Sunday, October 12, 2008

mets sell out


Wall Street may be in turmoil but that hasn't affected the need for luxury baseball suites yet it seems. Bloomberg reports that the New York Mets have already sold out the luxury suites in their new stadium, Citi Field. These 49 suites start at $250,000 a year and go up to $500,000. Mets season-ticket holders are also renewing even though the prices for the team's first season at the new $800 million ballpark are higher (the top ticket price is $495). All this at a time when the financial services sector, traditionally a big spender on luxury suites for sporting events, is rapidly bleeding jobs. Dave Howard, the team's executive vice president for business operations, has said that troubled companies Lehman, AIG and Bear Stearns were not purchasers but Citigroup did pay $20 million a year for naming rights.