Some Opening-Day Ticket Stats

Got a nice email from Kim at the ticket marketplace Rukkus, offering ticket data that we might find useful. Here are some basic comparisons to get us started. Rukkus takes ticket-data requests, so let us know if there's any particular data you'd like to see.

Here's the data we compiled. Everything is based on secondary market ticket prices (sites like StubHub, VividSeats, Rukkus, etc). Enjoy!

Average ticket prices in the NL West
Giants = $96.43
Padres = $71.20
Diamondbacks = $64.85
Dodgers = $61.82
Rockies = $59.73

♦

Average ticket prices of California teams
Giants = $96.43
Athletics = $76.95
Angels = $64.23
Padres = $69.54
Dodgers = $61.82

♦

Min/max ticket prices for the 2015 Dodgers season
Minimum = $3.00
Maximum = $6,023.00

Thanks, Kim! As much as Dodger fans complain when the team raises ticket prices, it seems that the Dodgers are on the low end of the spectrum within the division as well as the state. But, as the last factoid shows, ticket prices for the better seats at Dodger Stadium can get expensive, fast. Expect that trend to continue with no end in sight to the Time-Warner debacle.

Dodgers-Diamondbacks Ticket Preview

A word from our ticket partners at TiqIQ:

Dodgers Tickets For Weekend Series vs DBacks 44% Below Season Average

The Los Angeles Dodgers will host the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-game series this weekend. Starting Friday night, fans looking to catch the Dodgers take on Paul Goldschmidt and the D-backs at Dodger Stadium will find below season average ticket prices on the secondary market. The Dodgers schedule has the two teams meeting seven times this year and Yasiel Puig and company will look to take as many games as they can from the divisional opponent Diamondbacks.

Arizona will look to end a six-game losing streak tonight in Los Angeles when Wade Miley takes the mound against Zack Greinke. The average price for Friday night's game is $67, which will mark the most expensive game of the series.

The average price for the Los Angeles Dodgers vs Arizona Diamondbacks tickets across the weekend will be $33. This is 44% lower than the seasonal average ticket price for when the D-backs visit Dodger Stadium, which is set at $58.95. The two teams opened the baseball season in Australia in late March, with the Dodgers sweeping the Diamondbacks in three games. The clubs have met once more since then and had similar results, as the Dodgers took three games from the Diamondbacks in Arizona last weekend.

Though this weekend’s series will not feature Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw on the mound, several seasoned veterans will step up and hope to maintain their perfect record against the D-backs this year. Saturday night will feature Dan Haren pitching for the Dodgers against his former team while the D-backs will introduce rookie Mike Bolsinger, who will be making his first big league start. Sunday afternoon’s game will include Dodger vet Josh Beckett going against reliever-turned-starter Josh Collmenter.

With power in their offense and an elite pitching staff, the Los Angeles Dodgers will be a threat in the National League this year. This weekend will mark the third time the Dodgers have faced the Diamondbacks, with Los Angeles taking each of the six games they’ve played so far.

Paul Goldschmidt and the Diamondbacks will look to salvage an already turbulent season this weekend against the Dodgers. The average ticket price for Saturday’s Dodgers vs Diamondbacks game is $45.03, but fans hoping to get to Dodger Stadium this weekend will find that Sunday’s game has the cheapest tickets of the series available on the secondary market, set at just an average of $19.

If the Dodgers continue playing like the championship caliber team that they are projected to be, fans will see great deals on tickets for this weekend’s series at Dodger Stadium.

Puig's Impact on the Dodgers Ticket Market

Thanks to our ticket partners at TiqIQ for this piece:

It’s been a rocky season so far for the Dodgers, but in the last three weeks prices for Dodgers tickets have gone up almost 90% since Yasiel Puig was called up. Despite that, when the Dodgers host the rival San Francisco Giants for a three-game set this week starting on Monday night ticket prices will be some of the cheapest Dodgers vs Giants tickets in years. Currently, tickets for this series are averaging just $41, 43% below the average price for Dodgers tickets this season at home. For each game the get-in price is very affordable, including $2 tickets for both the first (Bumgarner vs Ryu) and third game (Lincecum vs Kershaw) of the series, and $9 ticket for the middle game.

