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At the new FOXBusiness.com, Matt Egan takes a closer look at how supply and demand will impact the number of tickets available to Citi Field.
In the column, I’m quoted as saying…
“As a regular fan who doesn’t have season tickets and a person who grew up going to the games on a whim, I realize that that is going to be a distant memory…Once you’re inside the stadium it will be great, but I think the issue will be getting inside the stadium.”
…i’m very interested to see how this all plays itself out in the open market…who will be able to afford tickets…who will not…and how will that change the atmosphere of the stadium…how will it change the dynamic between MLB and its fans, especially young and lower-income fans, and who will that further impact new fans to the sport…or, will it have any impact at all…
Perhaps if the Republicans hadn’t created a corporatist class war that eliminated the middle class, Citifield would have been built in a matter more friendly to the public of NY.
But of course you won’t hear any of that kind of talk on FAUXBusiness News.
Yeah, the middle class is gone…
That’s why the Dow is back around an all time high and another reason why attendance is up all around baseball. People have more disposable income to spend on such things as investments and tickets to ball games.
Those damn Republicans…
that hardly means anything to anybody but a CEO nowadays. Their income bracket is the only one that is exponentially growing. the gap between rich and poor is ever widening, which translates to a middle class shrinkage. if you fall into the middle class and have yet to be effected, that doesn’t mean it is not real…
I agree partially to what joebaby said, only it hasn’t been just the repuglicans that have created this senario… capitulation.
Well…..the Dow can go up all it wants and I can make a few points on my IRA. But try raising two kids on a single income (you know, the traditional family values that, let’s face it, only one of the parties has been been pushing for a while) you realize how much worse off – in the overall picture – my generation is compared to my father’s. Or my grandfathers. It’s just about impossible. I mean, really.
This can’t be argued. I can show you my checkbook.
Sure, baseball sells out its stadiums, but I don’t think that discounts what JoeBaby is saying in general about the economy.
I also don’t think calling someone who recognizes the very disturbing – and statistically defendable – economic disparity between the haves and the have-a-whole-lots (we’re baseball fans, after all, stats rule) necessarily makes JoeBaby a “Marxist”. I mean, c’mon. Do we have to turn every argument into ridiculous name calling, “libs” vs “repubs”?
The two parties are not all that different, in the long run, anyway.
OK, back to baseball.
i would be pretty pissed if i had to grow up in my fathers or grandfathers generation. They had to survive on pac-man and asteroids. no Halo? barf. you can have your halcyon stone age. i am also fine with the current distribution of wealth if it means i get to enjoy nearly free high speed internet pr0n. internet pr0n vs VHS or magazines is not even a fair fight. sounds like the bad old days to me.
Republicans creating a class war…that’s a new one! LOL Why can’t you Marxists be honest. It would be better for everyone if you followed Groucho, not Karl, and you would be a lot happier.
This has nothing to do with politics, but all to do with money. Ownership wants to create a demand for the product (tickets) by lowering supply…and by the way I think they are wrong. They will shrink the fan base down the road by charging too much for tickets, and this is happening to all sports. Guess I will stick to watching on TV, and going when I get freebies.
Not to mention a more full stadium during future down years will be better. I would trust that there was very advanced financial analysis done before selecting the current layout of CitiField.
i doubt it im sure dick cheney told the wilpons exactly how many seats he was allowed to have in citifield. (sarcasm)
ticket prices are of minor concern. how much will beers cost on the inside?
More than they do now, that’s for sure. I can’t wait to pay $8.00 for a Bud Light.
i think we’d be lucky to only pay 8 bucks, i think we’re lookin at double digits boys.
might be time to dust off the old flask.
haha, lets just hope they dont pull a petco park and ban the beer man from walking around in the stands….thats right no beer man in SD, and somehow i caught flack on this blog from some guy for making fun of that during the series out there this season.
I am more worried that seating capacity will go from 55,000 at Shea to 45,000 at Citifield. Fewer available seats and higher prices per ticket as a result.
It’s completely ridiculous that a team in New York has a stadium that only seats 45,000. Chase Field in Phoenix seats 50,000 fer cryin out loud – and that’s PHOENIX.
I can understand not going with 55K, but the Mets could easily pack a 50K stadium. The Cupons are once again stickin it to us.
