The New York Yankees and the New York Mets have both opened their new ballparks at the worst possible time: during a recession. The results of the ill-fated openings have been glaringly obvious by all the premium seats that remain empty throughout the early part of the season.
The New York Times ran a good piece on the struggles of the New York-based clubs to sell some of their more expensive seats:
"The empty seats are a fresh sign that the teams might have miscalculated how much fans and corporations were willing to spend, particularly during a deep recession. Whatever the reason, the teams are scrambling to comb over their $295- to $2,625-a-seat bald spots."
"Still, the teams are trying to drum up sales. The Yankees have hired Douglas Elliman Worldwide Consulting, which promotes and markets real estate projects for developers, to sell premium seats to high-end residential customers. The team has also extensively advertised the availability of the high-priced seats, and invited potential buyers to visit the Stadium at a Select-a-Seat weekend last month."
"Unable to sell season-ticket plans for about 100 of their best seats, the Mets have been auctioning them off one game at a time. At least one fan took the bait, paying $7,500 for two seats behind home plate on opening night."
Update: Even with a price cut the Yankees are still struggling to sell tickets.
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