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"\"&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BROOKLYN&lt;\\/strong&gt;\\u2014Steve Cohen heard the non-believers who said baseball in Brooklyn will never succeed again\\u2014and that was before the first pitch was thrown at MCU Park in 2001.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;People said to me every day that no way a team is going to do well in Brooklyn,\\u201d said Cohen, the Cyclones\\u2019 general manager since the team made its New York-Penn League debut. &amp;#8220;They said the neighborhood is not good. The transportation isn\\u2019t good. People aren\\u2019t going to get there easy.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;figure id=\\\"attachment_123739\\\" style=\\\"width: 300px\\\" class=\\\"wp-caption alignright\\\"&gt;&lt;a href=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.baseballamerica.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2014\\/08\\/MCUParkNight-2014.jpg\\\"&gt;&lt;img class=\\\"size-medium wp-image-123739\\\" src=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.baseballamerica.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2014\\/08\\/MCUParkNight-2014-300x211.jpg\\\" alt=\\\"Brooklyn's MCU Park (Courtesy Brooklyn Cyclones).\\\" width=\\\"300\\\" height=\\\"211\\\" srcset=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.baseballamerica.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2014\\/08\\/MCUParkNight-2014-300x211.jpg 300w, http:\\/\\/www.baseballamerica.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2014\\/08\\/MCUParkNight-2014-127x90.jpg 127w, http:\\/\\/www.baseballamerica.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2014\\/08\\/MCUParkNight-2014-100x70.jpg 100w, http:\\/\\/www.baseballamerica.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2014\\/08\\/MCUParkNight-2014-200x141.jpg 200w, http:\\/\\/www.baseballamerica.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2014\\/08\\/MCUParkNight-2014.jpg 900w\\\" sizes=\\\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;\\/a&gt;&lt;figcaption class=\\\"wp-caption-text\\\"&gt;Brooklyn&amp;#8217;s MCU Park (Courtesy Brooklyn Cyclones).&lt;\\/figcaption&gt;&lt;\\/figure&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;And people in New York City are not going to accept minor league baseball over the Yankees and the Mets.\\u201d&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nThey have not only accepted the Cyclones,\\u00a0 a short-season affiliate of the Mets, but fans in New York City\\u2019s largest borough have supported them.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;The Cyclones have led the league in attendance every season since their inception. This year, the Cyclones are averaging 6,022 fans per game and recently attracted 7,230 fans for their second New York-Penn League all-star game at MCU Park, which is adjacent to the iconic Coney Island amusement park and the original Nathan\\u2019s, the home of the annual Hot Dog Eating Contest.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;When we opened up that helped open people\\u2019s eyes that there a lot of opportunities in Brooklyn,\\u201d Cohen said. &amp;#8220;I certainly don\\u2019t think there would be the Nets and the Islanders if it weren\\u2019t for the success we\\u2019ve had with the Cyclones.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;There were no professional sports\\u2019 teams in Brooklyn since the Dodgers left in 1957. The Cyclones filled that void in 2001, then the Nets moved from New Jersey to the Barclays Center in 2011. The NHL\\u2019s Islanders are expected to move to the Barclays Center in 2015 from Long Island.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;Having the ballpark at Coney Island ended up completely changing the borough,\\u201d Cohen remarked. &amp;#8220;But it wasn\\u2019t just us. There\\u2019s so much going on in Brooklyn, with concerts and museums.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Recognizing that Citi Field and Yankee Stadium are less than a half-hour from MCU Park, Cohen and his staff have brilliantly scheduled a variety of out-of-the-box promotions. &amp;#8220;Seinfeld Night\\u201d drew over 8,000 fans earlier this season. A few seasons ago, the team changed its name to the &amp;#8220;Baracklyn Cyclones\\u201d for one game in honor of the president, with fans receiving an Obama bobblehead.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;And then there was the &amp;#8220;Salute to Pregnancy,\\u201d otherwise known as &amp;#8220;bellies and baseball\\u201d by a front office staff member. The night included a &amp;#8220;seventh-inning stretch mark\\u201d and a &amp;#8220;craving station.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;In 2006, more than 10,000 fans came out to what was supposed to be a rehab start for pitcher &lt;a href=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.baseballamerica.com\\/statistics\\/players\\/cards\\/21244\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\"&gt;Pedro Martinez&lt;\\/a&gt;, but he wound up pitching for the Mets that game.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Because the New York-Penn League doesn\\u2019t start until mid-June and there is no chance to market the Cyclones players, Cohen places a greater emphasis on promotions to attract fans.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;Everything we do (for promotions) is vital,\\u201d Cohen said. &amp;#8220;People realize the value of what we do and they have a fun night out.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=\\\"font-size: 12pt;\\\"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Life After Sandy&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/span&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe src=\\\"\\/\\/www.youtube.com\\/embed\\/SGohxVkCL9I?enablejsapi=1\\\" width=\\\"640\\\" height=\\\"360\\\" frameborder=\\\"0\\\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;\\/iframe&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;MCU Park sustained more than $5 million in damages after Hurricane Sandy devastated the New York metropolitan area in October 2012. The water that flowed in from the Atlantic Ocean reached the third row of seats in the ballpark and a swell of five feet of water covered the field. Fish were seen swimming in the dugouts.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Cohen\\u2019s first reaction to the damage was that it might be minimal.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;I was na\\u00efve enough not to bring a flashlight with me,\\u201d he recalled. &amp;#8220;I saw the window offices and just thought we would need to do some gutting and re-carpeting.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;A few days later Cohen saw the enormity of the storm.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;It took 70 people in hazmat suits to clean up the place,\\u201d he said.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;The Cyclones staff returned to their offices in May 2013 and miraculously the season started on time with a new FieldTurf surface.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;It was a scary situation with a lot of serious damage,\\u201d Cohen said. &amp;#8220;We were lucky to get through it with some good people helping us.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;span itemprop=\\\"video\\\" itemscope itemtype=\\\"http:\\/\\/schema.org\\/VideoObject\\\"&gt;&lt;meta itemprop=\\\"name\\\" content=\\\"Cyclones Keep Spinning For Success In Brooklyn\\\"&gt;&lt;meta itemprop=\\\"thumbnailURL\\\" content=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.baseballamerica.com\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/2016\\/05\\/sgohxvkcl9i.jpg\\\"&gt;&lt;meta itemprop=\\\"description\\\" content=\\\"Steve Cohen heard the non-believers who said baseball in Brooklyn will never succeed again\\u2014and that was before the first pitch was thrown at MCU Park in 2001.\\\"&gt;&lt;meta itemprop=\\\"uploadDate\\\" content=\\\"2014-08-22T15:00:09-07:00\\\"&gt;&lt;meta itemprop=\\\"embedURL\\\" content=\\\"https:\\/\\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\\/v\\/SGohxVkCL9I\\\"&gt;&lt;meta itemprop=\\\"duration\\\" content=\\\"PT3M10S\\\"&gt;&lt;\\/span&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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