Yesterday’s announcement that ticket prices for season ticket holders will be lower was a good start for the Mets, however it won’t be enough to stave off decreased attendance in 2010. Since this blog is here to help the Mets be as successful as possible in all matters, on-field and off, we offer David Howard the following suggestions, in order of difficulty.
1. Make “Saturday Plan” games occur on Saturday only.
This season, David, you got greedy. I bought a Saturday package because I wanted to go to games with my son….on Saturday. You stuffed it with several weeknight games. The price you will pay is that I will go from buying 30 games to probably none. However, I think offering “Saturday plans” (or Sunday plans) that only include games on that day of the week is an easy honorable move. If you can’t do this, then don’t insult us by calling it “Saturday”, just call it “Plan C” or something.
2. Cut the game packs down from 15 to 10.
Part of the Saturday plan shuffle was that you got me to buy more games than I actually wanted. So I ate a bunch of weeknight games. I’m not buying 30 or 15 games from you in 2010. Others will be like me.
3. Offer some 7-packs like the old days.
I know you thought you would sell out the park. You didn’t. You won’t next year either. Sell some smaller packages.
4. Don’t be a jerk with the good games.
In the last few years of Shea you got all cute and bundled the Yankees series with games nobody wanted. Don’t do that. It’s jerky. Sell the tickets to the Yankees series as an individual event. Same with opening day and every other day.
5. Stop with the Gold/Silver/Bronze nonsense.
Pick a price and charge that price. I don’t look at it as “wow it’s only $11 to see the Nationals”, I look at it like “wow they are really screwing us today” on the other days.
6. Don’t insult me with ticket fees.
It really frosted me when I wrote you a check for $1200 and you banged me with a $25 delivery charge. I can almost understand you passing the FedEx charge along to me (by the way, shop around you can do better). I can’t understand the $40 “processing fee.” Was that to pay the human to put my tickets in the envelope? Do they do that at a rate of one every two hours or does the ticket office pay really really well? Can I have a job?
Now some suggestions that might be harder for you but I’d like you to think long and hard about these. You have a fanbase ready to depose the king…it’s time for bread and circuses.
7. Make the 10 game packages really attractive.
You know the games people want to go to. You call them “gold” maybe even platiumn (I can’t keep track). You want to keep the season ticket holder base…then offer a package that includes Opening Day, one Yankee game and choice of 7 weekend games. You’re not going to sellout in 2010, don’t sweat filling the place on the big days. I forget, how many sellouts were there in 2009 again?
8. Move us down for 2010.
You and I both know that you’re going to lose people. I paid $600 or whatever it was to sit in left field 500’s. Let me sit closer to home plate at that rate for 2010. Let the guys who were there move down to the 400’s, and so-on. My friend Mr. Sunshine the Yankees Fan complained about his Yankee seats twice and twice got moved. The Yankees don’t and won’t have the attendance problems you do. Do right by those who were with you in 2009.
9. Give all the season ticket holders a custom Majestic replica jersey.
I’m serious. This season I was able to buy a majestic jersey from mlb.com for $75. With my very own name on it. One of the biggest complaints about Citi is that it does not feel like the home of the Mets. Outfit everyone in Mets jerseys and encourage them to wear them. Make this part of our Mets culture. Pack the park with fans in Mets jerseys. Think long term. I don’t know how many plan holders you had in 2009, but multiply that number by $75 (you probably can get jerseys wholesale, right?). It may be a six digit number, but think of the $25 per game we’re going to spend on tacos. Oh and the $18 parking. That $43 per game will get you your $75 back rather quickly.
Thanks for listening David. I’ll be here all winter to help, I’m not going anywhere. You know how to reach me.
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Nicely done. How about not treating the season ticket holders like pieces of crap. Email responses from the reps were rude, the ticket office was dismissive, and let's not forget people who didn't even pay for tickets go tours before season ticket holders did.
I love ALL the suggestions. I shell out alot of money to this team and I always feel shafted. Like they don't care about the real fan and are always out to cater to the fringe fan. Well, those fringe fans won't be there next year…we will (via StubHub probably). How about Dave Howard treats us with some respect, instead of insulting our intelligence with statements like obstructed views are only those with structural obstructions. No Dave, obstructed views to me mean "I CAN'T SEE PART OF THE FIELD!". Anyway, as with most of the issues on this blog, I can talk for days about it. I'll stop now and hope they listen to Shannon.
