FanPost

Yankees End Deal With StubHub

In one of their most selfish moves to date, the Yankees' front office yet again gouges fans by opting out of MLB's new five-year deal with StubHub. They will now use Ticketmaster as the featured Yankee ticket reseller. They ended their deal with Stubhub because fans on that site were able to purchase tickets at prices that reflected the actual ticket demand for each game.

In other words, Yankee fans for most regular season games were able to purchase tickets way below face value on Stubhub instead of paying outrageous prices via the Yankee ticket office. Naturally, the Yankee front office was unhappy that people would rather pay less for tickets, and they were able to do that since Stubhub has no price floor. Ticketmaster, however, does have a price floor and will be the primary resale site for tickets going forward. Fans can still put their Yankee tickets on Stubhub, but in limited capacity, as described in today's NY Post:

"With the StubHub link removed from Yankees.com, buyers will no longer be able to print StubHub Yankees tickets from home. The seller will have to send the tickets or give them to the buyer in person, said one source."

I have been a Yankee fan my whole life and moved to NYC in 2010. Since then, my friends and I have enjoyed going to many games with aptly-priced tickets purchased from Stubhub. I know for a fact that I will be attending fewer games because of this. The Yankee front office thinks we the fans are stupid for two reasons:

The first is that they believe Ticketmaster is a more "fan-friendly" alternative because they claim it has lesser fees and will be better for fans who try to resell season tickets. That's odd, because it seems every time I purchase tickets on Ticketmaster I get slammed with fees and other "convenience charges." It will not benefit season ticket holders either. Higher prices on Ticketmaster as opposed to Stubhub will deter buyers on the secondary market, which I believe will cause fewer people to purchase season tickets from the Yankees in the first place. The second reason the Yankees think we are so naive is that they want us to believe StubHub is the reason for declined attendance over the past few years. I'm sure it never crossed anyone's mind up there that maybe their lack of filled seats may be due to their outrageously high ticket prices.

Anyone who has taken an introductory course in economics would know that the price of any product is generated by market demand, and the demand for Yankee tickets as we've seen is very elastic. The Yankees simply assume that fans will purchase more tickets straight from the ticket office/Yankee website at higher prices. They are wrong. Nobody in their right mind is going to pay $150 for above-average seat on a cold Tuesday night game in April versus Toronto, for example.

I predict this move will have the opposite effect, and the Yankees will be further embarrassed with even lower attendance. What are your thoughts, Yankee fans? Angry? Upset? Apathetic?

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