Mets Set Top Ticket Price At $495
Via the Staten Island Advance -
At least there are no personal seat licenses.
That doesn’t change the fact, though, that tickets to attend a game at the Citi Field — the Mets’ home beginning next year — will be an expensive ticket. The Mets set the average price of a premium ticket at $495, a 79 percent increase over a comparable ticket at Shea Stadium. One good thing: Those seats are sold out. And it’s nothing like the new Yankee Stadium, where a top seat will cost a whopping $2,500.
Bargain shoppers will have their options. Thirty-one percent of seats at Citi Field are priced $25 or less. Six percent of the seats are more than $200. The Mets will also retain a five-tiered level of pricing for games, based on their importance and popularity of the opponent.
“One of the advantages of doing that is that we have seats as low as $11-12 for the value dates,” said Dave Howard, executive vice president of business operations.
Eight months ago, I shared that before the Cardinals opened their new park in 2006, ticket prices in the ten prior new homes for baseball teams, since 2000, saw a 50 percent average increase.
So, I’m not shocked by that 79 percent increase for the Mets.
As much as I hate variable ticket prices – because it’s price gouging in a way – which the Mets have been doing for six years, I like the idea of this “value date” concept…and the Yankees should note it.
Think about it. How about those $2,500 Yankees tickets. Is a family of four going to pay $10,000 to see the Yankees host the Royals on a Tuesday night in May?
Yes, I know, “real people” are never going to buy those $2,500 seats. But, that’s a problem too.
In any event, the Yankees are looking bad here – with that $2,500 ticket – since the Mets are setting their top ticket price at $495. That’s just too much of a gap.
In any event, the Yankees are looking bad here – with that $2,500 ticket – since the Mets are setting their top ticket price at $495. That’s just too much of a gap.
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I don’t think the Yanks look bad. The Mets certainly don’t look “good” because their top ticket is $495. It’s not like any Average Joe family of four is sitting in the $495 section anyway.
It’s a business. It might be unpleasant to think of a game we all love in those terms but that’s just how it is. Do investment banks or white-shoe law firms apologize for charging fees in the tens or hundreds of millions? Nope. The Yanks are a billion dollar company in a multi-billion dollar industry. We should all get over it.
Do investment banks or white-shoe law firms depend on their “fans” for survival?
Maybe if you consider clients and fans to be the same…
But, as a client of an investment bank or white-shoe law firm, I can demand that I get “X” back for my money. And, they better deliver close to it.
A ball team can not ensure what you get in return.
You can pay ten grand to see a game – and get a 16-0 loss just as easy as a no-hitter win.
There’s a difference here, IMHO.
Not every fan of the Yankees live in Greenwich,Ct or the Gold Coast of Long Island for that matter. Pricing the little folk out of the ballpark is bad business. Imagine if the Yankees become a 3rd place team perenially, the stadium will look cavernously empty like it did during the 80s.
Look, I give the Mets special credit on this one. The Yankee top ticket price is obscene. This is not Fenway or Wrigley where the seating restrictions dictate such crazy prices. I understand the argument of the privilege of going to see a product and supply and demand. But in theis particualr case , it is complete BULL. 5 times more than your nearest competitor AND you might not be the gold standard next year? Bad job Yankee Corp , you forgot the little people who made you………
Who cares what the top ticket price is? You should look at the average ticket price. If they’re similar, the Yankees then are charging for seats you or I would never buy in the first place, and in consequence we pay less for our seats. If the Mets charge less for their top seats, they are in essence giving those more privileged a break. Don’t see how that makes them look good.
Do the Yankees look bad, too, for selling rights to their boxes for $850,000?
Also, with the ‘value’ seats, that just means that the Yankees will be charging less for the so-called ‘premium’ games. Sounds good to me. We’ll see how Mets fans react when they have to shell out $50 or $60 for a Mets-Yankee game at Shea, and across the city, in the other series, Yankees fans can get in for $20.
Steve, my attorney charges me $500 for a consultation. And I don’t have a guarantee from her that I’ll win in court if it gets that far. The charge is process-based not results-based. Although, if teams’ revenue were based solely on their winning percentage at home, you’d really ruin Bud Selig’s day.
But, you’re paying for the consultation – and you get one. You’re not paying for a court decision – which is something no one can promise. Just like a baseball game.
You’d be silly to pay $500 for the promise of a court decision – just as you would be silly to pay $10,000 for the promise of a good baseball game.
Do investment banks or white-shoe law firms depend on their “fans” for survival?
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I don’t “do” populist arguments. It’s supply and demand. Ideally, all baseball fans get to see their favorite team whenever they want for as cheaply as possible. We can lament that ticket prices continue to go up and yet we continue to fill the stadium. Ask me if I’d rather ride the D filled to capacity, with some drunken SOB sticking his armpit in my face or if I’d prefer to be able to actually enjoy the air conditioning on the train on my way home. Ticket prices go up and yet every ride home for me is like being a cow in a cattle car.
The Yanks are charging the white-shoe lawyers and investment bankers a price that they’re clearly willing to pay. I don’t see why that’s such a big deal to any of us. If we don’t like it, we can stay home and watch the game on YESHD…
But, you’re paying for the consultation – and you get one. You’re not paying for a court decision – which is something no one can promise. Just like a baseball game.
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As a season ticket holder, what’s the policy on rainouts?
Anyway, you’re paying for a baseball game, just like JSC is paying for a consultation.
AndrewYF – Back in 1996, I used to get seats directly behind homeplate – once in a while. And, I think that every diehard fan should have a chance to see a game from that view, at least a few times in their lifetime. It’s special.
But, now, at $2,500 a seat, that will never, ever, happen for me, or someone in my family. There’s just no way – barring winning the lotto. And, that’s sad. Very sad, to me.
If my kids end up loving the Yankees, as much as I do, it’s sad to know that they will never be able to see a game from behind homeplate.
Heck, these days, you can’t even sneak down there at the end of a game.
It’s changed too much – and not for the better.
~~As a season ticket holder, what’s the policy on rainouts?~~
If you have the 81 game package, you get the make-up date. If you have less than 81 games, you get to do the make-up or another day, IIRC.
~~ If we don’t like it, we can stay home and watch the game on YESHD…~~
That may become the option. Instead of spending $4,000 a year to go see 9 baseball games, I can take that money and buy myself a bad-*ss big screen, HD, TV and then just watch 100-something games at home in style.
Heck, these days, you can’t even sneak down there at the end of a game.
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FWIW, I didn’t get away with it in 1993-94 either, which is why I started sitting in the bleachers.
That may become the option. Instead of spending $4,000 a year to go see 9 baseball games, I can take that money and buy myself a bad-*ss big screen, HD, TV and then just watch 100-something games at home in style.
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We didn’t have a HDTV in college, but we had a pool, bbq, and speakers that we wired to the back deck. Have a bunch of friends over and had a great time.
If we don’t like it, we can stay home and watch the game on YESHD
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That’s fine if you’re in the non-perpetually-blacked out area.
Personally, I’m fine with them charging exorbitant fees for premium seats if it keeps the price down for regular Joe seats. Better yet, make it $5000 and let kids in for free.
This is somewhat on topic, I’m a pretty loyal reader and I’m coming up to Saturday’s game. Do season ticketholder sell tickets back to the box office for the general public to buy? I used to live near Wrigley and that was the case there. I just didn’t know if anyone would have some advice.
Thanks.
~~Do season ticketholder sell tickets back to the box office for the general public to buy? ~~
Not that I know of…I bet many sell them via StubHub.