The Twins have the highest average ticket price in major league baseball on the “secondary market,” according to Patrick Klinger. The club’s vice president of marketing told Sports Headliners the average price of almost $80 charged by secondary sources such as StubHub.com exceeds even high demand for Yankees and Red Sox home game tickets.
The popularity of both the Twins and the new Target Field ballpark, returning outdoor baseball to this region for the first time since 1981, has resulted in sellouts for all but one home game. The Central Division leading Twins are playing in a venue that ESPN The Magazine rated earlier this year as the best stadium experience in professional sports.
A Sports Headliners reader emailed that he paid $89 per ticket for a game earlier this month via StubHub. The two upper level seats he purchased near the Budweiser Roof Deck cost $27 each if available and purchased through the Twins.
Klinger said the club didn’t anticipate demand for tickets would be so intense. He said the Twins’ intent is to keep tickets affordable and evidence of that is not only pricing but capping season ticket sales at about 25,000 so that single game buyers can attend games.
Klinger said ticket demand and ongoing costs drove the decision to raise ticket prices for next season. However, 40 percent of seats will be increased by only $1 or less, according to a club news release. Thirty-one percent of seats will increase by $2, and 39 percent of seats will remain priced at $22 or less.
The club’s popularity has also been showing up in TV ratings. The Twins are consistently generating double digit Fox Sports North ratings in August (an increase over earlier in the season) and had a 15.3 rating for a White Sox game at Target Field on August 18. A rating point is a percentage of households watching a particular program.