The Nationals announced on Wednesday that season tickets for 7,500 seats at Nationals Park — 3,400 of those located in the lower bowl — will decrease in price for next season. There will also be no price increase for current season-ticket holders who renew their tickets for 2009.
“After being here in the first year we watched usage patterns and customer purchasing patterns and we thought it made some sense to lower the price on the tickets that we were going to make available next year,” Nationals team president Stan Kasten said. “And we had a strong feeling that — even though it’s pretty customary in sports nowadays to raise ticket prices every year — at least for this year, it would be a good thing if we could hold the line, which we did.”
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No announcement was made on single-game ticket prices, although Kasten says that is forthcoming after the season. Renewal information will be sent to current season-ticket holders in mid-October. New season tickets can be purchased at any time. Tickets for the President’s Club – at $300 for a single season ticket, the ballpark’s most expensive seats – will remain the same, according to Kasten.
“Everything in the first year of the park was surprising. We had to learn as we went along. In [2009] — those are plans for ticket prices — we also have plans physically in the ballpark, operationally. There are lots of things that we learned from practice in this first year.”
The team lowered season-ticket prices by $10 or more in 2,700 seats, including the Centerfield Reserved and Lounge section — the prominent red seats in centerfield — and the Left Field Reserved section. Prices were also reduced in the Left Field Box seats, Right Field Reserved seats and Scoreboard Pavilion section. The price reduction comes as the organization attempts to maintain its steady attendance next season despite fielding the worst record in Major League Baseball with just 22 games remaining in 2008. After last night’s win over the Philadelphia Phillies, the Nats are averaging 29,487 fans per game in the first season at Nationals Park. That ranks 18th in the big leagues, but a drop off next year is likely.
“That is part of a historical pattern. It happens in every city. I don’t know what will happen here,” Kasten said. “But we’re trying to make everything [at Nationals Park] better every year. No matter how good we get it next year we’re going to try and improve on that the year after.”
