Tickets Thread 2013

[Guest themetfairy]

D-Dad and I are considering getting group tickets for the Party City Party Deck for Banner Day (May 11th). The good news is that the price of the ticket includes food, soft drinks, beer (pre-game and through the first hour of the game), pretzels and cookies. The bad news is that tickets are $125 apiece.

If we can get a critical mass of interested friends, we'll pull the trigger on this. If not, we'll pass.

Post here or send me a message if you'd be interested in joining our group.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

That is pricey. Any chance parking is included too?

Do you have a plan B to get tickets somewhere else for that game if not enough people want to go to the party deck?

[Guest themetfairy]

Plan B is to just by separate tickets. We'd only do a group to get the Party Deck, because they don't sell single tickets for that area.

[batmagadanleadoff]

http://metspolice.com/2013/03/14/how-do-you-think-mets-opening-day-ticket-sales-are-going/

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

They can't even sell the Mets to Met fans.

[Ceetar]

they'll sell out. did the same thing last year, sold out. record crowd.

[ashie62]

$125 noo...

[Guest Kong76]

So, I went on today to get a single ticket for opening day. I want
to sit in the sun since ya never know in Flushing in April and May.
$103 for a decent seat in the Pepsi Porch ... ok, everything is ex-
pensive these days ... a NY Times cost $2.50.

Then there's a convenience fee of $13.00 (convenient to whom I'm
not quite sure) and another $6.00 fee on top of that.

I just don't get the mindset of this team sometimes. Who do you
think you're fooling? Wouldn't it be better to just say the ticket
costs $125 instead of making us feel like we're getting fucked all
the time? I'm afraid to checkout, will there be a print at home fee
too??

And in case anyone wants to pile on, save the suckah speech.
My addition to the Mets is well documented ....

[Gwreck]

There is actually a growing trend in ticket sales towards so-called "all-in" pricing, where the service fees are hidden in the price of the ticket.

The truth is that one portion of the money goes to the team, while the so-called "service fee" portion goes to MLB Advanced Media, the owner/operator of Tickets.com. As you note, however, that distinction is of no consequence to you.

Given how expensive the Mets' tickets already are, switching to "all-in" pricing is probably not going to happen as it could exacerbate the situation -- ie. how can they really be charging $125 for an opening-day ticket in the outfield?

[Guest Kong76]

I was wondering who tickets.com really was when I saw the
url on the printout up top.

[Ceetar]

Kong76 wrote: I was wondering who tickets.com really was when I saw the url on the printout up top.

tickets.com has been around a while, though the mets switched to them last year. Not that the Mets are innocent in this, but it's really tickets.com to blame for the ticket fees. And they're always worse for single tickets due to that stupid 'order fee'. If you can get to Citi Field (where you buy from the Mets, not from tickets.com) you should do so. No fees that way. And if you can plan the next game you want to go to while you're at the park? even better. (And yes, there's a print at home fee or something. or a delivery fee? I don't remember. I can't keep track)

StubHub switched this year to a WYSIWYG system where the price listed on the site is what you pay.

Anyway, see you on Opening Day maybe. Great time. I believe I promised Metsfairy a marble Aero or something.

[ashie62]

The pricing reminds me of an ebay item that goes for 50 cents with $8.95 shipping...

I am addicted to watching the Mets at home almost free on a bigass HD TV..I am also too lazy to get on a train lol..

[Gwreck]

Ceetar wrote: tickets.com has been around a while, though the mets switched to them last year. Not that the Mets are innocent in this, but it's really tickets.com to blame for the ticket fees. And they're always worse for single tickets due to that stupid 'order fee'.

Blaming "Tickets.com" for high ticket fees ignores the role the Mets play in it. Higher "ticket fees" unquestionably means "higher revenue for the Mets."

As stated above, MLB Advanced Media owns Tickets.com. They have about half the MLB teams now selling their tickets, and it's been previously reported that they plan to eventually have all MLB teams once existing contracts (ie. the teams that have Ticketmaster) expire.

Did MLB make the Mets switch, or did the Mets do it because they thought they could make more money that way rather than using an in-house licensed version of Paciolan software? Hard to say.

