Comments on: Helping Dave Howard Hear the Outrage

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:56:02 +0000

I sent a link to this particular thread to a friend of mine who works in corporate ticket sales who had never heard of FAFIF.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:25:20 +0000

The season ticket non-discount is, surprisingly, not a new development. I briefly moved to Long Island in the early 90s and actually convinced the wife that we should buy season tickets. We were 20 minutes away and could split them with some friends, it would be awesome. I was stunned when I did the math to learn that there wasn't a penny of discount. Why on earth would I invest all that money up front, risk missing who-knows-how-many games due to life intruding or bad weather, without some kind of incentive? That's just terrible business, and it made the decision very easy.
After a number of years as a 6-pack or 7-game partial plan holder I gave up last year. I wasn't interested in a 15-pack – the minimum allotment. I go to at least that many games every year, but I won't commit to that many specific games in advance. Stuff always comes up. And my family is not going to sit in the rain. (We needed a stupid rotunda, and not a retractable roof?) And the plans sucked, anyway. The so-called “weekend” plan had like 7 weeknight games!
After the strike I was in the mode Anon. descibes. I didn't give up on baseball, but I didn't really care as much. I went to a handful of games as much for the socializing and outdoor drinking as for rooting. It took Mike Piazza to bring me all the way back. It would take a lot to get me to drift that far again, but the Wilpons are sure trying.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:14:17 +0000

Indeed. Even a dollar a game. throw 'em a bone. $81 is nothing. Parking passes, something.
Oh, and something that's nice that coors field does….they used to have their restaurant season ticket holders only, but they opened it up to all…and just gave season ticket holders priority. simple enough you'd think right? Wish they'd do that with the Acela club.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:51:36 +0000

Ceetar…
That's what I had figured it would end up being as well. My main gripe is that every other team in Major League Baseball offers their Full Season ticket holders (and some plan holders) a discount or 2 for the price of 1 deals over single game, individual face value. Even the Yankees do it…
Now that takes some balls to not offer a discount.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:01:28 +0000

True. But that's just how I took his announcement of it. And it was 100% what I thought they should do in June. those areas taht were priced wrongly were fixed, and they did get rid of some games that were overvalued, in the Gold games. A lot of this is just perception, and I guess they did a bad job conveying the point if most people didn't get what they were saying. But they pretty much sold out Promenade, and the prices are actually pretty reasonable. They adjusted the pricing scheme to better reflect demand, which is exactly what they should've done.
Unfortunately, baseball, and true NY baseball, is kinda a monopoly. They know they have us, and they know we're going to give them money anyway (Don't give me any of this “I'm not renewing now!” because you thought you were getting a bigger discount. There are always a handful of people taht get fed up with every change, but for everyone of those there are dozens waiting to fill the void. Those seats won't go empty, so the only person losing out on the deal is the person who choses to 'give up' baseball/Citi) and they almost seem to rub it in our faces that they know they have us and don't throw us the bones we think we deserve.
Waiting the 1971 Mets yearbook and seeing Old Timer's Day and BAnner day and etc.. They need to add in some more of those extraneous fun days, even if plenty of people criticize the idea of there being anything else to do at a ballpark but the 9 innings.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:05:29 +0000

But of course, if you think about it, for every 6 Prom Infield seat the Mets sell, they make the same money on 2 Field Level seats… They make their money off the Field Level prices, not the Prom Prices.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:03:46 +0000

Ceetar…
Discounts for a number of these tickets are simply a result of moving games from Gold to Silver or Bronze. That lowers the 'average' seat price if even you keep face value the same as 2009… For example, the Prom Reserve Infield seats still range from $15 to $25, just like last year, just that there are less $30 games and more $25 and $20 games.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:23:41 +0000

Here's what ticks people off, all wrapped up with a pretty bow on it: When the range of possible discounts is so wide, the average is meaningless. Then when the greater discounts, as a percentage, go to the higher priced tickets the average guy gets less than an average discount.
So if the average ticket is discounted ten percent, and the Average Joe's ticket is discounted three percent, the Fat Cat ticket price is discounted 17%, right?
Not so fast! There are fewer Fat Cat tickets than there are Average Joe tickets. So if the Average Joe gets a discount of 3%, the average ticket discount is 10%, the Fat Cat ticket gets discounted by more than 17%, probably 20% to 30%, depending on the disparity in number of seats. Of course, those were the ones the Mets couldn't sell, so they had to discount those more to get people to buy them, down from jaw-droppingly over priced to merely eyebrow-raising overpriced.
It's like saying I'm always either boiling or freezing, but on average I'm at room temperature. The average is meaningless. Like the Average Joe is meaningless to Mr. Howard. The Mets would have been much better served by tossing the “average ticket discount” and just say what the discount will average by level.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:57:24 +0000

I'm really not sure what anyone's upset about. Sure, the tickets are 'expensive' but the cheaper seats are actually quite reasonable, and even those were discounted. The biggest discount came on the tickets hardest to sell. That's just business.
The Mets weren't just going to say “Ooops, 2009 sucked. here's some money.” Of course, they should still offer a small discount on the entire season. They should think about how to connect with fans better. They should reconsider their access levels for the Excelsior level.
And as a 'regular' fan, that can't afford 81 games, I suspect since they don't offer season discounts, that these reductions will be reflected in the individual game ticket as well. If I want to 'splurge' It's more reasonable to be able to afford that next level of ticket, that Ceaser's club seat, that Met/Baseline Box seat.
Honestly, I don't know what people expected, but this was, to the dollar, exactly what I expected the prices to be after the announcement.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:08:26 +0000

Send the message to the Mets. Posting the outrage in blogs is one thing (we all seem to share the sentiment and it helps make us more aware), but call or write the Mets directly. Season ticket holder have an account manager. Shoot the messenger, so to speak. If they get chewed out by lots of people (certainly not everyone buying tickets and plans), maybe the message will get to the right place.
I've probably said this before, and I'll say it here – everything the Mets seem to do with a positive spin on it seems to turn to shit.