The Phillies PR staff sent out an email this morning announcing an unprecedented moment in the team’s history. Approximately a month before the season is to start, the team says it sold more than 3 million tickets to its 81 games and has a few seats left for just 73 other games this season.
Three million tickets sold before the season even starts is a huge deal. More notably, the Phillies also announced in the very same release, that they will cap season-ticket sales at 28,750 with just approximately 250 packages left.
That’s very impressive, to say the least. Considering that Citizens Bank Park holds a little more than 43,000, tickets to Phillies games are going to be a hot commodity this summer. Actually Phillies games might turn out to be more of a happening or an event than an athletic competition. That’s the way it has been in Boston at Fenway Park during the past few years. It used to be that a guy could call up the team on the day of the game and order tickets to see the Red Sox. In fact, we did just that plenty of times during the mid-1990s.
Those days are long gone at Fenway and they could be on the way out in Philadelphia, too. Times are tough, financially speaking, and with other forms of entertainment failing to pack as much bang for the buck as they once did, a night out at the ballpark isn’t so bad. It still costs more than it should, but there’s a lot available for the dollar.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the average ticket price for a Phillies game was $28 back in 2008. Based on those figures along with the current attendance figures and the team is putting more than $1.3 million into the coffers every game. And that doesn’t even include parking, food, novelties or whatever else it is folks have to pay for at a baseball game. Certainly those totals make the $1.3 million per game figure just the tip of the iceberg.
Obviously, there are operating costs for a big league team. Just imagine what the electric bill is for a place like Citizens Bank Park. But when a club is raking in millions of dollars each time it opens its gates, well, it must be a good time to be with the Philadelphia Phillies. I hear the staff money fights are wild!
Nevertheless, since the Phillies are raking it in these days when, not so long ago folks stayed away from The Vet in droves, one has to wonder where that cash is going. Specifically, how is the team reinvesting in ensuring that it will have the best players to continue annual trips back to the playoffs?
That seems like a pretty good question considering what has developed in the past few months. Just last night I wrote that since the Phillies are operating under the guidelines of an expandable salary cap, maybe they ought to consider dealing Jayson Werth. The fact is, I don’t think they should do that at all. I think the Phillies should re-sign Jayson Werth to a three-year deal and move Dom Brown into the outfield rotation when Raul Ibanez’s deal expires.
Based on the e-mailed press release from the Phillies, Werth’s future with the team shouldn’t be a question. In fact, based on the numbers presented by the Phillies, Werth and Cliff Lee should be signed up for a couple more years.
Why not? They sent out an e-mail explaining how well they are selling tickets. Nowhere did it indicate that they are giving away 43,000 seats for each game.
On one side the Phillies are bragging about how much money they are making in a depressed economy, no less, but on the other hand they don’t have an unlimited budget to get the best players?
Something doesn’t make sense here?
Let’s give the Phillies the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they are saving all that cash for a rainy day? Perhaps they believe they are so good right now that they can get by without a roster loaded like an All-Star team and when Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley move on, they can tap into those reserves.
That has to be it…
Right?
Cole Hamels is in the bullpen warming up, the fans are filtering into the sold-out ballpark and the oppressive humid has finally broken and given way to a decidedly autumnal tinge.
Speaking of the New York Mets, there was a helluva quote in the Oct. 1, 2007 edition of the