations. So we do this 24/7 all across the spectrum. And if there's ever an opportunity, do something with the Mets. We're open. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, where is that casino going? 

Mayor Adams: You know better than I. 

Question: The Mets have been really developing a plan to put it there.

Mayor Adams: I knew you were a lobbyist. No, I'm a big believer. I was a chair of Racing and Gaming in the state when I was in the State Senate. A good casino, a good location brings good union jobs, really an economic boost for the community, as long as it is in New York City. And, you know, since we have a minor role in the process, we've got to make sure that it's done correctly and fairly. But we just want a place in New York City, you know? Okay.  

###