Some Thoughts on Dynamic Pricing

The Mets now have their dynamic pricing guide online on Mets.com.  Tickets first went on sale to certain presale codes Monday.  I got Opening Day tickets at face value, but just three hours later they were $10 higher.  Btw, at 10am today the Mets blogger presale  begins.  More details here.

This ultimately sucks, although it won’t quite hurt the true fans.  Dynamic pricing does not change the prices of packs and plans.  If you want a particular promotion or banner day, you have an incentive to buy ahead beyond just getting better seats.  As more fans get exciting about specific events, the price will go up.  This will have a fairly catastrophic effect on suddenly popular games.  Clinchers, Dickey’s first home game after his no-hitter, and late season divisional matchups during pennant races can suddenly become very expensive.  Staying ahead of the hype will save you money.

 

On the flip side, it’s unlikely tickets will plummet that far for unwanted games.  The Mets set up an artificial floor so that a fan will never pay less than a season ticket holder paid for that section.  Reading between the lines to me means that it’ll never be less than the 10% discount they get.  Prices are fairly reasonable for value games as they are, but it’d be nice if the more expensive games become affordable if the Mets are eliminated early or if the weather is supposed to be really bad.

 

Another interesting use for dynamic pricing is tracking the popularity of games.  It can give us insight into tickets sold that previously only the Mets knew.  If you want to know how Banner Day is doing for example, you can check out the prices for that game against a similarly valued game and see if it’s inherently more popular or not.  As we get a feel for it, we’ll probably be able to tell how close it is to sold out, even within specific sections.

 

I’ll also be curious to see how the secondary market reacts.  Sites like Stub Hub and Seat Crew that deal in second-hand tickets may not be able to keep up with the fluctuations.  If a game suddenly takes off in popularity, it will take a while for people to unlist and relist their tickets.  If ticket prices drop, the secondary market will suddenly be overpriced.  This may also kill day of game sales.  If fans really want to go to a game, chances are the prices will increase past the secondary market…unless it’s raining.

What’s New At Citi Field? Keith’s Grill and More!

Unfortunately, the worst part of Opening Day was the play on the field.  Hopefully that doesn’t continue.   There are a handful of changes at Citi Field to note.

 

The bad first.  There are no longer Brooklyn Beers on tap at the Taste of NY center field concourse.  No Shackmeister Ale, no Blanche de Brooklyn, no Blue Smoke Ale and no Sabroso Ale.  Not even a Brooklyn Summer Ale.  You can still get the Brooklyn Lager around the park, but the loss of these specialty brews is disappointing.  I haven’t even seen Brooklyn’s Pennant Ale anywhere, which you think would be a given for a ballpark, never mind a team with Brooklyn roots.  I’m going to try to keep a full list of the Mets beer selections at Citi Field, and hopefully one day will add the stuff that’s hidden behind club doors this season.  If you know a blogger and beer lover that roots for a different team, I’d love to talk with him or her about creating a beer list for other stadiums.

 

The highlight of the changes to me was a new concession stand on the field level in the left fielder corner called Keith’s Grill.  It features a Gold Glove burger which is described as having been created by Keith Hernandez.

“Exactly how Keith eats his burger; A 6 oz. Brooklyn Burger on a toasted sesame bun, w/ cheddar cheese, topped w/ lettuce, tomato, two dill pickles, raw onions mayo & extra ketchup on top, mustard spread on the bottom bun.  Burger served with house made kettle chips & Keith’s favorite candy; a Tootsie Roll Pop”

I didn’t try it; the line was too long and I figured I’d go back on a less crowded occasion, but it sounds yummy.  I heard that their was a new Pastrami on Rye sandwich somewhere, but I think I remember seeing that at the Kosher cart last year.

 

There was two new beers from Hometown Brewery.  A New York Lager and a light.  the NY Lager wasn’t bad, but didn’t seem like anything special.  They were available from a couple of different carts around the park. It seems like it might be contract-brewed by the Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barre, PA.  Which is where the Yankees AAA team plays and is in Pennsylvania, so don’t be too excited by the NY name.

 

Two new menu items at Blue Smoke.  Chipotle wings are back after a 2010 absence (I learned in 2009 that eating wings in cold weather when your hands are chapped is a bad idea) and also a fried chicken sandwich.

 

There’s an organic dark chocolate frozen yogurt bar at the Burgers and Fries concession from Stonyfield, and also a chipwich at the same place.

 

Box Frites has a sauce, rosemary ranch, which I think is a new choice.

 

There appears to be knishes available at more locations this year.

 

There are probably a couple of other changes that I missed, so be on the lookout!

 

As usual, plenty of advertising  turnover.

 

 

Ceetar’s Back At Citi Field! Opening Day!

Despite six games in the books, baseball doesn’t feel real until I return to a baseball stadium for a real game.  (Spring Training was nice and all, but it’s not the same)

 

Starting at noon today, I will trek out to Citi Field for Opening Day against the Washington Nationals.  First order of business: Read the Apple tailgate!  Following that, I intend to do a lap around Citi Field on the outside, and then a lap around Citi Field on the inside.  I like to take in the tiny minutia that changes from year to year.  Ralph Kiner will throw out the first pitch.  The Mets will bat in the bottom of the order.  Hopefully the Mets will win.

 

Tomorrow’s high is 53 degrees, and with the usual wind at Citi Field it’ll probably feel colder than that. I’ll be wearing my Dickey shirt, covered by an orange sweatshirt under my cream colored Pagan jersey.  And a blue cap.

 

One of the things I intend to focus on is the beer selection.  I’ve heard there are some new brews at Citi Field, to complement the nice selection that already exists.  I floated the idea that Citi Field has the best beer selection in the majors, but I”m thinking that’s probably not entirely true.  After I do Citi Field’s list, I’m going to do some research on other parks I attend, and other parks I don’t attend, and try to come to researched opinion on beer at baseball stadiums.

 

I’ll have a lot of pictures from Opening Day to share this weekend, and perhaps scattered among posts throughout the season.  And to top it off, I get to go back to Citi on Sunday!

 

To follow my tweets and updates directly from Citi Field before, during, and after the game, follow me on Twitter.

Things Sure Are Different

The Mets lost on Opening Day for the first time in years yesterday.  This seems like the first sign that things are different this year.

 

Really, it’s just one game.  One game doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of a season.  There were plenty of good signs.

 

Emaus, in the middle of a rally in his Major League debut, worked the count and drew a walk to bring the tying run to the plate.

 

The Mets offense, the second Josh Johnson got a little tired, jumped all over him.

 

Carlos Beltran looked fine in right field, better than some of the Marlins looked defensively at positions they’d played for years.

 

Watching the disaster that the Astros closer was yesterday makes me happy that the Mets look to have a good bullpen, particularly one of the best relievers in the game.

 

This team had a lot of turnover from last year, and a new managing core.  It might take them some time to get their legs under them.  It may take a little while before they learned all their own strengths and weaknesses, and how they work best together.  Reyes and Emaus haven’t worked together up the middle that long.   Pitchers are still building up arm strength, and the bullpen will settle into more defined roles as they get some innings in.

 

Okay, time to fry some fish.  Still plenty of opportunity to win this series.

Interesting Article on Optimism in America

Joe Mathews on Zócalo Public Square wrote an interesting article about optimism in baseball, and also in America.

 

It speaks to the doe-eyed optimism we usually experience on Opening Day, the time when all teams are still tied for first and anything is possible.  And then it tears it down as a sort of “ignorance is bliss” fairy tale.  Mathews suggests we stop holding the game up on a pedestal and instead embrace it and all it’s flaws.  In a way, I think this view has been forced upon us lately, with all the cheating and steroids and looking the other way.  You see some stick their head in the sand and try to forget Andy Pettitte, Barry Bonds, or Alex Rodriguez were, or are, cheating and you see others desperately cling to their innocence and claim their favorite player, whether Piazza or Jeter or someone else, was clean the whole time.  Perhaps it’s better to accept the flaws and the corruption and stop pretending it’s a game played between gentleman and instead a battle of players doing anything they can, against the rules or not, to win.

 

A point he makes about the Mets that a lot of people don’t seem to be bringing up is that a lot of the Mets actions over the past couple of decades have been funded via Madoff profits.  This is perhaps a simplistic look, as the Mets certainly would’ve invested elsewhere and still signed players and make moves, but it’s not a stretch to say that Tom Glavine’s acquisition was funded by Bernie Madoff.

Anyway, it’s an interesting read and it’s not that long. Check it out.

 

 

Opening Day 2010

Today was Opening Day at Citi Field.  A day filled with optimism. (Unless you’re one of the fans booing Oliver Perez, the Mets trainers, Luis Castillo or Jerry Manuel)  The day lived up to the hype and the Mets won as they usually do on Opening Day.  I met with a surprising amount of other bloggers and the Blue Cap Army to tour the Mets Hall of Fame and Museum which was a lot of fun.  Hopefully I’ll see a bunch more of them this season.  (My next game is Friday.)

The important stuff:

Johan pitched great.  He wasn’t exactly lights out, but he was excellent and held the Marlins to 1 run in 6 innings.  The bullpen pitched excellently.  It was just Nieve and K-Rod this time, but still good way to start.  David Wright got his first home run in his first at-bat, and it was just amazing.  Wright’s poised to have an amazing MVP caliber player, and getting that first home run out of the way so that no one can start doubting him was a great jolt to the Mets fans.  It said, “This season is going to be good.  We’re not going to fall on old clichés and you’re not going to be able to use the phrase ‘here we go again.’” Bay and Barajas both had big hits, to help break the ice so to speak.  More importantly, the Mets were aggressive.  They played an aggressive game, made the Marlins have to make plays (they didn’t), and played hard.  There was even a suicide squeeze attempt which was great to see.  So even though I think he’s still the worst manager the Mets have ever had, I do offer kudos to Jerry Manuel for calling that play.  Suicide squeezes and terror on the basepaths is a much better way to try to steal runs than sacrifice bunting.

Now some pictures of things I noticed at Citi Field today.  There are a lot of changes, and plenty of them are fairly mundane, but still changes.   I took 400 pictures and a couple of videos, and there was so much good stuff that I’ll never be able to get to it all.  The full gallery is here.  More pictures at The Real Dirty Mets Blog.

The moved Home Run Apple. Great change. Great location. Looks amazing there. Could become a meeting point, although it’s just a wee bit crowded there.

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Continue reading “Opening Day 2010”

Letters to the NL East Part 1/5

(To read past year’s letters, click here)

florida-marlins-logo

Letters to the NL East, Part 1 of 5.

Dear Florida Marlins,

Congratulations! You’ve been caught stealing from the league! No one was surprised after you were told by the league to stop pocketing the revenue sharing money that you handed your star pitcher a big check.  Why look at free agents or try to actually improve the team in any way?  That’d cost money!  Maybe when you get that new stadium right?

This isn’t to say you don’t have any good players. The aforementioned Josh Johnson and the whiny guy at shortstop are stars.  Some good prospects and young talent floating around down there, but who knows how reliable or talented they will end up being.  Chances are you’ll be the team that’s semi-talented, capable of winning any ballgame but just not that often.  Yes, you’ll probably beat the Washington Nationals, but that’s not exactly high praise.

You’ll be in to Citi Field to open the season this year, and I suspect that’s the closest you’ll be to the Mets in the standings all year.  You’ll play the Mets a series in Puerto Rico this year as well, and despite having last licks, I suspect there will still be more people in the stands rooting for the Mets.

Your disgusted rival from up north,

Optimistic Mets Fan

Hop over to The Real Dirty Mets Blog for some lively discussion on the topic.

Heading Out to Citi Field This Season

As usual, I’ll be heading out to Citi Field more than a couple of times this season.  I’ve currently committed to four games, as you can see in the ‘upcoming games’ box on the sidebar. 

I try to get to Opening Day any chance I can.  I wasn’t able to secure or afford second hand tickets to the Opener last year, but this year with demand a little down and it not being a new stadium, I was able to get tickets.  I’ll be in the Promenade Box, and Opening Day can’t come soon enough.   I always remember the early April games, and walking into Shea Stadium, and remembering how much I missed being there, and how much I felt I belonged.  I suspect this season will be no different, and I already have a bunch of things planned.  If you’re also going to be there, you should check out Mets Police’s Blue Cap Army.  All you have to do is show up wearing a blue Mets cap.  Easy!

Opening Day has a lot of hoopla to get out of the way, and it’s more about the return of baseball games that count, so I like to get to another game early on to devote solely to the Mets.  Friday April 9th will be that game. I’m going alone, will probably spend most of the game on my feet wandering around to different parts of the stadium and enjoying the different vantage points.  I’ll probably buy a scorecard and keep score, and have my camera and take a billion pictures.

Pyrotechnics night is July 5th.  I was frequently at Shea for Fireworks night, and I was lamenting it’s disappearance once Citi Field’s construction starting taking up the parking lot, so I’m glad it’s back in some fashion.  I have no idea how they’re going to do it, and what the difference between pyrotechnics and fireworks is, but I’m sure it’ll be fun.

The Hall of Fame ceremony game is August 1st.  Something that has  been somewhat lacking in the last couple of years is a true celebration of long time Mets greats, and properly honoring them.  This day will rectify that, and it should be a game that sells out.  After all, there has been tons of screaming and yelling about Citi Field not having enough Mets history in it.  If you’re one of those people, you pretty much have to be there.  It would look really bad if Mets fans were clamoring for Mets history but don’t sell out a game celebrating it.  This isn’t about the team this year, this is about being a Mets fan.  As of right now, not even the cheapest section is sold out.

Our Final Offseason Acquisition

Today is the day we’ve all been waiting for! The day our final off-season acquisition comes into play; Citi Field. Starting today, the Mets and Yankees no longer share the same “Place we played before this one.”

 

From Citifield

Just like a new player, we’ll be watching the game tonight to see how Citi does. We’ll want to watch balls off the walls, wind, home runs, foul territory, and many other things. We’ll be curious how “Lets Go Mets!” chants resonate. We’ll be curious how well we can hear Cow Bell Man.

 

We’ll be curious how the Mets in the Citi look on tv. How the cameras are set up, if we can see everything properly, including replays. We’ll also be looking for how the field plays, the balls in the gaps, how it plays to lefties and righties.

 

Opening Day should be a metro area-wide holiday, and even if schools are open or you have to work, today is a special day. There has only been one day like today in the last 85 years, a day when a New York baseball team moves into their very own stadium, and starts making memories there.

 

This will be our home for many years to come. Pop open a beer, pull up a chair, head to the park, flip on the tv, and take in the game, the park, the team. Let’s go Mets!

Opening Day

Opening Day.

The day we’ve all been waiting for.

It’s such a relief to see the Mets finally playing meaningful baseball again, and finally it’s time to put aside conjecture and projections for real stats and concrete results. Citi Field is nice and all, but now the focus can be on David Wright’s batting average, Jose Reyes’ range, or Beltran’s shear awesomeness instead of tacos or exclusive beers (as great as those things may be).

I seem to get more and more excited for baseball every spring, and this year was no exception. I even went to seven baseball games already. Four spring training games plus an exhibition as well as the St. Johns game at Citi Field and a World Baseball Classic match-up. It’ll be nice to sit down, crack open a beer, and root for the Mets on the same team and really care about the outcome.

Thanks to the Braves, the Mets are already a half game ahead of the Phillies (one in the loss column.) However, they’re behind the Braves by a half game(tied in the loss column.) There is a lot to look forward to this year, and it all starts today. It’s great that the Phillies lost, but you can’t scoreboard watch in April anyway(I won’t tell you that the Phillies elimination number is 162). It’s about the Mets going out there, game after game, and taking care of business. Putting up Ws.

You can find something to complain about and be nervous about later. For now, let’s sit down with our empty slate and enjoy some baseball. Collapses or Championships from last year don’t count in this years win total. Let’s Go Mets!

 

Edit:  And the Mets win! Good Start to the Season.  Woo!