The Mariners for '13 have implemented a price restructuring plan in which season-ticket plans "will rise as much as 6.9 percent in some sections, while 40-game weekend packages are up 3.7 to 10.6 percent in the more desirable main-level locations," according to Geoff Baker of the SEATTLE TIMES. The major changes "involve turning eight Safeco Field seating areas into four new ones called Main Level, Terrace Club Level, View Level and Bleachers -- with varying prices for sections and seat rows within those areas." As a result, "just about every section of the ballpark and season-ticket plan -- full-season, half-season, weekend, business and 16-game packages -- had some cost increase, though a small number remain nearly unchanged and some second-deck Club Level seats down the right- and left-field lines will actually decline up to 3 percent." Mariners Senior VP/Communications Randy Adamack said that the team "has had two across-the-board ticket hikes the past 11 seasons and none since 2008." He added that the team's studies show "its lower-level seats are among the top third of baseball for affordability ... while season-ticket holders saved between 27 percent and 44 percent off the cost of single-game tickets in 2012." The Mariners sent out a mass e-mail renewal letter to all of their season-ticket holders, but the "linked information is mainly invoices for 2013, a seating and price map and payment deadlines, with no comparative information about 2012 prices or explanations of the changes." The "biggest price hikes are in more-desired areas of the ballpark, closest to the field or home plate." But bleacher seats also were "hit hard, climbing 3.6 percent for full-time plans, 7 percent for weekend, 15 percent for business and 10 and 11 percent for each of two half-season plans." Adamack said that the changes "are an offshoot of the team's 'dynamic pricing' model introduced last season and used by roughly one-third of major-league teams" (SEATTLE TIMES, 10/21).
