Comments on: The Yankees are not pleased with StubHub

By: pipkin42

pipkin42 — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:04:27 +0000

The 4, B, and D all go there. So does Metro North. Don’t have to drive.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:14:23 +0000

A down thumb for watching a game and having a two and a half hour conversation with this guy? He was 100 years old but sharp as a tack.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Double_Duty_Radcliffe

By: bigharold

bigharold — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:17:59 +0000

“$15.20?”

Which is less then half of the parking fee, .. not to mention the tolls and gas.

While I love my Yankees I’ve little sympathy for their dilemma.

I had very nice seats at the old stadium for $45 bucks per, .. right above 3rd base about 6 rows off the upper deck rail. Seats in a similar area would cost about $75-100, .. and they’ve doubled the cost of parking. All I heard when my seats where moved at the new Stadium, to the point that I was looking down on the left field foul pole, was supply and demand.

The Yankees and others are finding that works both ways.

By: shzastl

shzastl — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:23:15 +0000

True, but it depends on the number of people who buy tickets at $3 that would not buy them at $15. If many of the $3 buyers would still be willing to attend a game if it costs $15, the higher profit margin on the ticket may outweigh the net profit from concession sales to those who would only attend if tickets were $3. I don’t know the answer to that, but it seems to me that people usually get the idea that they want to attend a game and then see what kind of deal they can get on tickets and would not be scared off by a $15 price point, rather than deciding to attend a game because they stumbled across a deal for a $3 ticket.

I think we are in agreement that people will not necessarily spend any differently on concessions if they got a slightly cheaper ticket, but could be a factor in the overall equation.

The comment

By: joshfrancis50

joshfrancis50 — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:49:12 +0000

The overhead on the concessions exists and remains constant whether people are in the seats to buy them or not. Putting more people in those seats would only help to further subsidize the overhead cost associated with them. The assumption you make is that the Yankees (or whomever) adjust their staff to a projected number of attendees, which could reduce/increase the payroll. I suppose it’s possible, however, unlikely.

I’m not arguing that people are more likely to buy a dog and a beer because they got their ticket for less, I’m arguing that an empty seat absolutely won’t buy a dog and beer but a living, breathing human being in that same seat might.

By: millmannj

millmannj — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:43:26 +0000

Every week I get an e-mail from the Yanks offering $5 seats for weekday games (which normally go for $20-35/seat). Guess it’s OK if the Yanks are the ones undrcutting and screwing over their season ticket holders.

By 2013, the Yanks will have their own in-house secondary ticket selling service, and I guarantee you the sellers will not be able to list them under face value.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:21:04 +0000

As a side note, I had the opportunity to sit next to Ted Radcliffe in the handicapped section at The Cell. That man saw more baseball than any of us likely will and was more than happy to talk about it to a fan who was interested. I’ve never had a better neighbor at a ballgame (apologies to my wife and mother).

By: WhenMattStairsIsKing

WhenMattStairsIsKing — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:02:05 +0000

You’re kidding, right?

By: 18thstreet

18thstreet — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:16:19 +0000

Is this really King Kaufman? Because that would be sorta cool. And if someone is PRETENDING to be King Kaufman, that would be rather odd.

By: racksie

racksie — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:35:24 +0000

Oh, I get all of that. Actually got to enjoy the Champions Club at Target Field. But I did not see a comparable number of people enjoying the pesto gnocchi, as I did empty seats.

By: mybrunoblog

mybrunoblog — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:20:29 +0000

Yes some of the seats behind home plate at Yankee Stadium go unsold but not many. The two reasons you see empty seats.
1. Those seats allow seat holders to enjoy complimentary food and soft drinks in The beautiful club below the 2nd level seating. Unlimited food, soda, deserts, candy, etc. That area also has couches, large video screens televising the game, bars, etc. Lots of those fans simply stay in there during most of the game.
2. Most of those seats are corporate season seats sold well before opening day. Not a big deal for a corporate big wig to skip he game at eat the $2600 his company dropped for 2 seats. It is a tax write off anyway.

By: shzastl

shzastl — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:11:28 +0000

Possibly, but with the concessions there is overhead, the vending company and employees selling the beer get a cut, etc. With additional tickets, it would seem to be a much higher percentage of pure net profit. Would people who otherwise would not decide to go to the game if tickets were 15.20 go just because they happened to see a $3 ticket on stubhub? Once fans are in the door, they are going to buy a hot dog and beer regardless of what they paid for the ticket.

By: rcali

rcali — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:07:41 +0000

Freddy Garcia, Phil Hughes, Hiroki Kuroda, Ian Nova? You want me to pay full price to watch these guys pitch? Sorry, I’m not a major corporation buying your seats just to give to clients.

By: shzastl

shzastl — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:03:45 +0000

I’m surprised anyone would bother to sell a ticket for $3 on stubhub. After Stubhub and paypal take their cuts, you probably only net 50 cents. I’d rather wipe my *** with the ticket than take the time to upload the tickets etc. for a few pennies.

By: shzastl

shzastl — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:56:07 +0000

Because if the Stubhub minimum for the ticket the Yankees have already sold is $20, then buyers will get tickets from the box office at $15.20 instead, putting that much more in the Yankees pocket, instead of $3 in StubHub’s pocket.

By: stultusmagnus

stultusmagnus — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:51:32 +0000

i’m a yankees fan but it’s hard to like those a-holes. prices are already way too high and i rarely have a desire to see a game when i know i’ll get crappy seats and STILL spend $100 on a ticket and some beers. if there are below face-value tickets, they are probably still overpriced compared to 90 percent of other MLB teams. let some poor people go to a game, turds!

