The New York Yankees have some of the most loyal fans on the planet. It’s not because they have a rich history of losing and have stuck with their team through thick and thin. Outside of the late 60’s and the 80’s, Yankees’ fans haven’t had much to complain about on the field.
It’s not because the Bronx Bombers are the only game in town like Oklahoma City with the Thunder or Vancouver with its Canucks. There are nine other professional teams sharing the same state support.
It’s because through thick and some thin, Yankees’ fans are always willing to pay top dollar and absorb all the rich history the franchise has to offer. Why? Because ownership is always willing to spend top dollar.
It would be in poor taste to real suffering fans to think the 2013 Yankees are reflective of a bad team. Some already have and more will follow. As Joe Girardi stated, this team is capable of winning 95 games if it stays healthy (emphasis on “if”). Still, this is a year fans have had to endure the fact ownership was not going to pursue pieces to improve the team and more or less hired a bunch of “bandaids” because they were going to cut payroll actively by about $35 million over a two year span.
The fans accept it as best they can and move on. We will still pay top dollar, we will still deal with the fact the cheapest season ticket is still over $20.00 ,if you don’t want to sit in the bleachers, and risk heat stroke and can survive seats with no backs.
That’s why it’s such an incredible head scratcher that the Yankees’ Front Office is one of just two MLB Front Offices (the Angels being the other) to dump Stubhub as a secondary seller.
Taking the Yankees’ Front Office at face value on the issue is comical. They say it’s to make sure fans come to the team for tickets first. The reality of the situation and the reason (beyond a lot of bars on the lower levels at the new stadium) there were empty seats in the playoffs and continue to be at most home games, is because the ownership is so out of touch with both the country and the pulse of the average fan.
Yes, for fans who have season tickets (the minority), this will be an improvement. I had a 15 game season ticket package in 2010 when I lived in Connecticut and it was frustrating for the four games I didn’t go to. Three of them I was able to sell to friends at face value and the other one I had to absorb because selling it on Stub Hub amounted to about five dollars, which wasn’t worth it. Gone are the days of selling a ticket and making a profit. Not in this economy, not even with this team.
Of course, I was in the next to last row of the stadium in foul territory of left field and spent $330.00 for 15 tickets. The reality is that most season tickets are owned by corporations and quite frankly, I don’t think most fans care if those companies have to eat unassigned tickets.
The bigger picture is an average fan buys individual single game tickets and cutting ties with StubHub and setting up a personal Yankee-centric ticket exchange means a probable price floor. This means the Yankees will not let you buy a ticket unless its at face value or higher, which is a way of trying to kill the secondary market, which is the indication of the actual value of the tickets in the first place. Ownership would like to think this will make season ticket holders, and by proxy, the Yankees, money, but the reality is with a team lacking youth and a clear direction, it’s going to lead to a lot of embarrassment instead.
Fans are just simply not going to get ripped off when ownership hasn’t held their end of the bargain this year. While it’s still possible to go through StubHub, now tickets will have to be obtained in person for it to be possible. StubHub has already taken preventive measures by opening a station next to the stadium to make it easier on game day, but for those who live far from the stadium or don’t have weeks to coordinate, they’re going to be out of luck.
What the Yankees’ Front Office doesn’t realize is that George Steinbrenner had to build his brand before he could give and take from it. He pumped enormous amounts of money into the team and the fans thanked him by paying New York City prices to watch his club. What his sons need to learn is that they can’t handcuff the payroll, not commit towards winning at all costs as they have maintained this entire off-season and expect fans to still play along.
We’re loyal, we’re not stupid.
Consider this equivalent to the health of the 2013 Yankees. If the Yankees stay healthy, they compete for a World Series. If they compete for a World Series, this probably gets swept under the carpet after the All Star Break. If this issue goes away it means the Yankees played well and fans forget about this offseason, at least until the day the Yankees stop playing.
If the Yankees start piling up injuries or under-perform, it’s a guarantee A-Rod’s potential return in August is not going to bring fans back to the stadium. It’s a dangerous game to be tone deaf without a plan and if it blows up in their faces, the Yankees’ Front Office will see how quickly the tables can turn.
