Toronto Blue Jays to raise ticket prices for 2018 season

[So_Fresh]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/toronto-blue-jays-raise-ticket-prices-2018-season/

Have to hand it to them, this takes balls.

[Skin Blues]

LOL. You can count me out, but hopefully people are actually willing to pay this much so we'll get a $250M payroll.

[JaysRule15]

To be fair, this increase was probably planned prior to this season and they were expecting this team (which has the 5th highest payroll in the majors right now) to probably contend in 2017 and be a contender going into 2018, hence the expectation of continued high attendance and increased ticket prices as a result.

In reality, this team has shown us that it's no longer a contender. And unlike last winter where we were coming off a big WC win over the Orioles and an ALDS sweep over Texas, not many people will buy into the hype and purchase/renew season tickets this winter, especially at increased cost lol. So attendance probably drops next year.

Want more bad news? In a futile effort to prevent the attendance from dropping and sell as many of these newly inflated tickets as possible, Rogers will likely tie Shapiro's hands so he can't start the rebuild this team needs. That means no trading JD, Happ, Osuna, Smoak and probably even Martin and Tulo. The fact that they're going ahead with these pricing changes proves it imo. This core is likely coming back next year, minus the pending FAs like Estrada, Liriano and Bautista.

[dagger]

To be fair, this increase was probably planned prior to this season and they were expecting this team (which has the 5th highest payroll in the majors right now) to probably contend in 2017 and be a contender going into 2018, hence the expectation of continued high attendance and increased ticket prices as a result.

In reality, this team has shown us that it's no longer a contender. And unlike last winter where we were coming off a big WC win over the Orioles and an ALDS sweep over Texas, not many people will buy into the hype and purchase/renew season tickets this winter, especially at increased cost lol. So attendance probably drops next year.

Want more bad news? In a futile effort to prevent the attendance from dropping and sell as many of these newly inflated tickets as possible, Rogers will likely tie Shapiro's hands so he can't start the rebuild this team needs. That means no trading JD, Happ, Osuna, Smoak and probably even Martin and Tulo. The fact that they're going ahead with these pricing changes proves it imo. This core is likely coming back next year, minus the pending FAs like Estrada, Liriano and Bautista.

I don't think anyone's hands are going to be tied when it comes to trading Tulo, it's just that there is no market for him unless the Jays eat most of his remaining $70m in salary. The time may come, after working off, say, the balance of this year's money and all of next year's, that they eat a whole lot to make room for a younger shortstop.

[ldnk]

I don't think anyone is tying Tulo's hands but Tulo. Unfortunately in the process of doing it he will find a way to break all of his fingers.

[Schad]

It's definitely a gamble. Fans have demonstrated that they'll turn out en masse for this team, but if we subtract the likes of Bautista how many are going to see that as the team dumping another star, even if it's for an upgrade? If pre-sales aren't as strong this spring, and we get off to a bad start with a $160-$170m payroll, the suits could start to get a bit nervy.

[So_Fresh]

I would think this price increase helps offset a bit of the loss of pre-sales they will get for 2018.

It will be interesting to see what they decide to do in the off-season. Liriano pitched well today and is pretty much good as gone. Bautista at the end of the season. Maybe Estrada to.

If they think they can compete with this team in 2018 they will need to look at either, or both trades and Free agency. Here are the 2018-19 MLB Free Agents list. Some pretty good names on the list.

http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/free-agents/

Who would like to see them go after in FA?

[duppyy]

It took courage for us to increase ticket prices - Rogers

[fouronesix22]

Great, now they should buy out tulos contract and offer free agents more money to sign them. No more excuses

[North_of_Border]

Good Bye Rebuild

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using RealGM mobile app

[Skin Blues]

I think after 2015 everybody was enamoured with the idea of buying in to the team when a) season tickets meant first shot at the likely playoff tickets, and b) the re-sale market was on fire so they could unload half the games they didn't plan to attend on StubHub for a profit. With the re-sale market taking a huge hit (prices have dropped dramatically) and playoffs a lot more unlikely next year than they were this year, even without an increase I imagine there'd be a significant drop in renewals. This is really bad timing for a significant price hike. it will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

[Basketball_Jones]

When demand planning goes wrong...

[Wo1verine]

Need extra money to sign Donaldson to an extension lol

[Geddy]

The 200 level along the baselines are the ones i like to stick with. The first 5-10 rows of 500 level within the infield are decent for the price as well.

[flatjacket1]

Jay's lose something like 500K per cent the dollar drops so recently they got hammered (last 2 years or so). Upping payroll recently before that puts them in a tough spot business wise, regardless of attendance I see them either cutting or trying to maintain payroll next season as well.

Also worth noting gate receipts (tickets) really only account for a small portion of revenue. TV and merchandise make up significantly more. Usually they are somewhat related (You don't sell out with nobody watching on TV and vica versa) but still, this really isn't surprising.