It is odd to say the least that everybody only found out about Brian Schottenheimer's contract extension months after it happened. The Jets have some excellent beat writers. I know some people are not huge fans of ESPN New York's Rich Cimini, but he and his fellow beaters are as good as any team has when it comes to getting a scoop. The fact nobody got this story until Cimini broke it yesterday suggests the team was making a concerted effort to hide it from the fans. Remember how a year ago the team gave a ton of publicity to the extensions Mike Tannenbaum and Rex Ryan got? Is it not odd how the team made no announcement about this?
It sure seems like the team was dishonest because they knew the news would be unpopular. It is unpopular because extending a mediocre coach makes no sense, but that is not the point. The fans make this team financially solvent. They deserve to know whether their money is well spent. The Jets were likely afraid of how the reaction would hurt them in their pocket book. Fans should have a right to know the decision their team is making. If the fans aren't satisfied and spend less, maybe they should do things in a way that will make their consumers happy. Hiding this extension comes off as underhanded and done to try and entice ticket sales.
The Jets treat their fans poorly. There is no way around it. The team raised its ticket prices last year heading into the lockout. Nothing says, "We care about the fans," like calling the players greedy, threatening to cancel games and telling fans they have to pay more if the games are played. The Jets now have the highest ticket prices in the league. They also raised ticket prices 31% last year moving into the new stadium, which is interesting because it sure seems like the same product. They have also driven out thousands of season ticket holders through the absurd personal seat licenses they force ticket holders to buy for premium seats. These are surcharges for the right to just buy tickets.
I understand supply and demand and how the Jets make money to give out contracts. Other teams seem to do just fine charging their fans less. This team has shown a disturbing trend recently of showing behavior that does not treat its loyal customers with the respect they deserve.