Our City Connect launch drops at the @CitiField Team Store this Friday, April 19 at 11 a.m. Come shop the new gear!
See the jerseys on field for the first time Saturday, April 27 👉 https://t.co/ivgnTiDCx1 pic.twitter.com/L6YUH3QXTb
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 15, 2024
We’ve known for about a week now that the Mets would be unveiling their new City Connect uniforms this Friday, April 19, but we didn’t know the time of the launch. As you can see above, the team announced today that the unveiling will be at 11am Eastern.
In addition, I had previously reported that the CC uni would make its on-field debut one week after the unveiling, on April 26. But the team’s tweet says it will actually be the day after that — Saturday, April 27.
I’m not sure if it’s unprecedented for a CC uni to debut on a Saturday, but it’s definitely unusual. The CC designs usually make their first on-field appearances on Fridays.
In the Mets’ case, the Saturday CC debut is probably because the team wants to wear its Friday-night black alternates on April 26. The black alts, which have been redesigned this season, haven’t yet been worn this season, presumably because of a supply delay (which many MLB teams are experiencing with their alternate uniforms this season). But I’m assuming that the black alts will be available for the April 26 game, or else they’d be debuting the CC design on that date.
The CC design has been the subject of several purported leaks, including two different cap designs. We’ll find out the real one this Friday morning. (Meanwhile, if anyone has more info about this uniform, you know what to do. Anonymity assured, of course.)
While we all know this already, the wording of that announcement is quite telling as to the motivation behind the uniform. First bit of information they provide you is when/where you can buy merchandise, after that they get around to telling you when team will actually wear the uniform in a game.
Sports uniforms aren’t quite 100% tail wagging the dog as far as retail goes, but the CC program is 100% tail wagging the dog.
Phillies did something very similar with their rollout. You’ve gotta have the merch available to the fans so they can rock their clean fit in the stands at Corporate Sponsor Field and watch their team slay! (Or something like that, I tried my hand at Nike corporatespeak and I hate myself for what I did.)
That was very good for an attempt at corporate mockery. My only note: “slay” is more something that high schoolers and college students would use . If feel like Nike-speak would be more “dominate” or something like that.
Not sure what to think. Purple on Pavement? I’m okay with the font, the Giants/Mets interlock ‘NY’ would not have worked. Would have put a faded Queensboro Bridge behind the ‘NYC’, like the hats. Too much negative space between the letters. Now I want to see the names and numbers. (BTW, I’m a retired NYC subway conductor, and soooo glad people are getting away from using the transit circle font. So finished with that.)
Did the Mets diminish their Hall of Fame and Museum at the ballpark just to create more space to sell this junk? Putting the plaques at the top of the rotunda’s staircases/ escalators and burying the rest of the museum behind the Wiffleball field feels like a decision driven by a push to move more merchandise. Sad.
Did the Mets diminish their Hall of Fame and Museum at the ballpark just to create more space to sell this junk?
Yes.
Oof, I had no idea this happened. I remember how much of a push had to be made for the Mets HOF to be added to New Shea after that first couple of seasons, and to have it go in such short time (and especially after Cohen seemed to be honoring the history more, with the regular HOF inductions, the return of Old-Timer’s Day, and the jersey retirements) is so depressing. Seeing what was on display (there seemed to be at least some rotation) was my favorite pregame activity at the ballpark.
It is not looking promising. The Japan hat, so to speak, looked awkward with the bridge embroidered on it.
A possible additional reason the Mets will be wearing the CC unis on Saturday is that it is a nationally televised game on Fox. Gotta show off that merch…err I mean uniforms.
Bingo. The Friday game is on Apple TV which is gonna get WAY less viewers. There is the reason for Saturday release.