The following story appeared in Saturday’s Daily News --
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“ WE’RE GETTING YANKED OVER TIX, CRY BOMBERS FANS
The Yankees are getting a new stadium but some of their most loyal fans are getting the shaft.
Hundreds of full and partial season ticket holders got word yesterday they aren’t getting the seats - or packages - they requested in the Bombers’ new digs. And that’s breaking their pinstriped hearts.
‘It’s so sad what they’re doing to the fans,’ said Marie Wallace, a partial-season ticket holder since 1996 who would fly up from Florida to see her favorite team play.
“I wanted to have seats comparable to what I had before, near the first base line. They told me I was high on the list. Then they put me in these horrible seats by the foul pole line and told me I should be grateful.’
A Brooklyn fan, who asked to remain anonymous because he’s still trying to snag season tickets, said he, too, didn’t get the seats he asked for.
‘These are the real Yankee fans,’ he said. ‘They’ll bend over backwards for the big corporations, but not for regular guys like me.’ Another disappointed fan - a partial-season ticket holder - said he was prepared to shell out more dough for the worse seats because he loves the Yankees and he knows a new stadium means higher prices.
‘I specifically requested a weekend package because that’s what I had before and that’s when I can see the games,’ he said. ‘They offered me a weekday package and basically said take it or leave it.’
There were similar laments on Yankees fans’ websites.
‘I have been a Yankee fan since I could say Mickey Mantle,’ wrote a fan named Johozak, who had seats above the Yankees dugout in the old stadium but was priced out of the new park. ‘Looks like I will be watching games at home.’
Another fan using the handle Three-generationalofyankeefans said he couldn’t have been clearer about what seats he wanted - and when he wanted them.
‘My Saturday plan is now a weekday 12-game plan,’ he wrote. ‘I had been behind home plate and now I am past third base.’
A spokesman for the Yankees said he was not prepared to comment on the furor.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So, it appears that I am not the only one who is pissed with the Yankee front office.
Just a couple of other observations - I do have an understanding of why all of this is happening and it is about - tada - the money. The Yankee brass knows that people who buy tickets for individual games almost always spend more money at the game than do we season ticket holders. I am a prime example - I don’t spend any money at a game. I sometimes will fork over $4.50 for a bottle of water, but that is it.
Also a lot of season ticket holders take advantage of the rather liberal policy of permitting food to be brought into the stadium, so long as it is packed in a clear plastic bag. Bottles and/or cans were not permitted.
I don’t know if this policy is being carried over to the new stadium. If it is, I have a gut feeling that it will be phased out in order to increases onsite food sales.
Another observation - the Yankees have an “arrangement” with StubHub regarding re-sale of individual tickets. We are “encouraged” to use them to sell tickets that cannot be used, for whatever reason. My gut tells me that even though there is an exchange policy in place, the availability of tickets for exchange will be virtually nonexistent, so our alternative will be to eat the ticket, or ... tada again -- use StubHub.
These and other “business” decisions place us in the conundrum of loving the team but hating the management.
Oh well, I have vented enough. I still can hardly wait for the season to begin, so ...
Go Yankees!!
Billi Pod
wanjr@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment