Checkmate: How The Mets Used The All-Star Game To Slip A Price Increase Past Plan Holders

As the holiday season approaches it serves as a reminder that the 2013 baseball season is only a few months away. That's right, another season of the whirling dervish of uncertainty that is Mets baseball is hurtling towards us and if you're a glutton for punishment like me this means it's time for me to get pissed about my ticket plan.

If you're a Mets 15-game plan holder like me you probably received an email this week laying out the renewal process. If you opened this email you no doubt noticed the prices have gone up. Let's do some math, shall we?

My plan is for the "cheapest" seats in the house, the Promenade Reserve.  In 2012, my 15 game package, which consisted of mostly "value" days, a couple of "classic" games, and the mandatory "marquee" game cost me $219.60 a seat for a grand total of $439.20 for my 2 seats. If I do the exact same plan in 2013, my price jumps up to $268.20 a seat. ($536.40 for 2). This translates to roughly a 22% increase.

The main culprit seems to be the "Marquee" game. Last year these were priced at $36. This year the Mets literally flipped the script and are pricing them at $63.

So why renew at all? Well unfortunately, there's a little thing called the All-Star Game being played at Citi Field in 2013.  If you were a 15-game plan holder in 2012, the only way to lock in a chance to buy seats was to give a $250 per seat deposit for your 2013 plan back in July.

So because I don't want to miss the first Mets-hosted All-Star Game in my lifetime (and probably the last when you consider all the Keith's Grill and Pat LaFrieda sandwiches I consume at the ballpark) I paid the deposit. Never mind the fact that the deposit was more than my actual plan cost. (A $250 deposit on a $219 seat?)  The way I figured it, maybe I can upgrade my seats a little since I already overpaid with my deposit. It's not like they're gonna jack up prices after another losing year, right? Wrong.

So here I am now, not sure if my plan has any value anymore but unable to do anything about it because I already paid a non-refundable deposit. The team has basically used the All-Star game to get your money and then jack up the prices after you commit. To paraphrase the great Beldar Conehead, "It is as if they have seized me by the base of my snarglies."

Also, please keep in mind that none of the prices mentioned above include any All-Star Game tickets. That will be a much bigger bill and angrier post around January.

Now I don't want to come off sounding like a crybaby here. In the end, I realize I am the only one to blame. If I continue to get involved in the pyramid scheme that is being a Mets ticket holder, I deserve to be annoyed every year in November.  And hey, with everything going on in the world I should consider myself fortunate that this is what I have to complain about.  I just wanted to share my experience in the hopes that some of you might share yours.

Any other 15-game plan holders out there? If so, how much will your plan go up? Did you do the All-Star deposit as well?  Do you find any problem with way the Mets are handling this?  Leave a comment below or send me an email at readtheapple@gmail.com.  I'd love to hear other perspectives.

No Mets were harmed in the writing of this story. Follow me on Twitter @readtheapple.

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