I dont even understand why they dropped the capacity by 10,000. New Yankee stadium is going from about 57,000 to 53,000. How come they chose 45,000 for Citifield? Has anyone heard the reasoning for this?
whats the answer to 99 questions out of 100?……$$$
Read the article. Of couse is $$$. Again, Ill state that if you spend $2k for ‘08 (it was $1,130 per cheap seat in ‘07 ), then you will have tickets to 81 sold out games for the next 10 years(maybe more if tickets become like Giants/Jets tickets). This is NYC. It will be summer. There are gonna be TONS of people/baseball fanatics that some to town just to check out the new stadiums. Starting in ‘09 if you sell some of your Yanks/Phils/Braves/Sat-Sun tickets(although even the Nats ticks will carry a premium) you wont have to worry about getting in to the rest. I really think you can probably pay for the whole season if you play your cards right. Not to mention you can forget about playoffs seats if you dont have an account. If you plan on going to more than 5-10 games, I dont understand why EVERYONE isnt getting season tickets next year. Its a $2,000 investment for one year to ensure tickets to sold out games for a long LONG time to come.
I’m worried that the 10,000 drop in capacity and the new structure will prevent the stands from shaking when Wright homers in Game 1 of the NLCS.
Never too early to dream, fellas.
I loved this line:
“When people know they can walk up and get a seat any day, any time, they aren’t willing to pay the kind of ticket prices that baseball began to experience to keep up with salaries,” said Jon Miemuth, a design principal at Ellerbe Becket, an architecture and engineering firm that worked on MLB stadiums in Arizona and Atlanta in recent years
So once again, the mulit-millionaire players and billionaire owners profit at the expense of the loyal fans, the majority of whom are working stiffs. Something’s gotta give.
yea its pretty sad but i mean are we all gonna stop going to the games? probably not. We may have to go to less bc of financial reasons but we’ll still go. The only thing that would stop this kind of stuff is if an entire fan base boycotted a team which is basically impossible and will likely never happen so sadly itll probably continue to get worse and when arod signs somewhere for 10 years at 400 million dollars he’ll drag everyone elses salaries up with him.
This is true about A-Rod, but look at it this way. If MLB instituted a salary cap, would prices come down? Nope, owners (like in the NFL) would just get richer.
Yep, thats why its great seeing Delgado smiling all season while having the worst season of his career. Hes rich and we pay his salary.
The whole experience is just unbearable, I’d much rather watch on TV considering the hassels involved just to go to a game. Their is nothing easy about it and the prices are outrageous. $15 just to park, need we say anymore.
Nothing’s gotta give. Even with rising prices all over MLB, attendance is still up. What’s probably happening is the average 15-22 year old fan isn’t going to the games, and maybe losing interest in the sport as a result. Unlike any other sport, Baseball really gains something from being at the park. It’s the same age group that people are always trying to advertise to, and get to vote.
But this statement is wrong, I witnessed plenty of times seeing peopel walk up to Shea, and buy a Mezz box seat when they easily could’ve payed 33% and sat(or moved from) Upper.
I’m sure there will be a zillion deals, discount days, and promotions to get some fans in, but in the long run, I worry about what happens. I’d rather see more seats(even if it’s 70k and the top section gets closed off except for platinum type games) than less. Even if it’s bleacher style standing room only seats way above the action, it’s still better than not being there. Hell, they could even cordon off that upper section from the resto f teh stadium, to not risk the ‘cosiness’ of it and i’d be happy.
yes, this is what happens when you root for a baseball team that is also a business. im sure your local high school or American Legion Summer league team are alwyas looking for new fans.
Meanwhile, their refusal to consider a retractable roof in favor of retro lust for a stadium I never saw nor gave a damn about makes the fan less interested in buying tickets in advance. Three times this season my wife and daughter bailed on inclement weather games, and I’m sick of eating that $, giving them away.
Baseballs schedule is double the size of the nearest professional sport, the NBA and NHL. Those teams play in arenas with approx 25k seats. Granted baseball is very much more popular, however It is very hard to fill a 55k stadium 81 games a season.
The days of going to the park on a whim arent over, it will just be harder the first couple years. No doubt the Mets will have some sub .500 years in thier future. What this article doesnt describe is how the success of the team affects the demand.
it doesnt affect prices though, was it any cheaper to go to a game in 2003 than it was in 2000? no it was just easier to get a seat since no one cared after june.
