Yesterday Bill Shaikin posted some notes about the Dodgers season ticket sales:

• 20,700 currently
• 23,900 last year

We also know that in the majority of years the O’Malley’s owned the teamed they capped the season ticket holder base at 27,000.  This for a team that has won two division championships in a row and favored to do so again this year. So where did everyone go and why?

• We can come up with several reasons the renewals are down:
• The fans just don’t like the McCourts
• Ticket prices have been raised a lot since Fox and SKYROCKETED under the McCourts
• The casual fan and season seat holder think the team will not win since they haven’t brought in a big name free agent
• Fans have wised up to how much supply is available for Dodgers tickets.

I emailed Bill Shaikin and he mentioned that Dennis Mannion did acknowledge that StubHub may be having an effect on sales.  If you are a season ticket holder and go to sell any of your tickets it hard to not notice what your tickets are really worth.  If you can’t make the good games such as the Cardinals, Phillies or Mets you’re lucky to make $10-$20 a ticket on Craigslist or StubHub.  If you don’t want to go and see the Marlins you’re lucky to get half of the face value back.

Discounting and high prices are hurting the Dodgers season ticket base and may hurt their popularity in the future.  By now any real fan will know that you can get premium seats for less than face value for almost any Dodger game on StubHub and if you just want to check out a game it is best to wait for the Travel Zoo and Goldstar promotions for the unpopular games.  These promotions can be up to 70% off of the face value.  If you’re a season seat holder that paid $50 for a ticket how happy would you be if the person 5 rows back was able to pay $25 for their ticket.  Is it worth tying your money up for 6-9 months?

Another factor hurting sales is the price of postseason tickets. The past two years it has been almost impossible to give away let alone sell tickets for the post season.  If the biggest benefit of being a season seat holder is the ability to have tickets for the playoffs, are you going to keep them if you have seen the same seat sell for up to half the face value on Craigslist?  Now you can sit at home all year watch your big TV in HD and save money on food and come out for the exciting games while spending a fraction of the money the Dodgers would have you spend on tickets, even for the playoffs.