MLB Ticket Prices Down on Secondary Market in 2013
By BigLeadSports
Written By Andrés Hidalgo
The Toronto Blue Jays made perhaps the biggest moves of the offseason with their trades with the Marlins, as well as with the New York Mets, for 20-game winner R.A. Dickey. It looks like high expectations have had an effect on the price of tickets, with average price for a Toronto Blue Jays ticket up 11 percent, from an average of $51 in 2012 to $56 in 2013.
If fan optimism can be measured in terms of ticket prices on the secondary market, fans of the Cleveland Indians are expecting big things. With an increase in ticket prices of more than 20 percent, (from an average of $50 to $61), the Indians saw the largest increase outside of the NL West. As MLB Trade Rumor’s Ben Nicholson-Smith writes, “The Indians spent aggressively on free agents, hired a big-name manager and completed a major trade.”
After surviving a nightmare of an ownership struggle, the Los Angeles Dodgers settled their ownership situation last season and proceeded to take on some of the biggest contracts in MLB. With an average increase in price of more than 25 percent, ($44 to $55), it seems like fans are behind the new direction of the Dodgers and are ready to see them compete with the defending World Series Champions San Francisco Giants on the field.
Speaking of the Giants, their tickets are up more than 15 percent, (from $57 to $66) while the team they swept in the World Series, the Detroit Tigers, saw their tickets stay almost the same, with the average price down just one dollar to a $51 average.
After losing to the Tigers in the American League Championship Series, tickets for the Yankees are more or less flat this season, down five percent from $83 to $78. The Yankees once again have the second-most expensive baseball ticket on the secondary market, behind their nemesis the Boston Red Sox. Then again Yankee Stadium can hold 52,325 to Fenway Park’s 37,373.
Looking at the secondary market, right now fans in Los Angeles, Toronto and Cleveland look to have the highest expectations from their team. The Marlins fans are voicing their displeasure with the on-field product with a mass decrease in ticket sales. Sales for the Boston Red Sox, which has been the most sought-after ticket in MLB over the past several seasons, have suffered in the wake of two disastrous seasons. But once Opening Day has come and the baseball season starts in earnest, we’ll see whose fans end up getting their money’s worth, and who, if anyone, is be this season’s Marlins.
About the author: Andrés Hidalgo is an Online Marketer for TicketLiquidator.com, an online marketplace for tickets to live entertainment events, including baseball tickets.