By: DaGooch1979

DaGooch1979 — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:44:44 +0000

Stubhub is the main way that I get Yankee tickets. I work on the East side and live in the Bronx so it’s easy for me to decide to go to a game on a whim and when I do I use Stubhub and get cheap Terrace and Grandstand seats. I’ve also gotten some really nice seats. Last season in September, I got a Sec. 117A, Row 28 ticket for $50 (including SH’s fees). Sure to the Yankees, it’s not great that the prices are so low, but the way I see it, those are already bought tickets, so buying tickets from Stubhub means I’m at a LOT more games and I’m spending money on concessions when I could just as easily be watching from home.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:36:12 +0000

A quick scan of the Yankees box office and Stub hub:

Grandstand/Infield Nosebleeds as season tickets, $28.00
Box office; $37.80 (Tigers, weekend) and $20.20 (Orioles, weekday)
Stub Hub: $22.00 (Tigers) and $6.00 (Orioles)

Grandstand/Outfield Nosebleeds, N/A as season tickets*
Box office: $27.80 (Tigers) and $15.20 (Orioles)
Stub Hub: $16.00 (Tigers) and $3.00 (Orioles)

The upper deck inexpensive seats are selling for between $12 and $15 below face value. The Yankees have embraced the variable pricing concept; so have their ticket holders. What were they expecting? The profit they make from a scorecard, a hotdog, and two beers (my typical ballpark concession purchases (maybe not the hotdog, I can generally get a better deal on food outside the park)) should more than cover the cost of the seat they didn’t sell.

I will also mention that there are many seating areas in NYS which are wheelchair accessible. As a person with a quadriplegic friend, this is nice. The options at Wrigley (great seats, discount prices) and The Cell (not so great seats, regular prices) are very limited. Hat tip to the Yankees, although that may have been an ADA requirement for new construction.

*These are not available as season tickets now. they may have been at some point in the past.

By: tomtravis76

tomtravis76 — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:35:43 +0000

All prosports teams put their unsold inventory on the various secondary market sites, alot of fans still don’t know that you can buy tickets directly from teams, they have stubhub abd ticketmaster in their heads as places to buy.

Get a rep desperate enough to make a sale and you can get all service fees waived along with a great seat selection.

By: dowhatifeellike

dowhatifeellike — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:35:17 +0000

I think they’re still bitter that Bloomberg overturned Giuliani’s sweetheart deal where taxpayers would have paid for half of the new stadium, the Yankees would have kept 96% of ticket revenue and 100% of all other revenue, no sales tax or property tax, and special low electricity rates.

By: yankeesfanlen

yankeesfanlen — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:25:29 +0000

Thanks for blowing up my scam, Craig. The cheap tickets are the only way to keep an excursion to the Cathedral at a C-note.

By: dowhatifeellike

dowhatifeellike — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:20:41 +0000

$11 beer? Just do what we do in Baltimore – buy a 6-pack of your soda of choice, dump 1/4 out of each bottle, replace with rum of your choice and close them back up. 120oz. of rum and coke for about $10.

By: mox19380

mox19380 — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:19:39 +0000

the only reasoning i get is that the Yankees want FAN-B to buy his own entirely new ticket, while FAN-A just sits on his and loses out on the amazing $3 profit that is cut by a 1/3 when stubhub applies their ‘convenience fee’

By: mox19380

mox19380 — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:14:51 +0000

but they’d get nothing if the tickets were not bought by FAN-A at the original list price. FAN-B buys the ticket for say $3 which goes to FAN-A but the Yankees still received their face value for the original purchase. The only one who suffers is FAN-A who perhaps thought they could make a profit re-selling the ticket.

There must be a bigger reason why they wouldn’t want that ticket sold on there for $3 bucks. It’s not like FAN-A stole the ticket from the Yanks and is making a profit at $3 selling to FAN-B.

By: dowhatifeellike

dowhatifeellike — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:12:12 +0000

That must be why they’re upset. The Yankees are trying to sell their product on StubHub, but they’re being undercut by people who can’t go to the game and just want a couple bucks in return.

By: racksie

racksie — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:55:15 +0000

I’ve scored free tickets from a corporate source, and basically been held hostage outside the stadium by the scalpers, and watched the people sit down next to me and tell me they paid 100% over what I sold them for. Good for everyone involved. This is Yankee whining at it’s worst. Why do I always see empty seats behind home plate at every televise game? Because they are overpriced, corporate tickets. And the people who control those tickets, don’t want “the common folk” to get to sit there.

By: bloodysock

bloodysock — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:54:00 +0000

MLB does get a cut of the resell commission assessed by StubHub (15% to the seller and 10% to the buyer of the resold ticket).

By: evanhartford

evanhartford — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:47:42 +0000

I stopped buying tickets online a long time ago. Its a highly unregulated and manipulated sham. The best (and cheapest) place to buy tickets are from scalpers at the game.

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:46:27 +0000

Hehehe….

When I clicked on this article, I was thinking “Right On! The Yankees are annoyed at the legal version of scalping that’s going on, often causing event tickets to skyrocket. People purchase butt loads of tickets with no intention of going to the showing, forcing people to pay exorbitant prices through stubhub, like the time I had to pay nearly $200 a piece of Descendents tickets. What a way to stick up for your fans!”

…Alas. Instead they are upset because people are finding discounts to the insanely priced Yankees stadium.

By: biffnasty

biffnasty — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:41:27 +0000

I get it, the Yankees don’t have enough money as it is. As if paying $11 dollars a beer isn’t too expensive, I can totally see why the yanks should be angry. Greedy idiots