Tigers Ticket Sales Are Down, Way Down

I’d go with the former rather than latter reason. We’re talkin tons of people w/o jobs and fear of losing the one they got. With the lousy season, I’m sure they lost some of their season ticket holders but not that many.

On the other side of that, its always been a problem for me to get to even 1 game. Luckily I’ve made it to several in the past 4 years and plan on attending several this year.

My take is simple…….crappy economy and coming off a last place season. I got an
e-mail from the Detroit Tigers the other day, stating that individual tickets go on sale Saturday and Opening Day tix will also be available. I can’t recall the last time Opening Day tickets were available without a season package.

I would love to go to as many games as possible, but living in Grand Rapids, it gets to be quite the trip with two kids. We usually go to two games, but this year I decided that instead of sitting in the bleachers or getting upper deck seats we would go to one game this year and we would splurge on the one game. I ordered tix from a ticket broker – face value – for lower deck just behind the visitor dugout 20 rows up for the 1984 anniversary game in September. I just pray to the baseball gods that the Tigers will be in contention for a playoff spot and we’re doing the wave every innning. The crowd hopefully is electric that night. Should be alot of fun.

And to make up for going to just one game at Comerica Park this year, we’ll probably go to some of the Tiger Friday West Michigan Whitecaps game this year to meet some of the former Tigers appearing this season…….Kell, Wockenfuss, Nokes, Hernandez, Petry, Wilcox and Leach.

Mostly the economy, is my assumption. I’m sure there were some people who hopped the wagon and jumped off after the depressing finish last season, but not that many. I’m also sure there were some people who had to think about it as you alluded to. “Should we go in on some Tigers tickets or save up during this recession in case we lose our jobs?” Perhaps the results of last year made the decision easier for the people who were on the fence.

Personally, if I was in Michigan a crappy economy wouldn’t stop me. Obviously if I was the “Eat ’em Up” Tigers guy shaking my fist for a cash, I probably couldn’t afford it in the first place, but if I could afford it and had to make some other sacrifices I would.

Unfortunately, this will be the first summer in my life that I will not be home for the summer taking in at least 10-15 Tigers games. I had a great streak of seeing double digit games per year, but that will be broken and two spring training games in Atlanta and MLB.TV Premium will have to suffice.

But yeah, I think it’s definitely more so the economy than the results last year. Detroit has some of the loyalest fans in baseball, I don’t think one crappy year with these players and being just a couple years removed from the series would result in such a drop off.

I had the 27 game package last year and my dad opted not to renew them. I think it was more because of the team than the economy.

I like how the club is offering smaller packages (6 gm and 15 gm) but they don’t come at a discount. I just don’t see the point in buying into either of those “deals.”

I’m sure I’ll still head to 10 games or so on my own but I’m not to eager to throw too much money their way.

Economy certainly plays a part, but the team’s most recent performance is probably a bigger contributor.

I’m saying that based on the fact that the economy over here in Wisconsin, while not nearly as bad off as it is back home, is still hurting, but the Brewers, coming off their first playoff berth since 1982 just set a one day record for ticket sales the day they opened up the ticket booth for the 2009 season.

I’m curious about the situation is for other recently hot teams, say, like Tampa Bay, whether their sales are influenced more by fans wanting to get in on a winner or by economic factors.

That said, baseball fans, as are all sports fans, are (cue janet jackson) “what have you done for me lately” creatures, and as Stormhit alludes to above, Tigers season ticket sales/attendance might just be returning to “normal” levels….it’ll be interesting to see whether they can match the 2005, pre-contender/decent economic times team attendance figures, or whether, as I suspect, the economy takes its toll more on the, “Gee, what should I do today, oh, I know, I’ll take the family to a ballgame!” walk up crowd….

I’m gonna parlay this whole situation into my first ever opening day game.

While I still got me a jobby-job.

The economy was the reason my family didn’t renew the 27 game package, but the crappy season was the reason we didn’t opt for a 6 game pack. I still hope to make it to a game or two, but season tickets -even partial- are temporarily pink-slipped.

I recently saw on the NBC nightly news how movie ticket sales are huge compared to last year at this time……due to the economy, people are looking for cheaper options to foget about their problems since a week vacation may not be as affordable anymore.

Now a day at the ballpark may not be as affordable as it used to be, but still cheaper than a few other things. Everyone loves a winner….the 1968 Tigers helped Detroit come together…..maybe….just maybe…the 2009 Tigers can help Detroit forget about all their problems for seven months. If they win….the fans will come.