[Ceetar]

Gwreck wrote: Ceetar wrote: tickets.com has been around a while, though the mets switched to them last year. Not that the Mets are innocent in this, but it's really tickets.com to blame for the ticket fees. And they're always worse for single tickets due to that stupid 'order fee'. Blaming "Tickets.com" for high ticket fees ignores the role the Mets play in it. Higher "ticket fees" unquestionably means "higher revenue for the Mets." As stated above, MLB Advanced Media owns Tickets.com. They have about half the MLB teams now selling their tickets, and it's been previously reported that they plan to eventually have all MLB teams once existing contracts (ie. the teams that have Ticketmaster) expire. Did MLB make the Mets switch, or did the Mets do it because they thought they could make more money that way rather than using an in-house licensed version of Paciolan software? Hard to say.

Oh, the Mets aren't innocent in it, surely. (but no fees at the park still) They chose Tickets.com, but I'm sure they have very little control over setting the fees, beyond an agreement they signed at the beginning. I suspect that's how much say they have over beer/concession prices as well, probably ceding much of that to Aramark in the contract.

Supposedly when they switched from Paciolan if that's what it was it was supposed to mean less fees, although they've seemed about the same to me just a little more spread out. The real reason they switched probably did involve MLB pressure, or a cut of the overall Tickets.com deal or something. And the Dynamic Pricing interface, which of course is designed to maximize revenue. (Perhaps ticketmaster pays the Yankees more to be used by them? I hate Ticketmaster, a lot, although the select a seat thing is real nice)

but of course, these are all different departments that operate with different goals in mind. The ticket guys don't call up Sandy and ask him what they should price the tickets at or what he's doing, and Sandy doesn't drop them a line to say "trying to trade for Upton and sign Bourn, go ahead and raise prices". The Mets ticket people have access to all the numbers and projections and are going to price tickets to maximize revenue. I suspect they've done that, as much as it sucks.

[ashie62]

Aramark has a contract for what at Citifield? I thought they were gone..

[Guest Kong76]

I think Aramark sold their last cup of swill the day Piazza and
Seaver walked out the back door of Shea hand in hand.

I wonder if the estate of Harry M. Stevens (assuming he is
no longer with us) still has any dough from what they used
to rake in.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

No Aramark has a 30 year deal to do Citifood.

[Guest Kong76]

Seems the name is missing this go around.

[Fman99]

As it stands right now I will be attending 3 games this year, one with the entire family on a charter bus trip that a coworker of mine has invited us to join (for S.U. alum), and then one game each with Fboy and Fgirl. The Fboy and I game will be a weekday matinee as per years' past. The Fgirl game will be a Friday or Saturday night where we go to an evening game and then stay overnight in a hotel and drive home the following morning.

All dates TBD.

[ashie62]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: No Aramark has a 30 year deal to do Citifood.

And yes it is. Story of Citifield chef suing his emolyer, Aramark 2 months ago for not letting him take a break while having chest pains. That sounds about right.

http://www.foodservice.com/news/show.cfm?contentid=42183&title=Chef%20sues%20Citi%20Field%20food%20contractor%20Aramark

[Gwreck]

Ceetar wrote: Supposedly when they switched from Paciolan if that's what it was it was supposed to mean less fees, although they've seemed about the same to me just a little more spread out.

The fees have most certainly not gone down since switching.

(Perhaps ticketmaster pays the Yankees more to be used by them? I hate Ticketmaster, a lot, although the select a seat thing is real nice)

Exactly. Ticketmaster's business strategy is to sign clients to long-term exclusive contracts. In exchange for a big pile of cash, Ticketmaster gets the rights to sell all tickets to events held at their facility. My guess is that the Yankees' contract with Ticketmaster predated the decision to move to a new stadium and there was some successor-facility clause in there. The presumption is that whenever that contract ends, they'll become a Tickets.com team too.

I can't remember the exact split but I think there were only about 12 Tickemaster teams and 2 Paciolan teams (Philadephia and San Diego) left.

[Ceetar]

I wonder if/how the ticketmaster deal influence the Yankees decision to try to take on Stubhub.

[Gwreck]

Unrelated. The Cubs were another of the teams that, like the Yankees, wanted to opt-out of the Stubhub deal, and they sell with Tickets.com.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Here's what the 2013's look like. Armando finally gets some love. Celebrating Mets All-Stars. All-Star themed ticket faces. Because the Mets are hosting this year's All-Star Game. Orange star in background. The star is for all-stars.

[ashie62]

Very nice...I have an unused, never played 1999 Mets WS ticket for Field Box 82E Face $125 times have changed.

[Farmer Ted]

The Cubs took on another battle last fall.


CHICAGO -- Faced with declining attendance and the pressures of running a rebuilding team, the Chicago Cubs are going to battle against an opponent they think they can beat: ticket scalpers.

