Fearful that people are getting cheap tickets, the Yankees have left StubHub

Sometimes, it's hard to be a Yankee fan, if you think about what and who you're supporting. For me, the trick is to just close your eyes and think about Yogi.  Don't let the other stuff intervene. Just ponder Yogi, and the anxieties will go away.

Today, the Scroogebrothers nixed StubHub, the website that represents what for generations was illegal: the crass scalping of tickets. Now, it's "the secondary market." It's part of the biz. There are many reasons why you could feel good about the Yankees' decision to drop StubHub. But then you realize that they're dropping StubHub so they can use TicketMaster... and you're back to thinking about Yogi.

The Yankees dropped StubHub because last year, too many fans bought bulk quantities of tickets for the purpose of legally scalping them. For years, it was a money-maker. Then the Yankees - seeing how high the secondary market had gone - raised their tickets to astronomical prices.

Thus, the tickets no longer fetched scalper money, and fans actually started selling them for less than the original price. Thus, the value of Yankee tickets fell. The Yankees howled. Somehow, they even managed to blame StubHub for the scores of empty seats in last October's playoffs. But that one, I can't figure out.  I think you'd need Yogi to explain. 


So I chuckle when watching Randy Levine explain how StubHub “artificially deflated” Yankee ticket prices. I mean, WTF? A guy tries to resell his ticket; he can't find anybody to shell out what he paid, so he drops the price. Makes sense to me. If it's legal one way, why not the other? That's called responding to market demand. He's not "artificially deflating" the price. The Yankees originally were "artificially INFLATING" the price.

When “supply and demand” helps Randy Levine, it is a gift from God. When it doesn't, it is communism. So when the Yankees pull out of StubHub, I don't know what happens to the guy with the un-used tickets. This year, the price of seats go up, while the team payroll goes down - all due to the owners' artificially devalued "fiscal cliff."  Hal and Hank bank the profits. Like I said... just think about Yogi.

I see only one solution. Build a new stadium. Mr. Bloomberg, tear down this wall! Get the taxpayers to ante up. Add a new sales tax. We need a new Yankee Stadium. StubHub is history. We now look to TicketMaster for fairness in the marketplace. Like I said... just close your eyes and think about Yogi.