The Angels' season-ticket sales "have held firm despite the lack of a big splash in the free-agent or trade markets this winter," according to Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. TIMES. The Angels "recently passed the 16,000 mark for the sale of full-season equivalents, which include full-season tickets and the number of tickets sold in mini-plans that add up to 81 games." Angels VP/Communications Tim Mead said that about 90% of season-ticket holders from '15 "have renewed their seats" for '16. That is "slightly below last season’s final sales of about 17,000 full-season tickets." But Mead said that with Opening Day "still 2 1/2 months away and the season-ticket marketing plan scheduled to launch at the start of spring training in mid-February, 'We feel pretty good about things.'" DiGionvanna notes the Angels "have surpassed the 3-million mark in home attendance in every season" since '03. The club "sold a franchise-record 31,000 season tickets" in '06, but that figure dropped to 24,000 by '12. The number in '13 "fell to 21,000," and by '14, it was about 18,500 (L.A. TIMES, 1/20).
REID BETWEEN THE LINES: Astros President of Business Operations Reid Ryan on Monday said that the team has "more than 2,000 new season-ticket sales." In Houston, Evan Drellich noted that figure "specifically refers to Full Season Equivalents." Ryan: "Fans realize our core is strong and that we’re going to try to improve this core of players. ... Long story short, we’re having a good year and we’re trending in the right direction" (CHRON.com, 1/18).
