From the beginning, I believed that the teams were looking at the secondary market and believed that they could get that money instead of the ticket holders who resold them.

Problem is, different people were buying the seats each night. Maybe I go to stubhub and pay a premium for one or two games. But now they are asking someone to pay for a full season of seats at that high price.

It also changes the character of the fan. The guy who bought good seasons tix and sold half or more is now moved to the upper deck or the sofa.

A big shame is what it is.

I had the Sunday plan…Nice seats in the upper deck, 4 rows back, by 3rd base. This year they offered me seats by the foul pole. I got pushed away because most of us couldn’t afford field level. I declined. Why sit back there when I could just stay home and watch on TV?

I plan on seeing 2 or 3 games this year. I have tix this week at 1/2 the face value, front row, Terrace, at 1st base.

The only fans that the Yankees are alienating are the non-super-rich.
——–
I would argue that this isn’t the case since the 200 and 300 sections of the ballpark are always full and it’s the lower deck that has been the problem.

The only fans that the Yankees are alienating are the non-super-rich. I doubt the drop-off in attendance is enough to overcome the much higher ticket prices this year, so they’re probably making more money despite the crappy economy, which is quite a feat. Seems to me like effective price discrimination on their part.

I already did the HDTV thing. I’m going to physically attend maybe a couple games a year and watch the rest on beautiful 42″ plasma.

Next fall he story will read something like this….. The (insert team) have reassessed their ticket price strategy to better serve their loyal fan base. Ticket prices, on average, will be ~ 25% higher than equivalent seat prices at the old stadium….

The throngs will cheer. Bottom line for both of these clubs is that that were well aware what the ticket brokers were getting for choice seats. They figured, “What the hell, lets just cut out the middle man and pocket the coin ourselves.” Problem is: 1) the middle man would be getting killed in the current market, so instead the ballclubs are taking the brunt, and 2) the middle man was never trying to sell every seat to every game like the ballclubs are attempting to peddle. On any given night, there were people willing to call a broker to get a choice seat for a 40th birthday celebration, someone visiting Yankee Stadium once a year, a big client in town, etc….. But no person, and very few businesses, can justify $800,000 plus for 4 tickets for a season. My company had great seats at ~ $2400 and we bailed out. They offered us $300 seats up the line, but we still declined.

In the end, the market always wins. Those tickets will have to come down in price.

…and if does, the prices will come down.

That’s the way that works. Or the price of YES to Cablevision and the other cable networks will go up, and therefore the price of your cable TV bill will go up.

Or both, probably.