Dave Howard makes me want to puke and that is after I have puked multiple times over the circus taking place between the walls of CitiField. As a season ticket holder for 4 years I will have to seriously consider if my money is better spent at Citi or going on a very nice vacation to the Maldives.
Hey guys…
I have had season tickets off and on since 1983…mostly on. This year I had a great deal moving from a mezz box at Shea to a promenade 400's seat. It was only a 6 dollar per ticket per game increase for a brand new stadium. The location was fine, the seats were fine, but then for some unknown reason they started offering discounts to everyone BUT the season ticket holders. I couldn't believe it. What would make a organization do that? I shelled out 21,000 dollars for my seats and parking and yet I could have cherry picked my schedule of games (leaving out every visit by the Nats, Marlins, Pirates, etc) and gotten a better seat location for LESS money per game. What idiot didn't think that all the way through? I remember calling to complain very ealry in the season when that happened and getting a young rep on the phone. I had no interest in talking to him, I wanted his boss' boss to call me. He said his boss' boss was too busy to talk to season ticket holders. That's his job….he's in charge of the ticket office, but he doesn't have time to talk to me who has spent 21,000 with him. The Wilpons are stupid, they trusted Maddoff, they trusted Omar and they trusted each other.
I'd give them a pass on the gold/silver thing — up to a point.
The fact of the matter is that the supply of tickets is limited to the size of the ballpark, and there are some games (like opening day and the Yankees games) for which the demand is much higher than for most of the rest of the season. These games will always be the first to sell out, and will alway shave the most interest in the secondary market. Likewise, there are some games (like those against the Nationals) for which the demand is much lower than for most of the rest of the season.
If the Mets charge the same amount for tickets to all of the games at both extremes of the demand spectrum, they're either overcharging for the low-demand games, or way undercharging for the high-demand games. The people who benefit are the season ticket and plan holders who sell their opening day and/or Yankee tickets at a profit to underwrite the cost of the rest of their ticket plan. Now, lots of people are complaining that selling a few high demand games at a profit is a God-given right of plan holders, but it actually isn't.
You complain that the Mets try to sell games against bad opponents by bundling the tickets with opening day or the Yankees games. That's certainly one way to sell the low-demand games, but it's one that floods the market with tickets people don't want, making the plan holders eat the cost when the secondary market can't handle the flood of tickets. If the Mets aren't going to engage in bundling of that sort, they have to offer lower ticket prices to the low-demand games. Besides, offering low prices for those low-demand games is the best way for the Mets to give fans a less expensive chance to take their kids to games. The kids don't always care about the quality of the matchup, but they definitely remember the experience of going to a game.
Remember, the ballpark is a bit like an aircraft. Airlines go through all sorts of pricing contortions to make sure that when a plane takes off, as many seats as possible are full, since the seat goes whether or not there's someone in it, and it can't be sold once the plane has taken off. The ballpark has seats, and it's in the Mets' best interest to sell as many of those seats as possible. It's not just about the greed of that extra few bucks of revenue when the Nationals are in town (as it would actually be a comparable amount of ticket revenue, but more rear ends in seats), but about building the sort of fan loyalty that pays off years down the road when the kids whose parents only take them because there are cheaper seats available are loyal to the Mets, since their parents could never take them to the Bronx…
I've been a Sunday plan holder since 1982. What they did last year was a disgrace. From not offering me tickets till close to the season, to the upperdeck seats when I sat in the lodge section 8 since 1982, to the weekday tix I didn't use because I work during the week. The list goes on and on. Forget about what I've lost over the last 27 years. They have made a chump out of me and I only spend less than 1500 for my seats. Not sure what they're going to do but, it should be interesting. I agree. Make the Saturday and Sunday plans just that again and how about offering better seat locations. Prior to this year I couldn't wait to go to my games and missed them when the season was over. In 2009 after the first game and I saw where I sat, I really disliked going.
Something has to be done!