February 15, 2010

Cubs begin Wrigley reno, unveil latest self-scalping plan

Renovations have begun at Wrigley Field, though nothing yet along the lines of the more ambitious plans announced last summer. First up: more bathrooms, opening up space underneath the bleachers to fans (a la Fenway Park's Big Concourse), adding some ad boards, and removing granite panels that had been added to the outside of the ballpark, to allow sunlight in. The Cubs are also replacing the bricks along the left-field line, and auctioning off the old ones; no word on whether winning bidders also get to throw them at Steve Bartman.

To help pay for this, meanwhile — or just to pay for Marlon Byrd — the Cubs have announced a special presale of selected seats to games this year, but only for fans willing to pay a 15-20% surcharge. "We believe there are fans who will pay extra, just like they'll pay for a Fast Pass at the amusement park," Wally Hayward, the Cubs' chief marketing officer, told the New York Times.

According to the Times, some fans are calling this a stealth ticket price hike, and there's a good argument that that's exactly what it is, especially since the Cubs haven't revealed what percentage of tickets will remain after the "presale" — meaning fans who really want tickets will have a huge incentive to pay the 20% premium or risk being shut out. From a marketing perspective, it's actually a pretty clever way to test the waters on pricing: If fans are really willing to pay more, you get to charge them more, and if they're not, you end up getting to sell to them anyway at the old prices, without risking embarrassing rows of empty seats. And at least it's arguably less likely to outrage fans than setting up your own ticket scalping agency.