If you’d like to grab a couple seats of your own to this series or any MLB tickets, click on the links above or visit TiqIQ.com.

Excitement Abounds in Dodgerland...

Here's a message from our ticket partners at TiqIQ:

Excitement abounds in Dodgerland as ticket prices rise at historic rate

By Dan Groob, TiqIQ

It’s been three seasons since the Los Angeles Dodgers last made the playoffs. Mired in both bankruptcy court and divorce court during the final few years of Frank McCourt’s ownership, the team remained stagnant in perpetual mediocrity with little vision or regard for the future as well.

With Guggenheim Partners slated for their first full season of team control following their record $2.15 billion dollar purchase of the team, the future is now for the Dodgers. The roster has been quickly restocked with the type of high-profile high-salary players that you might expect from the baseball arm of a $170-billion dollar financial services firm, and fans are once again excited for Dodger baseball.

According to TiqIQ, the average price for Los Angeles Dodgers tickets at home this season is currently a staggering $182 dollars. This represents 237% percent increase from the 2012 average price of $54 dollars, one of the largest year-over-year increases that TiqIQ has encountered in their three-plus years of tracking secondary market ticket pricing data. Looking back to 2011, the team’s last season of McCourt ownership, the increase in average ticket price to this year has been an even more astronomical 323% percent.

The highest-priced series of the season is currently the August 23-25 series against the Boston Red Sox. Last season, new ownership made a trade deadline splash by acquiring an underperforming triumvirate of Red Sox mega-contracts composed of Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett. While Boston was ecstatic to shed the payroll, John Henry’s trash became Peter Gruber’s treasure and is serving to help ignite what was previously a dormant and rather apathetic fan base for a number of years. The average ticket price for this rare matchup of storied franchises checks in at a whopping $250 dollars, and it currently costs $23 dollars for the cheapest seat in the house. This series also contains the single highest priced game of the year at Chavez Ravine, which is the series opener on August 23rd currently priced at an average of $252 dollars.

The next two highest priced series of the season are divisional matchups against the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants, and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Both of these series take place down the September stretch, with the Diamondbacks coming to town on 9/9-9/11, and the Giants replacing them in the visitor’s locker room on 9/12 through 9/14. The Giants series out-prices the Diamondbacks series ever so slightly for the two-spot, at an average price of $236 versus $227 dollars.

Rounding out the top five most expensive series for Dodgers tickets of the season are the July 30-31 two game set against the New York Yankees, and the August 30-September 1 series against the San Diego Padres. When the Yankees come to town, it will mark just the third regular season series between these two teams that have met a record eleven times in the World Series. The average ticket for this series currently runs $226 dollars, but it is the cheap seats that have really skyrocketed for this matchup, with the cheapest seat in the house priced at $46 dollars. This is exactly double the price of the cheapest seat for the season’s most expensive game by average price, which is aforementioned $23 dollars for the 8/23 Boston game.

It is interesting to note the difference in ticket prices that a couple months can make. While the August 30-September 1 Padres series is the fifth most expensive series of the season at an average price of $222 dollars, the April 15-17 Padres series is actually the second cheapest at $103 dollars. The lowest priced series of the season pits the Dodgers against the Pittsburgh Pirates from April 5-7. Checking in $89 dollars, it is the only series all season with an average ticket price below the century mark. Rounding out the bottom three lowest priced series of the season, all of which take place in the season’s first month, will be the April 26-28 set against the Milwaukee Brewers at an average price of $123 dollars.

Remember, for the best deals on all MLB tickets throughout the season, visit TiqIQ.com.

