Update (8:30pm): Via Jon Heyman, the Yankees offered the Mets $250k and a matching evergreen proposal for allowing them to use Newark, but apparently that’s not enough. The matching evergreen proposal basically means the Yankees would allow the Mets to move one of their minor league teams into their territory (for one year) sometime in the future, extending the same courtesy they were asking of the Mets. Quarter of a million bucks though? I never thought someone could love Newark that much.
Original Post (3:30pm): Via Jerry Izenberg, the Mets used their territory rights to block the Yankees from housing the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees in Newark next season. Brian Cashman and Essex County exec Joseph DiVincenzo reached an agreement that would have allowed the team to play at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium in 2012 (home of the Newark Bears), but the Mets shot it down because “their organization would only do something like that with mutual and immediate reciprocity.” The Yankees made the Mets several offers, including at least one involving an undisclosed amount of cash, but still no dice.
PNC Field is undergoing major renovations, which will force the team to play at an alternate site next year. The deadline to submit a proposal for such a site was missed earlier this month, but league execs have established a timetable to ensure that this gets resolved in a timely manner. Ottawa, another potential home, appears to be off the table as well.
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