Rangers Season Ticket Holders: Part XI

[ltrangerfan]

Anyone who is worried about the resale ability of the tickets would be wise to give them up. The value is just not there. As prices have gone up, there has been a steady increase of tickets posted on the secondary market and I expect in a down year, that number will rise. The only read advantage to the full seasons is the price difference vs the 1/2's and mini-plans.

Agreed.

So if you quantified it... what is your estimated cost of holding the seats? face versus realized going forward?

 

[Giacomin]

Anyone who is worried about the resale ability of the tickets would be wise to give them up. The value is just not there. As prices have gone up, there has been a steady increase of tickets posted on the secondary market and I expect in a down year, that number will rise. The only read advantage to the full seasons is the price difference vs the 1/2's and mini-plans.

What is the difference in the full STH package vs the other plans?

 

[GordonGecko]

What is the difference in the full STH package vs the other plans?

Depends on the pricing tier. At the low end the difference is substantial, 60%+ more. At the high end in the lower bowl the difference is small, closer to 10%

 

[Cygnus 2112]

Been off these boards for a while....last season I was able to get bar stools back which are fantastic. And now the Rangers (finally) allow 1/2 season subscribers to keep the seats you have. So I renewed for next season.....but if this rebuild plan fails miserably, I hope they have the sense to cut prices moving forward. But they won't lol.

 

[xsniper11x]

Going into the year, I felt I was 50/50 (at best) to renew. The atmosphere at MSG just isn't what it used to be, given the combination of the bridges drowning out the old blue seats and the aggressive increases pricing too many fans out. Like many others have said, the optionality of having playoff tix has been marginalized, so it seems you're just better off grabbing tix on the secondary market like everyone else.

However, I wasn't 100% sure about my decision until I read this (directly from a recent MSG earnings call):

"We also believe we have the right ticketing policy in place to capitalize on that success, as our strategy of reducing full season subscriptions and increasing sales of partial plans along with group and individual tickets creates lasting benefits for the company. These include helping us establish direct relationships with our customers and further broadening our fan base, both of which should positively impact revenues over the long term."

Add tax reform and its potential to squeeze discretionary income out of the pockets of NY/NJ/CT and I feel it's becoming more challenging to be a season ticket holder.

 

[GordonGecko]

Been off these boards for a while....last season I was able to get bar stools back which are fantastic. And now the Rangers (finally) allow 1/2 season subscribers to keep the seats you have. So I renewed for next season.....but if this rebuild plan fails miserably, I hope they have the sense to cut prices moving forward. But they won't lol.

MSG runs the Rangers as a business, I'm not sure most of the management staff (including the ticket reps) even like hockey as their favorite sport or even like it at all. That the team wins or loses has no effect on pricing, all they look at is ticket demand and price points.

At this point their own ticketmaster resale platform is probably 25 to 50% of the resale market. That is a statistically meaningful sample size to precisely know the true market value of every single seat for every single type of game. That becomes the benchmark for pricing tickets and they will try to get as close to that number as possible. If they reduce prices it's not because the team is bad it's because nobody is buying those tickets.

But I have to keep pointing out that the driver of prices at the garden isn't the actual team fan, it's the tourist upstairs and the corporate client downstairs. These two groups are essentially immune from team performance and create a floor on ticket market value.

 

[patnyrnyg]

Agreed.

So if you quantified it... what is your estimated cost of holding the seats? face versus realized going forward?

Not sure how to quantify it, at least for me. I have 2 guys who usually take 5 or 6 games from me and another who takes about 10-12. I will usually keep 10 for myself and then the rest I will sell to co-workers, one or two on here. All 3 of my regulars have said they are in for next year. I have had 3 other people already ask me if I am selling games for next year. My advantage is my seats are great and on the cheaper side (relatively speaking). I am not keeping them so I can still have them if and when they get good again. I started with them in 1998. My first 6 seasons they missed the play-offs. The difference is, the tickets were $25 each back then Not, an average of $89 each. Yes, I make a lot more money than I did back then (I was 22 in 1998), my wife makes more than I do, so we can afford the tickets. But, in 1998, I did not have kids, a mortgage, utilities, student loans,etc.

 

[ray hey]

However, I wasn't 100% sure about my decision until I read this (directly from a recent MSG earnings call):

"We also believe we have the right ticketing policy in place to capitalize on that success, as our strategy of reducing full season subscriptions and increasing sales of partial plans along with group and individual tickets creates lasting benefits for the company. These include helping us establish direct relationships with our customers and further broadening our fan base, both of which should positively impact revenues over the long term."[/QUOTE]

Thank you xsniper11 for posting the above. **This truly says all you need to know about no longer being able to upgrade your seats. It's a thing of the past. But if renewals run much lower than expected, & MSG has a difficult time trying to get more inflated half plans on the market & their single game sales fall flat- only then we might have a chance at making seat moves & bringing on new Full season ticket holders.

 

[superyan]

Does anyone know where the free yearbook voucher is in the account manager? It used to show up around now as a random date in April after the last home game.

 

[Blueshirt Special]

Home Game 7 in the SCF is your edge. Ok, maybe all the SCF games and an ECF Game 6/7 are money makers too. But the point is outside of having to sell a kidney to afford the one game that occurs every 25+ years there is essentially no more edge to be had. The regular season games are overpriced (on most nights) for a competitive team, and we aren't that any longer. The post season games were jacked up so much that you can pretty much get them for face or 10% above on the secondary market. So what's the point really?

Boom

 

[GordonGecko]

Does anyone know where the free yearbook voucher is in the account manager? It used to show up around now as a random date in April after the last home game.

They still do yearbooks?

 

[Giacomin]

Does anyone know where the free yearbook voucher is in the account manager? It used to show up around now as a random date in April after the last home game.

I don't think the yearbook is part of the package this year. I called a few weeks ago but I never got a definitive answer as to whether STH's still get yearbooks.

 

[broadwayblue]

This organization is too cheap to give us a media guide anymore...like I'm going to print my own. Yeah, thanks. It's like they want us to hate them so we drop our season tickets...so they can sell them as mini plans or individual game tickets instead.

 

[McD27]

Rep called to remind renewal deadline

Said Tier pricing will be released a lot sooner this coming season.

 

[Rangers110]

This organization is too cheap to give us a media guide anymore...like I'm going to print my own. Yeah, thanks. It's like they want us to hate them so we drop our season tickets...so they can sell them as mini plans or individual game tickets instead.

So friggin true!!. The most expensive tickets in the league, no legit perks, and they're like the CIA holding back information to season ticket holders.
If anyone of us treated our customers this way we would be out of business.

 

[GordonGecko]

So friggin true!!. The most expensive tickets in the league, no legit perks, and they're like the CIA holding back information to season ticket holders.
If anyone of us treated our customers this way we would be out of business.

Has anyone gotten any gift from the team this year? It's the first time I recall not getting anything

 

[superyan]

This organization is too cheap to give us a media guide anymore...like I'm going to print my own. Yeah, thanks. It's like they want us to hate them so we drop our season tickets...so they can sell them as mini plans or individual game tickets instead.

The media guide is not their fault. The stopped printing them and the spiral ones are only available for the media.

 

[superyan]

Rep called to remind renewal deadline

Said Tier pricing will be released a lot sooner this coming season.

When the the elimination number comes sooner than later, they can do that.

 

[broadwayblue]

The media guide is not their fault. The stopped printing them and the spiral ones are only available for the media.

I'm confused. They stopped printing them and it's not their fault? Who made them stop?

 

[Nash Money]

Pretty sure I've gotten a yearbook each of the past 5 years, having to print out the voucher. In the e-mail I received Thursday afternoon entitled "Stay Up To Date On Your Season Ticket Membership!" it had an ad for the yearbook. Just got to show your mobile membership card.

 

[JRinNYC]

Does anyone know where the free yearbook voucher is in the account manager? It used to show up around now as a random date in April after the last home game.

From the email I got today with the subject of "Stay Up To Date On Your Season Ticket Membership!" it said:

Season Ticket Members receive a complimentary 2017-18 Yearbook. To redeem, show your Mobile Membership Card at any MSG Team Store.

Not sure how that works, cause there is no way to track that. What's stopping me from going to each store and picking up X yearbooks for the rest of the home games at MSG?!? Before you got that pdf ticket/voucher. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[superyan]

I'm confused. They stopped printing them and it's not their fault? Who made them stop?

I could be wrong on this, but I believe the league prints the media guides and about 6-7 years ago, they stopped printing the ones that are sold to consumers and only print the spiral bound ones that the media gets.

I know a few people that collect media guides for a few different teams and they've all said the same thing +/- a season or two.

If you want to download a copy, it is available here:
https://nhl.bamcontent.com/images/assets/binary/291105024/binary-file/file.pdf

 

[Giacomin]

Has anyone gotten any gift from the team this year? It's the first time I recall not getting anything

Christmas Card!

 

[JRinNYC]

Christmas Card!

I didn't get one this year. I assume it got lost in the mail.

 

[GordonGecko]

I didn't get one this year. I assume it got lost in the mail.

The Christmas card was virtual (on nyrsubcentral.com)

I wonder when we'll be be getting our virtual seat on our computer instead of at the garden. Virtual beer too. Real money required, of course.