December 08, 2010

Rays hike some ticket prices 65%

Next time you hear the Tampa Bay Rays complaining about lousy attendance — and you know they will — keep in mind that the Rays just raised prices on 38% of their seats, including one section by a whopping 65%. Complains one original season ticket holder:

"They complain that nobody comes. Then they take an entire section and tick us off," [Sharon] Greene said. "I understand prices going up (but) I don't really understand prices going up when the economy is so bad."

Now, it's only one season ticket holder complaining, which makes for a pretty weak trend piece, and I'm sure Rays execs have been perusing StubHub for a sense of what the market will bear like other teams have. (And, it's worth noting, some Tampa Bay tickets will go down in price this year.) Still, Greene has a point: The Florida economy in particular remains dismal, we're rapidly heading toward deflation, and the Rays' "successful" 2010 season notwithstanding, they're going to need to sell tickets next year for a team with no Carl Crawford or Carlos Pena. With that in mind, they might want to pay attention to Greene's closing comment when asked if she'd consider cheaper seats elsewhere:

"My other seats are right here on the couch."