Dear Mr. Howard and Mr. Wilpon and other Mr. Wilpon,
You guys know that deep down I love the team, right?
You know that deep down behind all the sarcasm and chop-busting posts that I’m here to guide you to the light, right?
You will be tempted to ignore the below, but don’t.
The fanbase is coming off two collapses and two disasters. We don’t trust that Santana will be there on April 1.
Wally Backman is nice, but the Gooden/Strawberry HOF day should teach you that an ’86 Met won’t be enough to sell tickets.
You may be familiar with the current state of the economy.
You see how many people were in your ballpark last night.
With all that in mind, please use the following as a ticket plan guide for 2011.
OPENING DAY PACK: Buy one normally priced ticket to the April 8th home opener and gain entry to that very game. One for the price of one.
SUBWAY PACK: Buy one ticket to any single game on July 1, 2 or 3 and gain admission to which ever game you buy.
Got it? Now let’s take it up a notch.
SATURDAY PACK: By buying the Saturday pack you will gain admission to April 9 (WAS), April 23 (ARI), May 7 (LA), May 28 (PHI), June 4 (ATL), June 18 (Angels), July 2 (Yankees), July 16 (PHI), Aug 6 (ATL), Aug 20 (MIL), Aug 27 (ATL), Sep 10 (Cubs), and Sep 24 (PHI)
Let’s review that very attractive pack. 13 games. All on Saturdays that occur on Saturdays. 3 games vs. the Phillies, one Yankees, one Dodgers, one Angels…maybe even some giveaway days.
If a game happens on a Saturday it’s part of this pack. If it doesn’t happen on a Saturday it’s not.
The price of each ticket shall be the same. Yep, the Brewers game and the Yankee game will cost the same.
Apply same logic to Sunday.
GUARANTEED WIN TUESDAY PACK: The Mets haven’t lost at home on Tuesday this year. Make sure you win September 27, 2010 against Milwaukee to finish off the season undefeated at home on Tuesday. Then next year market that idea.
Want to see a win? Come on Tuesday. The Mets guarantee you will see a win.
If the Mets lose, you can exchange your stub for another weeknight game of your choice. You’re gonna draw 2.5 this year in season two of a new ballpark so don’t act like this idea is that nutty. You’d be rewarding people who bought tickets to 12 games…the worst that happens – you get some folks coming back for a weeknight game 12 times. They might buy a hot dog.
That’s all the ideas I’m sharing today. As you know, it’s a long winter. You know where to find me when you want more.
By the way, the pinstripes and blue caps look great. 4 nights in a row, with Los Mets pinnies coming tomorrow? I don’t suppose Jeff could pick up the phone and order Mr. Pelfrey to “choose” pinstripes tonight?
Don’t forget the chumps (like me) who buy a full season plan. The Mets are the ONLY MLB team that does not offer a discount on the face value of the tickets for buying a full season plan. Why do I buy them if I’m treated worse by the Mets than every other team treats their season ticket holders? I’m starting to ask the same question.
The first in unrealistic and bad business. The Opener/Subway packs are the ones that do have value and people want. Those are fine the normal way they do it, get one game you want. Maybe allow us to pick another 4-5 games? Or how about an option? options are what sells. We either get 4 preselected games (the crap the Mets think won’t sell) or we can pick any five. Trade forced attendance to crap games for forcing an additional game sale. The Mets aren’t likely to sell out Gold level games anyway at least until July when they’re competing and the negative fans start believing, and the ‘you pick 5’ would likely be higher priced tickets than the preselected value/bronze games.
Now, the Saturday Packs. I agree the + has no marketing value. And fine, keep the platinum games out of the pack, I can understand that. Make the packs 10 games, and let the fans choose from the 12 Saturdays. Fans that only can come on weekends won’t buy the packs if they have to worry about 5 non-weekend games. And giving 2 “Accepted absences” Allows fans that maybe have a wedding on Saturday May 7th or something to not select that Saturday and not have to worry about it. Less fuss for the buyer means they’re more likely to actually buy it.
And a discount wouldn’t hurt. even 1%. You’ll probably get that $50 back anyway from us/them anyway.
Love the idea! And while you’re at it, maybe drop the ticket prices a tad. I don’t want anything crazy…I know that won’t happen, but how about you make ALL the games whatever the Bronze game is right now? A platinum game implies 2 playoff teams playing, but thats not possible if one of those teams is the Mets. It is a 3rd/4th place team playing whoever…that to me is a Bronze game. Make me be willing to pay the $20 for parking, plus concessions, plus tolls, plus leave work early on a weeknight…because right now, its easier to throw on SNY, watch the game in HD, see balls hit to anywhere in the park, listen to Gary Keith and Ron, eat whatever I want, drink whatever I want and switch to a better game when the Mets implode like they have done plenty over the past 4 years. All for seemingly FREE! (I know I pay for cable and groceries, but its a cost incurred whether I’m at Citi or home).
i was a sunday plan holder for 5 years and dropped it after the “sunday 10 plus 5 crummy weekday game” debacable of ’09. but a plan holder i know proposed this to me the other day and it got me thinking: if you buy a 15 game plan or more, how about including parking? i mean…if you’re going to the ballpark for 15 games, $19 every single time gets prohibitive. i don’t want to start a “oh, dude. here’s where you go to park for free” debate, but it was something i legitimately had never considered and in the harsh attendance times that are coming in ’11, it might not be a bad idea to reward people for promising to attend a minimum of 15 games.
