Long time Mets executive and gen. counsel moves to MSG Sports as president

3/25/13, "Mets Executive Moves to MSG," NY Times Bats blog, Richard Sandomir

"Dave Howard, a top executive of the Mets, is leaving Flushing for Manhattan to become the president of MSG Sports, the sports division of Madison Square Garden.

The job has been vacant since last September when Scott O’Neil left after four years on the job.
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Howard, the long-time executive vice president of business operations for the Mets, will shift into a somewhat similar job at the Garden, but with more breadth: he will oversee marketing, budgeting, forecasting, ticket sales and other areas for three teams — the Knicks, Rangers and Liberty — and manage how boxing, college and high school basketball and tennis are presented.

And he is leaving the Mets, a private business run by the Wilpons, to join the Garden, a public company that is controlled by the Dolans.

Howard’s departure from the Mets after more than 20 years comes as the Garden approaches the completion of a nearly $1 billion renovation.

“There are very few organizations anywhere with the strength of MSG’s sports brands,” Howard said in a statement, “and I look forward to utilizing my experience to ensure we build on MSG’s position as one of the world’s leading sports organizations.”

Howard, who was named the Mets’ general counsel in 1992, became the team’s most-available executive on subjects like season tickets, attendance declines, dynamic ticket pricing, promotional events like the return of Banner Day and the decision to bring in the left field fence."

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