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How the Jets brass presented the changes in ticket prices was pretty smart from a PR standpoint.
They are decreasing the ticket prices in the upper deck by around 10 percent, and the lower level tickets will increase by an average of three percent. Based on the number of seats on each level, that averages out to a 1 to 2 percent decrease overall.
While I don’t think any ticket prices should increase, especially after three straight seasons out of the playoffs, the way this is being spun is pretty shrewd from a PR perspective.
Why?
In a day and age where politicians are constantly talking about narrowing the inequality gap, this plan makes the Jets look like Robin Hood.
They are lowering the ticket prices from the people in the upper deck. From a perception standpoint, those people don’t have as much disposable income. I’m not saying that is entirely true. This is just a perception, and to many people perception is reality.
And at the same time, they are raising the ticket prices on people in the lower bowl, the better seats, and this led sportswriter Kristian Dyer of Metro New York to write the Jets are “targeting those in the 1 percent.”
Now, it’s unfair for people to assume that everyone in the lower bowl is wealthy.
That is way off base.
And there is no question that the Jets ticket office is going to get an earful from many in the lower bowl about the ticket price increase.
The Jets are already peddling some of the most expensive tickets in the league. Why add to prices that many feel are already too pricy?
But here is where the Jets, and other teams selling PSL’s, have the season-ticket holders trapped in a corner.
Remember, the Jets don’t have PSL’s in the upper bowl, only in the lower bowl.
When somebody pays, let’s say $20,000 for personal seat licenses for a couple of seats.
Once they make that investment, they are less apt to walk away from their season-tickets because they would be walking away from that money.
Remember, the PSL charge is separate from the cost of the tickets.
The fans in the upper bowl can walk away with no strings attached.
So more people are apt to bolt after a rough season from upper deck season tickets.
So economically, and strategically, it makes sense to raise the prices in the lower bowl, where season ticket-holders are likely to suck it up and pay it, instead of just eating all the PSL money, In the upper bowl, with no PSLs, the Jets constantly need to entice new people.
Once again, I think the Jets are wrong for raising any ticket prices, and it’s unfair to assume everyone is loaded in the lower bowl. That is an obnoxious premise.
But when you look at the scenario pragmatically, the plan is a prudent one, and looks good from a PR standpoint.
February 11, 2014
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