“Demand” For Yankees Tickets?
I think the general public is being sold a bill of goods with these tales of great demand to get to Yankee Stadium this season and people spending a ton of money on tickets to the final games for this year.
Sure, you’ll see a story in the media where it says that someone paid $800 for a $22 ticket. But, I’m starting to believe these are isolated stories which are being painted as if they are commonplace events.
I’ve been casually eye-balling Yankees tickets on StubHub. And, yes, I’m seeing tickets listed – for good seats – for about 5 times their face value. But, I’m not seeing them sell for those prices – for the most part. The ones that I do see being sold are going for one-and-a-half or two times face value – or thereabouts. So, sure, people are willing to pay a little more for a great seat – but, it’s more like they’re paying $120 for a $75 seat (and not $400 for it).
Further, I have tickets for this Friday’s game. It’s the 10th to last game to be played at Yankee Stadium. Mike Mussina is pitching for the Yankees – against the first-place Rays. Given my situation, and trying to do the fiscally responsible thing, I offered the tickets to 12 of my friends – all big Yankees fans – at face value. And, these are great seats – in the Loge by first base. Many of these friends have bought these seats from me before…but, this time, everyone passed on the tickets.
Something’s not right here – if it’s true that people are supposedly willing to do almost anything to get Yankees tickets for the remainder of their home games.
I’ve even read that around 7,000 seats for the “last game” on September 21st are currently listed as being available on StubHub. If there was such a “crazy” demand, would they all still be out there with just two weeks to go until that game? Seven thousand of them?
Am I the only one who’s wondering what’s going on here?
It would be a different story if the Yanks were in the playoffs or if the games even promised to be meaningful. But, a date with a demolition ball or not, who needs to pay that kind of scratch to see a dog$hit team playing out the string of a lousy season?
I’ve got 2 pairs of tickets left (including the last day game on Saturday, 9/20) and I’m going because I love the team. But I’d be lying if I said that I’m going to be watching the game as intently as I would do otherwise. I’m there to take pictures, walk around, soak in the atmosphere. I’m tired of watching these guys on TV. I’m ready for spring training 2009, even if I’m dreading the offseason’s mistakes that are sure to happen…
It’s definitely because they aren’t going to be in the playoffs. I have 4 tickets for Saturday’s game and I’m having a hard time finding other people who want to go. I won’t be passing up the chance to go to Yankee Stadium one last time, but I understand if people have financial reasons why they would pass up the chance. I think it has a lot to do with them not playing well though.
All of the above, plus they’re not really going all out to make these last few games any sort of ‘event’ I would spend money to witness.
They pretty much trotted out everyone for OTD — who’s left? Bernie? Would be nice to see him but not for these prices…
The author of the cited article is simply trying to catch someone’s eye – the $22 face value seats were bought for $400 EACH ($800 total). That is still obviously ridiculously high, but less outlandishly so. And as you stated, you are seeing tickets listed at 5 times face value – whereas the article is misleading by stating they are selling for various high figures – they are only offered at those levels quoted.
A number of the tickets listed are not purely for resale at any cost. Many people are offering tickets at very high prices; they’re looking forward to going to the game, but will gladly give up that opportunity if someone will pay 8x’s+ their original cost per seat. So when you see 7,000 tickets listed (almost 9,000 as of this post), this is not indicative of the true market for people who are absolutely selling. The 2 Legends seats listed for the last game at 2,724/each might be “real”; the Loge Box 475 at 999,999, Main Reserved MVP at 65,000, Tier Box at 20,000 and numerous Field Championship listing at 8,000 and 10,000 – those should not be considered true inventory. Though they are contributing to the 9,000 total listings, they are obviously (relative to the market represented by other listings) not interested sellers. Fake listings by brokers also contribute to the overall inventory; not optimistic about getting those 4 seats second row above Yankee dugout (dead center) that are listed at $12.75 each at auction for the final game. Although Stubhub does a fairly good job at delisting these scams. Anyways, I’d estimate the true inventory (defined by those who are absolutely selling their tickets) to these games to be maybe 50% of the total Stubhub listings at best. Possibly far less.
You gave as an example tickets that are 75 face; sounds like Loge Box MVP for full season holders – the same that you have for this Friday (from your locational description). Loge are somewhat surprisingly in less demand generally; there is a premium for the lowest seating level, and I’ve heard complaints about heat, etc. in that level due to its location. There may also be a small seat size differential versus the lowest level, but that’s far too granular. There’s obviously a large premium for the front few rows versus further back. I enjoy that location (first few rows) due to the perspective and cover from rain, sun, etc. – and will actually be at the Friday game in similar seats (thankfully after seeing the forecast).
As you might guess, I sell tickets from time to time. Note: I am simply an individual ticket holder; not a broker or anything related. It’s a market similar to financial instruments. My inventory is around the 50 price level per seat (I do stumble upon additional tickets from time to time); at the beginning of the season these were going for face. They moved up consistently through mid-August, when prices were exploding. People were paying up to 400/ea for random games – I was somewhat shocked, but after reviewing what was available out there, I almost felt as though I was pricing too low. Since then, with the performance of the team (as well as interested parties already securing tickets for their last visit or the like), prices have fallen. Although I still get Stubhub themselves calling me; if someone doesn’t deliver tickets they provide replacements – and Stuhub is still taking tickets at 4x’s face when spending their own money for what you’d consider random games out of this final homestand.
Wow – this is long. Anyways, just wanted to give a perspective of someone who had experienced the fairly outrageous prices.
Two other quick comments:
1. I think the prices in the new stadium are very low. Aside from the $325 field seats between the dugouts (which is a relatively fair increase in my view – not versus previous years but relative to the market), I was surprised to almost shocked at how “low” the prices are on the new seating map.
2. I would have been thrilled to access any of the 12 seats you have at anywhere near face for this Friday. The lowest current offer on Stubhub is around 165, although it’s difficult (not worth it for a random person as opposed to a broker) to deal with extra tickets this close to game-time. I’m surprised your friends didn’t jump at the chance – mine certainly would. I’ve been juggling the friends versus ticket prices game for the whole year.
Thanks NYY_72