March 10, 2009

Mets fans heading for the cheap seats, too

The "pre-sales" for New York Mets tickets began today, and what's available to pre-sell gives a glimpse into the shape of the collapsing sports bubble. As I report on the Village Voice blog:

Flushing nights in April and May providing a good imitation of the South Col, let's try for a Sunday afternoon game against the Nationals, a Bronze selection. Promenade Boxes, the new term for the front of the upper deck, are only $28 — but they're sold out. As are the $20 Promenade Reserved Infield seats. A handful of $15 tickets are available, if you don't mind sitting in the last section of the outfield upper deck, seats so bad they didn't even exist at Shea.

Other Saturday and Sunday games produce the same message for almost all tickets under $30: "Unable to secure seats in this Price Level." You can, however, get tickets in the Caesar's Club Platinum section in the second deck — for only $140 a pop.

One possibility that occurred to me after posting the Voice article: In addition to Mets fans all scurrying for the cheap seats, it could well be that professional scalpers are focusing their energies there, figuring that the profit margin on reselling $140 seats is going to be pretty slim, in this economy or any other. Either way, it's going to be very interesting to see how the Mets respond if, say, Citi Field is one-third empty for its second game ever, and it's the bottom third — which looks more possible than anyone could have imagined last fall.