With long-time season-ticket buyers upset with their seat locations and an apparent glut of inventory in the high-end seating, the New York Yankees may have overestimated demand for big-buck ducats at the new Yankee Stadium.
With long-time season-ticket buyers upset with their seat locations and an apparent glut of inventory in the high-end seating, the New York Yankees may have overestimated demand for big-buck ducats at the new Yankee Stadium.
It’s no secret many season-ticket buyers decided to drop their packages because the seat locations in the new ballpark were so crappy when compared to seat locations in the old ballpark, as the Yankees used the transition to add high-priced tickets between the dugouts — to the tune of $2,500 per game, in some instances.
That may be a little rich, especially with the economy in a recession and the cornerstones of New York City business — finance and banking — suffering mightily. The corporations once envisioned as being willing and able to shell out hundreds of thousands for season tickets now can barely meet payroll.
So the Yankees are now forced to hawk the tickets through newspaper advertising and changing the terms, splitting the packages into partials. Richard Sandomir writes:
The stadium is the Yankees’ stimulus package, but the unsold seats are making them feel short of full stimulation. The ads make the Yankees look a bit desperate; the last thing they want is for these seats — the “greatest in the world” the team has called them, which will be seen prominently on television — to be empty on opening day and beyond. Will we next see a casting call in Backstage for seat fillers for these magnificent seats?
The Yankees are probably waking up to one central truth: Despite the aura of the Yankees and the general classiness of the front office, Yankee Stadium has always been a workingman’s venue, less a place for the swells and more a gathering for the passionate. The transition from a temple for the common man to a corporate playhouse may be more difficult than the Yankees anticipated.
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