The Rays "seem to purposefully withhold as many as 1,000 of their best seats until the morning of a game," and industry experts "say it could be part of a strategy to spur more sales by making fans think available tickets are scarce" at Tropicana Field, according to John Romano of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. National Association of Ticket Brokers Exec Dir & General Counsel Gary Adler said, "It sure seems like it could be a manipulation of the market to create the illusion of a scarcity of tickets that doesn't actually exist." Romano noted there are "typically 200 to 250 seats available in the 18 sections directly behind the two dugouts and home plate a week in advance." On the morning of the game, the number of available seats "increases to anywhere from 900 to 1,400 seats." Complicating this policy is the Rays' practice of "adding a $3 surcharge to any ticket purchased less than five hours before the start of a game." The surcharge is "designed, ironically, to encourage people to buy tickets in advance." Yet if all the available seats are not put on sale in advance, fans are "only getting a three- or four-hour window to buy the newly released tickets without a surcharge." Experts said that the ticket industry has "gotten increasingly high-tech, often employing large staffs of computer analysts who have a world of data at their fingertips and create algorithms designed to maximize sales." So the idea that a "data-driven organization such as the Rays would employ an unconventional ticket strategy is not necessarily a shock." The Rays are "last in the majors in attendance with an average crowd of 14,650," down by "more than 3,000" from the same point last season. But it is "impossible to say whether the ticket policy has anything to do with those numbers" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 5/30).
CARING IS SHARING: In Tampa, Marc Topkin reports the Rays yesterday "launched a summer-long Rays Up for Our Community campaign that includes PSA and player/manager participation to help community agencies and partners." The Rays also will "potentially give away in excess of 22,000 free tickets, providing each of the approximate 5,600 Pinellas County high school seniors who graduate at the Trop this week with a voucher for four tickets during the June 9-16 homestand." Each game during the two-week period will "highlight a partner agency as the 'Everyday MVP' on the game telecast and through social media" (TAMPABAY.com, 6/1).
