But yesterday's NY Times devoted a considerable amount of ink to the staggering drop in Yankee attendance over the last eight years.
The financial figures, from the public filings the Yankees are required to make on their stadium bonds, represent a 42 percent loss in ticket and suite revenues over the last seven seasons. And despite the team’s compelling play this season, attendance through the first quarter of their home schedule is down from the same point last year.
To anyone who roots for the Yankees, this should come as no surprise. The Yankees charge way too much and offer way too little. We have no Reggie and Thurman, no Jeter and Mariano. The last four years have brought us sleep-inducing mediocrity - sad, boring lineups that could not climb out of a fourth-inning 2-0 hole, much less generate hope during the month of September.
But the Times overlooked another indicator of the malaise:
This season, the Yankees are not converting wins into tabloid back pages.
Thus far in the month of May - a month when the Yankees have played as well as anyone in baseball - the Mets still lead with 30.5 front and back covers. The Yankees have only 19.
Part of this is that the tabloid back pages are no longer manifestations of success. In fact, the Knicks, Mets, Giants and Jets have received extensive coverage for horrible play - from Carmelo to Geno - often as a form of mockery and disgust. (See Charles Oakley.) Nevertheless, ink is ink, and the Yankees simply are not dominating the zeitgeist of New York.
This should change if the 2017 team wins the AL East. But I believe the fans of New York know a scam when they see one - and the one-game Wild Card race is nothing more than fake news.
This really is the fault of the new stadium. They're still paying off whatever money they owe for building it and they think that they can price gauge their way there. However, this has similar affect as the Laffer curve. Where as Laffer was talking about tax rates and government revenues, this is pretty much ticket prices and revenues. There is a sweet spot for Food Stamps to charge for tickets and maximize his profit, but he overshot it by a wide margin, and as a result he is making as much as if he had been charging pennies.
ReplyDeleteThen again, I'm just a guy trying to explain why a cheap miserly man has ticket prices high and yet I haven't even considered Randy Levine and his hatred of everyone who doesn't work in banking. So what do I know?
Let's see,
ReplyDeleteSeats (for the unwashed) waaaaaaaaaaaaaay further from the field.
Crowd noise feels like its got earplugs in due to the open bowl effect.
Prices requiring several limbs for a seat.
Beer more than a single malt at the airport.
What's not to like?
Losing to the Finley's.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to bed, I'm old and angry.
OK, I'M AM WITH ALPHONSO HERE, LISTEN UP GUYS.
ReplyDeleteGIRARDI CAN NOT KEEP PUTTING OUT A LINEUP THAT INCLUDES,
1.) CHASE HEADLEY
2.) AUSTIN ROMINE
AND,
3.) CHRIS CARTER
LIKE ALPONSO KEEPS SAYING, ALL I HAD TO DO WAS SEE THE LINEUP BEFORE THE GAME TO KNOW WE WEREN'T GOING TO SCORE RUNS TONIGHT.
IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN, THE LAST GEM MONTGOMERY PITCHED, THE SAME 3 GUYS WERE IN THE LINEUP AND WE COULD NOT SCORE.
IT'S BASICALLY 12 OUTS WITHOUT ANY PRODUCTION, OR CLOSE TO IT. WILL GIRARDI EVER FIGURE OUT THE ODDS OF WINNING, PLUMMET, WITH THESE 3 GUYS PLAYING TOGETHER???
ON TOP OF THAT, SANCHEZ DIDN'T DH TONIGHT!.... YOU CAN'T HAVE HIS BAT "RESTING" ON THE BENCH!....ONE OF HIS SWINGS CAN MEAN 2, 3, OR 4 RUNS!!... FUCKING DH HIM!!!
I KNOW THEY WANTED ROMINE TO GET TANAKA BACK ON TRACK, I UNDERSTAND THAT..... BUT IF HE CATCHES, THEN MAKE SANCHEZ THE DH!....PUT HOLLIDAY AT FIRST, AND THE HELL WITH CARTER!....REST HIM!
FINAL NOTE:
CHASE HEADLEY IS GOING TO TAKE US DOWN..... HE IS BACK TO THE SAME SHIT SHOW HE WAS LAST YEAR WHEN HE WAS AWFUL..... I FEEL NO SHOT OF A HIT NOW WHEN HE GETS UP WITH MEN ON.....AND HE ALWAYS SEEMS TO KEEP GETTING UP WITH GUYS ON BASE.
WE CAN'T AFFORD TO STAY WITH HEADLEY, AS MUCH AS WE CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE 2 GAMES WHERE WE HAD TOP NOTCH STARTING PITCHING GO TO WASTE (AS IN MONTGOMERY AND TANAKA).
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