Well, as an out of area fan that is pretty much limited to weekends, I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up getting shut out. Maybe I can get a sunday game or 2 by buying when they first go on sale, but I don’t expect to wait until the week before and just scap up some seats.
I also don’t have much opportunity to go to a mid week night game in May or September when school is on, which is probably when you can get some seats.
One thing that I do recommend is SRO tickets. I get them (cheapest thing available) in Philly when I can, since if I buy the nosebleeds left near game time, I don’t sit in the seats anyway! If Citi is like Citi (anyone else notice the similarity in names?), you can wander around and watch the games from a bunch of different angles.
Great post and a good topic – I think we’ll see a very different vibe out of the “former Shea faithful” for the first few years, as die-hard fans (like myself) will be kept from the place, while less-fanatical folks, maybe even baseball novices with $$ will show up for the spectacle of it all.
I hope I’m wrong.
Question: How long will it take Mike and Mad Dog to start commenting on the “lack of buzz in the Met fans these days” as a result??? Arghhhh, I’m ticked off already.
We will also see that unheard-of-in-NY “LA effect” – empty seats after the 7th inning…?
Ahh, dont get me started on Mike and the Mad Dog
I lived in St. Louis for 6 years and was there during the Busch Stadium transformation. Like Shea, you could get a ticket for $10 or less, on the day of the game at the old Busch — the new Busch sold out every game. Given that, it wasn’t impossible to get tickets through stubhub and other ticket marketplaces. As long as there are still relatively cheap tickets that are under the $15 range, the fact that most games might sell out isn’t a problem, in my view. Lets face it, shea’s atmosphere is not that great absent a complete sellout.
This CitiField is going to SUCK! We will be forced into buying season tix if you wanna go to ANY game outside of the Marlins and Nats probably…
is SRO counted in the total number of available “Seats”?
How many games did you go to at Shea that were actual sellouts, granted i haven’t been to shea since 2004 (moved away from NYC) but there were almost always more than 5k-10k seats avaiable excecpt for opening day, closing day and playoff games.
I had SRO tickets at Fenway, and they were actually better than a lot of the assigned seats, and there were plenty of empty seats that we could slip into. Fenway seats 38,000.
OK….As much as we all hate to admit it, it IS a business. The Willpons arent in this cause they want to ‘give’ the pleasure of watching a baseball game to their fans. Not to mention the fact that with so many other teams tapping into additional revenue streams they HAVE to in order to keep up. Buy season tickets next year in the UD, take a hit of a few hundred dollars, then when you buy tickets for ‘09 you can go to the games you want and know you’ll have no issues selling all the others for above face. Im planning on the ‘09 season being on the house. Look at is an investment for the first 3-5 years of CitiField. You’ll have to take next year on the chin, but after that you’ll have tickets to 81 sold out games for years to come. Every seat in the house is gonna go for between 1.5 and 2X face for the foreseeable future. Plus with all the people that must have dropped their accounts after the ‘07 debacle you should be able to get some good ones for next year.
Anyone know how many seats the new Yankee stadium is going to have?
According to ballparks.com, New Yankee Stadium will seat 51,800
I will continue to look forward to seeing the Mets 20 minutes away at Citizen Bank Park. My days of seeing the Mets in Queens is a faded memory….
would you prefer to be seeing them 20 minutes away in Veterans Stadium, quite possibly the worst stadium ever built?
I’m not sure if you’re complaining about the Mets moving out of Shea, or the fact that you no longer live close to NY, but if you are complaining about the former, that’s basically the same thing as complaining that the Phillies moved to a much nicer, more modern, but smaller stadium.
people are forgetting that we no longer live in the 1980’s, where in order to get tickets you had to drive to the stadium box office, or a satellite location and reserve them. We live in the day and age of stubhub.com, so you’ll still be able to get your tickets a few days before a game, and usually you can get them pretty cheap. I got tickets to a completely sold out Yankees-Orioles game at Camden Yards back when ARod was sitting on 499 homers for $15 bucks a week before the game, and they were actually pretty decent seats (my girlfriend is a Yankees fan and we live outside DC. Don’t even get me started. At least I was able to drag her to 3 Mets-Nats games this year). The marketplace is changing, and it’s actually great in a lot of ways. The Wilpons get their money, you get your tickets, and the guy who 10 years ago would have had to eat the seats and the money he spent on the tickets instead gets to get rid of them and turn a slight profit on it (if he wants).
