The Mets announced a new “dynamic” ticket-selling plan today. I was going to call it a ticket-selling “scheme,” but that carries such negative connotations, just as “dynamic” carries positive connotations. Dynamic sounds exciting — like Jose Reyes when we knew for sure that he was a Met. Even in a 140-character, “Like” button, “This” world, words carry weight [1].
You can read the Mets’ words here [2]. You can read some of Dave Howard’s words to a graciously arranged blogger conference call here [3] and a good analysis of what’s going on here [4]. Overall, I wouldn’t call the plan a scheme in that you’re the consumer, so you can decide what you want to consume. It is, however, dynamic in that the Mets have put in place a mechanism to let the prices for single games rise (a lot) or fall (a little) depending on how much demand any given game generates. If the Mets are dynamic, one imagines the lines at the box office or, more modernly, the queue at the Web site will be somewhat dynamic, too.
And if the Mets fail to sustain on-field dynamism for a fourth consecutive season, then seller beware.
There are deals and perks [5] to be had for season-ticket buyers, a group Howard rightly referred to as just as important to the Mets as their corporate clients. There is more club access on the horizon if you have a full season-ticket ticket, and, if I was interpreting Howard correctly, there will be more to come if you have a partial season-ticket plan (they’ll tell us more next month). There will be, no doubt, the opportunity to come to the park and put your plastic through its paces if you so desire and can afford it. Who among us wouldn’t do it as much as we could if a) we had the resources and b) we were continually tempted by the super exciting dynamic Mets?
If I don’t sound overwhelmed by the dynamism or, for that matter, no more than modestly moved regarding schemes and plans, it’s probably because five years ago today, I was watching Paul Lo Duca tag out two Dodgers on the same play, Carlos Delgado register four hits and John Maine personify “emergency starter” successfully. I was at the Mets’ first playoff game of 2006 [6]. It was electric. Every seat was filled. Nobody was quiet. Baseball was like it oughta be.
My god, I miss that sort of thing. There isn’t a Next Year ticket promotion in the world that could be anywhere near as good as playoffs Right Now.
Phillies bloggers, Rangers bloggers, Cardinals bloggers, even [7] Rays bloggers had better things to do today than think about the structure of season ticket plans for 2012. Tonight, such diagrams and calculations will be the furthest thing from the minds of Tigers bloggers, Brewers bloggers, Diamondbacks bloggers and You Know Who bloggers. Those poor saps won’t have to have dynamism explained to them. They’ll look for it on a field or television near them and figure it out for themselves.
Full transcript of the call, from Chris McShane of Amazin’ Avenue here [8].