Waiting On Line (Not Online) For Mets Tickets

Mets keychain handed out on the line for buying tickets before the 2000 seasonIt was winter 2000 and New York was in the middle of a freezing cold stretch of weather.  Wind chill estimates had the temperatures at subzero on the day that the Mets started selling tickets.  This was before you could buy them online, and me and a couple of friends decided to camp out at Shea Stadium to buy tickets for the 2000 season.

 

We bundled up with blankets and layers and thermoses of coffee and hot chocolate and drove to Shea Stadium.  We made record time since it was the middle of the night, parked, and got on line.  We were by no means first; there were dozens of people already there, maybe as many as 200.  It was frigid and we were basically standing around shivering with hundreds of dollars in our pockets because you had to pay cash.  The warmest part was when you got to move a little bit to use the bathroom.

 

Handed out on the ticket line before the 2000 season

Eventually they moved most of the line inside.  It cut down on the wind a little bit, but it wasn’t any warmer.  As it got closer to the time tickets were actually on sale a couple of players, and manager Bobby Valentine, came out and were shaking frozen hands and signing autographs as the line started to move.   Someone, presumably with WFAN, was handing out the keychains in the picture here.  Eventually we were able to purchase our tickets, which included tickets to the epic 8th inning comeback against the Braves on Fireworks Night, climbed back into the car, blasted the heat and drove back home and fell asleep.

 

Nowadays online ticket sales have done away with this camping out, which is definitely a good thing for those of us that aren’t 17 anymore with free time to wait outside a baseball stadium for hours, but there’s a certain nostalgic machismo to having braved the elements to root for your team.

Regular Season Ticket Pre-Sale

A special pre-sale for blog readers starts Wednesday at 10am.  Follow this link and use the code HODGES to purchase tickets to any regular season Mets game.  Obviously Opening Day and the Subway Series are the ones guaranteed to sell out, but you might want to get a jump on other games as well.  You never know what supply and demand will dictate closer to the day of a game, especially with the new flex pricing.

 

My suggestions are to buy for Banner Day and the bobblehead (Edgardo Alfonzo) of your choice.  June 3rd is the Mets Hall of Fame induction for John Franco.  Complete promotional information found here.

More Info on 2012 Mets Tickets

The usual cast of bloggers just finished up a conference call with Mets VP Dave Howard about the new ticketing schemes.  Not a ton of new info came to light, but some things were clarified and hinted at.

 

I asked about the dynamic pricing floor.    Specifically that the dynamic pricing will never dip below what a season ticket holder paid for the same seat in that section.   What was left unclear was if that meant you’ll never get a ticket less than $12 in sections 535/536 where season ticket holders sit, or if you’ll never get a seat less than $12 in the Promenade Outfield section which encompasses a large subset of the cheaper seats.

 

This is not a move towards being a small market team or anything.  The pricing was created off of a lot of data, meant to optimize revenue.   Adjusting prices should help them sell more tickets, and if the team remains competitive all year, the dynamic pricing will increase revenue.

 

Renewal date is coming earlier, although there will be a payment plan option.  Basically it seems the Mets want your commitment as early as possible, but are more flexible with the actual cash.  It was hinted at that you could see your 2013 invoices by this time next year.

 

Mostly there wasn’t a lot of specifics revealed in the conference call.  Dave Howard mentioned keeping the ticket fees within a reasonable percentage of the ticket price, and mentioned that Tickets.com offered best technological package and had a good relationship with MLB.  Went into the thinking of dynamic pricing without breaking down when prices would go up/down and what types of prices you could expect to see.    There will be more to come as season plans and individual ticket info is released.  I’d say the number one thing I took out of this is:   Buying tickets day of game is getting to be a worse and worse idea around sports.

 

For now, read other recaps around Metsopotamia.

Metsblog

Metspolice has a bunch today, keep checking back for analysis.

Amazin’ Avenue has a full transcript.

 

 

A Breakdown of MLB Ticket Surcharges

Chris Jaffe of the Hardball Times has been breaking down the order charges associated with baseball tickets for some time.  Yesterday he posted about some of the new numbers for this year.  The Mets were roughly middle of the pack until Citi Field opens, but now as most of you are probably aware, there is a ticket fee and an order fee.  This year they’ve added a fee to mail you the tickets, so the cheapest option is a $2.50 surcharge to print them yourself.  All teams seem to do this, despite it basically costing them nothing to email you the tickets.

