Comments on: Tix Hits: Scalping, SRO prices, single-game tickets

By: Larry

Larry — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:11:24 +0000

Yeah, if the bleachers are blocked off, then they should be cheaper. If the new stadium has sight lines from the walkways like they do in all the newer ballparks in San Diego, Seattle, etc then the SROs will actually be good. I went to about 25 Mariners games when I lived in Seattle but spent most of my time standing against a rail in left field because it was such a cool view. There is something about being able to just walk around the park on gameday that is kind of nice.

By: A.D.

A.D. — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:02:17 +0000

Basically the problem with pricing out the middle man is that people paying higher stub hub/scalper prices don’t want to be buying a bulk of games they want to go to a few games a year either at better seats than available through the stadium/ticketmaster for single game tickets, or at fairly short timeline where one knows they have a ticket & where it is (vs going to the stadium day of).

So there are people out there willing to pay 100 bucks for a 70 dollar ticket (or even 300 for a 150 dollar ticket), but they want this for a few games a year, that they pick, not 20, 41, or 81 games that are set in stone.

By: steve (different one)

steve (different one) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:11:43 +0000

Lombardi then added: “That Phil Hughes is a total dick for setting the ticket prices so high. When Cashman gets out of jail for his nun-beating episode, he should have a talk with Hughes.”

By: Yoni K

Yoni K — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:06:26 +0000

I don’t know wy everyone is down the Yankees back. Bleacher seats cost 25-30 bucks in fenway. SRO in fenway can be as high as 30 and minimum 20. There is a precedent, and Yankees have a better park. The yankees did not price there seats wrong at all. You can’t even complain, because other teams cost more, and yankees are providing a better product. Everyone quit complaining!

By: Yankeegirl49

Yankeegirl49 — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:54:46 +0000

I have bought very good seats on Stubhub for below face on the morning of the game. You wont get a premium game but if you don’t mind spending for a May game vs KC you can sometimes buy them last minute..at a discount.

By: Artist formerly known as 'The' Steve

Artist formerly known as 'The' Steve — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:54:06 +0000

“My problem isnt affording them.its getting them.”

Bingo, which tells you how high demand is for seats in those areas. They would be cheap at double the $12 price.

By: Artist formerly known as 'The' Steve

Artist formerly known as 'The' Steve — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:50:30 +0000

About the ticket scalping stuff, the Yanks will not raise their prices to anything close to what you see on StubHub for two reasons.

-They know that many of their season ticket holders buy seats with the intent of selling many of them on StubHub/E-Bay to get some of their money back. If the Yanks raise prices to a point where their customers can’t offset the cost of the season ticket, they simply won’t buy them anymore. The Yanks don’t want to lose their season ticket holders. They already tried pricing their premium seats ($325) at a level where they couldn’t be resold at a profit, and they would up with many of them unsold, despite the huge demand for a brand new ballpark. That demand will dissipate over time as folks have already visited the new stadium.

-The person who pays the StubHub prices is very a different customer than the one who buys the full/partial season plans. They’re typically a ‘last minute/convenience buyer’ willing to pay a fixed amount to entertain a client or have a night out with a friend/date. They’re not going down to the stadium to chance getting a lousy seat at the last minute. They’re a difficult customer for the Yanks to nail down, and probably too unreliable to set aside seats for.

Also, just because you see a ticket LISTED for a high price on StubHub doesn’t mean it SELLS at that price, far from it. I’ve listed tickets on StubHub for years, I always price my seats in the bottom 1/3 of what seats in my section are going for and I STILL wind up with many unsold seats. You may see 5-10,000 listings on StubHub for an event a month before it takes place, but you will still see a few thousand listed the day before the event. Those are the ones that go unsold and wind up with the local scalpers around the stadium.

By: Yankeegirl49

Yankeegirl49 — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:45:13 +0000

Agreed.
If I want to see a Broadway show, even if I go to the 2 for one booth, it’s still 50 bucks a ticket. I have paid as much as $150 for a concert..and thats face value. Dinner at a halfway decent restaurant in NYC starts at 30 pp. Heck, there are movie theaters that charge 15 bucks. The MOMA charges 20 bucks.
Yes, the “premium” seats are priced to high for the everyday Joe, but there are “affordable” seats..if you can get them. My problem isnt affording them.its getting them.

By: Artist formerly known as 'The' Steve

Artist formerly known as 'The' Steve — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:13:39 +0000

The lack of demand for the $325 seats will impact the bleachers seats, but not due to any malfeasance on the part of the Yanks.

The pricing was set up this year where the high end seats offset the costs of the lower end seats. If the burden of paying for the new ballpark was spread around evenly, bleacher seats would have been $20 THIS season.

The high priced seats worked as a sort of ‘progressive tax’ system, where the rich paid a higher share of the costs than the blue collar bleacher creatures did, who got a brand new ballpark and NO price increase. But it failed, the economy collapsed and the seats didn’t sell. Losing half your net worth in the stock market will do that.

So I would fully expect the high end seats to drop in price next year (or drop effectively with freebies thrown in) and bleachers seats to be anywhere from $16-20 next season, which is still one of the biggest bargains for NYC entertainment. And those that sell portions of their seats on StubHub will still mark them up 200-250% on a regular basis, and do even better for premium games.

By: Big Tony

Big Tony — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:55:10 +0000

Some tickets are so high now that the middle guy will be cut from the deal.

If a pair of tickets cost $700.00 at face value most fans or companies will not let these seats sit empty in this economy.

Trouble is that the Yankees will even have trouble selling these seats at face value the day of the game.

The Yankees priced their tickets too high, I wonder if they are smart enough to figure how how to fix this?

The big thing will be taking care of those who already paid the high price. Do you refund money or give them food and drink for each game?

Also, what’s the deal with the old SONY Stadium Club?

It was nice to have a place where you could get in and not wait on long lines. We hear nothing on a private club fee for those that want it.