Dodgers Unveil Tiered Ticket Pricing

From a Dodgers press release:

Single-game tickets for the Dodgers' 2013 regular season will go on sale Saturday, January 26 at 10:00 a.m. Fans will have the opportunity to purchase regular season single game tickets for all 81 home games including Angels, Yankees and Red Sox games at Dodger Stadium and on dodgers.com. A limited number of Opening Day tickets will be available. This marks the first time in several years in which the Dodgers have made all regular season home games available for purchase on a single-game basis.

The Dodgers' 2013 individual game pricing starts at $8 per ticket for One-Star games, $10 per ticket for Two-Star games, $20 for Three-Star games, and $30 per ticket for Four-Star games. Auto Gates A (Sunset) and E (Stadium Way) will open at 6:30 a.m. and fans are encouraged to come to Dodger Stadium to purchase single game tickets. Fans will receive wristbands as they enter Lot G to determine purchase order. Fans must obtain a wristband by 8:30 a.m. for a chance to purchase tickets for Opening Day. Opening Day at Dodger Stadium is Monday, April 1 at 1:10 p.m. versus the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants.

What's it all mean? Let's go to True Blue LA for the breakdown:

The tiers of games at Dodger Stadium is broken down as follows:

• Four-star (6 games): Tickets ranging from $30 to $160
  
• Three-star (26 games): $20 to $120
  
• Two-star (33 games): $10 to $115
  
• One-star (17 games): $8 to $100

The six four-star games are Apr. 1 against the Giants, July 30-31 against the Yankees, and Aug. 23-25 against the Red Sox.

The three-star games include five games against the Giants, including Apr. 3 during the opening series. There are eight Saturday home games in the three-star games, one Friday game (Sept. 13 vs. San Francisco) and one Sunday contest (May 12 against the Marlins). All 11 bobblehead games are three-star games.

The two-star contests include 11 Friday games, 10 Sunday games, and four Saturday games.

One of the one-star games is the lone home exhibition game against the Angels on Friday, Mar. 29. Another one-star game is Sunday, Sept. 1 against the Padres. The remaining one-star games are either Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.

More information on individual game tickets can be found here.

New Dodgers Owner Brings his 'Magic' to Chavez Ravine

Here's an article about ticket trends from our ticket partners at TiqIQ:

From 2010 to 2011, the Dodgers fell from third to 11th in the league in ticket sales, despite winning more games in the latter season. Revenue fell by an estimated $27 million dollars. With even fewer people showing up to the stadium than those buying tickets. In just one year, average attendance at Dodger Stadium had dropped from 43,979 to 36,236; the largest decline in baseball and lowest such figure for the team since 2000.

This past season, Dodgers tickets on the secondary market jumped in average-- from $45 to $49. Although there was no real improvement in the win column-- attendance bounced back up to fifth across baseball. This still pales in comparison to basketball in Los Angeles. At the start of the season, Lakers tickets averaged $362, while Clippers tickets averaged $123.

While some of the improvement in attendance can be chalked up to Dodgers playoff hopes lasting longer into the season as a result of the addition of a second wildcard spot, the real draw may have been something completely unrelated to baseball itself. Just as the 2012 season began, Guggenheim Baseball Partners closed on the purchase of the Dodgers for an unprecedented $2.15 billion dollars—the most expensive franchise sale in the history of pro sports. Among the partners is none other than Los Angeles legend, Magic Johnson.

A good barometer by which to judge Magic’s impact on the Dodgers would be to look at the A.L. team with which the Dodgers share their city. Despite the buzz around Pujols and young star Mike Trout, Angels attendance fell for the third consecutive season in 2012, and sixth time in the past seven years.

According to TiqIQ, the average Angels tickets on opening day last year cost $59 dollars. Currently, the average Angels ticket for opening day this year will cost $55 dollars. Conversely, the average Dodgers opening day ticket price has increased tremendously, from $49 to $77 dollars.

It becomes apparent that Magic in the owner’s box means more to L.A. fans than Hamilton in the outfield.

