Alternate Headlines

Okay, the Mariners are going to variable pricing next season. That means tickets will cost more for games against bigger draws...Think Yankees and Red Sox. Tickets for games against Tampa and Toronto won't be as much.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer goes with this headline

Seattle Mariners raising ticket prices

If you're thinking of filling those Christmas stockings with Seattle Mariners tickets for the baseball nut in your life, be prepared to take a hit in the wallet.

The Mariners have tried to spend big this offseason, without success. They have not been able to fill their two most glaring needs -- two starting pitchers -- either in a trade or by signing a free agent.

When they do make the moves that will complete the 2008 roster, it will be expensive. While the Mariners don't know which newcomers will step on the mound next season, they do know whom they'll ask to step up to the plate with more cash to help pay for the additions:

You.

Six years removed from their last postseason appearance, the Mariners are increasing most ticket prices for the 2008 season.

Tickets for single games could go up as much as $14, depending on the seat. Season ticket holders, many of whom have not faced a price increase since 2002, won't have it quite as hard as the rest. They are being charged up to an additional $2 per ticket.

...

"We are working to keep season ticket prices low," team spokeswoman Rebecca Hale said. "And we (will be) rewarding fans for buying early."

The Mariners, whose second-place finish in the American League West last season was their best showing in four years, are introducing a new variable-pricing system.

Only season-ticket packages are currently available, but when single-game tickets go on sale March 1, fans will have a variety of options that could be somewhat confusing.

A single ticket will have a variety of possible prices depending on whether it is bought as part of a season-ticket package, when it is bought and who the Mariners' opponent is.

To use a lower box seat as an example, season-ticket holders pay $40 a seat. For the same seat on a single-game basis through March 28, the price will be $58. From March 29 on, it will be $60. And on the day of the game, the same seat will cost $65.

In addition, the Mariners have seven "premium" games on the schedule. Opening Day on March 31 against the Texas Rangers and each of the Safeco Field games against the Boston Red Sox (July 21-23) and the New York Yankees (Sept. 5-7) are the premium games, and all tickets will have a flat $3 added to the price.

It's a strategy employed by 18 of the other major league teams in an attempt to maximize income from the most sought-after tickets.

The article wraps up like this:

[Mariner spokeswoman Rebecca] Hale was quick to point out that the club has a number of programs offering deep discounts. Among those are Family Nights, Military Discount Tuesdays, College Nights and Senior Sundays, when View Reserved tickets are half-priced.

How will the price changes affect [Eldridge] Horton, the Mariners fan from Seattle who says he attends about 15 games a year?

"It probably won't affect the number of games I go to," he said. "But I think they should keep the price the same."

Tell it to Santa Claus.

Ho, ho, humbug.

Dave at USS Mariner goes with this take:

For Profit Business Adopts Capitalism

The Mariners announced today that they’ll be adopting a variable priced ticketing system, where seats at certain games cost more than others and people get a discount for purchasing early. The headlines, of course, will simply read “Mariners raise ticket prices”, and articles like the one in the P-I will make useless connections between the players salaries and the price of admission to one of their games, but that’s not the story here.

The Mariners, just like Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks, or whatever other profit minded enterprise you’d like to pick, are in the business of maximizing revenue. Pricing based on supply and demand is, of course, a basic tenet that every one of these companies use. The sports world is just finally catching up, eliminating inefficiencies in their ticket pricing and putting basic capitalism to work for their businesses.

This isn’t the Mariners raising ticket prices because they’re raising payroll, or those greedy players costing you more money to take your family to the game - this is the Mariners charging more money for tickets because people are more than willing to pay the price to attend games.

Emotion vs. reason. It's like Bones vs. Spock played out on the internet.