Here’s my take on the ticket plans. This is a really long post, so I just have the excerpt on the main page, click through to see the rest. This post contains lots of opinions, my math may be terrible and I may be making some incorrect assumptions. Nothing would make me happier than for you guys to tell me I added wrong or can’t read a chart.
My takeaway is that even though Dave gave me the plan I wanted (an option to have all Saturdays), my 2-tickets plan (who goes to games alone?) got a lot more expensive. And it is possible that I won’t have “my” seats. 20 game plans have guaranteed same seats whereas the 15 “make your own” don’t. To be fair, it is possible my ticket rep could hook that up.
Plenty here if you want to keep reading, including a walk through my math.
First we have the 20 game plans.
- Savings off of established box office pricing
- Best seats in the ballpark in each seating category behind Full Season and 40-Game Plan Holders
- Same seat location for every game in your plan
- Access to Promenade Club, regardless of seat location (additional club access dependent on seat location)
- Personal Account Executive
- 10% discount at the Mets Team Store at Citi Field
- Invitation to exclusive Plan and Pack Holder event
- Monthly payment plan option
- Online ticket management with “My Tickets”, powered by Tickets.com
- Ticket Exchange – Exchange your tickets for seats to future games
(select dates based on availability; three per season) - Ticket Donation Program – Donate your tickets to Most Valuable Kids
- Ticket transfer through Mets.com
- Ticket resale through StubHub
- Opportunity to purchase postseason tickets prior to the general public
(same number of regular season seats, alternate location based on availability, one potential home game per series) - Presale access to Mets single game tickets and non-baseball events at Citi Field
15-GAME PACK
- Choose one Marquee game any 14 additional games
- Choose a seating category
- Use the pricing chart to determine the price per game based on your choices
- Add these together
- Subtract your 10% pack savings from the total – this is your overall price per seat!
- Opening Day: $50. Ouch
- 2 April Saturdays: $25×2 = $50
- 2 May Saturdays: $25 and $40 = $65
- 2 June Saturdays but not the Yankees game: $40 x 2 = $80. Remember it was my choice to take the Opener not the Yankee game.
- 2 July Saturdays: $40 x 2 = $80
- 2 August Saturdays: $40 x 2 = $80
- 2 September Saturdays: $40 x 2 = $80. Do I even want these this year?
That’s still only 13 games. Let’s pick two more…How about a midweek Orioles game in June for $25 and a midweek Phillies game Memorial Day week for $25.
Let’s add that all up…I get $535. Take off 10% (53.50) and you get $481.50. Double that (I don’t go to games alone) and my plan is $963.
2011 15-Game Saturday-Plus Plan Renewal Invoice - Pay In 790.00
Full By Dec 22, 2010
==========
Application Cost 790.00
Total Cost 790.00
VERY TROUBLESOME METS. That’s like almost $200. That makes me think.
And with it being in my mind that tickets were going to be cheaper, that’s a big jump. And I am not even guaranteed “my” seats which I had hoped to keep forever and someday use at a playoff game.
I’m trying to remain calm hoping my ticket rep will have good news, but that $900+ number scares me.
It made me take a second look at Plan B…where 20 games would be $597 (or $1194 for two) vs the $963 I am looking at…but I don’t want all those games.
Maybe I don’t need a plan at all?
If I can’t have “my” seats why should I bother? For the 10% discount? I can do that on my own by just not going to 2 games. As it is I made up two weekday games.
Mocking the 10/5 plans
I’m trying to be fair here. Let’s throw back 3 of the silver Saturdays and pick three value games (I have already spent an hour on this post so lets pick any 3 value games). Those are $28, so I save $12 three times…that’s $36…times 2…$72. $535-$72 = $463. Take off 10% is 46.30 = $416.70.
Double that and I get $833.40. That’s still more.
Did I do that math right?
My verdict: the Mets were on their way to the right idea but missed.
I may still renew, but they pushed me from a slam dunk to thinking about it. That is not a good thing for the Mets.
Here’s the official press release:
METS INTRODUCE NEW TICKET PLANS AND PACKS FOR 2012
20-Game Plans Offer Weekend, Weekday Options;
15-Game Pack Provides Flexibility
Plans and Packs Go On Sale Monday, November 28 Online at Mets.com/2012,
By Phone at (718) 507-TIXX
FLUSHING, N.Y., November 15, 2011 – The New York Mets today introduced new Ticket Plans and Packs for the 2012 season, providing fans with more flexibility to choose their games, better seats in new locations and a variety of price points. Plans and packs go on sale Monday, November 28 online at Mets.com/2012 and by phone at (718) 507-TIXX.
20-Game Plans
The Mets are offering four 20-Game Plans, two of which consist solely of Friday, Saturday and Sunday weekend games and select holidays. The other two plans offer an assortment of weekday games. The same seat is guaranteed for all games in each plan.
15-Game Pack
The new 15-Game Pack provides fans the flexibility to pick the games they want. Fans can choose one marquee game – Opening Day, Thursday, April 5 or one of the Subway Series games June 22-24 at Citi Field – and then select the 14 remaining games from any on the schedule. Seat locations may vary based on game selections.
