Mets Ticket Plans: Never a Great Fit

As your middle-class Mets fan, I continue to be frustrated by Mets ticket plan options. Last year I was a 15-game plan holder. The year before, it was a six pack. Before that, I had tried Saturday and Sunday plans (which to this point were still my favorite).

As much as I would love to be a full season ticket holder, I can't even justify the time (let along the price). Coming from Connecticut, it takes me anywhere from 1-2 hours to get to the game and I simply cannot miss that much time from my work or personal life to make 20 games (let alone a full season). The perfect number for me is somewhere between 5 and 10 games, maybe 12 in a really excellent season.

So the Mets offer a six-pack. Sounds great right? Not really, you can only buy these 6-packs for terrible seats. When I go to a game, since it's such a trip to get there, I want to sit in decent seats. I don't need to be down on the playing field slapping five with the players, but I don't really enjoy sitting in the top half of the outfield promenade either.

How about the 15-game plans? Well, they offer slightly better seats, but still nothing great. My 15 game plan last year had me 3 rows from the back of the stadium, which was just too far out for my tastes. Put it this way, if I am enjoying the view more on my HD television at home, it's not worth the trip. I'll sit up there for a playoff game, but not a game against the Padres in August. The novelty of the new stadium wore off for me about a month in.

I just got an e-mail today where the Mets are now offering the 15-game plans for better seating in the Caesar's club. The seats are better, although still in the outfield corners, but at $1500 per seat I just cannot justify the cost. $100 per seat, per game, is actually OK with me, but only if the seats are solid and at that rate I am more like a six-pack than a 15-pack if you know what I mean.

So in a sense, although I am paid quite well for this area of the country, the Mets have once again priced me out of their plans, either through poor seating choices or through gross amounts (pun intended). They are forcing me to buy my tickets individually ... and using Stubhub, I can probably get better seats at the same or less money anyway.

So what is my motivation? Playoff tickets? That's a sham as well. From what I remember, when you have a partial plan, you get a ticket for one game, and they literally put you in the last row of the stadium in a corner somewhere.

Let's do the math out, for fun.

15 game plan scenario:

• $1500 x 2 (who buys one ticket?) for $3000
• You get 15 games, maybe half of which you wanted, the other half are filler
• Your seats are fair, but not good
• You get the right to BUY one playoff game ticket, which let's say is another $300
• Maybe you sell a few games of tickets for about $300, and give a few games away free
• You are locked in, in advance, with no real discount

Total: $3,300, you end up going to about 8 games or so, have to work to sell the rest

Individual plan:

• Let's say we buy tickets to 8 games, at $125 per ticket, for $2,000.
• We get good seats
• We get tickets to 8 games we want to see, no filler games
• You buy playoff tickets on Stubhub, and you pay $400 a piece for them. You get fair seats
• Flexibility ... if I lose my job, I can stop buying tickets or opt out of the playoff ticket

Total: $2,800

So, for the better seats, the flexibility, being able to choose your specific dates and games, better playoff seats, less money out of pocket in advance, and fewer headaches, why would I renew again?