Yanks, Mets feel the economic downturn

Bob Klapisch wonders if "anyone is really safe in this doomsday climate?" Oh by the way, so are the Mets and Yankees.

Both teams are confident in 2009 attendance figures, due in part to the opening of their pristine baseball palaces, as well as their star-studded rosters. How long that novelty will last is anybodies guess. Suddenly, the Mets decisions to limit seating capacity at Citi Field is looking a bit better. Not that I believe it was intended as a consequence of the economic slow down. On the other hand, The Yankees recently hired a real estate brokerage to help move their luxury boxes and premium seats, a quarter of which are still available.

Here are a couple of excerpts from Klapisch's insightful article:

The Mets are facing similar challenges, as some plan holders are pulling back. One official believes the Mets’ could suffer a 10 percent drop in ’09, as a number of fans are trading in their full-season packages to more modest half- and quarter-season commitments.

“One thing we’re seeing is people are shopping price a little bit, they’re assessing their options,” said Dave Howard, the Mets’ executive VP of business operations. “But I’d be more concerned if we were still selling Shea Stadium.”

Indeed, Citi’s Citi Field’s “wow” factor, as Howard described it, has helped the Mets keep full-season tickets ticket sales ahead of last year’s pace. But they waited until December to make partial season ticket tickets available, and have yet to start selling single-game tickets, as have the Yankees. That could be the truest test of all of New York’s baseball economy.