Also, honestly, how many times is Shea Stadium actually sold out? Even when the Mets are good, you usually see a ton of empty red seats in the upper deck. For the few times the Mets are playing meaningful games in September and October that those seats would get filled up, I think we can sacrifice the 10,000 seats to have a stadium that is constantly filled, brimming with excitement, is more comfortable, and that has better sight lines for everyone.
chris mulrain?
10,000 less seats isnt bad but im pretty sure the numbers being projected include standing room only so theres probably more than 10,000 actual seats being subtracted.
I think the fear is that tickets for Citi Field are going to be jacked up pretty good. I mean, you can buy $15 seats to RFK, Dolphins Stadium, and some others, but do you really think tix for Citi Field aren’t going to come without a huge markup? Think 25-40% in season 1.
For example, I understand the playoffs are a different animal, but this year, potential NLDS tix were going for $100 each….in row R of the upper deck. That’s like 100% mark up. I understand the argument, but at the same time…I know I’ll try to spend whatever it takes to get to opening day 2009.
haha yea….I answered you on another message board, but I guess you didn’t see that.
due to a little argument i had with another blogger in a different post i wont disclose my last name ill just say its matt from marys baseball, think 2B/SS.
haha yea, I thought so….after the last time you asked my name, I noticed that you mentioned being a Raiders fan in the same thread, and I put 2 and 2 together (I don’t think I know any other Raiders fans these days haha). How have you been man?
pretty good, yea im still waiting to meet another raider fan, its ok though theyll come around i hope. other than that everythings cool i live in baltimore now so i miss the mets and NL baseball in general and since the nats have a new place next year i dont know how easy itll be to go to a mets game there but we’ll see.
Let’s also thank our great Governor for getting rid of the restrictions on how much of a profit you can make from reselling your tickets. Great for the regular fan, but when corporations buy up all of the seats for resale, they can now make as much as they want for the tickets because they know the fans will pay. A Hanna Montona (Disney kids artist) concert in smAlbany, NY sold out in less than 20 minutes. Tickets are being sold online by companies for $800 a ticket! Capitalism is great to a certain extent, but when your kid is begging you to see the Mets, how can you not shell out the cash.
I gotta agree with gomets- stubhub and similar sites have completly changed the way we get tickets. Sure Braves-Mets games will go for a lot but Marlins-Mets will probably cost the same as they do now (and if all season-ticket holders get into selling their tickets games against bad teams may even go for below market value if people just wanna unload them).
If I still lived in NY I would definitly buy season tickets and sell the majority of big games to make money and go to games against bad teams (for the most part the opponent doesn’t matter to me when I’m at a game). That would probably make a lot of money.
If you think ANY of the games will go for the same as they do now I feel for you. There are 10 Million people in the NYC area, iincluding many baseball fans. Baseball set season records for attendance this year across the country. NYC is the biggest tourist attaction in the country, especially in the summertime. The Mets(and Yankees) figure to be competetive year in, year out(at least before the season I cant see either having a ‘rebuilding year’ ever again, not with $1.8 BILLION in new stadiums and their own networks. Throw in the fact that there are 10,000 less seats and explain to me how even tickets to see the bottom dwelers are gonna be easy to get/the same amount as they go for now? Even if Season Ticket holders sell games, there is only gonna be 18,000-20,000 seats per game after calculating in all the seats that sold to the GP the day they went on sale(if any). Just look at how the attendance in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Philly went through the roof the fist 3-4 years. This is NYC. Its simple math. The Mets sold 3.8 Mil tickets this year in a 30 year old crappy stadium with 55,000 seats. Now figure 45,000 X 81 games(3,645,000) without even adjusting for ‘the curiosity factor’ of non-baseball fans/tourists dying to see a new stadium, then explain to me how any tickets are gonna be available? In a nutshell, they would have oversold Citifield by 200,000 THIS YEAR, and thats at Shea which has little to no drawing power….get your season tickets NOW, while you still can fellas….
I still think most people are over-reacting. Sure theres no doubt prices are gonna go up for the big games. But a random game against the Nats on a tuesday night- i doubt it.
