Monday, August 31, 2009

Yanks Post Season Ticket Prices Set - UPDATED

UPDATE: Here's the official press release from the Yankees:
As we have done every year since 2004 and as we expect to do in the future, the Yankees will provide their loyal season-ticket licensees the first opportunity to purchase postseason tickets," said Chief Operating Officer Lonn Trost.

Regular season ticket prices for full-season ticket licensees (non-Suites) will be replicated for the 2009 American League Division Series (i.e., a Main Level ticket that costs a full-season ticket licensee $60 in the 2009 regular season will cost the same licensee $60 for the ALDS), however, full-season ticket licensees (non-Suites) of $325 Field Level seats may purchase their seats for the ALDS at the lower price of $275 each.

For full-season ticket licensees (non-Suite), prices will range from $5-$275 per ticket for the ALDS, $10-$350 per ticket for the ALCS, and $50-$425 per ticket for the World Series.

Full-season Suite licensees in the Legends Suite, Delta Sky360° Suite and Jim Beam Suite, have all already paid their Suite license fees. Accordingly, they will only be required to purchase their Suite tickets, which will range from $65-$275 per Suite ticket for the ALDS, $115-$350 per Suite ticket for the ALCS, and $150-$425 per Suite ticket for the World Series. As with the regular season, Legends Suite licensees will also be required to pay a per-game food and beverage fee, but not a Suite license fee.

All ticket purchasers must also pay a Major League Baseball-sanctioned handling fee, which ranges in price from $1 for each ALDS ticket priced at $5 to a maximum of $6 for each ALDS ticket priced at $40 or more. The handling fee for each ticket will be set based upon ALDS ticket pricing and remain the same for all subsequent postseason rounds, regardless of the ticket price.

Please note that the quantity of postseason tickets available to those who are not 2009 season ticket licensees will be limited and vary for each postseason round. Yankee Stadium has a seating capacity of 50,235, excluding standing room. For each postseason game, the first opportunity to purchase tickets is provided to current season-ticket licensees, which represent in excess of 37,000 full-season equivalent ticket licenses. Major League Baseball directs clubs to dedicate approximately 3,000 tickets per game for players of the participating clubs and to accommodate the media. In addition, Major League Baseball requires approximately 5,500 tickets per ALDS game, 7,000 tickets per ALCS game and 9,500 tickets per World Series game.

Subject to availability, non-Suite tickets for public sale will range from $5-$375 per ticket for the ALDS, $10-$400 per ticket for the ALCS, and $50-$425 per ticket for the World Series, and in all cases the handling fee will be added. The date of any public on-sale has not been determined at this time.

A grid reflecting non-Suite postseason ticket prices for current season-ticket licensees and those participating in any public sale is attached below. For information as it becomes available, please visit www.yankees.com.
From Darren Rovell (hat-tip to WasWatching.com):
Those expecting to hear of a price gouge for Yankees postseason tickets might be surprised.It's not coming.

CNBC has seen the final face value prices that the Yankees submitted to Major League Baseball and increases will be much smaller than the jump season ticket holders saw for home games played at the old Yankee Stadium in the 2007 postseason, the last time the Yankees were in the playoffs. In fact, some 2009 postseason seats will cost LESS than this year's regular season prices.

Ticket prices in the new Yankee Stadium are especially complex to decode since premium ticket holders -- those in three suite areas -- already paid for their suite licensing fees, which makes up the bulk of the per game ticket price.

That's one of the reasons why ticket holders in most premium areas see a face value on their tickets of less than 20 percent of the price they eventually pay. The rest of the price is then made up of these fees that are paid ahead of time.

For example, those who sit in the first rows behind home plate, pay $2,500 a seat, but the face value of the tickets -- and thus the price paid on a per game basis -- is $325.

For the ALDS, the Yankees are expected to announce that the top per game price will be $275, $50 less than what those sitting in the best seats pay for each regular season game.

Those season ticket holders sitting in non-premium seats will pay the same per-game price as they are paying for the regular season for their ALDS seats, with the exception of one section of seats.

Compare that to the increases on the 2007 postseason face value of tickets, which roughly ranged from 30 percent to 130 percent above the regular season price for the ALDS, the only series the Yankees played that year after being bested by the Cleveland Indians.

Fans will see bigger jumps in price from the ALDS to the ALCS, should the Yankees advance, but the increases -- which start at 27 percent over the ALDS prices -- is nothing out of the ordinary.

As for bleacher seats -- where I plan on sitting if I'm able to go -- the article states that their face value will be $5 for the ALDS and $10 for the ALCS before the MLB "facility fee". I assume that fee will at least double the cost.

For the World Series those tickets jump to $50 face value, but the Yankees apparently didn't even want to go that high, but had to follow MLB rules that state that no ticket for a WS game can be less than $50.

5 Comments:

Brian Danuff said...

Nice. So some seats will cost less then the regular season. Maybe this will even increase my chances of going to my first Yankee playoff game.

Anonymous said...

Playoff tickets have also been expensive for every team. Having some playoff seats be cheaper than the regular season seats is something. I hope the yanks realized how overpriced there regular season tickets are. And hopefully they will reduce them by next year.

Brian Danuff said...

Yeah.

matt said...

where's the attachment?

Greg Cohen said...

Matt, for some reason it wasn't even on the main article. No idea why.