The Mets announced today that they will be selling tickets for this weekend’s series in select seats for $3.50 and baseline tickets for $19.64. The seats are limited but once again it creates this odd dynamic with season ticket holders.
This year, my family gave me a 10 game package to the Mets, which is fantastic and I’m super excited about it. As a teacher though, the only day that works really is Saturday, some days in July (the only month when I’m not at work). I get out of school at 6:30 in the evening in Newark, so making it to weekday games is pretty much out of the question.
When the Mets do things like this promotion, I feel jaded. The tickets for the baseline are the same value for my promenade tickets (which is my favorite section by the way). Where is the incentive to get a ticket package? The savings from this weekend alone can nearly match the savings from the season plan.
So what should the Mets do?
I am also a season ticket holder for the Red Bulls and I think the Mets can take a page out of their book. First my tickets for the Red Bulls are on a card, the Mets shouldn’t copy that part, but the card can also be used at concession stands. I get a discount with it and load more money on it if I have to. When I refer someone for tickets, or I am owed something by the Red Bulls, they put money on it.
It would be a great gesture for the Mets to do something like this next year for season ticket holders. They could add a certain percentage of the difference in ticket prices to these cards so fans can use it at the ball park. It would cut into their pockets but it also make being a season ticket holder a valuable investment because right now with these surprise promotions, it is not.
Good for you for being outraged. This is exactly why I didn’t renew my tix package after two years. Only the Mets know how to screw over their most loyal customers. No more. If I go, I buy the tix on special deals or Stubhub. Wilpon: SELL the team!
Great idea. The Mets are rather adverse to great ideas, but I’ve always thought it ridiculous–and stupid–to constantly undersell your most loyal fans to bring in others who are not as loyal, at least when it comes to seeing the product in person. I know a guy who has spent hundreds of thousands on season tickets since the 1980s; he stopped getting tickets this year because he was tired of feeling ripped off by everyone sitting around him paying a fraction of what he did. It’s bad enough they let good players leave without a fight, the Mets should do better with the good fans who remain.