2018 Season Tickets

[jglicksm]

Can't confirm if this is real or not first hand, but Andrew Stoeten who I trust has indicated to me that he has been forwarded a copy of a renewal email and it looks the same, so this is probably legitimate.

 

Part of me is baffled that ticket prices are going up (17% for my 500 level seats) considering the performances on the field, how many people seem to plan not to renew (based on Twitter and forums) and how poorly tickets are performing on the secondary market. Part of me also looks at it and says north of 3,000,000 tickets have been/will be sold for 2017 and they raised prices last year without hurting season ticket enrolment (in fact it increases).

 

Who else has Jays season tickets? Will this impact your decision to renew?

 

Here is a link to a Reddit thread that has the new price grids. I'm not sophisticated enough to embed (especially from my phone), so if you know how feel free to put the images up below!

 

[ChrisS]

They are out to lunch. I have good seats (for 500 lvl, 521 row 7) and Ive had trouble moving my tickets. I advertise them on facebook and kijiji yet have only been able to sell about 60% of them. If you factor in my time Ive lost about $2000 on seats that cost me $3000 for a pair. I suspect many 500 lvl season ticket holders have had it worse than me... I mean who the hell is buying sec 515 seats when they can buy 520-528 for under face on the secondary market. I expect them to lose a large percentage of 500 lvl season ticket holders. I dont think there are any corporate STH in the 500 lvl, just regular folk. Combine what happened this season with another increase in prices and I dont know who would want to renew.

The only way I would consider renewing is if they offer me 524 row 1-3.

[jglicksm]

I think you are absolutely right in your post.

 

I'm 524B row 1. Once I get the renewal email I will feel out my season ticket share partners. If not enough interest and I need more people you could possibly join us. I've moved to Boston but I'm back a lot and love my seats... hard to give up row 1 even if the team tanks for a few years. I still expect I will get to 10-15 games next year.

 

 

They are out to lunch. I have good seats (for 500 lvl, 521 row 7) and Ive had trouble moving my tickets. I advertise them on facebook and kijiji yet have only been able to sell about 60% of them. If you factor in my time Ive lost about $2000 on seats that cost me $3000 for a pair. I suspect many 500 lvl season ticket holders have had it worse than me... I mean who the hell is buying sec 515 seats when they can buy 520-528 for under face on the secondary market. I expect them to lose a large percentage of 500 lvl season ticket holders. I dont think there are any corporate STH in the 500 lvl, just regular folk. Combine what happened this season with another increase in prices and I dont know who would want to renew.

The only way I would consider renewing is if they offer me 524 row 1-3.

[jglicksm]

By the way- the way the email appears to be worded,it doesn't look like you can upgrade before you renew. This also makes sense because the renewal period needs to end before they can move anyone into seats that are given up for next year. If the rows/sections you want do pop up and you haven't renewed I can't see them charging you the early renewal fee so it would cost even more for next year.

 

They are out to lunch. I have good seats (for 500 lvl, 521 row 7) and Ive had trouble moving my tickets. I advertise them on facebook and kijiji yet have only been able to sell about 60% of them. If you factor in my time Ive lost about $2000 on seats that cost me $3000 for a pair. I suspect many 500 lvl season ticket holders have had it worse than me... I mean who the hell is buying sec 515 seats when they can buy 520-528 for under face on the secondary market. I expect them to lose a large percentage of 500 lvl season ticket holders. I dont think there are any corporate STH in the 500 lvl, just regular folk. Combine what happened this season with another increase in prices and I dont know who would want to renew.

The only way I would consider renewing is if they offer me 524 row 1-3.

[ChrisS]

I think you are absolutely right in your post.

 

I'm 524B row 1. Once I get the renewal email I will feel out my season ticket share partners. If not enough interest and I need more people you could possibly join us. I've moved to Boston but I'm back a lot and love my seats... hard to give up row 1 even if the team tanks for a few years. I still expect I will get to 10-15 games next year.

The problem is I dont even use my seats. I bought them to support the team and to get access to playoff tickets. I was expecting to make most of my money back and not be able to sell only a small percentage of my seats, at which point I would just give them away. I used to sit in the 500 lvl all the time but starting buying off stubhub just before game time and getting 100 lvl infield.

Ive been spoiled to the point that I dont enjoy sitting up in the 500s, I would rather spend 2-4x and sit close.

It would be hard to give up 524 row 1 though. I suspect those seats will always be in demand.

[CrackerJack]

Well, I clearly was wrong...thinking that there wouldn't be yet another year of significant across the board price increases during (what looks like) a disappointing season. My premium dugout seats go up 17%.

[Brownie19]

The problem is I dont even use my seats. I bought them to support the team and to get access to playoff tickets. I was expecting to make most of my money back and not be able to sell only a small percentage of my seats, at which point I would just give them away. I used to sit in the 500 lvl all the time but starting buying off stubhub just before game time and getting 100 lvl infield.

Ive been spoiled to the point that I dont enjoy sitting up in the 500s, I would rather spend 2-4x and sit close.

It would be hard to give up 524 row 1 though. I suspect those seats will always be in demand.

 

That is the problem man. I don't think the Jays should give 2 f***s about people who buy season tickets simply to try and make money selling them on the secondary market. You're basically complaining that the Jays are raising prices and making it difficult for you to profit off their tickets. That's f***ed up.

[jglicksm]

I know what you mean. This season on weekend games I was able to buy (on StubHub) tickets in the 100s just before the site closed off same day sales for less than the face value of my own season tickets. In these cases I just did the upgrade and gave my 500 level tickets to friends for free and everyone was happy (except the person on the other end of the stubhub transaction). I still love my row 1s enough to keep them for my trips back to toronto... they are still relatively cheap and good value all things considered. I like the mybluejays program and have taken advantage of it. I also think access to perks will improve as STHs drop out since there will be less competition for the limited space events. If I had row 3 or higher I almost certainly would walk away, though, even if I lived in Toronto. 3 people I share with have already said they'd be upset if I bailed on the row 1s since I can't transfer the season tickets to them.

 

The problem is I dont even use my seats. I bought them to support the team and to get access to playoff tickets. I was expecting to make most of my money back and not be able to sell only a small percentage of my seats, at which point I would just give them away. I used to sit in the 500 lvl all the time but starting buying off stubhub just before game time and getting 100 lvl infield.

Ive been spoiled to the point that I dont enjoy sitting up in the 500s, I would rather spend 2-4x and sit close.

It would be hard to give up 524 row 1 though. I suspect those seats will always be in demand.

[CrackerJack]

the Jays are going to draw, what? ... 3.2 or 3.3M fans this season?

 

anybody wanna hazard a guess what that'll be next season with ... less Jays' optimism overall ... price increases ... and the Maple Leafs potentially playing for a few more weeks in the Spring?

 

#culltheherd

[ChrisS]

That is the problem man. I don't think the Jays should give 2 f***s about people who buy season tickets simply to try and make money selling them on the secondary market. You're basically complaining that the Jays are raising prices and making it difficult for you to profit off their tickets. That's f***ed up.

 

Who said anything about profit?? Out of 81 games, 79 are priced at or below face value. Did you miss the point where I stated I bought them to support the team. Outside of TD comfort and some sections of the 100 lvl, no one is turning profit.

 

Do you expect people to go to 81 games a year? I went to 30 last year and its alot of work, driving in traffic and sweating your ass off up there.

[jglicksm]

Brownie19- I agree the Jays shouldn't care about cutting into reseller's profit margin. I think we read ChrisS's post differently, though. It sounds like he didn't buy to resell, but rather to access the perks of being a season ticket holder and now has realized he is better off on the secondary market (better seats for not much more money, or in some cases less money for better seats) so why renew? I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt. Your point about people buying to flip is well-taken and I agree with that per though.

 

That is the problem man. I don't think the Jays should give 2 f***s about people who buy season tickets simply to try and make money selling them on the secondary market. You're basically complaining that the Jays are raising prices and making it difficult for you to profit off their tickets. That's f***ed up.

[burlingtonbandit]

That's not even that much of an increase. When you factor minimum wage going up the amount they are saying then that increases their costs a ton and it's going to come out of someone's pocket..

 

Like I said before they actually make more money selling single game tickets vs season ticket holders. And now that the number is so big they've decreased s lot of perks so perhaps with a lower number they will bring some of them back.

[jglicksm]

Except that it is the third year in a row of hikes and my seats are more than double the cost of 2015 which is 2 years ago/ 3 seasons ago. And in 2016 and prior we got $200 back in the way of a gift card for renewing early. Plus the perks/expirences have diminished.

 

Last year the weakening Canadian dollar was sited as major factor. Now the Canadian dollar is 10% better and showing signs of further rebound. When you consider that their main expenses are in USD and that is the currency supposedly used as a barometer the price increases are even more substantial.

 

 

That's not even that much of an increase. When you factor minimum wage going up the amount they are saying then that increases their costs a ton and it's going to come out of someone's pocket..

 

Like I said before they actually make more money selling single game tickets vs season ticket holders. And now that the number is so big they've decreased s lot of perks so perhaps with a lower number they will bring some of them back.

[CrackerJack]

smallest crowd this season - 29k

smallest, next season? ... 19k?

[burlingtonbandit]

Except that it is the third year in a row of hikes and my seats are more than double the cost of 2015 which is 2 years ago/ 3 seasons ago. And in 2016 and prior we got $200 back in the way of a gift card for renewing early. Plus the perks/expirences have diminished.

 

Last year the weakening Canadian dollar was sited as major factor. Now the Canadian dollar is 10% better and showing signs of further rebound. When you consider that their main expenses are in USD and that is the currency supposedly used as a barometer the price increases are even more substantial.

 

Currency thing was always a lame excuse. They make a ton of money in USD so the effect it had wasn't nearly as much as people would think if they just looked at player salaries. Obviously its a factor but I think it was blown out of proportion. However if you look at the prices for infield seats and compare them around the league its actually still pretty cheap.

 

I do agree the perks have sucked this year and that is disappointing given how there are so many things they could do that they just don't or try to make you pay for it with those stupid points things. If you are going to increase prices you should at least not take away a lot of the benefits which they did. And to advertise the autograph session as a perk and then say there is a lottery for it where you have to pay with points.. Kind of a slap in the face.

[burlingtonbandit]

smallest crowd this season - 29k

smallest, next season? ... 19k?

 

I don't think 1/3 of the STH go away in one offseason because of prices being raised 7-12%. People will want to hold on to their tickets because once the Jays become good again its going to be the hottest ticket in town once again.

[CrackerJack]

I don't think 1/3 of the STH go away in one offseason because of prices being raised 7-12%. People will want to hold on to their tickets because once the Jays become good again its going to be the hottest ticket in town once again.

 

how many seats would you guess are currently held by STHs?

 

if prices are going up 7-17% for season tickets, then there'll be some kind of corresponding increase for fans who buy flex packs and individual game tickets and so I don't think a 10k drop in attendance for those less desirable weeknight April/May games in 2018 is unrealistic.

[jaysblue]

I don't think 1/3 of the STH go away in one offseason because of prices being raised 7-12%. People will want to hold on to their tickets because once the Jays become good again its going to be the hottest ticket in town once again.

 

It's Toronto. We both know fans here hop on and off the bandwagon in a heartbeat.

[jglicksm]

I agree that people won't go away because of the increase. The increase is going to be icing on the cake. One of the problems we haven't touched in this forum with respect to brokers is the neighbor effect (pardon me for just making up this name). People don't like knowing the person next to them spent less for the same seats which has been happening all year due to the collapse of the resale market. Why renew for 81 games when you know the person next to you only had to buy the 5 games they wanted (or 10 or 15 or 20) and your neighbor paid less than you for 80% of games? Top that off with the pessimism of the fan base re 2018 success (personally I think they're more likely to do better in 2018 than to do worse or the same, but I could see how an argument to the contrary could be made).

 

Personally I know at least 8 people that have season tickets. About half of them got them new this year because they figured the Jays make the playoffs and they feared missing out on tickets again. They've regretted it since April. Unless you have tickets that are the best in your section it is a lot of work to move the ones you can't use. Even with my row 1s they soemetimes go unused. I've donated a bunch of tickets this year which I actually like doing (I did last year too, but it was premeditated whereas this year a lot has been tickets nobody wanted). So many games in baseball means most people use less than half their games. In a good year it is hard to get rid of 40+ games. This year has been a bad one and people are hurting. If it has been bad for me with first row 500s I can only imagine the experience for others.

 

If you look at other forums, twitter, blogs, etc... the overriding sentiment I have seen is that a lot of people weren't planning to renew regardless of price. This is the cherry on top.

 

 

I don't think 1/3 of the STH go away in one offseason because of prices being raised 7-12%. People will want to hold on to their tickets because once the Jays become good again its going to be the hottest ticket in town once again.

[G-Snarls]

[G-Snarls]

I don't know how they think the market will bear that kind of an increase so rapidly

[jaysblue]

I don't know how they think the market will bear that kind of an increase so rapidly

 

It's a pretty big jump over the last two seasons. Even my Raptors season seats haven't jumped that much after their success the past couple of years.

[BillBucknorslegs]

I don't know how they think the market will bear that kind of an increase so rapidly

 

This is the wrong move I think for many reasons.

 

i) Timing. They just couldn't have done this at a worse time; the team is hurting, players are regressing or ageing and the season is lost.

 

ii) Shatkins has not had time to really put their stamp on the team yet. To this point, this is still largely AA's team and we have not yet seen what Shatkins can do to change the direction of the franchise/turn things around/push things forward. We may believe that Shatkins is moving things in a positive direction, but try telling that to the fans who are seeing basically the same team from 2015 fall near to 10 games under .500 and disappear under the waves.

 

iii) Lack of a farm system/spending on significant names in the free agent market. Again, this goes back to timing - we don't know yet what Shatkins will do in the next off season or the names we will bid on, but fans will use this last off season as a barometer (probably wrongly) and this will not exactly imbue them with a sense of confidence given the performance of the squad this season. Worse, every commentator under the sun has been bemoaning the basic truth that our best prospects are in A ball and even the casuals have had time to process/understand this and so it will be almost impossible to sell them on hope.

 

iv) The Jays are already battling with the Raptors as the big ticket in town, but the Leafs are on the up and the Raptors may soon be facing a significantly weakened Cavaliers team. This will not stop a lot of the fan base who come in from out of town but these increases are aimed at some of the most dedicated and loyal fans that the team has which, ultimately, may not be the savviest business move.

 

I know many here will justify this based on the cost of living or the cost of the exchange rate or even to provide some extra funds for spending on the squad, but unfortunately I tend to think this is a move borne more out of greed and desperation given that some fans may be disappearing, than any sound business plan. We shall see.

[CrackerJack]

I agree that people won't go away because of the increase. The increase is going to be icing on the cake. One of the problems we haven't touched in this forum with respect to brokers is the neighbor effect (pardon me for just making up this name). People don't like knowing the person next to them spent less for the same seats which has been happening all year due to the collapse of the resale market. Why renew for 81 games when you know the person next to you only had to buy the 5 games they wanted (or 10 or 15 or 20) and your neighbor paid less than you for 80% of games? Top that off with the pessimism of the fan base re 2018 success (personally I think they're more likely to do better in 2018 than to do worse or the same, but I could see how an argument to the contrary could be made).

 

Personally I know at least 8 people that have season tickets. About half of them got them new this year because they figured the Jays make the playoffs and they feared missing out on tickets again. They've regretted it since April. Unless you have tickets that are the best in your section it is a lot of work to move the ones you can't use. Even with my row 1s they soemetimes go unused. I've donated a bunch of tickets this year which I actually like doing (I did last year too, but it was premeditated whereas this year a lot has been tickets nobody wanted). So many games in baseball means most people use less than half their games. In a good year it is hard to get rid of 40+ games. This year has been a bad one and people are hurting. If it has been bad for me with first row 500s I can only imagine the experience for others.

 

If you look at other forums, twitter, blogs, etc... the overriding sentiment I have seen is that a lot of people weren't planning to renew regardless of price. This is the cherry on top.

 

yeah, diminishing optimism/excitement for the 2018 team will be (I think) the main reason for fewer tickets being sold.

 

for the recent mid-week 4 gamer against two last place teams, the average crowd at Rogers Centre was 42+! (and these were so-called category "C" games.)

 

safe to say these tickets to see the Jays & A's were presold long long ago when there was still a buzz around the team.

[CrackerJack]

I agree that people won't go away because of the increase. The increase is going to be icing on the cake. One of the problems we haven't touched in this forum with respect to brokers is the neighbor effect (pardon me for just making up this name). People don't like knowing the person next to them spent less for the same seats which has been happening all year due to the collapse of the resale market. Why renew for 81 games when you know the person next to you only had to buy the 5 games they wanted (or 10 or 15 or 20) and your neighbor paid less than you for 80% of games? Top that off with the pessimism of the fan base re 2018 success (personally I think they're more likely to do better in 2018 than to do worse or the same, but I could see how an argument to the contrary could be made).