The Cubs sent out 45 nonrenewal letters to a select group of season-ticket holders Wednesday, noting that season tickets "are a revocable license granted on a yearly basis at the sole discretion of the team."

The Cubs feel confident their research in trying to identify potential scalpers is correct, and only professional ticket sellers, many of whom have out of state addresses, were affected, according to one Cubs source, who said: "This is about the guy in California with 40 tickets."

Green said the team has gotten feedback from ticket holders who received the email Wednesday. The team expects these letters to be challenged, but they fall back on the language in season-ticket agreements that gives them the right to revoke ticket rights.

About 1,000 tickets will be made available to fans on the season-ticket waiting list and possibly for upgrades for current season-ticket holders.

While the Cubs do not mention ticket scalping in the letter, this is a clear move to target ticket brokers, scalpers and the operators of the online secondary marketplace. The Cubs believe it will benefit current season-ticket holders who want to resell their seats but face stiff competition from brokers.

"This move does not impact season-ticket holders who want to resell tickets because they can't attend the game," Cubs spokesman Julian Green said in a phone conversation. "This is about getting tickets in the hands of fans who want to enjoy Cubs baseball and experience Wrigley Field."

The Cubs won't be alone in this practice. A baseball source outside of Chicago told ESPN Chicago that other big-market teams are plotting similar plans to oust scalpers from their season-ticket rolls.

Major League Baseball's deal with StubHub is up for renewal after this season and some teams aren't happy with the current arrangement, which they feel directs fans to StubHub over their own website.

"StubHub is a partner of ours, and that deal is up," Green said. "This move is not about a salvo to third-party ticket providers. This is about getting tickets to fans who intend to go to Cubs games."

The Cubs do not release their season ticket base number, but their season low for a game was 25,891 on Thursday, Sept. 20, and a Cubs source said the number for full-season plans is around that number. The Cubs averaged 35,590 fans a game this past year, down 1,669 from 2011.

The Cubs are having their annual seat relocation event during the last week of November and plan to invite potential season-ticket holders to the park in December to discuss ticket options. All of these seats will go into season tickets.

Season-ticket holders who lost their season tickets will not be banned from buying single-game seats and reselling them, Green said. He added that the Cubs' in-house secondary marketing ticket option, Wrigley Field Premium Tickets, does not use season tickets.

"We believe we have an opportunity to make sure our tickets are going to as many fans as possible," Green said. "We understand this is tough news but frankly, we're in our rights to do so. The Cubs are clear this is a revokable license granted on a yearly basis."

[Vic Sage]

yeah, why should THEY gouge our fans when WE can gouge our fans and cut out the middleman!

[Frayed Knot]

IIRC, the Cubs were on the forefront of the movement to establish themselves as their own ticket scalper.
A couple of years back they not only pre-sold a chunk of that year's tickets to a broker but did so to one that they had set up and which was wholly owned by the Cubs. That corp, which wasn't really handling secondary market tickets because those tickets had never really been on the market in the first place, was able to sell the seats at above listed rates. That this was ruled a legal enterprise which was not in violation of scalping laws said at least as much about the Illinois judicial system as it did about the Cubs.

[ashie62]

Do the Indians allow ticket scalping?

[batmagadanleadoff]

If sitting's not your thing, you can buy Mets opening day SRO's for $45 a [crossout]seat[/crossout] stand.

http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130329&content_id=43488346&vkey=pr_nym&c_id=nym

Mets Press Release 3/29/2013 12:12 P.M. ET Mets release standing room only tickets for Opening Day at Citi Field Standing room only tickets cost $45 and are on sale now at Mets.com, (718) 507-TIXX and Citi Field Ticket Windows Mets to open 2013 season this Monday, April 1 at 1:10 p.m. fans are encouraged to take mass transit FLUSHING, N.Y., � The New York Mets today announced the club released a limited supply of standing room only tickets for Opening Day at Citi Field. Standing room only tickets cost $45 and are on sale now at Mets.com, (718) 507-TIXX and the Citi Field Ticket Windows. The Mets open the 2013 season this Monday, April 1 against the San Diego Padres at 1:10 p.m. The Mets encourage fans to take mass transit to the game. Parking is limited as Cirque du Soleil�s TOTEM is currently in production in the Citi Field parking lots, although there will be no performance on Opening Day to accommodate as many fans as possible. Citi Field is served by the 7 train and the Long Island Rail Road. For fans traveling from the northern suburbs, Metro North trains and the Port Authority Bus Terminal connect with the 7 train. For more information, visit mta.info and click on �Take the Train to the Game.