After a franchise-record 102-win season ended with another playoff disappointment this year, the Philadelphia Phillies are increasing some 2012 season ticket prices and are expected to hike individual game tickets prices, too.
While prices in some sections of Citizens Bank Park will stay the same, season ticket holders will see $5 increases in Hall of Fame club seats and infield seats, according to the Philadelphia Daily News. Additionally, there will be a $3 increase in seats along the baselines and $1 to $2 bump in other areas.
Ticket prices currently range from $16 to $65 per game for season ticket holders. The average ticket price at Citizens last season was $36.29, the fifth-highest in Major League Baseball.
Heading into 2011, the Phillies capped season-ticket sales at 28,500. There’s now a waiting list for season tickets with about 3,000 names.
Similar price hikes are expected to be passed on to individual game tickets, which go on sale in game six-packs on November 28 and for all games on February 16. The team drew a major league-best 3,680,718 fans in 2011.
John Weber, Phillies vice president of sales, told the Daily News that the 2012 increases are “very modest.” It’s the second year in a row the Phillies have increased prices. There were $2 to $5 hikes before the 2011 season.
Picked by most prognosticators to reach or win the 2011 World Series after adding lefthander Cliff Lee to an already formidable pitching staff, the Phillies ran away with the National League East.
But for the second year in a row, the team faltered before reaching the Fall Classic. They were ousted by the eventual champion St. Louis Cardinals in a five-game NL Division Series.
In 2010, the Phillies were eliminated by the San Francisco Giants, who also went on to win the World Series.
With its strong pitching backed by an everyday lineup that includes All-Stars Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley, Philadelphia has built a consistent winner in recent years. The Phillies won their second World Series title in 2008 and reached the Series against the New York Yankees in 2009.
That success has paid off in packed houses at 43,651-seat Citizens Bank Park, where the Phils’ streak of sell-outs is at 204 games.