The print-at-home ticket news that broke last month isn't going away or getting any better for fans. Disguised to look like the Yankees are protecting unsuspecting fans from being swindled by fake tickets sales by scalpers, the ulterior motives have clearly discouraged a lot of people. It looks like it is only going to get worse before this gets better...
Earlier this week, the local soccer team New York City FC hosted a match at home....in Yankee stadium. Since they also play in Yankee stadium they are also governed by the same ticket policy which as of last month does not allow us, the fans, print our tickets at home and bring them to the stadium. Earlier this week, New York City FC fans quickly learned that this policy wasn't just for Yankee fans, it applied to them too.
Entry into the match was a disaster. According to reports, a lot of people standing in line had paper tickets in hand and were being turned away by the dozens. Just minutes before the start of the game the stadium inside was a ghost town.
The Yankees claim to be losing a ton of money on this. StubHub doesn't have a price floor and attendance and sales in the stadium are decreasing and blah blah blah...
This isn't about protecting the fans, this is about 88% of the Yankees seats that retail for $200-$275 being sold for less than face value and them trying to regain some of those lost profits. If fraud was such a concern, then there would be less of a demand for these print from home tickets, right? It's all just a bunch of bullshit.
This isn't about protecting the fans, this is about 88% of the Yankees seats that retail for $200-$275 being sold for less than face value and them trying to regain some of those lost profits. If fraud was such a concern, then there would be less of a demand for these print from home tickets, right? It's all just a bunch of bullshit.
Earlier this month Randy Levine met with Stub Hub about this new change but it sounds like they accomplished a whole lot of nothing. The only thing it may have done is at least make it look like the Yankees want to try and work something out and appease some less than pleased fans. It's all just a bunch of smoke and mirrors though. Over the years, the Yankees have made it clear that they have been very anti-StubHub after all, once upon a time they did sue StubHub because they had a kiosk that was too close to Yankee stadium and was causing them to lose out on ticket sales. I'm not buying this nice "collaboration" effort that the Yankees are trying to sell. This is just an attempt at a positive PR spin.
The Yankees are now making it even harder to go to a game. The convenience isn't there and the ability to shop and find a cheaper ticket using a discount provider is only going to add to the Yankees growing attendance concern. Now the Yankees are having issues selling tickets for soccer games....it's just going to get worse before it gets better. We'll see if this latest drama helps inspire anymore change. The market is sending the Yankees a message loud and clear and there isn't a price floor deep enough to block it out.
--Jeana Bellezza,
BYB Senior Writer and Editor
Twitter: @NyPrincessJ
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Talk about throwing a wet blanket over the fire.
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