 

Personally I know at least 8 people that have season tickets. About half of them got them new this year because they figured the Jays make the playoffs and they feared missing out on tickets again. They've regretted it since April. Unless you have tickets that are the best in your section it is a lot of work to move the ones you can't use. Even with my row 1s they soemetimes go unused. I've donated a bunch of tickets this year which I actually like doing (I did last year too, but it was premeditated whereas this year a lot has been tickets nobody wanted). So many games in baseball means most people use less than half their games. In a good year it is hard to get rid of 40+ games. This year has been a bad one and people are hurting. If it has been bad for me with first row 500s I can only imagine the experience for others.

 

If you look at other forums, twitter, blogs, etc... the overriding sentiment I have seen is that a lot of people weren't planning to renew regardless of price. This is the cherry on top.

 

Re the neighbour effect

 

How much of that has to do with the Jays now having an official partnership with StubHub?

 

Before, to resell tickets, one had to take some initiative to set up that stuff online (which hardcore oldtime fans probably didn't bother with.)

 

But now, the new regime has turned every STH into a potential "scalper" by encouraging them, and making it so easy for them, to list their tickets on StubHub ... and so oldtimers, who never before entertained the idea of reselling their seats online, are now tempted to do so with a simple click from their Blue Jays account.

[jaysblue]

Re the neighbour effect

 

How much of that has to do with the Jays now having an official partnership with StubHub?

 

Before, to resell tickets, one had to take some initiative to set up that stuff online (which hardcore oldtime fans probably didn't bother with.)

 

But now, the new regime has turned every STH into a potential "scalper" by encouraging them, and making it so easy for them, to list their tickets on StubHub ... and so oldtimers, who never before entertained the idea of reselling their seats online, are now tempted to do so with a simple click from their Blue Jays account.

 

MLSE does the same thing except with Ticketmaster Resale. On my MLSE account, you just click one button and set your price to list your tickets.

[burlingtonbandit]

how many seats would you guess are currently held by STHs?

 

if prices are going up 7-17% for season tickets, then there'll be some kind of corresponding increase for fans who buy flex packs and individual game tickets and so I don't think a 10k drop in attendance for those less desirable weeknight April/May games in 2018 is unrealistic.

 

Tickets wise I'd say 21-25K but I'm really just guessing. While you hear a lot of people in the online community talking about not renewing their season tickets that is a really small % of the Season Ticket base. I think it goes down but not to the extent some people are talking about.

[burlingtonbandit]

I agree that people won't go away because of the increase. The increase is going to be icing on the cake. One of the problems we haven't touched in this forum with respect to brokers is the neighbor effect (pardon me for just making up this name). People don't like knowing the person next to them spent less for the same seats which has been happening all year due to the collapse of the resale market. Why renew for 81 games when you know the person next to you only had to buy the 5 games they wanted (or 10 or 15 or 20) and your neighbor paid less than you for 80% of games? Top that off with the pessimism of the fan base re 2018 success (personally I think they're more likely to do better in 2018 than to do worse or the same, but I could see how an argument to the contrary could be made).

 

Personally I know at least 8 people that have season tickets. About half of them got them new this year because they figured the Jays make the playoffs and they feared missing out on tickets again. They've regretted it since April. Unless you have tickets that are the best in your section it is a lot of work to move the ones you can't use. Even with my row 1s they soemetimes go unused. I've donated a bunch of tickets this year which I actually like doing (I did last year too, but it was premeditated whereas this year a lot has been tickets nobody wanted). So many games in baseball means most people use less than half their games. In a good year it is hard to get rid of 40+ games. This year has been a bad one and people are hurting. If it has been bad for me with first row 500s I can only imagine the experience for others.

 

If you look at other forums, twitter, blogs, etc... the overriding sentiment I have seen is that a lot of people weren't planning to renew regardless of price. This is the cherry on top.

 

Toronto has a ton of people who are just average joes that scalp tickets online on places like Kijiji etc.. I don't think the Blue Jays care too much about those people not renewing their tickets tbh. Like I mentioned before one of the biggest reasons why the secondary market is so low because there are just too many tickets out there. Will be interesting if the Blue Jays cut off brokers this offseason.

 

Honestly I hope people don't renew their tickets and that I'll have a chance to upgrade mine lol. While I might lose a few $ in 2018 and maybe 2019 selling my extras when the Blue Jays get good again all the season tickets will once again be scooped up and then the seat locations will suck.

[Jonn]

Isn't the pay rate going up and this basically on par with that?

[burlingtonbandit]

Isn't the pay rate going up and this basically on par with that?

 

Its actually going up higher. $11.40 to $14 in January. That's over 20%. f***ing Liberals and Wynne...