And I don’t have any stats on it- but I thought conventional wisdom was that the curiosity factor a new park brings (people who only go to the game for the new park) only lasts a few seasons.
I agree in some ways. Yea, in Detroit maybe. How many tourists go to Detriot? Are you gonna visit Detroit to see your team play there or to check out the stadium(or for any reason really)? Probably not. They rely on their fanbase for almost all the ticket sales. Right, when the newness wore off and the team stunk the tickets were easy Again, this is NYC. This is the first new stadium(s) since 1964. We have tourists coming and going all year round by the millions. Many are sports fans. Logically, shouldnt it take 10X longer for the ‘newness’ to wear off if there are 10X more people interested in seeing it? Mets fans/NYC tourism/record attendance this year=every game being hard to get. I also think that with the Yanks opening a stadium the same year there’s gonna be A. A lot of people wanting to see a game at both stadiums while they are here B. People that couldnt get tickets there, so came to Citiifield instead. I’m not making comparisons, because it doesnt factor in the passage of time, but check out how much tickets are going for the 1st game at the new Devils arena. $200 for seats to the 1st game in the cheapest seats. Thats for a hockey team in Newark….I maybe wrong, but Im pretty sure Im not….enough to put $2k on tickets for next year.
Just wondering, Matt – were you a proponent of Citifield? I seem to remember you being one and still are. I’m sorry, but being interested to see how it plays out is fine for those folks that can afford to get in, have connections or don’t care. What about everybody else? Not such a wonderful social experiment for them. As I’ve said before, the Boston fans are the cool ones. I think there was a trial balloon put out there for building a new stadium and it was shot down damned fast. No way will they tolerate getting rid of Fenway. The Yankee fans barely said boo. Of course, Shea can’t be compared to them as far as baseball history, except that as far as Met history it is, with the exception of 2 years – ALL of our history!!! I don’t see a sense of loyalty or tradition in the desire to build this piece of crap corporate named place of elitism. I’ve heard the criticism of the 60’s “cookie cutter parks” and I looked at the new photos up there – gee, this stadium really looks unique – not! All the new stadiums look like this place and I’m not at all impressed.
Citi Field will be a novelty for the first 2 years or so. After that getting a ticket should be the same as it is now and you can go on a whim. Stop the worrying.
Citi will have about 45,000 seats. When you go to a game in May – August and the Yankees, Red Sox or 1st place Braves/Phils aren’t in town there are 35,000 people at Shea. Do the math. If you want to be there hop on the 7-train.
You don’t have to be rocket scientist to figure out that there’s going to be a spike in demand (and ticket prices): new stadium + 10,000 fewer seats = higher demand. Higher demand = higher prices.
Fine.
I think those that are worried about being shutout from CitiField need to consider that at some point—be it in 2009, 2015, 2030 or later—the Mets were going to move out of Shea. It’s just that simple. These stadiums don’t last forever, and the ones that have “stood the test of time” (i.e. Wrigley and Fenway) are themselves the draw. Have you ever heard anyone say, “you’ve never been to Shea? Oh, you absolutely have to go.” I haven’t either.
Also, Shea is a freakin’ dump. Yeah, it’s got “history” and, like many others, I’ve got my own memories of great games—the apple, the wobbling stands, etc.—but it’s a crappy place to spend an afternoon or evening. The seats are small, there’s no leg room, the concourses are narrow, the bathrooms suck … the list goes on and on.
At the end of the day, it’s worth it for the Mets to move. Go to any of these new ballparks and tell me that they’re not great places. Their designed specifically for baseball and the architects seem like they actually know what the hell they’re doing.
It may be hard(er) to get in to CitiField in ’09, but it won’t be impossible. Sure, maybe you have to pony up a few extra bucks, but I would imagine that you’ll be very happy you did once you get to see your beloved team play in a beautiful park.
Here are the SF Giants attendence records since they moved and the last year at Candlestick. I figured thats the best comparison to our situation. Major city. Big stars. Other baseball teams in the area.
2007 NL West 71-91 5 AT&T Park (ballparks.com) 3,223,215 39,793 5th out of 16 32.6/27.3 100/100
2006 NL West 76-85 3 AT&T Park (ballparks.com) 3,130,313 38,886 4th out of 16 33.5/28.7 100/100
2005 NL West 75-87 3 SBC Park (ballparks.com) 3,181,023 39,272 3rd out of 16 32.2/30.0 98/98
2004 NL West 91-71 2 SBC Park (ballparks.com) 3,256,854 40,208 2nd out of 16 31.5/30.1 103/103
2003 NL West 100-61 DIV,1 PacBell Park (ballparks.com) 3,264,898 40,558 1st out of 16 32.1/28.6 99/100
2002 NL West 95-66 NL,2 PacBell Park (ballparks.com) 3,253,203 40,163 1st out of 16 32.1/29.2 91/92
2001 NL West 90-72 2 PacBell Park (ballparks.com) 3,311,958 40,888 1st out of 16 31.5/29.2 91/92
2000 NL West 97-65 DIV,1 PacBell Park (ballparks.com) 3,318,800 40,973 2nd out of 16 30.0/28.5 91/92
1999 NL West 86-76 2 3Com Park (ballparks.com) 2,078,399 25,659 10th out of 16 30.3/28.6 89/90
Hmm….2 Mil in ‘99 at the old place, No fewer than 3.1 Mil since at the new joint. BTW, this is in Cali(not exactly filled with die hard fans like us) They drew 3.2 MIL this year rooting for a last place team 8 years after it opened….I really feel for you guys that think you’re gettin in w/o season tickets….
I see your point but the Giants have also had the biggest drawing attraction in baseball the past 8 years. Love him or hate him, fans buy tickets to see Barry Bonds. This year’s attendance can be linked to one thing and one thing only: Barry Bond’s pursuit of the HR record. Heck, the Mets games at Shea against the Giants bring some of the largest non-Yankee/non-Opening Day crowds each year.
Also, it will be interesting to see what the Giants’ attendance is next year without Barry. I suspect there will be a substantial drop off barring them signing A-Rod if he opts out. Their average attendance after Bonds broke the record was much less than the capacity crowds that they were drawing prior to HR 756.
Agreed, but what about ‘06 when they sold 3.1 million. They finished 76-85. He didnt play half the season(and most people knew he wouldn’t play before the season started and they STILL sold over 3 million tickets. Im serious when I say its an investment. Half of me wants to buy Yanks ST’s next year, cause I cant imagine how hard ‘09 tickets are gonna be for them. Sell all the games this year(except the last game, which is historic even if you hate the team) and make 2X-3X face for the next 5 years. Put it this way, at the minimum all the cheap seats are gonna be impossible for years and years to come. The Devils dont have a single cheap seat or Club seat available for the entire season. Again, this is hockey and NEWARK!!!
He actually played in 2006 (2005 was the season that he missed almost all of their games … came back in September to hit a few HRs). I actually agree with your general principle … that cheap seats will be difficult to come by for the next 5 years.
The Giants, however, are a unique situation given (a) Barry Bonds’ presence in their lineup and (b) the fact that from 2002 through 2004 – the Giants averaged over 95 wins per season, made the playoffs twice and went to one World Series). As a result, although Bonds was hurt in 2005, the Giants were coming off three great seasons and thus attendance was maintained.
All fair points. Its actually really cool to see all the opinions on the subject being that I knew I was gonna buy season tickets the day they announced Citi Field. I guess its almost impossible to predict how difficult they will be due to the fact that its almost 2 years away(who knows what the team will look like in ‘09), plus the effect of the Yanks moving into Sacriledge Field the same year. I’ve read every article I can on the subject and I still stand pat on ‘They are gonna be impossible to get.’ If what I’m reading is true, the 45,000 number includes those in the boxes, and that the number of seats available is closer to 33,000 per game. Subtract those people(and corporation tickets) that have season tickets and go to every game and you’re looking at like 20,000 seats per game. Hard to imagine even the cheapest seats going for less than $40-$50 for the first 5-6 years if thats the case. You know the corporations arent gonna sell any of their expensive seats to people. I agree that eventually the thrill will wear off a little, but with only 45,000 total seats, NYC being as big a baseball town as it is, the Mets being (hopefully) competeitive every year…..Im just not seeing where all these tickets people think they’re getting are coming from. Again, 3.8 Mil at Shea this year….3.645 Mil total capacity(plus add in a whole bunch of new season ticket holders. One article says that 75% of it is gonna be Season Tickets) at Citi Field and its just a numbers game.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/metsattn.shtml
Those are the Mets attendance records from ‘62 – 2006.
