Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 2:08 PM | 20 comments |
 

Should Mayor Nutter sell his World Series tickets?
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Every Philadelphian with World Series tickets has the same dilemma: Go to the game or sell the seats for big money.

I wonder if Mayor Nutter has been struggling with the same thought. The Mayor's Box — a luxury suite in Citizen's Bank Park controlled by Nutter — could be worth quite a bit of money on the open market. If the tickets were sold, the city could use the money to pay for police overtime and other expenses related to the World Series.

So how much would these tickets be worth? Tracking down the answer was harder than I thought. It turns out that luxury boxes are almost never sold, since they are mostly owned by big corporations and uber-wealthy individuals who don't need the money.

“I have never seen a luxury box available for the World Series,” one ticket broker told me. “It's the only seat [in the stadium] not on the market.” He declined to give an estimate, but said the seats would be extremely valuable.

“It's a very unique package,” he said. “You get great seats, food, and drink, all included.”

I finally got an answer from Darius Lowber, who answered the phone at Glassman's Ticket Agency in Center City. After checking prices, he told me that the suite could be worth nearly $100,000 over the course of the World Series (if it lasts at least five games).

“Each suite is different, some have 12 seats and some have 16,” Lowber told me. “The retail price of a ticket in a suite is about $2,500. So, it would between $30,000 and $40,000 for each night.”

Lowber thinks the city could make some money, but he is less optimistic about the overall impact on the fiscal crisis. “This isn't going to get the city out of the hole it's in,” he said.

Look, $100,000 is nothing to sneeze at. But here is the ugly truth: these tickets would probably be bought by Yankees fans. There are a lot of super rich people in New York and they'll pay top dollar to get the tickets like these. Still, that might actually be a good thing. After all, we'd be using their money to pay for our parade.

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Posted by Ben Waxman @ 2:08 PM  Permalink | 20 comments
20
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:07 AM, 10/27/2009
    True and hilarious!
    — selbyblink
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:16 AM, 10/27/2009
    I'll give him 50 bucks for a pair. ;) Laughing at the prospect of seeing Michael Nutter standing out with all of the scalpers at the subway exit mumbling "tickets, who wants, who wants."
    — Dixon
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:18 PM, 10/27/2009
    seems like a no brainer for me. And if the Mayor was back in Council, he would be the one demanding this.
    — PaulDeon
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:58 PM, 10/27/2009
    Hook the Mayor up with this chick ------------------------------------- Police say Susan Finkelstein, 43, of the 900 block of St. Bernard Street, put an ad on the web site Craig’s List, describing herself as a "gorgeous, tall, buxom blonde in desperate need of two World Series tickets." And the price was negotiable. Police trolling the Internet found the ad and set up a meeting. Bensalem (Bucks County) public safety director Fred Harran says that Finkelstein was handcuffed after she solicited an undercover cop on Monday night: "She was willing to do anything, she said. And she told the officers that she would engage in sexual activity with two individuals for two tickets.” She’s charged with soliciting prostitution and related offenses. In her Craig’s List ad, police say, she labeled herself as a "diehard Phillies fan" and said that she was "the creative type."
    — Philly Ray
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:01 PM, 10/27/2009
    Police overtime should be paid for by the Phillies. It is thier event and they should have to pay for it like everyone else.
    — jn3
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:27 PM, 10/27/2009
    This is a very childish article. The Mayor of the city should get some perks for having to deal with the rest of the inept city government and its overwhelming majority of irrational and uneducated residents. If any of you were the mayor, would you be selling your tickets? I would want my mayor at the game to represent the face of the city to the rest of the country.
    — bag853
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:27 PM, 10/27/2009
    This is a very childish article. The Mayor of the city should get some perks for having to deal with the rest of the inept city government and its overwhelming majority of irrational and uneducated residents. If any of you were the mayor, would you be selling your tickets? I would want my mayor at the game to represent the face of the city to the rest of the country.
    — bag853
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:51 PM, 10/27/2009
    Scalping tickets is illegal. That would be a damn poor example for him to sell them above face value. That aside, why should the public pay for a Mayors box anyhow?
    — CoolRunnings
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:16 PM, 10/27/2009
    jn3 - the Phillies will be bringing in more money via tax revenue by being in the playoffs / WS (particularly b/c the road team has to pay the city wage tax) than will be spent on police OT (including for the parade)
    — JesseH
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:18 PM, 10/27/2009
    Use the tickets. Go to the games. You're the mayor. Just don't have BO with you.
    — ACBaughman
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:54 PM, 10/27/2009
    "if it lasts 7 games" is not relevant to the price in Philly. They only host thru game 5.
    — P Even
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:49 PM, 10/27/2009
    P Even -- Good catch. Changed the post.
    — benwaxman
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 7:47 PM, 10/27/2009
    Are you f***ing serious with this bullcrap? Good God.
    — Jerome99RIP
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:24 PM, 10/27/2009
    Yep, pretty stupid article.
    — schwerveness
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:25 PM, 10/27/2009
    This lowball, I mean Lowber dude doesnt know what he is talking about. If a seat behind the dugout is going for at $1,000 plus, how is a suite ticket going to go at retail? Like I said, I wouldnt be getting this guy to sell my tickets. If you have a suite with 12-16 seats, food and beverages, you should be able to get well over $50 grand a game.
    — Pat c


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