Yankees Slash the Price of Top Tickets

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

The Yankees cut by up to 50 percent the price of the $2,500-a-game Legends Suite seats for full season-ticket holders at their new stadium on Tuesday. They also announced that holders of the ticket plans behind home plate would be given an equal number of tickets free.

The price changes, announced in a statement by Hal Steinbrenner, the managing general partner of the Yankees, amounted to a major shift in strategy for a team that is charging the most of any team in baseball for seats in its $1.5 billion stadium. But the highest priced tickets have been among the toughest for the team to sell, and those unsold or unused Legends tickets have formed empty swaths of blue seats that have been painfully visible on television.

The moves by Steinbrenner amount to changing the prices on just a few hundred seats and follow up on his recent comments that some prices were too high.

“A few weeks ago I indicated that in light of the economy we would review the pricing of a small number of our premium locations at Yankee Stadium,” he said. He added that the team had sold 85 percent of its 4,000-plus premium seats.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/sports/baseball/29tickets.html?_r=1&hp

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The most expensive seats in the new Yankee Stadium have been largely empty during the first month of the season.

Still too expensive to watch overpaid grown men play a kid's game.

[flvegan]

1. It's because they suck.

:hide:

[LisaM]

2. I don't understand why they stuck with those ugly blue seats

I think they are really ugly.

[JerseygirlCT]

6. I know - all those millions to rebuild the stadium

And it looks just like the old one.

More excess.

[KoKo]

3. The Ball Players need to take a "HairCut" like the rest of America..along with the Owners.

This celebrity Culture has now outlasted it's Welcome. :-(

[hugo_from_TN]

10. Union Buster!!

:rofl:

[boomerbust]

4. That's what

Losing 22-4 to the Cleveland Indians will get ya. ROFLMFAOOOO

[JerseygirlCT]

5. I hope all of the teams that are grossly over-charging

in baseball and in football - find themselves in that spot - empty seats staring everyone in the face, advertising their excessive greed.

I especially hope it hurts the Yankees, however.

(Can't help it. When you don't like the Yankees, you don't like the Yankees!)

[RamboLiberal]

7. Yep and I'd love to see all those luxury boxes go empty

Wonder how many bailed out financial institutions still have their luxury boxes?

I remember ball players when I was growing up in the late 50s/60s actually had to take real jobs off-season.

[JerseygirlCT]

8. You know, I get less frustrated at the players (in general)

than I do the owners, who make "deals" with cities and then make all the money on them. I get frustrated at ticket prices that really mean new generations of kids will not be fans in the future. (How can they be so short-sighted? Even the Met. Opera saw the light years ago and now you can go to a movie theater and see the opera!)

The players are getting what they can from the system as it stands. It's ludicrous, of course. But I cannot imagine they're going to be the first to come to their senses. It's going to have to start with management. And the only thing that talks is money.

So absolutely, many, many empty luxury boxes, and lots of filled in cheap seats. Until the fans buying those "cheap" seats (which are anything but cheap) get pissed off looking at that picture.

[hugo_from_TN]

12. Nope, you're still frustrated with the wrong folks.

The players and the owners are getting the best for themselves and their teams.

The local politicians - mayor, city councils, etc. are the ones shoveling the local tax money on them.
Get yourself a nice triple-A team and enjoy the game.

p.s. My city (Portland Oregon) is giving money to Hank Paulson's son to build a new stadium for MLS soccer - in this economy!!!

[JerseygirlCT]

13. They're all in bed together, that's for sure

We do have a triple a team - and honestly, I prefer to go there. Less stress all around. And frankly, I have no need to ever venture into NYC. I don't like the traffic, the crowds, the whole deal. Add to it exorbitant prices, and it's not really my cuppa anymore, you know? Boston is easier, and we totally lucked out last year and got great seats for about $12 each. That's more like it!

I do have to say one thing about Citi Field, however. The concession stand pizza is actually not bad.

[nickgutierrez]

19. This is the right answer.

Local politicians do it, basically so that they get public support and funding for re-election campaigns. New stadiums aren't good deals for the fans, and they usually aren't such great deals for the teams except that the ownership tends to make more money in a new stadium.

From a sporting perspective, it actually does take a few years in a new stadium to build a real home field advantage.

[TheCowsCameHome]

9. Give me call when they're free.

[Old Hank]

11. No cut in bleachers' prices?

Or seats used by the middle class and lower income people?

[JerseygirlCT]

14. I don't know that many lower income people will be able to afford

tickets - even the least desirable ones. On the days we were looking, the least expensive tickets were near $40, IIRC.

[surrealAmerican]

15. Isn't this why they needed the new stadium?

No more cheep seats. Keep the poor out, and maximize the profits from the very wealthy.

[YDogg]

16. welcome to DU!

:hi:

[groundloop]

17. What stuck out in the article...

"The Yankees cut by up to 50 percent the price of the $2,500-a-game Legends Suite seats"...

Well gee, at a mere $1250 per ticket they ought to have the place filled up.

Die evil empire, die!!!!

[petronius]

18. I think they just need to rename it - if you call something a "suite" it ought to be

a suite. But yeah, $1250 a seat is a clear bargain... :)

I've always wondered - is that really the optimal spot to watch a game from, or is the attraction just the chance of being on TV? :shrug: