O's to charge extra for tickets purchased on game day

[SilentJames]

Just plan to buy tickets. I have to, living 100 miles away. It takes what... 5 minutes to buy tickets? Just plan the day before and save the money.

All this talk of mutiny and swashbuckling is rather stupid.

Well, living in the city I can tell you that on at least 12 occasions last year my friends and I would just go to the game on the spur of the moment.

Being penalized for that is kind of silly. Now, will an extra dollar really stop us from doing that? Most likely not, but it still sucks.

[Sports Guy]

I am not sure if you have numbers to back that up but as someone who does walk up I can tell you that for selected games (Friday and Saturday) there has been a long line in walk up. If you get there after 6PM for a 7:05 game you wait a while. The line stretches aroung the Museum

I worked down there, in ticket sales, including day of game in the booths.

So, yes I know.

[SilentJames]

See it's this attitude that allows the Orioles to get away with an inferior product.

James you are so gung-ho that the Orioles could go with a AA-AAA team and you'd be cheering them on.

They are taking advantage of your fandom, and you are letting them walk all over you.

Fans have the right to hold the team accountable for their actions or lack there of. But as long as people keep buying and supporting what the Orioles are selling with no questions asked, they have no motivation to improve or deviate from what they are putting on the field for you to watch.

Oh please, get over yourself with this self righteous "I won't let them walk all over ME" attitude. God I hate that.

You spend more time here then I do there, Skippy. You are paying money to do nothing but complain about the Orioles. Meanwhile, I pay the Orioles my money and every time I go to the game with my friends and the people that are close to me I have a fantastic time, win or lose.

I want a winner just as much as any one else here. So please dump the condescending attitude.

[SilentJames]

I worked down there, in ticket sales, including day of game in the booths.

So, yes I know.

You're right SG. On a big walk-up night we are talking what, maybe a couple thousand? Maybe?

[Frobby]

No they could not. The Baltimore area can not afford $40-50 ticket average. It can not happen, the economic base of the Baltimore area could not support that. Everything in NewYork is more expensive: The Bus, the hotdogs, the subway, the sodas, the bigmacs, the housing, the suits EVERYTHING.

If you honestly think that the Baltimore area could support a team that charged an average of $40-50 a game for 81 games well then I suggest some reading for you:

Principles of Economics, 4th edition

This really does speak to the heart of your entire argument about the Orioles offseason and player acquisition strategy. You think that the Baltimore area's economic base can actively support something that it simply can not.

Do the Orioles need to spend more, yes. Can they spend to the level that they could actively charge more than $40 bucks for an average ticket - not a chance. Not on any type of longterm basis.

I agree with you. I make a good living and I could afford a ticket hike like that, but there are many diehard Baltimore fans who couldn't.

[Lucky Jim]

I'd rather pay more to watch a winning team. Watching the Orioles lose is not entertaining.

If they added the talent to justify it, yeah they could.

Had the Orioles signed say Teixeira, Holliday and Lackey, you bet they could justify a huge price hike.

And people would pay it because they'd be excited to watch a winning team.

So it comes down to what you want to watch. I'd rather pay 50 bucks a ticket to watch a talented winning team, than $10-15 to watch an inconsistent losing one.

And I'm sure a lot of people feel the same. You've got to spend money to make money.

Then please stop watching.

See it's this attitude that allows the Orioles to get away with an inferior product.

James you are so gung-ho that the Orioles could go with a AA-AAA team and you'd be cheering them on.

They are taking advantage of your fandom, and you are letting them walk all over you.

Fans have the right to hold the team accountable for their actions or lack there of. But as long as people keep buying and supporting what the Orioles are selling with no questions asked, they have no motivation to improve or deviate from what they are putting on the field for you to watch.

This is the most ironic discussion ever. Seeing as JTrea doesn't actually watch the team play. Because he won't shell out money for MLB.TV.

When you pay money, Trea, then people will listen to your shabby economic analysis.

On the topic of the OP, I can't believe people are complaining about this. A insignificant raise with a built-in workaround? I mean, you don't even have to pay the increase is you buy in advance.

[Sports Guy]

You're right SG. On a big walk-up night we are talking what, maybe a couple thousand? Maybe?

Right...When I worked down there, the Orioles set a walk up record with like 4000 sold..on a memorial day.

That has since been beaten but it usually is a few thousand at most.

The Orioles usually get about the same walk up and group sales every year...The difference is almost always season ticket sales.

[Frobby]

Right...When I worked down there, the Orioles set a walk up record with like 4000 sold..on a memorial day.

That has since been beaten but it usually is a few thousand at most.

The Orioles usually get about the same walk up and group sales every year...The difference is almost always season ticket sales.

This is the one subject where SG actually knows what he's talking about!

I think if the team was better, you might see more walk-up, though.

[UMDTerrapins]

FWIW, Camden Yards is a relatively cheap place to see a ball game. Last year the average ticket price was $23.42, compared to the MLB average $26.64. Also, the "Fan Cost Index," which measure the cost of taking a family of four and feeding them, parking, etc. was $163.68, 10th lowest in MLB and well below the major league average of $196.89. By way of comparison, the Nats' average price is $30.63 and the FCI is $215.52. http://teammarketing.com.ismmedia.com/ISM3/std-content/repos/Top/Fan%20Cost%20Index/MLB/MLB%20FCI%2009.pdf

This is good info, thanks for posting. It's a little comforting to see that our ticket prices are slotted somewhat proportionally to our geographic and socioeconomic stature in MLB.

My argument (which is a loser by nature of being theoretical and having no data for support) is that abiding by MLB norms for determining ticket pricing and policy is limited in vision.

I believe in the nature of markets, supply and demand, peaks and valleys. Pullbacks, recessions, troughs, are correcting mechanisms. They force the finding of new efficiencies and better management. Similarly, bull markets and booming entities promote inefficiency, waste and unsustainable practices. Both ends of the cycles need to happen.

A decade of losing forced Peter Angelos to change his practices in running the organization. The result is a change that has produced reason for optimism. It's unfortunate that losing for so long was required to inspire the changes, but it did prove to be a correcting mechanism.

On to my point. The empty seats we have had in increasing numbers these past years have, by conventional wisdom, been a snowballing negative. Less demand, less revenue, less means financially to improve the team to bring fans back. But in the nature of supply in demand, we have not adjusted properly, and adding costs to tickets works contrary to the opportunity that comes in self correction. Empty seats and diminishing demand create an opportunity to expand your reach by lowering prices on non-premium seating. Reach out to the economic demographics that you priced out of the stadium in the 90's when attendance was roaring. This trough is an opportunity to expand interest in the Orioles. Use these lean years to bring back the lower income fans. Even at $1 tickets for the nose bleeds, you are putting people in the seats, increasing concession sales, and making the experience a louder and more exciting experience. And you're doing something that brings the community back into the picture. And when the next boom cycle hits, yeah, that demographic will be squeezed again. But not reaching out is a lost opportunity to self correct and expand your markets.

To me, it sounds like we are just following the herd with our ticket policy. I think being in our division, while competing with others who have so much more, following the herd is the best way to assure mediocrity. We have to have a little vision, some common sense, and be better at what we do. This is none of that.

[Sports Guy]

This is the one subject where SG actually knows what he's talking about!

I think if the team was better, you might see more walk-up, though.

Which puts me one up on everyone else here!

[Arthorn]

Is there any way to avoid paying a service fee of some sort? Besides going down to the ticket booth and buying them there a day or more ahead of time, it seems like you're either paying $2 extra to the orioles for the same inferior product or 5 dollars or so to ticket master? Is there another way to buy tickets without going all the way into the city?

[Mad Mark]

Is there any way to avoid paying a service fee of some sort? Besides going down to the ticket booth and buying them there a day or more ahead of time, it seems like you're either paying $2 extra to the orioles for the same inferior product or 5 dollars or so to ticket master? Is there another way to buy tickets without going all the way into the city?

Season tickets.

[Mad Mark]

If they added the talent to justify it, yeah they could.

Had the Orioles signed say Teixeira, Holliday and Lackey, you bet they could justify a huge price hike.

And people would pay it because they'd be excited to watch a winning team.

So it comes down to what you want to watch. I'd rather pay 50 bucks a ticket to watch a talented winning team, than $10-15 to watch an inconsistent losing one.

And I'm sure a lot of people feel the same. You've got to spend money to make money.

NO...THEY...COULDN'T. Now I realize I'm standing foolishly at the confluence of your three major fetishes, but you're so far out in left field here as to be on the other side of the fence.

I've said this to you before and I'll say it again now. I have skin in this game. You don't. Until you live here and buy tickets here and go to games here on a regular basis all your theoreticals are just that: theoreticals. You clearly have no grasp of economic reality, especially as it relates to the running of a MLB team in BALTIMORE. So--while I realize this will do no good whatsoever--I must ask you to stop. Just...please...stop. When you have an actual point to make about something you actually know something about, please do. But if you're just going to keep beating your drum about how much this organization, Andy MacPhail and life in general suck--while NOT WATCHING THE GAMES--I would be willing to pay you NOT to post here any more.

How's that "complete ignore" thing work, again???

[UMDTerrapins]

I would be willing to pay you NOT to post here any more.

Now that's an interesting twist. :laughlol:

[Birds of B'more]

Is there any way to avoid paying a service fee of some sort? Besides going down to the ticket booth and buying them there a day or more ahead of time, it seems like you're either paying $2 extra to the orioles for the same inferior product or 5 dollars or so to ticket master? Is there another way to buy tickets without going all the way into the city?

Season tickets.

Then you don't get your choice of games if you only want to buy a 13-game package.

Your anniversary falls on the date of one of the games and the Mrs. isn't into baseball? Too bad.

Your kid's Little League team made the playoffs and you can't make another game? Too bad.

That family vacation out of state you booked last year also falls on a day you have tickets? Too bad.

And any comparison between Orioles' ticket prices and that of NY and Boston is bogus and irrelevant. Aside from the fact that the Baltimore economy can't support those kind of prices, as SilentJames has already pointed out, the demand for Orioles tickets isn't in the same stratosphere of those two clubs either. If it was, then I could certainly understand if the Orioles wanted to price their tickets closer to that neighborhood. But let's remember, this is a franchise that was GIVING away tickets last season. And now they are targeting a specific demographic of fans and telling them they have to pay more for the convenience of deciding at the spur of the moment that they want to attend a game? So what if it's only a couple thousand people per game? Does anyone really think this franchise can afford to alienate that many potential customers right now? This just sends a terrible message to fans. The only good that will come of this is that people attempting to sell tickets in the scalp-free zone or somewhere else near the stadium will probably see an increase in demand now....and good for them.