Bill's Corner »

If there is any brand that has a tougher couple of weeks than Herman Cain or Jon Corzine it is clearly the New York Mets. It is absolutely mind boggling how ownership has been allowed to just about totally destroy what only a few years ago was a strong brand. While I speak as a Met fan, as a marketer I marvel at how the remarkably inept management of this team has brought this brand to the brink.

What I find equally interesting is how the Mets have exhibited similar traits that have brought down other well known brands. Let’s begin with financial instability. Despite operating in the single biggest market in the country and having a lucrative television contract through its own sports network, the Met Owners are suffering from the fallout from the Bernie Madoff scandal. The Wilpons invested with the disgraced Madoff for many years, reaping significant returns on its investment. They are now the most prominent target as part of the claw back lawsuit, seeking as much as $700 million from the Wilpons.

This lawsuit has not only cast an unfavorable light on the Wilpons – the thus the Mets brand – but importantly has caused great financial distress on the team. Just last spring, the club borrowed $20 million from Major League Baseball to cover payroll and yesterday it was announced it borrowed another $40 million from the Bank of America. Clearly, there are real problems on the financial front with the Mets who have indicated they are trying to sell minority shares in the club, but to date with no success. How many brands have failed due to being undercapitalized? You can now put the Mets on that list.

Secondly, what about the quality, expertise and commitment of its talent.  On the corporate front, sudden, massive employee turnover is usually a case of a company/brand in trouble. The Mets, once as active as anybody not named the New York Yankees in free agency, are no longer a factor. They have lost arguably their best player, Jose Reyes, to the Florida Marlins and have not added any significant talent to reaffirm its fan base that it will be worth going to see the team play in 2012. Again, another sign of a company/brand in real trouble.

Horrible management at the top – we’ve all seen this and is there any question that the Wilpons have done an absolutely horrible job of managing this franchise. Worse yet, they have done an equally poor job of communicating to its constituents a reasonable strategy to revive this once prominent brand.

Lastly, declining sales. Attendance at Met games has declined each year since moving o Citi Field. It’s reasonable to expect attendance will be even lower in 2012.  Lagging sales that cannot be quickly reversed seems to be ‘the final nail in the coffin of a brand’. The Mets made an announcement that they lost 70 million dollar last year because of declining attendance. With a less talented team that will be out of contention possibly by May and a failing brand image, is there any reason to believe those loses will only increase and its fan base will continue to erode.

The Mets need to do the only thing that can potentially save the brand and its business – sell the team. I know it’s only December and a full two months before spring training, but no one, not even the biggest Met fans have any hope for success in 2012. That’s just plain sad.