SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – The Syracuse Mets season is just around the corner and there will be new food additions to NBT Bank Stadium that are familiar to the Syracuse community. Among them is Pavone’s Pizza, a Syracuse staple of 50 years. For Pavone’s owner Randall Hon, this is a full-circle moment.
“I actually pitched in the Mets stadium way back when probably 2003/2004,” Hon said. “I played Babe Ruth baseball and I pitched there several times so it’s kind of nostalgic for me to be back there.”
The options that will be available at the stadium include cheese and pepperoni pizza. Syracuse Mets Broadcast & Media Director Michael Tricarico said bringing Pazone’s Pizza to the stadium was a no-brainer.
“We always love listening to what our fans want,” Tricarico said. “One of the biggest things that our fans said is that they’d love to have some local food options here at NBT Bank Stadium. So coming into this year, it was definitely something us as a team we wanted to be able to deliver for our fans.”
The process of acquiring Pavone’s Pizza here at NBT Stadium only took two days to complete. However, moving the pizzas to the stadium on gamedays isn’t as easy as 1-2-3.
“We have about three to four on staff now, during gamedays we’ll have five to six,” Hon said. “Getting the pizzas over there, we’ll get there about an hour and a half early, set up, and we’ll start serving about an hour before the game.”
Tricarico said bringing a place like Pazone’s to the stadium enhances the gameday atmosphere beyond what is happening on the field.
“You know, it’s just something different,” Tricarico said. “The variety it brings to the stadium is what’s going to help us set us apart from so many other places and we’re really excited about that.”
The first pitch of the Syracuse Mets season will be next Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. against the Scranton RailRiders.