Bringing the City to Citi Field

 

Although the Mets season is over, we have much to celebrate. This year, we staged a multi-faceted campaign to bring more of New York to Citi Field.

 

On Opening Day, we launched the Citi ThankYou® Home Runs for Communities program. For every homerun hit by a Mets player at Citi Field, we committed $2,000 to one of four NYC area organizations. To kick-off the initiative, each of four tri-state area community partners - City Harvest, United Neighborhood Houses, USO of Metropolitan New York and the YMCA of Greater New York - also received an initial donation of $5,000.

 

Over the course of the season, the Citi ThankYou® Home Runs for Communities program raised a total of $138,000. Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson served as the ambassador for the program and his seven homeruns at Citi Field contributed $14,000 to the program. In September, Curtis visited with Citi colleagues in Long Island City, who had the opportunity to hear about the program and ask questions.

 

Another new initiative we are particularly proud of is the Citi Small Business Call-Ups. We nominated three independently-owned NYC restaurants for a chance to be featured alongside some of New York's culinary all-stars at Citi Field. Receiving 47 percent of the fan vote, Corfu Grill - a Greek restaurant located in the heart of Forest Hills, Queens - was named the winner and with Citi's help established a concession stand at the ballpark.

 

We also introduced a new slate of Citi cardmember season-long benefits, providing cardholders with opportunities for seat upgrades, chances to win exclusive on-field viewing of batting practice, and rewards for purchase of Mets merchandise. Our aim is to provide clients, Mets fans, and New Yorkers with the most remarkable baseball experience possible when they are at Citi Field.

 

Additionally, Citi hosted the first Mr. Met Fan Tour at Citibank branches across the tri-state area. The tour provided Citi customers with a fun-filled experience alongside Mr. Met, as well as free promotional giveaways and meet-and-greets opportunities with Mets alumni and SNY broadcasters.

 

We are thrilled to have ran these new and other ongoing initiatives, which complement our well-established programs. For instance, through our ongoing Citi Kids initiative, we brought hundreds of students to Citi Field to hear from motivational speakers and see a Mets game. And during July 4th weekend, we honored veterans, members of the military, and their families at the ballpark.

 

As we look ahead to 2015, we expect another exciting year and a few surprises for both fans and Citi colleagues alike.