The Yankees yesterday "shot down" a N.Y. Post report from Saturday indicating that the organization "had hiked ticket prices from $16 to $250 for the Sept. 7 game honoring Derek Jeter in a pregame ceremony," according to Jason Rubinstein of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. The Yankees in a statement said, "The New York Yankees have not, did not, and will not raise any ticket prices for the game to be played in Yankee Stadium on September 7, or for that matter, any other game to be played at Yankee Stadium this season." The Yankees called the report "absolutely and categorically untrue." They added that the report "failed to differentiate between primary and secondary ticket markets" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/21). In the original report, the N.Y. POST's Natalie O'Neill reported the Yankees organization "hiked the cheapest tickets on its web site from $16 to $250 before quickly selling out." Meanwhile, tickets "were topping out at $9,999 on resale sites for the Sept. 7 game." TiqIQ VP/Data & Communications Chris Matcovich said that average resale prices for the Sept. 7 game "also rose from $16 to $215 -- once news of the Jeter send-off was announced on Friday" (N.Y. POST, 7/20).
FISHY TIMING? In N.Y., Mike Vaccaro writes while the Yankees on Friday announced the Jeter ceremony will be Sept. 7, that was "after every rational fan was under the impression it would naturally be held on the last Sunday game of the year (as was Mariano Rivera’s)." So the Sept. 21 game "sells out and the secondary market for this ticket has been absurd all year." The new date "guarantees another sellout in what looks like another down year." Vaccaro: "To me, this seems like a story that Yankees ownership should have to explain" (N.Y. POST, 7/20).