Mets 20-Game Plan and 15-Game Pack Holders will receive a discount off the established box office price for their ticket packages. They will also have enhanced benefits for 2012 including access to the Promenade Club regardless of seat location, and an invitation to an exclusive plan and pack holder event at Citi Field.
For more details on 20-Game Plans and 15-Game Packs including games, prices and benefits, visit Mets.com/2012.
Doesn’t seem fair to say your tickets got more expensive when you are comparing two different plans. Plug in the same approximate 2012 games as you had in 2011 and see if teh price goes up. And/Or, go back and build a true 15 game Saturday + 2 games you wanted in 2011 at 2011 prices and see if it is more or less. Your current way of measuring seems like an “apples to oranges” comparison.
Love the site, by the way. Congrats on the uni changes.
Can someone explain to me what the rush is to by season tickets for this team?….Is someone really going to take your seats?….Is this team suddenly going to get competitive?….Is there more than minimal demand? Am I missing something here?
Why not pay as you go?……You know by June you will be getting five dollar seats!
Please someone make a valid case for buying seats in advance for a team you have no idea who will be on or that “you can’t tell the players without a scorecard?
i liked “my” seats and the guy next to me and my sightline. Under the new 15 I lose all that.
I have great seats.I like having the same ones.The people by me are fun to talk to, and its the way I get to relax after a rough week at work.
FWIW, neither of these plans — or your current partial season plan for that matter — would have entitled you to the same seats for any post-season games …. the only ones who get the same seats in post-season as they had in regular season are those who purchase the full 162-game package.
If/when the Mets do get into the post-season again, there will be a huge demand for those tickets …. what the Mets did in 2000 and again in 2006 was to offer one game for the NLDS, 1 or 2 games for the NLCS (depending on who had home-field advantage) and 1 game for the World Series …. the partial plan holders will not be offered all home playoff games and for the games you get, they will be in the upper deck (or whatever that is called in Citi Field).
If you are considering one of these plans to get great post-season seats — forget it.
I think you hit one of the seating categories where the Mets did raise prices this year.
According to the 2011 season ticket info packet, promenade reserved infield seats were $45 / $35 / $25 / $15.
For 2012, according to what you posted, they’re $50 / $40 / $25 /$20 – so even if they still had the old Saturday plus plan, you’d be paying more.
They also shrunk the section that was prom infield, so it represents an overall better value. Plus clamoring for the 15 game pick pack raised demand..which raises prices. And as the price for not having to pick the weekday value games they need to sell, the price goes up. It’s not a huge diff though, $40 or so for the value pick comparison, that’s like $1.33 a ticket.
Only the Mets can screw this up. You figured with a team that is rebuilding, and possibly losing Reyes, you would THINK they would offer a straight up Sat/Sun plan, but no. They acutally increased the cost, by having you take a 20 game plan. If you take the 15, you dont get the same seats My baseline seats for the 15 games this year, would cost more than last year. Ive been a plan or full season ticket holder since ’87, and Im done with them.
The Mets and their plans are ridiculous.
I have never owned season tickets…when I was growing up that meant buying 81 games. I guess it changed over time, but I never evolved. In the late 90s and 2000s, my cousin and I would sit down in February, pick 6 games out and buy them in a good seat location. We would add extra games if the team was in contention and in 2000, lucked out and got a bunch of free playoff and WS tickets from his friend.
These current plans are too confusing….last time I looked, there was 100s of different combinations of seat area and level of matchup for every game…then throw in partial plans…Stub-hub…and now Dynamic prices. You have a practically infinite array of price points. When I was a kid, you had Field Box, Field Reserved, Loge Box, Loge Reserved, Mezz Box, Mezz Reserved, Upper Deck Box, Upper Deck Reserved. That was it. Every matchup the same.
Steve Jobs, the king of marketing taught us to keep things simple and consistent…oh, and you need a great product too.
I have never had season tickets and I usually buy off of Stubhub but this was the first year I was assigned a personal ticket rep. I am so excited! I think this may show the team is not going to be active in the free agent market. If it was me I would wait to sign some free agents and then get aggressive with selling tickets.
I actually proposed the idea of the flex pack on this website about the same time last year. I guess because I didn’t really look into the semantics of it, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
They also raised the prices of tickets for Spring Training also! You have to love this team.
They cut payroll, put a lousy product out in the field and they also raise the prices.
I really like the 20 game plan and some of the perks involved with it.
But I really hate that you are pretty much stuck with 2 games per series for the most part.
I don’t necessarily want to sacrifice an entire weekend to the Mets, and I would actually prefer the mostly sundays and a couple of weekdays plan that I had last year which would give me a wider variety of teams to see and would break up the same team across a few months.
i learned more today, just need to write it up right.
phew where do i start.first off im not happy with the new ticket plans at all.went from 13 sunday games to 15 games(10 sunday and 5 weekday garbage games.so now a 20 game plan.fri sat sun..as if i want to spend 2/3 of my weekends there.in order to keep your current seat location you are hijacked into buying a 20 game plan??are you kidding me.the 15 game plan is no bargain..sit in whatever seat is available for that game?? ive made up my mind..if i want to go a game i will us the box office or stub hub.no need to panic and commit to seats anymore..this team will not be postseason ready anytime soon..just my thoughts
so sorry for the mispells and the run on sentences…every time i think about the new ticket plans my blood boils!