*BTW debacable = debacle
guaranteed win nights is brilliant, buy what about 3 beers and franks?
how about all you can eat sections?
How about having a clue?
guaranteed win nights is brilliant, but what about $3 beers and franks?
how about all you can eat sections?
How about having a clue?
Ceetar, how is it bad business? The Yankees do it all the time…seems to me its pretty good business. Its all a matter of who is running the business.
The Yankees sell/sold most of their tickets pre onsale dates.
Why, in a season when you’re going to be struggling with sales early (it’ll be sold out in August and September) would it be good for business to take those 160k tickets (40 per Platinum date) and NOT force those people to buy 4-5 more games?
People, People, People, These are the Mets we’re talking about.
Haven’t we been BURNED enough. Now just because they might change a few plans & terms you think things will be different? Do you think prices are going down? Will there be MEANINGFUL September Games? After 24 years of being a Saturday Plan Holder this year I said ENOUGH!!!! Best move I ever made. Until this teams shows some credibility and respectability (Which is a few years off) Its half-off on Stub Hub for me….
I’m really tired of the phrase “meaningful September games.”
The Mets owe us one thing for our money – entertainment. They need to field a team that plays hard and has a chance to win. They need to make sure that we have fun at the ballpark. And they need to make sure that we don’t feel ripped off by the way they choose to do business.
If you think you’re entitled to a playoff team every year, you’d better head over to the Bronx.
Because you are obviously providing an inferior garbage product if you have to do that to sell tickets. Improve the product and you don’t have to worry about it…once again, ask the Yankees if you’re not sure how to do it on your own.
It’s bad business to force people into tickets they don’t want to get one game they do want then have the product on the field be terrible, the resale value of the junk tickets less than face value, all in obstructed view seats.
Its bad business. It makes them short term money for losing fans like myself long term.
Scott I’m with you. They can gain short term but lose long term
Why not grab me for 13 Saturdays instead of trying to sell me 15 and maybe I buy zero.
Stubhub has become the place where fans go to get seats on the cheap. It’s like the anti-Ticketmaster….and what a mint they make collecting all those fees on both ends of the deal.
Because sometimes the product gets injured. The Yankees aren’t selling tickets just because they’re winning. Their attendance jumped astronomically after they traded for A-Rod. Obviously winning helps, but things happen. You offset the ‘damage’ of a badseason by selling packages.
There is no way that the Mets lose short term, long term, or any other term by selling packages. If they weren’t desirable, people wouldn’t buy them, and they wouldn’t sell them. It’s probably why we’re likely to see them reconfigure the Saturday+ stuff soon.
I want to see the Mets play. win lose or draw. I’m a Mets fan, they’ve got great players, star players, all time Mets, and will likely compete next year as a bonus. I’d rather pick the couple of games in addition to the Opener, but I’m going to go to games, and I know that the team I want to see is going to be there for the other games in that package. Sure, division rival games against the PHillies have more juice (but some prefer to avoid the fights and rowdy Phillies fans anyway), but every single Mets game is worth watching.
You are living in another world my friend. The Mets have few if any true stars. Most of MLB doesn’t regard Reyes or Wright like the blinded Mets fans do. Krod may be gone, Santana may not factor in til 2012, Beltran is a shell of what he was(though, he was overrated when the Mets got him). They are no closer to competing now than they were last year. The Jason Bays of the world aint gonna cut it because the team just isnt that good to be filling in with Blist players such as Jason Bay.
The Mets already lost long term because of last year. Do you realize how many people they pissed off? Do you realize how many people cut back from 15 games to 0,1, or 2? You’d have to be in the Mets front office to not be able to see that.
Injuries aren’t what held this team down. Support your fellow Mets fans, buy from Stubhub, not from the Mets. At least the money goes back to the fans who deserve it then.
Ceetar, you work in the Mets front office, right?
Lots of demands for 15 game plans how about something for the people that layout 2000 dollars plus for one full season seat .And I still say the Mets also make a percentage of stubhub sales
Why all the craziness with the gold, silver, bronze and value game pricing. Why not make one price for every game except the home opener and subway series. People that buy single game tix online or at the tix office should pay the full price set for tickets and season tix holders should get each game discounted. Sounds like good logic if you’re putting up thousands of dollars up front otherwise where’s the perk for laying out so much money in advance. Also, I feel that season tix holders in the promenade should have access to at least the Promenade Club. With all the tix the Mets gave away this season, every one of them gave fans access to the clubs. Meanwhile, season tix holders paying for 81 games up front in Promenade couldn’t get into squat. A fan could walk up to the tix window and purchase a tix in the Promenade Box for a random game and have access to this club. Does this sound fair? I don’t understand why a fan with a field level tix needs access to the Promenade Club on the top level of the stadium. Since field level seats have access to other clubs why not leave it free to allow access for people on that level.