Great Opening Day Seats Still Available...

...if you feel like overpaying. I'm not even talking about brokers, either. Check out the single-ticket prices for the home opener, on sale now through Ticketmaster:

Top Deck

Left Field Pavilion

Lower Reserve
Those pictures are a tad misleading, because the prices pictured include some of the Ticketmaster fees. Set those aside, and you have:

• $30 for Top Deck, a 200% markup on the $10 base price.
  
• $35 for the LFP, a roughly 100% markup on the $17 base price.
  
• $45 for Lower Reserve, a 125% markup on the $20 base price.

That's NUTS. Is this new for 2012? The last Opening Day I bought individual tickets for was 2010, and those were priced the same as any other game. Is it common across baseball to gouge for Opening Day? Is this one last money grab for Frank on his way out the door?

It's also pretty sad that we're just a couple weeks away and there are still this many tickets available. The last thing this team's image needs is empty seats on Opening Day.

We Were Kinda Hoping For Tenth Or Eleventh, However

From "Dodgers tickets are going . . . cheap?" by Danny Knobler at CBSSports.com:

According to the website seatgeek.com, which tracks ticket prices on the secondary market, Dodger tickets are worth less this week than any other ticket in baseball. They're 30th out of 30. They're behind the Marlins, the Rays and the Pirates (although, actually, it's the Braves who are 29th).

The site says that tickets for Wednesday night's game against the Giants -- the arch-rival, world champion Giants -- can be had for as little as $8. The average ticket, it says, is going for just 46 percent of face value.

Don't know if it's apathy or an active repudiation of Frank McCourt, but does this mean Dodger fans are finally voting with their wallets? June is going to be an interesting month.

Ticket Prices Updated

Last year, with the help of SoSG reader Natalie, we presented Dodger ticket prices from 1992 to 2009 (with some gaps in between). Here's the information updated with 2010 prices. Enjoy the increasing complexity!

1992

1994

1996 (no change!)

1997

2000

2001 (no change!)

2002

2003

2004

2005

Dynamic Ticket Pricing Comes to Dodger Stadium

The Dodgers announced tickets would go on sale March 6, and Kevin Roderick of LA Observed has broken down this year's price changes:

• Friday & Saturday games will be $2-3 more expensive.
• The cheapest same-day ticket will be up $4 to $15.
• "And by dropping $20 off the rear rows on the field level (to $100) and the advance price for the all-you-can-eat seats in right field (by $5 to $30) the Dodgers are able to say the new adjustments only increase the average ticket price by 75 cents. In all, prices went up on about 35% of seats."
• Tickets to games against the Yankees are only available in packages.

That's okay, no one wants to see the Yankees play anyway. The Giants started dynamic ticket pricing last year, and it must have worked. Expect to hear nary a peep from Dodger fans as three million of them happily pay these new prices.

Related articles at SoSG:

• Did Free Parking Make a Difference?
• Dodger Stadium Ticket Prices: A Somewhat More Complete Retrospective (1992-2009)

Tim Lincecum Is an E-Ticket Ride

An example of dynamic ticket sizing.

SoSG EK advanced the idea last year: Why not charge different ticket prices for different ballpark experiences? And that's essentially what the Giants have been doing this season. From The New York Times (via Deadspin):

The San Francisco Giants are experimenting with a possible solution — software that weighs ticket sales data, weather forecasts, upcoming pitching matchups and other variables to help decide whether the team should raise or lower prices right up until game day.

The Giants are the first major league team to test the software, which some industry analysts say could transform the way teams adjust to the ebb and flow of the season, not unlike how airlines, hotels and rental car companies — which also use dynamic pricing — adjust to changes in the travel industry.

Many teams have various ticket prices for the same seats, altering the dollar amount based on the opponent, the day of the week and the time of the year, but those variations are set before the season and not altered. The Giants, by being more fluid, are taking the concept a step further.

(No word on whether the Giants will offer refunds when Brian Wilson pitches.)

