Yankees and Mets fans who buy tickets online hoping to save time are being hit with added fees.
According to Rep. Anthony Weiner (D- Forest Hills), who conducted a study on baseball ticket fees, the Yankees and Mets have some of the highest fees amongst Major League Baseball teams.
Fans are required to pay a series of fees depending on whether they buy their tickets over the phone or online. Convenience fees, which allow customers to choose which venues their buy their tickets from, cost fans between $3.60 to $10.95 for Yankees tickets and between $4.00 and $15.00 for Mets tickets.
Tickets printed at home for each team costs $2.50, in addition to an order processing fee of $3.30 for the Yankees and $5 for the Mets. The only way to avoid the fees is by purchasing tickets at the stadium.
And fans of both teams say they are less than happy about the added costs.
“It definitely curbs my desire to buy tickets,” said Liz Peterson, a Mets fan. “In fact, it generally annoys me so much I rethink tickets I've already decided to buy when I get hit with a $5 fee for calling for tickets, then fees to e-mail tickets, then fees for processing...as if the tickets themselves weren't overpriced enough.”
Yankee fan Jerry McGuire says he’s glad to have the new stadium but is disgusted by management tactics to soak fans for ticket extras.
“If I want to give my tickets to someone for one of my games, I shouldn’t have to pay the team for that privilege,” he said. “They continue to make idiots of us and the worst is we keep going back for more.”
However, the biggest issue with the added fees is the impact on ticket specials. For select games, the Yankees offer a $5 ticket special with fees sometimes adding up to $ 9.40.
“It is reasonable to pay some convenience fees when buying tickets online, but a $9.40 fee on a $5 ticket is ridiculous,” said Weiner. “Why should New York fans pay more in fees than their ticket is worth?”
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