Mets reduce ticket prices for next season
Fans wait in the rain for the game between the New York Mets and the Florida Marlins at Citi Field. (Aug. 3, 2011) Credit: Jim McIsaac
After a second consecutive year of declining attendance at Citi Field, the Mets revealed a "rescaled" ticket plan Tuesday for 2012, a program that includes lowered prices for season-ticket holders and "dynamic pricing" for single-game sales.
The Mets saw an attendance drop of 8 percent in 2011, a loss of 207,142 from the previous season. That wasn't nearly as steep as the 19.2 percent plunge in 2010, a difference of 608,833 from Citi Field's inaugural season, when the Mets drew over 3 million.
With the new plan, the Mets announced that 80 percent of seats will have a reduction of about 5 percent or greater for season-ticket holders and 18 percent will have a drop of 30 percent or more.
"We've just been adjusting to all of the market forces and factors," said Dave Howard, the Mets executive vice president of business operations. "We've always prided ourselves on being accessible and affordable. Now we're even more accessible and affordable."
The biggest reflection of that is the team's new pricing system. The face value of single-game tickets will be offered in March, but the Mets said those prices "will be adjusted on a real-time basis, either upward or downward, based on market demand."
The Mets will keep the same tier-pricing standards, but those can fluctuate, and the seats in the season-ticket holder areas will not fall below the already discounted prices previously purchased by season-ticket holders. That will still allow those people to resell their tickets on the secondary market, if desired.
"We'll see what happens in the marketplace," Howard said.
With the ownership group still facing a $1-billion lawsuit from Madoff trustee Irving Picard, the team's attendance woes of the past two seasons have further damaged the Mets as they aim to field a competitive team. The best way to get more people in the ballpark is to win games, and the Mets missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. They also have finished below .500 the past three years.
"I think we were in a somewhat unfortunate circumstance opening up a new ballpark during the worst economic recession since the Great Depression," Howard said. "And obviously the team's performance has been disappointing over the last seasons. Those are the principal factors for it."
2012 ticket changes
- The majority of season-ticket holders will pay less for their seats.
- 80 percent of seats will have a reduction of approximately 5 percent or more.
- 57 percent of seats will have a reduction of 10 percent or greater.
- 35 percent will have a cut of 20 percent or more.
- 18 percent will have a drop of 30 percent or more.
- More than 15,000 seats will cost less than $25 per game.
- The Mets will hold their first “Select-A-Seat” event Thursday, Nov. 17 through Saturday, Nov. 19 at Citi Field, providing season-ticket holders with the opportunity to upgrade their locations based on seniority.
- The Mets will introduce a limited number of full-season tickets for only $12 per seat per game, or $972 for the entire season. The limit is six seats per account.
- “Dynamic pricing” for single-game tickets. The face value of single-game tickets will initially be offered in March at prices at or below 2011 prices. As time progresses, those prices may be adjusted on a real-time basis, either up or down, based on market demand.
