The story of the week will be the Yankees taking an about face to lower ticket prices, and Darren Rovell in his blog on Tuesday took a detailed look at some of the reasons. On another level, the rule of thumb many times is to hold the line and never lower or discount in season, as it hurts the long time brand value where people will now look to bargain for something elite that they could never get a lower price for before. Mercedes, Nordstrom's etc. rarely lower prices, as you know with those high quality brands you pay the price for high quality service. Even in sports for all their oncourt issues, the Knicks front row and rows behind the bench at Madison Square Garden remain the priciest seats in sports. Now although some may argue this was just a slight PR spin and that the Yanks knew all along that they had minimums to hit and just adjusted prices closer to those minimums, that may not necessarily be true. The view of empty seats around home plate in what is an endless season can damage brand and become more the longer term story than the lowering of prices. Even Tuesday night, most stories still were spinning that the prices remain too high for the average family, and more discounting is needed. Then there is the issue of all those who paid full price and how refunding or additional tickets will have to be handled with them. For those elite seatholders, the higher price was never a real issue, so now angering them with “discounts” around them will also have to be handled. Now there is some value to public perception of reacting to the economy and fan demand to lower ticket prices, and the Yanks will get some due for that. The bigger question is will this “discounting” just make the Yanks another team and less of an elite bran. In this marketplace, especially in a new facility, getting people in to sample product and determine value is tantamount. The Yanks tried to hold the line and did the research to see what the public will bear, so hopefully the brand will hold, team performance will rise, and the lower ticket for the elite seats fills those voids. Short term damage slightly abated, and longterm if any to be determined.
Some other good reads…The San Antonio Express News had a good piece on MLB's continued efforts to reach minorities…the Kansas City Star had a good piece on the difference between maple and ash bats.…and the Bergen Record had a good profile of ESPN's Mike Yam…
