20
2012
Ticket-Gate: Mets VP Explains All, Opening Day Ticket Sales Are Great
An article by 
The Mets fans and bloggers who think they have a God-given right to tell the Mets how to run their business are not going to like this…
From the desk of Adam Rubin:
Individual tickets for the first couple of months of the season went on sale Monday, and Mets fans on Twitter erupted in displeasure with the revelation that the lowest-priced seats for Opening Day were $63 (plus service fees).
Asked about the issue Tuesday, Mets executive vice president Dave Howard suggested that most tickets for the April 1 opener against the Padres are being held back to be sold as parts of packages. He added that the high individual-game price was designed in part to entice fans to buy multi-game packs.
“It’s a very limited amount of inventory that was made available,” Howard said. “Most of the other [Opening Day] tickets are now being reserved for those plans and the packs. What we made available for the single game at this point was just that limited amount of inventory. However, even with that limited inventory, even at that starting price point, [sales] actually went very well. It was well-received. The majority of tickets sold yesterday were for Opening Day.
“We made a before-the-holidays sale. We made a limited number available that are not in packs. So if people want a cheaper price for Opening Day, they can buy it as part of a package. Obviously, there are other games in that mix as well. But some people may think that’s a better value. That’s why that’s an option.”
Great job by the Mets to get out in front of this. Quite frankly, I wonder if all MLB fan bases complain and nit-pick as much as this one does? Any stats on that? Anybody?
Lets go back to complaining about on the filed stuff like what the heck does our outfield look like on Opening Day?
I’m sick and tired of all these contrived controversies.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 24 | 18 | .571 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 20 | .535 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 32 | .256 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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The issue is that the Mets run themselves like they are a utility or cable company. We don’t need them, and well basically, we can take our business elsewhere, I love that this team prices its tickets based on the level of its competition and not on its own merits. They screw their fans by giving them less and less and then when ticket sales flounder, they don’t look within, they fire the ticket sales staff.
It’s cynical nonsense- I hope they drown in a sea of their own debt with nobody to blame but themselves.
don’t they do this every year?
Every team in every sport does this every year if they have dynamic pricing, which is certainly not limited to the Mets. Opening day and select top rivalries are always priced higher.
‘I wonder if all MLB fan bases complain and nit-pick as much as this one does?’
I was wondering the same thing myself. I can’t believe the Mets are the only ones doing dynamic pricing and/or trying to get their fan base to purchase some sort of ticket pack or plan.
Blah Blah Blah the Mets are getting ready to sign Carlos Torres, a pitcher who has never had an era under 5.26..This is what your hard earned dollars will buy you..
I am becoming an angry Mets fan..
R.A Dickey was also a journeyman pitcher before he came here. Be careful.
yup…and met fans ran out the guy who signed him….go figure…
What’s so hard to figure out? I think most believe Omar did more harm than good, especially given the huge budgets he had work with. To a large extent, Alderson has been hampered by Omar’s mistakes, saddled with too many underperforming big contracts such as Bay, Santana, Castillo and Perez. So, certainly Dickey may have been Omar’s best move. Too bad there weren’t more Dickey type success stories.
The Mets had their 4 best financial seasons in team history under Omar
2005-2008 they BROKE records for team revenue…
spare me the talk about Omar’s contracts limiting Sandy
There was noone preventing Sandy from playing Duda in LF last year
There was noone forcing Sandy to trade Pagan last year
There was noone preventing Sandy from trading Reyes in 2011
There was noone preventing Sandy from trading Byrdack in 2012
There was noone preventing Sandy from trading Hairston in 2012
There was noone preventing Sandy from getting Courtney Hawkins in 2012
There was noone preventing Sandy from getting Jose Fernandez in 2011
Ya boy Sandy is a failure
Yeah, that’s a brutal look at what happens when you sit on your hands too much. Inactive and slow-moving front office. They over think everything and let too many opportunities pass the by. Also those last two, each ranked #1 by BA at their respective leagues. Each selected right after Mets picks. Neither Nimmo.Gavin were even in their leagues top 10.
Of course they had good financial seasons from 2005-2008 …
1) They were in the last years at Shea so attendance rose as many wanted to make last visits to their childhood stomping grounds,
2) They had yet to move into their new money pit of a stadium and no one had yet heard of the name Madoff.
3) Many of the poor contracts Omar completed right before he left had yet to become big albatrosses.
I’m not saying Alderson hasn’t made poor choices. And a lot of his problems stem from the Mets financial issues that arose out of the costly new stadium and Madoff. But Omar certainly contributed to the morass the team has been in. He did more harm than good. This isn’t about Alderson by the way. The same thing would have happened no matter who had taken over the team a GM. Omar’s vision was too short-sighted, and his heavily back-loaded lengthy contracts were an example of that. I’m glad he;’s gone. Maybe I’ll be glad when Alderson is gone too. That doesn’t make Omar’s tenure any more palatable.
‘I wonder if all MLB fan bases complain and nit-pick as much as this one does?’
Payroll Goes Down…Ticket Prices Go Up! HOW DARE WE BE OUTRAGED?!?
Of course the bottom feeding continues- the Mets have signed LH relief pitcher- Scott Rice, RH relief pitcher- Carlos Torres and RH RF- Jamie Hoffman to minor league deals. I guess that means Hairston isn’t coming back either.