Although SoSG Sax has called this practice the rabbit hole of "dynamic ticket pricing," it's difficult to justify charging the same price for a Monday game against the Nationals as for a weekend game versus the Cubs. But does it make sense for the Dodgers?

The Dodgers already have a successful fixed-rate model with their All-You-Can-Eat options, but their increasingly complex ticket pricing scheme can be intimidating to the uninitiated. And those potential ticket buyers represent a large market that needs to be wooed with two things: a simpler pricing plan and cheaper tickets.

One advantage the team would reap from the variable model would be the ability to promote lower "get into the stadium" prices. The Dodgers currently charge the seventh-most expensive ticket in the majors at $29.66. But as recently as 2006, walk-up tickets cost as little as $6 ($4 for children under 12). It would be a marketing coup to be able to say that again.

So all eyes will be on the Giants' ticket sales throughout this season. Will the Dodgers see anything that could improve their ticket pricing structure, or will 2010 see the continuation of promotions like Mannywood and Dodgertown? Stay tuned.

Dodger Stadium Ticket Prices: A Somewhat More Complete Retrospective

So I found some old Dodger schedules lying around and thought I'd take a look at recent ticket price increases (note: Frank McCourt purchased the Dodgers in 2004).

UPDATE:

Thanks to my new favorite SoSG reader Natalie for contributing scans for 2004, 2005 and 2007. We're collecting them all!

UPDATE:

Hoarders unite! I dug deep and found pocket schedules for 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1997.

1992

1994

1996 (no change!)

1997

2000

2001 (no change!)

2002

2003

2004

2005

While the Dodgers have wisely decided not to raise ticket prices this year, don't expect the same courtesy in 2010. Hey, someone's got to pay for Manny and Camelback Ranch.

Got info that will fill in missing years? Send it in!

Dodgers Rank First On Forbes' "Most Vulnerable Ticket Prices" List

Frank McCourt, master of the ticket (and parking!) price increase: heed this warning! The Dodgers are the most vulnerable professional sports franchise, relative to its recent ticket price increases and the city's economic projections on unemployment and income levels:

It’s generally been true that sports’ biggest appeal is the escape it provides people from the real world, which many are willing to pay for. That’s made the industry better equipped than most to weather any downturn.

But there are limits. It’s clear that some pro teams are anticipating a tough year ahead, the solution for which may be cutting back ticket prices or losing sales. But some markets are in worse shape than others. Which teams around the country are most vulnerable to a fan base with income that isn’t keeping pace with the recent run-ups in ticket prices?

A look at the numbers would suggest that baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees and Mets are good candidates. So are the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers.

Why these teams? All are at or near the top of their respective leagues in ticket-price increases over the past three years. Combine that with each city’s 2009 economic prognosis for unemployment and income, and it’s tough to see current ticket prices being sustained much longer. The Dodgers, for example, have jacked up the average cost of a game 44 percent since 2005, to $229 for a family of four, according to Team Marketing Report’s Fan Cost Index. Meanwhile, Moody’s Economy.com projects unemployment in the L.A. metro area will increase by two percentage points by the end of next year, to about 10 percent.

Make sure you go to the bottom and click on the link for the slideshow. Is that Dodger fan (with a handful of tickets in hand) smiling, or weeping?

Dodgers Introduce "Olmedo Saenz Pavilion" in Right Field

"Better get a bucket."

With the death of the ill-conceived Dodgers Rewards program, I thought Drew McCourt and his ridiculous "marketing" ideas were finally put to pasture--but now this news: a change for the right field pavilion to become an all-you-can-eat pavilion for 2007. For the low price of $40, fans can sit in the right field pavilion and gorge themselves on hot dogs, peanuts, and soda. To the Dodgers' credit, beer is not included in the deal, as beer has not been sold in the pavilion for some time now.

