View of Citi Field with Mets Home Run Big Apple, Queens, New York.
- The Mets notched record revenue at Citi Field in 2024, according to unaudited financial statements viewed by CNBC.
- Admissions contributed $137 million in revenue.
- Ballpark, ticket operations and maintenance cost about $57 million, the biggest expense of the year.
The New York Mets generated revenue of $261 million, a record high, and net income of $125 million at Citi Field in 2024, according to unaudited financial statements viewed by CNBC.
The revenue and net income figures were 9.7% higher and 1.1% higher, respectively, than the 2023 revenue and net income figures reported by Forbes. Citi Field's previous all-time record for revenue was $244 million in 2022, when it also hit its record-high net income of $127 million, Forbes reported.
CNBC used a Freedom of Information Law request to obtain financial statements that Queens Ballpark LLC, the Mets' wholly owned subsidiary that leases and operates Citi Field, submitted to the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.
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Citi Field, which opened in 2009, is owned by the City of New York. The baseball team receives revenue from the ballpark and pays its operating and maintenance expenses. Citi Field is required to submit financial statements to New York City because the ballpark was financed with PILOT bonds.
Steve Cohen purchased the Mets and Queens Ballpark in 2020 for $2.4 billion — still a record price for a Major League Baseball team. In September, Fitch Ratings affirmed the BBB rating for the PILOT bonds and said the rating outlook was "stable." A BBB rating "indicates that expectations of default risk are currently low," according to Fitch.
In its September report on Queens Ballpark, Fitch wrote: "The rating reflects Major League Baseball's solid league economics and the historical franchise strength of the New York Mets." However, the ratings agency noted that ticket and suite revenues vary with team performance and attendance changes. Nearby Yankee Stadium has a BBB+ rating from Fitch.
Money Report
By far, the biggest chunk of revenue at Citi Field last season came from net admissions, at $137 million, followed by advertising, $53 million; concessions, $25 million; and luxury suites and club premiums, $21 million. Ballpark, ticket operations, and maintenance, at $57 million, combined to make the biggest operating expense, followed by PILOT bond payments, $32 million, and depreciation and amortization, $23 million.
The Mets, who were eliminated in the 2024 National League Championship Series by the Los Angeles Dodgers, clocked paid attendance of 2.33 million fans at Citi Field in 2024, ESPN reported, putting the Mets at No. 17 among baseball's 30 teams. That figure was down 9% compared with 2023. In 2009, paid attendance hit 3.15 million, according to ESPN, the highest ever at the ballpark and No. 7 in Major League Baseball.
Citi Field's balance sheet shows assets of $210 million, liabilities of $255 million, and members' deficit, or negative equity, of $45 million.