3 more minor league signings huh? So the Sandy Alderson Shit Show continues. I was just reading Metsblog and loving the amount of people getting tired of this. It seems like in Alderson’s 2 1/2 years here there’s been more signing of minor league has beens and never-was-beens than I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
Like what some people at Metsblog said – does he even know there’s a major league roster here? There’s just so much anger one can direct at this that you just become numb.
Cue the “every team does this” excuses.
No they don’t. Every team does NOT do this. This is PATHETIC! How dare this guy! I wish Jeff Wilpon WOULD take the team over to be honest because he can’t do much worse.
I understand a certain amount of seats being held for potential season and partial season ticket holders but why should those who want to attend opening day be forced to buy tickets for other games as well?
The limited amount of individual and higher priced opening day tickets wasn’t made to “entice” fans to buy packs, it was made to FORCE fans to buy packs. Make most all tickets available individually and entice some with a discount who are possibly interested in purchasing packs. When they are sold out (if they are sold out) then they are sold out.
That is the fair and honest way to conduct business – not trying to squeeze the fans for all they can get out of them.
Joe, is that nit-picking?
FYI – Arizona has had a dynamic pricing plan for many years and in 2012 they were 13th in league in attendance. The year before that when they were division champions they were only 12th. In 2010, they were again 13th. All three seasons they averaged around 25,000 per game, regardless of being first, worst or (as in 2012) mediocre. True, they are a small market town but during their world championship 2001 season they were 8th in the league and averaged more than 31,000 per game – compare that to their 2011 division championship season. Could dynamic pricing have been a turn-off with those fans?
you’re nitpicking so hard
fair and honest way to conduct business = amateur less profit business
Hi This,
No, it actually means ethics in business. For some of us, that is quite important. There are various ways to conduct business. Good will, even though obviously not for altruistic purposes, goes a long way to making a nice profit by making the fans want to come back. With all the empty seats we saw even during the first half last season, when we were tied for number one in the wild card, fans were not coming. One reason is because soaking the fan base hasn’t worked since 2009. Having a general manager as the pubic spokesman speaking in double-talk hasn’t helped, either.
It’s simply not wanting to do business with a gonif, which is Yiddish for “thief”. It’s also the way to describe Loria in Florida who isn’t exactly supported by those in the community, either.
I’d say that’s pretty intangible but whatever. I speak some yiddish too by the way
Off topic- of course Sandy has protected the Zack Attack. Darin Gorski, Wilfredo Tovar and surprisingly Hansel Robles, Gonzalez Germen and recent scrap heap pick-up Greg Burke on the Mets 40 man roster. Not Aderlin.
Joe D. … Who died and left you the Grand Poobah of determining what subjects are of importance to the fans?. Stop being as arrogant as the Mets front office is in dealing with fans.
Wow, Joe D. instead of railing against this price increase you are sweeping it under the rug? $63 dollars for the worst seat in the house? You gotta be kidding me with this post. The Wilpons should be hung out to dry by their toes.
Well it is Opening day…The only day in the season you can guarantee not having to watch a team more than 1 game behind in the standings (unless they start the season on the road this year)
Much ado about nothing.Use STUBHUB!!!!!Anybody who buys tickets now needs to have their head examined.There will be tickets for opening day on stubhub a week before opening day for less than 63 bucks.Plus it is crowded, tough to get into a bathroom, food lines..Why bother?Go to game two.Have a whole section to yourself for fifteen bucks.
It’s just as I said on the original post…
Joe,
The Mets are entitled to price their product any way they want. Customers are entitled to complain and gripe all they want. Ultimately, the fans (that are customers) do tell the owners how to run their business based upon how they decide to spend their money. It’s all good, even if the bellyaching get old.
Sandy Alderson keeps bringing in sh**** ass padres rejects, not really any improve to the roster, don’t tell the fans the truth about rebuilding, and honestly who can’t blame them after the mind boggling moves they made adding POS’s like burke to the 40 man roster and on top of that they raised ticket prices on some bogus excuse of buying package?? Really? Do the wilpons WANT to lose the team??? My goodness!
Relax. It’s dynamic ticket pricing. The prices after opening day drop dramatically. So you’ll still be able to get your cheaper tickets on the second-hand market. This is much ado about essentially nothing.
Hi Metro,
In terms of cost for future games to the fans you are right, however, in terms of what this adds to the fan bases’ disgust with the ownership, it is going to cost the Wilpons instead. If we had half filled ballparks during the first half of the last two seasons when the team was playing exciting ball and a wildcard hunt, one can only imagine what this latest attempt in squeezing the fan base is going to cause in 2013.
Well, we’ll see by April, won’t we? I mean if opening day is at least a near sellout, that would mean that there is no backlash from the pricing of tickets that day.
Attendance will rise and fall according to their winning/losing and wild card hopes — not according to high ticket prices for a few selected dates throughout the season.
Hi Metro,
Might be hard to tell about the legitimacy of opening day attendance – remember last year at the last minute it was necessary for the Mets to offer free tickets to a weekend game in order to get all the tickets sold.
A lot of us are just so fed up that we are content to watch from home.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours