Season Ticket prices going up by 20%

rocketpower2 · Jul 31, 2015

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Astros raising season ticket prices for 2016; 20 percent increase in many sections <a href="http://t.co/TA5M0F78ms">http://t.co/TA5M0F78ms</a></p>— Reid Laymance (@ReidLaymance) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReidLaymance/status/627182674197749764">July 31, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

As they prepare for the final two months of their thus-far most successful season in a decade, the Astros informed season ticket holders Friday of an upcoming increase of at least 20 percent in just over half the categories for 2016 season ticket prices.

Details of the proposed price range were included in a graphic that was sent Friday to current and some former season ticket holders.

In the top non-premium category, for field-level seats behind both dugouts, prices will climb to $75 per game, up from $60 per game for the full-season renewal price offered for the 2015 season. Dugout box tiers farther from the field will go from $57 per game to $73 per game, an increase of about 28 percent.

Per game prices will increase by at least 20 percent in more than half of the 18 non-premium categories listed on the graphic. The smallest per game hike is about 8 percent for bullpen boxes, certain club seats and portions of the upper deck.

On a full season basis, prices will range from $996 for season tickets in portions of the upper deck ($12 per game) to $6,225 per seat for dugout boxes.

On the premium seating front, Diamond Club seats will cost $425 per game or $35,275 for the season, and Insperity Club tickets will be $200 per game or $16,600 for the season.

The new prices and seating diagrams do not include the changes to Minute Maid Park with the removal of Tal’s Hill in centerfield and the additional outfield seating it will create.

Individual game prices are normally announced at a later date. The Astros, like most MLB teams, have used a dynamic pricing model for individual tickets — charging more for premium series and dates.

Attendance is up for the Astros this season to 25,746 per game from 21,627 last season.
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tmacfor35 · Jul 31, 2015

Its going to get pricey.

This team is going to be really good for a long time.

MrBear1 · Jul 31, 2015

Strike when the iron is hot

rocketpower2 · Jul 31, 2015

Fine with me, especially with Crane willing to open up the checkbook.

donkeypunch · Jul 31, 2015

2013 Houston Astros: Baseball's Worst Team Is The Most Profitable In History

Almost no one in the Houston Astros organization is making big league money. The highest-paid player is pitcher Erik Bedard, who is playing on a one-year, $1.15 million contract. No one else is pulling in over $1 million a year. That is, no one besides Jim Crane, who owns the worst team in the majors and is quietly making more money than any baseball owner in history.

The Astros are on pace to rake in an estimated $99 million in operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) this season. That is nearly as much as the estimated operating income of the previous six World Series championship teams — combined.

Yet the Astros are 43-86, worst in the majors. Of the 270 Major League Baseball teams who have taken the field since 2005, none have finished with a worse winning percentage than Houston’s.

They have become so profitable thanks to slashed payroll expenses and soaring television revenues.

Since becoming the Astros’ owner in 2011, Crane has gutted the team of its most expensive players while building up the farm system. Over the course of this season, the team will pay its players an estimated $21 million in salary and bonuses. That is down $56 million from 2011, when Crane bought the team.

The Astros opened this season with a league-low $26 million active payroll and have since cut it to under $13 million, according to the Houston Chronicle. Houston traded or released four of its five players making over $1 million.

The Astros did not respond to repeated requests to discuss the team’s finances and rebuilding strategy.

But Crane told ESPN The Magazine, “Once our minor league system is filled in, we’ll move up into the top five or 10 in payroll.”

Other teams have said the same thing, only to keep payroll low year after year. But the Astros might actually mean it. Crane doesn’t appear to be gouging fans for profit. Since becoming the owner, he has introduced fan-friendly policies like allowing food and drinks into the ballpark.

But he will likely use some of the cash flow to pay down the reported $275 million debt he took on when buying the team. He financed the purchase with a $220 million loan from Bank of America BAC -0.85% and assumed $55 million of debt from a previous loan with Major League Baseball, according to the Sports Business Journal.

If the Astros were to use their current gains to pay for future players, $99 million could make a huge difference. The Astros could have taken on the contracts of the entire starting lineup for the National League all-star team this year for just $84 million.

Sixty-four major leaguers make more individually than the Astros’ current 25-man active payroll makes collectively. The New York Yankees pay nine players more than the Astros payroll. Twenty other teams pay at least one player more. And Jason Bay, who is not even on a team, earns more than the all of the Astros, thanks to an old contract with the New York Mets.
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/danalex...lls-worst-team-is-most-profitable-in-history/

bobrek · Jul 31, 2015

donkeypunch said: ↑

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danalex...lls-worst-team-is-most-profitable-in-history/
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Wasn't a lot of that debunked?

marks0223 · Jul 31, 2015

bobrek said: ↑

Wasn't a lot of that debunked?
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Yup, and we found out later that Comcast deal wasn't paying them squat.

donkeypunch · Jul 31, 2015

My mistake then. I guess Ill just pay the extra 20% then, happily, but not really.

The Beard · Jul 31, 2015

bobrek said: ↑

Wasn't a lot of that debunked?
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And even if he did make a huge profit, it's being put back into the team

What else could we want?

codell · Jul 31, 2015

Good timing or bad timing depending on your POV

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Season Ticket prices going up by 20%

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bobrek Politics belong in the D & D

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