Just two years ago I probably would have agreed with you guys, but I say the above based on experience with the Knicks. I realize that hockey is not basketball in NYC but it used to be that when the Knicks sucked the place wasn't selling out and tickets were going for 5 bucks on the secondary market. Now the Knicks are so much worse and the future is bleaker than ever with 0.00% of a Championship in years, yet tickets never go under like $75 with all the fees. They sell out every game at high pricing - the only way to explain it is the renovations and the tourist/corporate dollar.
That's why I predict that even if/when the Rangers are bad, the place will still be sold out. I'm sure tickets will dump on the secondary market but they won't ever get to "cheap" levels on a consistent basis. Downside is limited based on MSG's status alone. Personally, I'm keeping my tickets until I lose money on them in a full season which I define as having to pay more for my subscription than I could otherwise get tickets for on the secondary market or at the box office. I was expecting that to have happened with my 200's already but to my astonishment there's people willing to pay up to $300 for regular season games. If I sell one game like that I get to go to two other games for free. Of course I lose money in November in October but overall it works out. With these price increases though and the Garden renovation effect wearing out I can easily see myself dropping those seats if the team gets bad
I guess I just don't agree with this. My main redeeming argument here is the market this year. Last year I would have likely agree with you, but the market is significantly softer this year and the team is still doing very well.
At the end of the day, the problem with this face value is two-fold. Firstly, people who can afford to pay for it generally can't go to every game. And second, now if they're needing to sell their games, once the team is not doing well and prices are not maintaining, they won't be getting enough money back..
Last season I made stupid money on tickets. This year that is not the case. I just don't see the market staying this strong when it is already tiring out and the team is still good. When this team inevitably hits a bad spell, missing the playoffs for 2-3 years in a row, the market will not be strong at all. And with prices where they are now for STH, I can see a lot of people dropping.
Regardless, the fact that I have this strong argument (whether I'm right or not) even more so alludes to the fact that the team should be treating their existing STH with a better attitude and more so as clients then as cash cows. You see many questioning their tickets on here and we are the die hards of the die hards. How many people are questioning? How can blue collar workers afford these anymore? Many can barely afford one game.
Again, the Rangers are treating their fans as if this market will continuously go up. As we saw with the Yankees, this will not just continue forever. And if the Rangers continue to raise prices, it will eventually crash down on them. The last two seasons price raises have been obscene.
