Article: Twins Tickets Pricing: Today and Yesterday

[jjswol]

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1379-Twins-tickets-today-and-yesterday

[ashbury]

> if all is going great, the team can jack up the price of the ticket to whatever the market will pay.

 

Let's say some season, probably not 2013 but who knows, the Twins come out of the gate much stronger than expected and by July the Twins are the hot ticket in town. Tickets fixed-priced at $32 suddenly will command $45 or $80 or whatever, on the open market. Maybe *you* aren't willing to pay $45, but the people who will are pricing you out of seeing games. Scalpers swoop in and buy up as many tickets as they can, pocketing $13 or more per seat. Question is, why should scalpers get that profit, and not the team? I don't know for sure that part of the money will go toward paying ballplayers if the team rakes it in, but I do know it won't go to the players when the scalpers get it.

[Willihammer]

Anyone else suspect that "demand driven pricing" is code for regulating ticket sales, such that ticket revenues are high but never get *too high* in the event that the on-field product is any good? As I understand it, the Twins are right on the bubble of the bottom 10-revenue teams - the only ones promised revenue sharing income under the new CBA.

[darin617]

Does this mean ticket in August and September could be only a couple of dollars for some great seats if the Twins repeat their last 2 years performance? Or will it be a $35 ticket will be only discounted $5 when the Twins might be 20 games out of first place in August?

[John Bonnes]

Does this mean ticket in August and September could be only a couple of dollars for some great seats if the Twins repeat their last 2 years performance? Or will it be a $35 ticket will be only discounted $5 when the Twins might be 20 games out of first place in August?

 

My understanding is that the price will never drop below the season ticket price.

[John Bonnes]

Question is, why should scalpers get that profit, and not the team? I don't know for sure that part of the money will go toward paying ballplayers if the team rakes it in, but I do know it won't go to the players when the scalpers get it.

 

This is a really good argument. I was a little uncomfortable with this demand pricing, but this is a great point. It's also pretty savvy of the Twins to start demand pricing this year, when it is unlikely to be used. It will make it more palatable in 2015, when it might be.

[Willihammer]

Baseball and stubhub have a contract. There is a fixed percentage of stubhub's service fees, 10% or something, that the team gets back.

[luke829]

If Jodie Mientkiewicz makes a special one-off appearance, then the price is worth the admission.

[glunn]

I would guess that scalpers who bought season tickets took a loss last season.

 

I would also note that Twins tickets at Target field are a huge bargain compared to what I pay to see the Twins in Anaheim every year. When the Angels are popular, as they are now, getting good seats can cost $200-$300 each on Stubhub.

[darin617]

My understanding is that the price will never drop below the season ticket price.

 

What a bunch of crap for the Twins to pull. I know you would upset your season ticket holders if they were discounted at the rate they should be. But to know that they can jack the prices through the rough is flat out insane!!! Nothing more than a money grab by the poor Twins. I can't wait when hopefully the Pohlad boys sell the team to someone who actually cares about baseball...

[TheLeviathan]

All about the money. Even makes the offseason taste a little bit worse yet.

[IdahoPilgrim]

As far as an owner who only cares about baseball, who would that be?

 

I remember the same grumbling and griping about the Griffith family. They were accused of being stingy and greedy and refusing to invest in the team and to be willing to pay what was necessary to keep their best players.

 

I think there are too many fans who assume it is the moral responsibility of ownership to lose money for the fans gratification. Baseball is a business - businesses are run to make a profit (or break even at worst).

 

Fans can of course respond by taking their patronage elsewhere. Short of that, this is the system that we live within.

[ltwedt]

To quote someone we once loved, "It ain't about the loot!".

[TheLeviathan]

I remember the same grumbling and griping about the Griffith family. They were accused of being stingy and greedy and refusing to invest in the team and to be willing to pay what was necessary to keep their best players.

 

And they were accurate then too. I fail to see the point.

 

The problem is that an ownership group too focused on money will aggravate the fanbase who will take their patronage elsewhere which only furthers the money issue that started the problem in the first place. As a fan of this franchise who wants to see this team win, ownership alienating fans is not something I want to see.

[glunn]

And they were accurate then too. I fail to see the point.

 

The problem is that an ownership group too focused on money will aggravate the fanbase who will take their patronage elsewhere which only furthers the money issue that started the problem in the first place. As a fan of this franchise who wants to see this team win, ownership alienating fans is not something I want to see.

 

I agree with your general philosophy, but if the main effect is for the Twins to capture the profits that now go to scalpers, then the new pricing policy makes sense to me.

[Highabove]

As far as an owner who only cares about baseball, who would that be?

 

I remember the same grumbling and griping about the Griffith family. They were accused of being stingy and greedy and refusing to invest in the team and to be willing to pay what was necessary to keep their best players.

 

I think there are too many fans who assume it is the moral responsibility of ownership to lose money for the fans gratification. Baseball is a business - businesses are run to make a profit (or break even at worst).

 

Fans can of course respond by taking their patronage elsewhere. Short of that, this is the system that we live within.

 

The Twins generated 93 million Dollars in pretax earnings between 2008-2011. I guess it's to much to expect the Pohlad's to invest in a quality product.

 

We are now celebrating the likes of Calvin Griffith? This is the Man who gave Harmon Killebrew the choice of a pay cut or the chance to leave and not come back.

[mikecgrimes]

> if all is going great, the team can jack up the price of the ticket to whatever the market will pay.

 

Let's say some season, probably not 2013 but who knows, the Twins come out of the gate much stronger than expected and by July the Twins are the hot ticket in town. Tickets fixed-priced at $32 suddenly will command $45 or $80 or whatever, on the open market. Maybe *you* aren't willing to pay $45, but the people who will are pricing you out of seeing games. Scalpers swoop in and buy up as many tickets as they can, pocketing $13 or more per seat. Question is, why should scalpers get that profit, and not the team? I don't know for sure that part of the money will go toward paying ballplayers if the team rakes it in, but I do know it won't go to the players when the scalpers get it.

 

This is a great incentive to be a season ticket holder if you think the team will be decent, clearly despite the fact I predict they will win the world series I either don't think they will be decent, or only care about attending games in April and on rainy days. With stubhub the scalper market will include out of market ticket buyers if the team leaves room for significant profit like the Twins did in 2010.

[mikecgrimes]

Keep in mind MLB works with Stubhub, no idea the details of the agreement but the teams do make money when tickets are resold on stubhub.

[mikecgrimes]

And they were accurate then too. I fail to see the point.

 

The problem is that an ownership group too focused on money will aggravate the fanbase who will take their patronage elsewhere which only furthers the money issue that started the problem in the first place. As a fan of this franchise who wants to see this team win, ownership alienating fans is not something I want to see.

 

Upset that ticket pricing is about money? You can still get opening day tickets for well below the scalper market, the team isn't charging even 50% extra for any game, and you have to keep in mind a weekday Royals game ends up cheaper then it would otherwise be.

[TheLeviathan]

I agree with your general philosophy, but if the main effect is for the Twins to capture the profits that now go to scalpers, then the new pricing policy makes sense to me.

 

So basically the Twins view scalpers in much the same way we view the Twins - profit vultures?

[edavis0308]

Upset that ticket pricing is about money? You can still get opening day tickets for well below the scalper market, the team isn't charging even 50% extra for any game, and you have to keep in mind a weekday Royals game ends up cheaper then it would otherwise be.

 

They aren't charging 50% extra for any game, and you're saying that like they are doing us a favor..

 

Point taken John.

[John Bonnes]

They aren't charging 50% extra for any game, and you're saying that like they are doing us a favor.. are you high?

 

This was a fine post until those last three words. No need to denigrate other members.

[Otto von Ballpark]

They aren't charging 50% extra for any game, and you're saying that like they are doing us a favor..

 

Remember, that's not 50% higher than some "true value" or market value price, but simply 50% higher than the Twins chosen season ticket price. If you don't want to pay that price, buy a season ticket, or go to a different game, or just do what I do and watch craigslist or scalpers on the street.

 

I posted this in the original blog comments, but it would be interesting to see this Twins historical ticket price data compared to other teams in the league. Obviously these prices have been a league-wide (or economy-wide) trend, but it would be interesting to see where the Twins fell on that trend line.