 

Dilbert.com
Felt applicable to me.

 

I poked around a little bit myself with what I could find in my email regarding ticket prices over the years.   Jaffe has total costs listed back through 2007, but I found some from before that.

 

For the 2007 and 2008 Playoffs there was a $12 per ticket fee, but no order fee.

 

Jaffe lists the Mets price as $6.50 in 2007.  I don’t doubt him, but the only receipt I have from that year is for the Yankees, and it’s  $9.25. ($4.75 + $4.50)

 

In 2005 there appears to be no per ticket fee, or it was built into the price on the receipt, and there was a $3.00 order fee.  The prices of the tickets appear $6 higher than the price of the same ticket in 2004, so I suspect that’s the order fee.

 

In 2004 the per ticket fee was $6.00 and there was a $2.50 order fee.

 

So lots of order fees and surcharges through the years.  Luckily there are also ticket deals, and you still can get tickets at the ballpark without any fees at all.

New Mets Ticket Specials

Way back before Citi Field’s construction, and a playoff berth, prompted a surge in attendence at the Mets home ballpark they often offered ticket deals via Wendy’s, or LIRR, or the always popular “Bring a Pepsi Can, sit in the picnic area” deal.

Well, with dwindling demand this year the Mets have again started in on some of these promotions. 

You may have noticed an increased presense by Pepsi this year, particularly Pepsi MAX.  Pepsi is really pushing their diet soda this year, and being a big sponsor of the Mets it’s particularly evident at Citi Field.  Last Wednesday they were giving away samples before the game next to a giant inflated Pepsi MAX bottle and a pitch speed tent they had set up. 

On Friday they had huge bins of free Pepsi MAX cans to give away to Mets fans as they exited the park.

They also have a ticket special;  Pepsi MAX Mondays. 

“In partnership with Pepsi, you can now maximize your outing at Citi Field with Pepsi MAX Mondays. Starting at $80 you can get 4 Monday game tickets in the Pepsi Porch and 4 Pepsi Fountain Sodas.”

 

They’ve got the BJs Club-House sections, specially priced at $10 for kids and $20 for adults.

McFadden’s always has special happy hour packages than include tickets.

And McDonalds has a deal where if you donate $1 to the Ronald McDonald House you can get select tickets 50% off to value games in May and June.  Tickets will cost anywhere from $14 to $48 after the discount.  Plus the donation and normal ticketing fees of course.

Mr. Mets Landing and Pyrotechnics

The Mets announced this weekend that they will have Pyrotechnics night again this year.  They also announced that they renamed the last two sections of the Left Field Landing seats to Mr. Mets Landing, and will be discounting them.

Mr. Met’s Landing is a new, specially priced area of the ballpark.

Sections 338 and 339 in Citi Field’s Left Field Landing are priced at $10 for kids 12 and under and $20 for adults ($20 and $30 respectively for four Marquee game dates)

Mr. Met will visit both sections during every home Mets game.

I sat in the future Mr. Mets Landing section late last year.  That post has some pictures, and I’ll share some here as well.  What I was most shocked about was how much I actually enjoyed the seats.  I’d previously been under the assumption that the Landing may have been the worse section in the ballpark due to the overhang above you making it tough to see the scoreboard, and the Landing itself blocking you from seeing the left fielder.  This is still probably the case if you’re beyond rows 5-6 or so, but otherwise I think Mr. Mets Landing will end up being pretty popular.  You get a view of the game from nearly dead center, which is similar to the view you get on the TV cameras at home.  You get the view from behind the pitcher as he throws his pitch, as opposed to watching from behind the batter.  You’re more a part of the team on the field than the team at the plate, and I think this is one of the best things Citi Field has going for it that we didn’t get to experience at Shea Stadium.

I was at the inaugural Pyrotechnics night last year, and I had a good time.  I was initially skeptical; Fireworks night had been my favorite promotion growing up and I was sad to see it go.  I turned out to be pleasantly surprised; given the name change I did not expect fireworks, but the Pyrotechnic display that we did get was pretty good.  Not that there weren’t issues with it, but it was new and exciting and I had fun.  I’m planning to go again this year.

The Mets Read Your Blog

The Mets are the aware of blogs, and their importance to the baseball community.  This has become increasingly obvious, but it was still a shock to be invited to a conference call with Mets VP Dave Howard who not only was kind enough to do this call with us, but also confessed to reading at least one Mets blog.  He also got in a subtle dig at Yankee fans (seems to be a common topic lately) when he mentioned how passionate Mets fans are and how many more Mets blogs there are than Yankees blogs.  The topic of the day was the new ticket information; something that affects everyone from blogging fans to casual fans.   For specific details about the new pricing schemes, giveaways, and breakdowns (and really for future details, since he’s always on top of it) go read Mets Police’s breakdown. On the Black has a recap of the call as well, as do others that I haven’t yet seen this morning.

We are that next bridge to the masses of Mets fans.  The casual/mainstream fan base is out there, not on Twitter and not blogging, but they’re out there in the world. They’re coworkers, friends, family, the UPS guy, and the girl you buy your coffee from in the morning. They don’t always follow closely.  They may not read the papers to stay up to date on the Mets transactions. They don’t get text messages that read “Mets got Johan!”  Their number one source of Mets news is you and me.

Many of us that are “Big Mets Fan” have become, by way of our enthusiasm, the go to person to ask about the Mets.  That enthusiasm spreads; if we’re excited about the team we start talking about it with the more casual fans.  We ask the UPS guy at work if he saw the game, we linger buying our bagel in the morning because the cashier wants to know who was pitching last night.

We are a conduit of Mets excitement, and the idea that Alderson and the Mets are aware of Twitter and blogs is a pleasing one.  The initial reaction to a 62 year old man is not usually one that’s comfortable with some of these social media advances.  The Mets over the past year or so have been communicating more and more with bloggers and fans directly.  They’ve created a Facebook page and a Twitter account and even let fans get involved in the process sometimes.  So far it looks like Sandy Alderson is aware of the changing world and how it applies to baseball. This means more to me than some success he had in a different world with a different team 20 years ago.

So far the words Alderson speak give me hope that the actions he needs to take over the next five months and beyond will help take us to the playoffs consistently.  He’ll have a lot to do this offseason, and I’m hoping most Mets fans are as optimistic about our new general manager when the season starts as they are now.  If Alderson can keep us happy and excited, that excitement will trickle down the line as we talk up the Mets, as we talk up our new and old players.  I don’t believe more fans will buy season tickets because of a GM, but if he’s paying attention to the most rabid of us, I do believe more fans will believe a Mets game is a valid use of their entertainment dollar as the season gets going.

Will I Be Lonely At The Citi Tonight?

I’m going to Citi Field, courtesy of a non baseball-watching friend who got two tickets for donating blood. (I actually haven’t figured out whom to give the spare one to) The Mets are virtually out of it, merely at .500, and 8 full games away from even sniffing a playoff spot.  I’m not going to say “It’s over” because stranger things have happened, but until they rattle off a streak better than 4-3, even I’m not going to be hanging on every game like it’s a pennant race.  So will anyone be out at the game tonight? Someone suggested I should try the dunk tank and pretend it’s Oliver Perez sitting on it.  I’ll explore the free giveaways at the Verizon Studio, and see if the seasonal beers have changed to fall yet.

Will the lines at Shake Shack be short?  Or will they be longer as more people are willing to walk away from watching the game for a great burger?

Will the crowd get into the game if it’s a good game?  Or will they mostly be disinterested and focus on booing guys like Castillo?

Will people leave early, even if it’s a close game?  If the score is 6-2 can I expect the stands to be virtually empty by the 9th?  Will they be mostly empty even if it’s 4-3?

Personally I’ll be looking forward to a good pitching matchup (Johnson vs. Dickey) and looking forward to Dickey reaching the minimum innings required to qualify for the ERA list, on which he’d be in the top 10.

I’m watching the game from section 337, row 4.  That’s Left Field Landing, and somewhere I’ve never sat before.  Always enjoy the new vantage points, and row 4 probably isn’t overly obscured like the back rows of that section are.  I’ll also probably roam at random taking pictures of everything.  If you see a guy with a camera pointing at odd things wearing a Mets Hall of Fame cap and a Wright last season at Shea jersey…probably me.

Mets Tickets, Saturday Plan

I currently own 4 saturday plan tickets for the Mets. Next year one of my friends has decided to pass on this. 3 seats just seems a weird number, so rather than trying to condense my plan, I’m looking for a 4th person that wants to buy the seat. I figured it’s always fun to meet new people, and maybe there’s someone out there that always wants to go to games but never has anyone to go with.

If anyone out there is actually interested in this and/or wants more details feel free to email me at ceetarsnose@gmail.com. Last year are seats were UR section 15, row G. which were decent seats.