The scalpers are getting scalped at Yankee Stadium.
Overpriced seats, tough economic times and sub-.500 baseball have made for the perfect storm of a Yankee-ticket collapse that’s soaking speculators who can’t unload their ducats for face value.
“It’s a buyer’s market,” said Sean Pate, a rep for StubHub.com, the Yankees’ ticket-reselling partner. “It’s absolutely a function of the market we’re in.”
Pate put his best spin on the breathtaking collapse, pointing out that casual fans are now able to snap up seats for less than face value.
For example, on the morning of a game last week against defending American League champion Tampa Bay, seats behind the Yankees’ dugout — with a face value of $95 — were going for as little as $44 at FanSnap.com, according to Crain’s NY.
Upper-deck seats behind home plate, going for $85 at the Yankee box office, were on the market for just $40, the business journal reported.
The stumbling ticket market is even hitting the bottom end, with cheap seats going for the price of a beer.
A week from tonight, the Yankees take on the Minnesota Twins, and dozens of $14 bleacher seats and $23 upper-decks tickets are going for $9 and less on StubHub.
Tickets are just not a hot commodity right now in any stadium or arena, according to Pate.
“We’re seeing this recession across the board. The Super Bowl was going for $1,000 less per ticket. The Final Four was $200 less,” he said.