The Chicago Cubs have had four rainouts this season -- a larger-than-usual number, as they had none in 2010 -- and have made them all up either as split doubleheaders, or on a common off-day with the other team.
Hey, MLB Owners! There’s A Recession On!
And in each instance, they required ticket-holders to attend the makeup date or essentially eat their tickets. No exchanges were permitted. The Cubs, thanks to national cable, have a national fan base and boast about Wrigley Field being a tourist attraction. Yet, when they postponed their game against the Rockies on April 27 and rescheduled it for two months later, they told any fans who had traveled to Chicago from out of town: "Sorry -- either come back on June 27 or you're out of luck." I personally know someone who brought his wife and three kids from California to see the game on April 27 and couldn't return. He managed to sell his tickets on StubHub for "a little below face", as he told me.
What's the deal here? Thirteen major league teams allow some form of exchange, including the wealthy Yankees, who have also had an unusually large number of postponements this year:
In the event a regulation game, as defined by Major League Baseball (i.e., 4½ innings if the Yankees are ahead and five full innings if the visiting team is ahead or the game is tied), is not played due to weather, an act of God or any other reason, the ticket will constitute a rain check that can be either: (a) used for admission to the rescheduled game, if any, subject to certain doubleheader limitations; or (b) exchanged for a same-priced ticket for any Yankees home game within 12 months of the originally scheduled game, subject to availability.
The 13 teams that allow some form of exchange are, essentially, all but five of the teams that don't either have a dome or play on the West Coast where rainouts are rare (the Padres, for example, have been rained out once in their 43-season history).
So why the arrogance? Why say, “Too bad, you paid, we don’t control the weather, you’re out of luck”?
The Cubs aren't the only team sucking money out of fans and keeping it. The White Sox, who are five games out of first place, have asked their fans for money for postseason tickets, due by September 6 -- and if you decide you want a refund, you forfeit your right to a 2012 season ticket. Why are they doing this? The White Sox say it's for "convenience", according to White Sox marketing VP Brooks Boyer:
Mr. Boyer replied: “As we have done in past years, the money spent on post season tickets can be rolled over to next year’s season tickets. Then, when season ticket invoices come out (typically in mid to late September), there is not a need for fans to cut an additional check because of the post season balance. Season ticket holders can always select not to purchase post season tickets, and we will invoice for 2012 season tickets in September.”“No need to cut an additional check?” Wow, how convenient -- after you have shelled out hundreds or thousands of dollars for games that won’t be played for at least seven months. Even the powerful Phillies allow refunds for unplayed postseason games without the fan requesting those refunds jeopardizing his or her future season tickets.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine sent this note about his Angels season tickets:
The Angels want full payment no later than October 6. (Partial payment may be due over a longer stretch.) This is different from years past, wherein payment in January was the deadline.He compared the team’s action to being “moochers working a street corner.”
Seriously, do MLB owners live in such a world that they haven’t noticed the stock market crashing? That unemployment figures still approach nine or 10 percent? That there’s been a global recession on for the last three years and it may get worse?
Here's the answer to that question: apparently not, because just last winter they were throwing nine-figure contracts at players like Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth, who haven't been worth anywhere near the dollars they got. MLB attendance is about flat from a year ago -- through Sunday, the average per-game across MLB was up by four people over 2010, but several ballparks -- notably Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium, and even a couple of stadiums home to contending teams (Turner Field and Busch Stadium) -- have seen significant dropoffs in per-game attendance. And that's the announced total, which is tickets sold; the no-show count, which is up in many cities, should be what gives owners pause.
The lesson to MLB moguls, I think, is this: routine sellouts are no longer the norm in many MLB cities. Prices have gone up while people are out of work. Adopting fan-unfriendly policies like the Angels, Cubs and White Sox have done is only going to make more people close their wallets in 2012.
It’s a cautionary tale. Will baseball owners listen?
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