Monday, August 28, 2006

GOUGERY 101: MEET THE METS

"Smithers, you laughed at me when I bought TicketMaster! 'No one's going to pay a 100 percent service charge!' "
"It makes for a healthy blend of the rich and the ignorant, sir."
-- The Simpsons, "Homerpalooza"

If it's any consolation to Detroit Tigers fans who are upset about that regal franchise's playoff ticket gougery (also see Aug. 25 post), there's another blue-and-orange-wearing baseball team that's giving them a run when it comes to trying to separate loyal fans from their money.

The New York Mets -- hey, at least they're assurred of a playoff berth, unlike those Tigers -- are putting a $5 "handling fee" on each post-season ticket, the New York Post reported last Friday. So if you secure a pair of tickets to each of the Mets' potential 10 home playoff games, that's an extra $100 US on top of whatever price hike the team charges. And yes, you have to pay it, even if you go to Shea Stadium and pick up your tickets in person.

So what happens if you buy tickets for games that aren't played? The money can be credited toward 2007 tickets, or a refund will be issued... eventually. How nice. So in other words, the Mets will get the use of your money, at no cost to them (as is my understanding), for up to six months. Sounds about right.

(Information from Howard Bloom's Sports Business News was invaluable in this report.)

Mets-related content:
Some Fake Baseball News Delivered by Jerry Seinfeld's Apparent Long-Lost Son (Aug. 20)
Top 5: New York Baseball Sex Scandals (Aug. 14)
In A Way, We All Played First Base (June 21)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I just checked my credit card statement to make
sure that Ticketmaster refunded the money I spent
for the Yankees' ALDS Game 5, ALCS, and World
Series tickets. The jerks are actually keeping a
total of $14.40 for those three *unplayed* games,
as some sort of non-refundable service charge. Yes,
$14.40 for six unprinted tickets to three unplayed
games. Somehow this is legal. I hate them, I hate
them, I hate them.