Fire Sale

 

Back in the early part of the century, fans would routinely pay top prices for tickets to a weekend Yankees / Red Sox series.  My throat still hurts from yelling at some of those games.  The passion was unbridled and the action was non-stop.

It seems times have changed.  I received the email below from the Group Sales Department of the New York Yankees just a few minutes ago:

From: [Yankee Employee's name]
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2021 1:42 PM
To: 'localbargainjerk@gmail.com' <localbargainjerk@gmail.com>
Subject: Yankees vs Red Sox - Exclusive Group Tickets 

Hi LBJ,

Hope you’re doing well!  As a benefit of being a past Group buyer, we recently put together a link to purchase groups of 8+ tickets for the upcoming Red Sox series next weekend! See info below: 

• Buy 8+ discounted tickets & get a hot dog + beer/soda included with each ticket
  
  
• LINK: https://www.mlb.com/yankees/tickets/group-tickets/specials/rivalry

Very simple for you to grab a group of friends and enjoy the best rivalry in sports at a discounted rate. Tickets start at just $50!

Best,

[Yankee Employee's name]
Account Executive
New York Yankees

P.S.  No plans this weekend?  We just added some brand-new seat locations to this offer! Tickets start at just $50 and are going quickly!  

Could it be that the NYY are trying to avoid the embarrassment of a sea of empty seats for what was once the season's guaranteed biggest sell-out?  

This organization — with its sky-high prices, mediocre on-field product, uninspired players, sleepwalking manager, etc. — has clearly alienated its fan base.  An offer like this is the tip of the iceberg.  There had been some discussion on this blog about holding a 2021 IIHIIFIIc Meet-up at a non-stadium location as a form of protest against Hal and the putrid product he's trying to put over on us.  The email above perhaps underscores why such a move might not be a bad idea.

When the host team of the game's marquee rivalry needs to give away cheap wieners to entice indifferent fans, the game itself is in trouble.  The owners' television-fueled greed of the 1980s and 1990s has finally caught up with them: Year after year of post-season games ending after midnight all but eliminated the possibility of any child back then being able to watch the games.  Well, guess what: All those children who never got to see a World Series game have grown up and are now busy NOT buying THEIR children tickets to games.  Games which, by the way, are so riddled with ads they invariably last 4+ hours.  I won't even mention the "modern" preoccupation with statistics.  The game's current overarching focus on sterile concepts such as "exit velocity" — versus the simple approach of putting men on base and making things happen — has robbed us of some of the game's traditional pleasures.  You know, things like "action".

I'll leave the discerning fans of this blog with a Zen question:

Q: Does an offer of a discount to what should be one of the biggest series of the season mean the Yankees are in trouble OR does it mean the game of baseball is in trouble?

A: Yes.