Free golf: Oyster Bay Town barters for full-page ad in Mets 2019 program

Oyster Bay officials announced a trade with the New York Mets on Tuesday — free golf for the organization at the town course in return for free advertising for the town.

The resolution on the agreement, approved by the town board at its meeting Tuesday, states the town would provide 50 rounds of golf that "the Mets will use as promotional items for their fans."

But the swap came as a surprise to the Mets.

“We weren’t familiar with this but PSP [Professional Sports Publications] handles ad sales, etc.,” a Mets spokesman said in an email Tuesday.

Martin Lewis, an executive vice president at Manhattan-based Professional Sports Publications, Inc., said Tuesday the golf-for-advertisement swap “has nothing to do with the Mets, really.”

“It’s not between the Mets,” Lewis said. “It’s between the town and PSP.”

Lewis said the company publishes the Mets programs — as well as programs for teams around the country — and sometimes uses bartering agreements like Oyster Bay's to woo clients with a round of golf, a meal at a restaurant or a night in a hotel.

“We don’t do it very often,” Lewis said. PSP, not the Mets, would use the rounds of golf to take out its clients, he said.  

The resolution adopted by the board and the backup material made public by the town portray the agreement as being with the Mets and did not mention Pro Sports Publications.

“The Mets approached the Town of Oyster Bay, as they have reached out, in essence cold called many municipalities, many entities, many golf courses, to promote this idea that they had,” Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino said during Tuesday’s town board meeting. The opportunity to exchange 50 rounds of golf for a full-page ad promoting the town’s golf course in the Mets’ baseball programs in the 2019 season “was a no-brainer," Saladino said.

Town spokesman Brian Nevin said in an email Wednesday, "The parks department was contacted by the publishing company on behalf of the New York Mets, for an agreement based on a program published for those in attendance at Mets games."

Nevin said the final agreement would be executed by the town attorney's office "pending written confirmation" from the Mets. 

The town estimated the cost of running the ad would normally be $29,500. Lewis said that figure was in the ballpark. The value of the golf rounds is as much as $4,750, according to town documents. The usual fee for a round of golf is $95 for nonresidents and $80 for residents, according to the resolution.

While the deal may not bring Noah Syndergaard’s arm to the town course in Woodbury, Oyster Bay officials praised it as a way to attract revenue from out-of-towners.

“A lot of municipal courses aren’t open to outsiders; I think this is letting outsiders know that they can come play our golf course,” Councilman Anthony Macagnone said during the meeting.

The ad states, “Take Your Game to the Gold Coast” and promotes the 18-hole course and its “meticulously manicured greens complete with cascading waterfalls,” driving range and dining facilities.