Steve, I wrote a Subway Squawkers blog entry today about the ticket debacle, and referenced your post:

http://subwaysquawkers.blogspot.com/2009/02/is-20-for-standing-room-tickets.html

What’s even more outrageous to me than the obstructed view seats is the fact that the new stadium is going to have standing room non-seats for over $20 a head. Unreal.

There’s no difference.
—–
Correct, their $$ is just as green… Besides, if the game catered to the hardcore fan, it wouldn’t be as big as it is today.

Fans or bandwagon jumpers? (Standing behind them)
—–
There’s no difference. To you and I they might be bandwagoneers but they’re fans nonetheless. Any paying customer that self-identifies as a fan, even if they’re new to the team and only drawn in because the team is winning is still a fan.

Fans or bandwagon jumpers? (Standing behind them)

This season is going to put to the test a lot of people’s fandom vs. dignity.
——-
I’m not sure I believe that. If the Yanks are winning, grumbling fans will be drowned out by the people standing behind them who want to buy their tickets.

Last year I sat in Tier MVP 5 for around $27 a seat. Up in the clouds, but great angle of the whole park.

This year I haven’t even heard back after submitting my preferences. Still processing, they say. A friend who sat a row behind me got offered left-field bleacher seats, traditionally the worst in the house.

I wonder what percentage of the 51,000 people on a given night will be happy where they’re sitting and at the price they paid. And I wonder if that percentage is something the Yankees will deem a success rate, and if they care at all.

This season is going to put to the test a lot of people’s fandom vs. dignity. There are parts of the stadium where I’d be happy to sit for a certain price. And other places at other prices that I could not justify as a rational man.

But, for a mom and dad with two little kids, that’s not the best deal in the world…
———
Which is why the minors saw an uptick in attendance.

I won’t lie, though. It’s a nice memory I have of going to the ballpark on the morning of a game and knowing that $20 would get me the best seat in an empty house.
—————-
Yep. In 92, I picked up tickets to Yanks-Jays, Cone-Perez, shortly before the game started. Sat right under the net.

The one who really gets squeezed in the new Yankee stadium is the family of four or more. When I was a kid, my family, the four of us, used to go to several games a year. It was fun and affordable, etc.

Now, today, if you want to bring a family of four to a Yankees game, and have semi-decent seats, you’re looking at $300-$400 for the tickets alone. (Maybe more.) Throw in parking, food, etc., and you’re looking at a $500 day – at the minimum – maybe closer to $600…

So, if you want to take your family of four to a Yankees game, say, once a month, you’re looking at $3,000 of your disposable income. What’s that grossed-up, something like four grand?

How many families out there can afford to take $4,000 of their annual salary to attend SIX baseball games in a season? These days, not many…

Of course, the Yankees answer to this is: Sit in the upper-upper deck, out in the outfield, or, sit in the bleachers, and it will be cheaper, etc.

But, for a mom and dad with two little kids, that’s not the best deal in the world…

Maybe I’m just a crank, but, I think that a baseball game should be priced where a family of four can go to 5 or 6 games a year, get decent seats, and not have to spend several thousand dollars in the process. Of course, your mileage may differ…as the Yankees seems to…on this one.