Red Sox freeze most ticket prices for '07
The Red Sox, after a season in which they failed to advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2002, announced yesterday that ticket prices will remain unchanged in 2007 for 81.5 percent of the seats at Fenway Park.
With the industry awash in money -- Major League Baseball announced it expects a record $5.2 billion in revenues in 2006 and has struck new TV deals with Fox, ESPN, and TBS -- and labor peace maintained with an accord this week on a new collective bargaining agreement, the Sox said they made a conscious effort to hold the line on ticket prices.
A total of 30,155 tickets per game will be priced the same as 2006. The range includes pavilion box, loge box, right field roof box, right field roof seats, infield grandstand, outfield grandstand, bleachers, upper bleachers, and general standing room.
Notably absent from yesterday's announcement was a price schedule for field box seats, which affects about 3,000 seats, according to Dr. Charles Steinberg, the team's executive vice president of public affairs. Those seats, Steinberg said, will now be considered "premium" seats, which places them in the same category as dugout seats, the State Street Pavilion, and
Prices for those seats have yet to be determined, Steinberg said. "I don't believe all the prices will go up," he said. "There will be a mix."
Also, pricing for Green Monster seats and right field roof deck tables will be determined later.
Raising the prices of premium seats, for which there is the greatest demand and longest waiting lists, allows the club the latitude to keep the vast majority of prices unchanged, Steinberg said.
Last season, field boxes, almost all of which go to season ticket-holders, cost $90 for those who paid in full by an early December deadline, $95 for those who paid after the deadline.
Given that the standard practice has been to raise prices in increments of $5, there appears to be a strong likelihood the Sox will be selling field box seats for at least $100 in 2007, though Steinberg stressed that decision has not yet been made.
The Sox already have some seats priced $100 or more. Right field roof deck seats ranged from $90 to $115 (with a $25 food allowance), while Green Monster seats ranged from $90 to $130, with the highest price charged for first-row seats at select games, such as a Yankee s series.
The least-expensive seat at Fenway will remain upper bleachers at $12. Bleachers will stay at $23, outfield grandstand $27, infield grandstand $45, right field box seats $45, loge box $85, and pavilion box $90.
