USA Today has an interesting piece today about how different teams are marketing this year. The excerpts below don’t really capture the essence of the article (go read i t) but I thought I’d grab the Mets and Yankees parts.
Even David Howard admits that maybe those empty seats are unsold…..and I thought everyone was just up getting chicken fingers. Who knew?
The New York Yankees have learned that opening a $1.5 billion stadium and spending $440 million on players this offseason doesn’t mean folks will pay exorbitant prices to watch them. They cut prices on selected premium seats at the end of April, and attendance remains down 11.9% compared with last year.
..
The Yankees slashed prices in April on selected premium locations, including cutting some tickets to $1,250 from $2,500. The Mets’ prices are cheaper at Citi Field, with their top ticket selling for $595 a game, but David Howard, Mets executive vice president of business operations, concedes about 10% of seats have not been sold.
..
Every dollar counts in a recession. Outside the New York Mets’ new Citi Field, Patti Lettieri is using an old money-saving trick: bringing her own food and drink to the ballpark.
“For me, to spend $7 on food and $8 on a beer is ridiculous,” says the native New Yorker. “The money I save on food allows me to come to an extra game or two.”
Nearby, Beth O’Brien from Bay Shore, N.Y., and Claire Schmaeling from Levittown, N.Y., are toting in soft-sided coolers packed with food and water from home. “If you have a family with four kids, you have to do it,” O’Brien says.
www.metspolice.com
@metspolice
