October 29, 2009

Sports bubble watch: Jets slash (some) prices

Another New York sports team is following the Yankees' lead in slashing ticket prices, but only for the middle class of seats — though, given the prices being discussed, maybe "the upper-upper-middle class" would be a better way of putting it. (Stadium seating pretty much bottoms out these days at the real middle class.) The New York Jets have announced they're cutting prices for seats in the Mezzanine Club at their new stadium opening next year, from $400-$500 down to $195-$395. The Mezzanine Club is the middle deck on either side of the field, amounting to about 7,000 of the new stadium's 80,000 seats.

"The jump from $120 a ticket or $150 a ticket to $400 just put it out of reach for a lot of people who did want to experience the clubs," Jets VP Matt Higgins told AP. "We came to the conclusion that these prices are really 2007 prices in a 2009 world."

Bleacher Report, though, notes that you still have to shell out a seat license fee — of between $5,000 and $25,000 per ticket — for the rights to even buy the tickets. Given the trouble the team has had finding buyers for their PSLs — buyers who weren't just bidding as a publicity stunt, anyway — it'll be interesting to see if half-price tickets with a $5,000 down payment are any more 2009.