The New York Yankees fell short of the World Series last season and aren’t the consensus pick to win the American League East this year, but demand for their tickets is expected to be as healthy as ever on the resale market.
The Yankees recently announced that 2011 single game tickets will go on sale Friday, March 11 online at Yankees.com and the Yankees’ Spanish-language site, Yankeesbeisbol.com, as well as over the phone at Ticketmaster. Tickets will be available at Yankee Stadium, all Yankees Clubhouse Stores and at in-store Ticketmaster outlets beginning Monday, March 14.
The Yankees, who lost in the American League Championship Series last season and failed to land their big target of the off-season when ace left-handed pitcher Cliff Lee signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, announced in November they would raise the prices of field level, outfield and bleacher seats. Despite the price hikes and the Yankees’ one-year World Series “drought,” Jason Berger, the managing partner of AllShows.com, said he expected plenty of interest in the Yankees this year.
“First year was great,” Berger told TicketNews, referring to the Yankees’ debut season at the new Yankee Stadium in 2009, when they won the World Series. “Second year was very good and we are expecting a very good year this year.”
Berger said he used to do more business with the more expensive seats at the old Yankee Stadium, but that the cheaper tickets have been more popular since the new facility opened with higher prices across the board.
“We do a lot of everything, from bleacher seats to upper reserved to the grandstand all the way up to the boxes,” Berger said. “I would say it’s probably about even, where years ago, it was probably weighted heavily towards the field box seats. This year, last year and the year before, because of the price difference, we’re probably selling more of the less expensive tickets, but overall we’re still selling the same number of top-end tickets. We’re focused more on quantity of the lower end tickets in addition to the quality of the higher end.”
The most expensive seats — the “Field MVP” seats that cost $260 per game on a full season ticket plan, $275 on a partial season ticket plan and $325 otherwise — are tougher to sell during the colder months of April and May before the warmer weather and the Yankees’ usual place in the pennant race generates demand the rest of the season.
“Pricing for the legends and the field box seats for the average game in April may not be an easy sell,” Berger said. “But when you start to get into June, July and August, we do start selling them. It’s challenging to sell them early in the season, but it does even out when it seems like the Yankees consistently go to the playoffs and make it to the World Series.”
According to a press release issued by the team, the Yankees will offer several specials on single-game ticket sales, including discounted tickets for certain Tuesday night games and discounted tickets for families for certain Monday through Thursday games in April, May and September. The Yankees will also sell $5 tickets in certain areas of the Terrace, Grandstand and Bleachers.