After reading Biz of Baseball's commentary about the highest priced Yanks tix at $2,625 and how over the top expensive they are compared to other MLB tickets, I sauntered over to Stubhub.com to see what some good Opening Day tickets would cost by comparison. Let's just say it this way: Stubhub sellers either have never heard of this thing called "a Recession" or are in the same denial that Yanks officials appear to be...
Maybe I am totally wrong. There are some fabulously weathly people in this world and many of them either live in this area or travel here frequently. While their fortunes might have been whacked by the market's downturn, half of a billion dollar fortune is still pretty darn wealthy.
Famous people, like actors and actresses, and not-as-famous-but-still-filthy-rich folks like AIG's bonus babies. THE place to been seen on April 16, 2009. I can see all of the Fox "plants" on TV now...
Wall Street titans still making ten digits a year.
Maybe someone will make me look foolish for questioning these prices and end up paying full asking price for these babies, but I'm betting we'll see some re-pricing as we get closer to Opening Day.
Did I mention I am looking for tickets? Anyone have a few cheapies that they can't use? Anyone with media connections? I am happy to write a 10k word story about my experience at the New Yankee Stadium, complete with pictures and other goodies if you can land me tickets.
If you got 'em, I want 'em.
Then again, it could just be The Greater Fool Theory in full effect!!!!
If you got 'em, I want 'em.
Then again, it could just be The Greater Fool Theory in full effect!!!!
...the assumption that they will be able to sell it later to "a bigger fool"; in other words, buying something not because you believe that it is worth the price, but rather because you believe that you will be able to sell it to someone else for an even better price.
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They are no longer interested in the 'true fan'. They don't need to be.
Think about it this way: in the Tri-State area there are around 18 million people (based on census data for 'combined metropolitan areas', found on Wikipedia's 'NY tri-state area' page). Let's just say that 10 million of those are Yankee fans...probably not a bad guess, I think. Let's say that 40% of those care enough about baseball to actually want to go to a game. That's 4 million and enough attendance for a season. Of course, not ALL of those will get to a game, but there are plenty of visitors, corporate folks, contest winners and repeats to make up for them.
In other words, all they have to do is EXIST and they'll bring in the vaunted 4 million/season attendance. And people will pay the money if they're only going once. Look at what Disney charges for entry!
They have made 'a day at the ballpark' equivalent to a 'special occasion' type of trip...like going to the theater or a road-trip destination. (come to think of it, those things used to be things that people did all the time, too)
Also, remember that it is Stub Hub that you're looking at. A lot of people with tickets don't really want to sell, and are more interested in going to the game. However, they feel if they get a monster offer, they'd be stupid not to take it. So they're quite happy to go to the game and not sell their tickets, but if someone comes in and blows them away with an offer for, say, $2700 a pop, they'd be insane not to take it and watch the game at home in HD. So in a way, since the seller sets the price, they set it insanely high, in effect to dissuade anyone from actually paying it. That's why using Stub Hub as the gauge of what price tickets are actually going for on the secondary market can be deceiving - you take a quick glance, see $2700 a pop, and go "Who the Hell is paying that!?!" And the answer is: No one. I remember reading an article about this around Super Bowl time, when Stub Hub would make it seem as if tickets to the game were moving for $10,000, when in reality tickets weren't being sold for anything even remotely resembling that price.
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