Here is 2007:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/attendance
Only once (this year) have the Mets averaged more than 45,000 fans per game. This year the average was 47,579 per game.
There were 38 crowds of more than 50,000 at Shea this year. http://tinyurl.com/yoakgq
Shea’s capacity is 55,601 seats.
Let’s say the average attendance on the 38 dates above 50,000 fans was 53,000. That is a conservative estimate since most of those dates were probably closer to sellouts. That means 2,014,000 fans went during those 38 games. Subtract that from 3,853,937 the total attendance for 2007 and you are left with 1,839,937 fans attending the other 43 dates and you have an average attendance of 42,790 fans per game on those dates.
This year’s attendance numbers obviously include all of the game day and single purchase tickets that people seem to think will disappear at Citi Field.
Things will be fine. You will still see the Mets in person, in a beautiful park that will hopefully have ice cold Brooklyn Lager flowing like water.
Shea is a dump. We need a new park and we’re getting what appears to be a beautiful one. Why are some people such whiners? Do you guys sit in your moms’ basement and smoke pot all day? How about you don’t buy a 50 sack one day in 2009 and buy tix to a Mets game instead. So a lot of tickets will be owned by corporations. Big deal. That is what lets us get Beltran and Pedro and is why Wright and Reyes are locked in to mulit-year deals and we’re not hearing how this year and next will be our last shots to win with them before we have to trade them because we can’t afford them. Honestly, don’t you guys know people with season tickets or who work for companies that have them? I assure you that Citi will be a hot ticket, but it won’t be impossible to get in.
The total capacity for Citifield is about 45,000. But what they arent saying is that it will be divided up as 41,000 actual seats while another 4,000 will be standing room only. So the new stadium will actually have 14,000 fewer seats than Shea rather than 10,000. Not too thrilled about that.
How much were 2007 season tickets and have there been estimates given on how much 2009 season tickets will be?
I just started an account yesterday. I’m assuming you know you need season tickets next year in order to have priority at tickets for Citi Field. Right now you need to put down a $250 per ‘08 ticket deposit. Supposedly they’ll call in December to finalize your seats and pay the balance. My rep told me that the cheapest seat in ‘07 were $1130 per seat(and after the debacle they arent sure how much they are gonna go up). They have no clue how much ‘09 is gonna be yet, but from my perspective, who cares?…..Im gonna sell 40 games for over face and see the rest for a minmal amount or hopefully free.
Any idea how much some of the other seats were in ‘07? Mezzanine box and mezz reserved for instance?
Nope. If you call the BO they’ll tell you though. Personally I really don’t care where my seats are this year. I asked if the priority in ‘09 is gonna be done by price range or seniority of accounts and was told its gonna be done by whos had an account the longest. If thats the case why spend more at Shea this year for ‘better’ seats, if I can just put that money towards a better location in ‘09. I REALLY want seats on the RF porch that overhangs the field. Thats gonna be a great place to be.
Okay, I just placed my deposit for 4 season tickets. The fact that the refund is 100% refundable if you decide not to buy come December when they go on sale makes this a no-brainer.
The big question for though will be how much will the cheapest seats in Citifield cost when it opens. If they’re $50 I’m going to have a hell of a time convincing my wife on season tickets for 2009.
Ah, another intelligent person that can see the handwriting on the wall. I cant believe that they will raise the cheap seats from an avg of $14 per seat to $50. First off, logically that would mean that the box seats would go for between $125 and $150 and mid-range would be like $75. I cant believe they would raise prices 150%-200%. Even the Red Sox(who obviously have the highest demand for tickets) sell their bleachers for about $25 and boxes are $90. Maybe I’m wrong, but Im planning on something between $20-$25 per for the UD. I just cant imagne them thinking that they could sell UD seats for $50 face. $8,000 for 2 seats in the UD?…hard to imagine. Thats twice the highest comprable ticket in the league. $20-$25 still like a 40%-50% increase, and do-able. Im thinking standing room will be like the $15 seats we have today. Everything will ‘move up one spot’ as far as the price ranges. If you’re right I just wasted $2k for ‘08….(although I love the refund deal as well. WHY WOULDNT YOU DO IT? WERE TALKING $500?) I’m hoping they have an rough idea in December though before I pay the $1700 balance.