Royals to hold two World Series ceremonies, force Mets to watch

It apparently wasn’t enough for the Kansas City Royals to make the New York Mets watch them celebrate winning the World Series at Citi Field after pulling off a thrilling comeback win in Game 5 last November.

The Royals are going to have not one, but two World Series ceremonies over the regular season’s opening week.

Their opponent for that very first series of the 2016 season? None other than those very same Mets.

[2016 Yahoo Fantasy Baseball is open for business. Sign up now]

When the two teams meet for the first time on Apr. 3, the Royals will raise their championship banner Two days later on Apr. 5, Kansas City’s players will receive their championship rings. The Mets? They’ll have to watch, just like they did back on their own home field when the Royals earned the right to celebrate with as many ceremonies as they would like.

The reason for the two-day split is pretty simple on the Royals’ part. Because the opener is being aired on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, there are restrictions as to how much of the ceremony they’ll be able to show on TV.

“We decided to move the ring ceremony to the second game of the season so our entire fan base could feel like they are a part of it,” said Kevin Uhlich, Royals’ Senior Vice President of Business Operations.  “While it’s great that ESPN has selected our season opener for their first primetime telecast, only our fans in attendance would have the opportunity to witness the entire ring ceremony. By moving the ceremony to Tuesday, our partners at FOX Sports Kansas City can carry the ring presentation in its entirety for all fans to see.”

Fair enough. These are the decisions a team can make when they’re the champs.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – – –

Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr