I’m in Cleveland for the weekend to visit family and was planning on going down to the Tribe game tonight. I moved to Cincinnati two years and missed out on going to a game last season for the first time in over 20 years, so I was looking forward to getting back to The Jake.
During the 2010 and 2011 seasons I was going to graduate school at John Carroll and attended many games in the cheap seats, usually buying $12 tickets a day or two before the game. So you can imagine my surprise when I tried to buy tickets for tonight’s game and was greated a minimum price of $26.
My first reaction was to go back and make sure I had the right game. When I did, I noticed that it was Dollar Dog Night and my assumption was that they raise the prices since they expect a larger crowd. This makes sense, and I wouldn’t really fault them for raising the prices a few times each season for promotional events.
But when I tossed this theory out on Twitter I was informed by one of my followers, @ZABZC, that their ticket prices actually rise closer to the game and bleacher seats can (at least according to @ZABZC) reach $40.
This news made me even more frustrated. So I again voiced my opinion on Twitter, which generated a response from the Indians (presumably someone working in the PR and/or social media department)…
A couple thoughts on the ticket pricing model and the Indians’ response…
First… The model makes perfect economic sense. Weeks in advance the buyer has options. So you want to make the price low enough that they’re interested in considering an Indians game as a way to spend a summer night. The day of the game, however, the Indians have the buyer trapped. They obviously want to go to this specific game and have limited time and options to find cheaper seats. The Indians can raise the price and some people will still pay.
Second… The model makes zero PR sense. No wonder the stadium remained close to empty throughout much of September last year. The team was hot and in the playoff hunt and it should have led to increased ticket sales throughout the entire second half of the season. But if the prices are raised to $27 to $40 for bleacher seats, the Indians have cut out a significant chunk of their fan base.
I know as a grad student I wouldn’t have been going to games if I couldn’t get in for under $15, and I’m sure many in my situation as well as families needing four or more tickets felt the same way.
In September 2013 the Indians averaged 17,096 fans per game. In September 2012 (when they went 68-94), the team averaged 15,934. That’s not representative of the response we know Cleveland sports fans have to winning teams.
Third… I give credit to whoever responded to my tweet. In the past five years or so I’ve felt like the Indians PR and fan relations has been outstanding. Their promotions are among the best in all of baseball and the team and players seem more visible and accessible than the Browns or Cavs. Whoever responded to my comments more than likely has no control over the ticket pricing model, but they’re the ones that have to do damage control when fans get upset. I wouldn’t be surprised if my status as a Indians blogger prompted their response, but I also wouldn’t be shocked if they spend time responding to similar comments from fans on a regular basis. Despite the prices, the Indians do clearly care about the fans.
Overall, the Indians can’t afford to continue to alienate fans like this. They rank dead last in average attendance this year with 2,000 fewer fans per game than the next worst (Rays) and 5,000 fewer per game than the third worst (White Sox). I can only image what September’s attendance will look like if they fall apart and trade Asdrubal and Masterson…
Amen bro!
Took 7 kids to a game last year,got to the gate and couldn’t get tic for under 20$ a tic! So we went home to there disappointment. Turned the game on tv to notice that there was only like 15,000 at the game. U would think that they would rather make some money than no money from us,but that’s not the case!
And I won’t buy tic in advance cuz I’ve been burned on bailouts so many times and can’t go to the makeup date cuz of work. It’s northeast Ohio.it rains at least 3 times a week. If I wanted to watch a game in los Angeles than I would buy early and save.not in CLEVELAND tho!
Rainouts not bailouts
While I can’t stand this “business model” too, isn’t it pretty standard across MLB? (Not saying it’s right, mind you, but it’s a weak excuse for poor attendance if everyone is doing it)
To be honest I’m not sure. I know a lot of teams have started raising prices for key series (vs Yankees, Red Sox, other rivals, etc) but this was the first I’ve heard of increasing prices close to the game.
But even if others are doing it, since the Tribe ranks soooo far at the bottom, they need to try other approaches. The White Sox rank 28th in attendance and average 33% more fans than the Indians. That’s an absurd gap and one the Indians shouldn’t ignore any longer.
I was just about to say pretty much exactly this. What does it matter if its standard, the Tribe doesn’t exactly have standard attendance. They need to think outside the box a little bit; advance tickets are incentivized, but they’re still only what the price normally was all the time.
If they’re going to double or triple ticket prices on game day, then it ought to be countered with even cheaper advance options. I’m talking under $10 for bleachers. Though personally, I don’t think the current ticket pricing model should have been instituted until there was already a respectable level of attendance.
It is a stupid policy for the team last in attendance. With the amount of cash they make on concessions and the fact that the stadium is taxpayer financed, it would be nice to see more reasonable prices.
Well said. The Indians have almost eliminated the spur-of-the-moment, “hey, let’s go to the game tonight” fans. I used to attend five or six games a year. This year I will attend one – buying tickets two months in advance because my sons will be in town that weekend. Charging double the price on the day of the game is insane.
Ryan, a million thanks for writing this. I’ve been harping on these points in the IPL podcast it seems every week. I remember going down to see a game on a whim all the time in 2004/2005, grabbing a $10 bleacher ticket or slumming it up in the $6 upper outfield reserve seats.
Now? I have a job, I work, and I’ve been to one game all season (in the Social Suite, so I went for free). I like to go on a whim, but I refuse to drop so much money on tickets. To be frank, I can’t afford it!
For reference of other teams (a commenter asked):
The Colorado Rockies ALWAYS have $4 seats in the Rock Pile in center field, but they sell out fast (obviously).
The Reds have $5 Value View seats that are sold out tomorrow, but that’s what they’d cost if I ordered them now.
The Tampa Bay Rays have no such deal — the cheapest ticket for tomorrow is $20. Interesting.
You can go see a White Sox game on Monday for $7.
Here’s the deal, though… those $6 tickets in the Right Field corner that I used to spend half my summer in as a kid? $33+ dollars tomorrow night if I ordered right now.
Who the heck can afford this?
I understand the need to boost revenue, but I see two problems with the Variable Pricing Plan: one is that the season ticket base is so small that they rely heavily on walkups for attendance and this plan punishes walkups and has a chilling effect on that; two, the weather. There are many days when you won’t know until the last minute whether the game will be played or not. This plan punishes people for waiting for the weather situation to clear up.
But if the team thinks this will bring in more revenue, even with fewer people in the seats, then it is a business and they can run it however they want.
Considering MLB has twice as many home games as the NBA and NHL, and ten times as many as the NFL, I’m somewhat shocked by the prices in general to baseball games. I’d love to get really good seats once (behind home plate lower deck) but you are looking at $75+ a ticket. For one baseball game of 81.
Spending $150 for a Browns game is one thing (*kind of, considering the joke the Browns have been since ’99), but that much money for 1 of 81 home games? Yeah, I’ll pass.
And I’m sorry, the upper deck seats down the first base line should be less than $10 every day, and twice on Sundays. Not only are they seats no one ever sits in (unless the crowd is 35,000), but they are horrible seats, unless you like staring directly at the American flag in center.
MLB cannot complain in one breath about “needing to reach out to the younger generation”, and then price their games so high that it makes it prohibitive for them to attend games.
Thank you. I’ve been complaining about this for a while, but don’t have any clout that someone in the organization would care about my opinion. A few times a year I’ll think about going to a game on a whim, or even a week in advance and change my mind after seeing what they want me to pay for a ticket. Living in Akron it’s a full evening’s commitment to come to a game, and that’s not something that I can always do early enough to get their best pricing. It’s frustrating because I’m the kind of person they should want getting in the habit of coming to a game — a young professional looking to start a family soon. Not my loss though. I’ll gladly watch a game at home in HD where I don’t have to worry about a rain out or spend $5 on a RubberDucks ticket. There’s an owner that knows how to drive attendance.
If i could get $7-$10-$15 dollar seats the day of the game my buddies and I would be at a lot of them. We are all in our mid 20’s and its just not possible for most of us to go to a game when we are looking for something to do with the 30-40 dollar walk up prices. Once you add in parking drinks and food youre spending a fortune.
I won’t spend $40 to go watch a manager mismanage a bullpen.
During the week when it’s $12….maybe.
Rule #1 – Believe nothing this front office tells you.
Rule #2 – If you think something may be true, see rule #1
I don’t blame the indians for this type of pricing scheme. Doing it this way as increased revenue and over time will get fans to buy early. Too many tribe fans purchase tickets the day of a game which makes it hard on the team.