Dbacks Hike Ticket Prices 500%
Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall proudly announced Thursday that gameday ticket 
prices in certain sections of Chase Field will increase by 500%. Seats in Sections 300 and 332, priced at $1 every year since franchise inception, will now cost $6 on gameday at the Chase Ho Park box office.
In order to "create more affordability", management addressed fan "complaints" that "there weren't enough" $1 seats, by a) freezing the number of available $1 seats, and b) raising their price 500%. This according to Hall, the Dbacks exec who decreed in autumn that "everyone will like the new uniforms, regardless of age or gender."
In a related goodwill gesture, Hall is also "extremely proud" that approximately 5000 nearby upper level seats will now be priced at $5, to bring them back in line with what they cost when the Diamondbacks last had a winning season and people actually sat in them.
(photo courtesy of Barry Gossage/Arizona Diamondbacks)
Wow, it's like listening to Tony Snow at the White House press briefing!
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Could you possibly tell me how much revenue the D'Backs would have gotten last year for one game if all the one dollar and ten dollar seats had been filled, and contrast that to how much they would get if all 5,200 $5 seats are filled?
Kellia
Life, Baseball & a guy who believes ticket prices should came down.
http://byrnesblog.mlblogs.com
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The most dissapointing thing to me was when I read his interview and he said, they are bringing in someone to give away prizes. This seems to Minor Leagues to me. My first thought was, is it really that bad in AZ? What are your thoughts on that?
Joe
http://www.baseballaslife.mlblogs.com
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Lol, Tracy. Derrick, you're doin' a heckuva job!
Kellia,
Rhetorical question, right? It finally dawned on them that maximizing 'potential' revenue didnt pay the bills quite like maximizing actual revenue. Who knew!? ;-)
Joe,
I'm more of a purist(read: curmudgeon) and sighed "ugh" re the interactive in-house hostess,prizes etc, but regardless how I feel, MLB's fan base is changing, and I think it's unreasonable to expect clubs not to exploit that - especially at the newer ballparks with less entrenched expectations.
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No, seriously.
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K,
Potential revenue under the old setup was approx $50,310 and approx $26,550 under the new.
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Thanks. This means they are wanting to make the park look fuller, which might bring in other money in the longer run, if more advertisers are willing to advertise at the park.
Kellia
Life, Baseball & Eric Byrnes
http://byrnesblog.mlblogs.com
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K,
Yeah, customers = more ad dollars (and concessions) but I have to stifle a giggle at the prospect of "more" ads/signage at Chase. Is it even metaphysically possible?
The $1 seats were enormously popular, for obvious reasons, but evolved into a nuisance for MLB as they provided a glaring frame of reference for how expensive all the other seats really are. MLB's long term pricing strategy is to fabricate the illusion of season ticket value by pitting season tix against even more inflated single game tickets. Marketing that illusion is easier when there are no genuine bargain alternatives in the ballpark.
The adjacent $5 seats(formerly $10) are intended to bring in some more fans as well as provide short term damage control on the dollar seats issue. Longer term, these'll get jacked back up to $8-$10, probably by next season's home opener. The dollar seats, of course, are never coming back.
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