Sports Biz

Claire H. Mets Tickets

The common complaint about the new stadiums in New York--for the Giants, Jets, Yankees and Mets--is that they price out the common fan.

I’ve always had a problem with that line. From a business perspective, what do you want the teams to do?

The bottom line is that a a blue collar fan who cheers more and cares more, doesn’t make enough of a difference to create a better home-field advantage.

So the sad truth of the matter is that the teams would rather get as much as they can make, even if it means selling to corporate America, who might not show up every night.

Let’s assume that all the New York sports teams had solid basis for charging the prices that they do for their new stadium seats. The question is, with the financial markets crumbling and New York’s disposable income shrinking by the minute, is it possible that the teams will actually have to reduce their prices at some point? This would be a rare occurrence, but this is a rare time.

It’s doubtful the teams are going to budge for a while, but at least we’ll get an indication as to whether the price model has changed when the New York Jets put up the personal seat license rights to 2,000 lower-level seats on eBay's StubHub.

It’s the 50-yard line seats behind the Jets bench dubbed the “Coaches Club” and the team has said they expect the licenses to go for more than $25,000 when they are auctioned off on the site from Oct. 19-27.

It’s the total high-end experience that includes access to a private 20,000 square foot bar and lounge designed by Nobu architect David Rockwell. The deal also includes VIP parking and access to other event tickets.

But the value of that high-end experience might have changed given the fact that people who would have bought these seats might have lost their ability to make such a purchase. The Jets are betting that these prime seats can raise $50 million in personal seat license fees. I'm not going to bet against it, but I know that target just got harder.

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