Pushing out the little guy

Teams around the nation are opening new stadiums. Most of which are replacing regular seats with luxury suites and boxes. People expect these new stadiums to push the lower-class fans out of the ballpark only to be replaced with wealthy business men willing to shell out as much as $350,000 for a luxury suite for the season. The New York Yankees new stadium is set to be opened for the 2009 season. Shea Stadium (Yankees current stadium) currently has 55,601 seats, while the new Citi Field will hold about 20 percent fewer seats. At Shea tickets normally between $9-$100, but, in the new stadium, tickets will cost anywhere between $12-$400. Leading many full season ticket holders to be moved to worse seats and partial season ticket holders to lose their seats altogether.


The reason for the increase in luxury suites is because suites generate more income than regular seats. "You're going to make a hell of a lot more money selling suites and premium seats than off seats that are upper-level and general average fans just coming buying tickets," says Robert Tuchman, president of TSE Sports & Entertainment, which sells sports packages to corporations. "It's going to be hard on the average fan who doesn't have access to higher-priced seating." Most fans will not be able to afford the sharp increase in prices. Stadiums are also making the club seats more expensive. The Dallas Cowboys new $1 billion stadium has already announced the prices of the club seats. Not only will season ticket holders need to pay $340 per seat per game they will also need to pay an additional $50,000 for the right to buy tickets for those seats for the next 30 years.

The reason theses teams feel they have the right to increase the prices so dramatically is very simple. They are increasing the amenities while also having the benefit of owning season tickets in a new stadium. Also according to Greg McElroy, the Cowboys' senior vice president of sales and marketing,"there's a lot of excitement about the team with a new quarterback and a new coach. The demand for Cowboys tickets is at an all-time high." He also stated that he is not worried about "pricing out" fans because there are so many options, he feels, that everyone will be accommodated.

I think that all of these new stadiums are just a way to make money. But as a result the majority of fans who could barely
afford season tickets to begin with will be stuck watching games at home after going to the games for many years.