But the credit stops there, as it is obviously more important to the McCourts to promote gluttony than offer inexpensive options for fans and families to come see the Dodgers. America's national obesity epidemic aside, turning the right field pavilion into a Carnival cruise ship dining hall is no more than the McCourts' plan to raise ticket prices even further, from $10/seat to $40/seat.

And while everyone is distracted by the sight of a pavilion full of fatties, the McCourts went ahead and raised the price of the top-deck seats to $10 from $6. Now, if you want to see the Dodgers, it is going to cost you at least $10 to get in the stadium.

What is this ticket price hike for, Frank? Wider turnstile aisles (because we'll need them)?

Instead of fattening people up for the slaughter, why not improve the quality or variety of the food available in the stadium?

Or stop trying to convince us that Panda Express "is Chinese for yummy", when it's actually neither (it's in English, and it's disgusting).

Or how about you make good on your pledge to reduce the length of the interminable-wait (note: I did not say "interminable weight) concession lines?

Dodgers' Increase in Ticket Prices, Part 3

Earlier today, SoSG posted the difference in salaries between players lost this year (2006 combined salaries: $43.7M) and players gained in this offseason (2007 combined salaries: $37.5M). By this math, Frank McCourt should still have about $6M dollars to spend on other players, just to come up to par with the salaries of those lost.

But wait, he's also raising season ticket prices for 2007. And how much money will that bring in? At the LOW end, this comes out to an increase of 14%. Given attendance last year of 3,758,421 and an average ticket price of $20.09 last year, the Dodgers took in $75.5M in gate revenue alone. (Yes, some of this amount is split with the visiting team; however, the Dodgers always pull in crowds on the road, so for this exercise I've called it a wash.)

Adding another 14% to ticket prices, and Frank McCourt could spend another $10.6M just from incremental gate revenues alone. Add 40% (the top end of the ticket hike range), and there's another $30M to spend on other players. Heck, take $10M and put it toward a remedial math class at SMCC for Drew McCourt--that still would leave $20M that the Dodgers could spend toward Barry Zito or Manny Ramirez.

Frank McCourt, put your money where your mouth is. If you're going to pillage the Dodgers' best supporters, the fans, you can at least put that money back into the team lineup. Santa needs to bring us a power bat this Christmas.

Dodgers' Increase in Ticket Prices, Part 2

The Dodgers announced this week that season ticket prices were going up on most pacakges by an increase of 14% to 40%. Given that they doubled the prices of some tickets for the 2006 season, the rapid inflation is both annoying and painful, and at least should give some pause for reflection.

SoSG made the point earlier that this was the cost of the new Juan Pierre era. But I wanted to take a quick back-of-the-envelope look at salaries of the players lost this year, versus the salaries of the new players coming in next year, to see why McCourt is sticking it to the fans.

Losses (’06 salary)	Holds	Additions (’07 salary)
Drew -$11M	Garciaparra	Schmidt +$15M*
Gagne -$10M	Saito	Wolf +$8M
Maddux -$9M	R Martinez	Pierre +$7.5M
Lugo -$5M		Gonzalez +$7M
Lofton -3.5M		Lieberthal +1.1M
Cruz Jr. -$3M
Hall -$2.2M

So we've shed seven players whose combined salaries were $43.7M in 2006, and we have signed five players whose combined 2007 salaries will be $37.5M. (Schmidt is earning $12M in 2007 but we have a balloon payment of $10M as a signing bonus at the end of this three-year contract, so I added $3M for good measure.) Numbers also do not include incentive bonuses; it's otherwise pure salaries.

Now I know this is pretty crude arithmetic, since some of the new Dodgers were signed to contracts which have increasing salaries over their terms. But given that the offseason market is a rich one (as every player lost got a salary increase), isn't it odd that we are paying less in 2007 salaries than we had in 2006? I mean, I have read that our payroll went from $98M last year to an estimated $114M this year, which I get. But the fuzzy math of just looking how the 2007 lineup changed from the 2006 cast certainly doesn't seem to merit the increase in ticket prices.