Derek Rodriguez, Tampa Bay Rays Season Ticket Sales

by R.J. Anderson on Feb 4, 2009 8:05 PM EST

First up, a MLB.com piece on Derek Rodriguez, with the most eyebrow raising part being:

The interesting part about the puzzle is the fact the Rays liked Rodriguez enough to risk $50,000 that he can stick with the club for the entire 2009 season.

I know we're not talking about the Yankees or Red Sox here, but is 50k really a big risk? Perhaps not for long...

Last year, only the Florida Marlins sold fewer season tickets, said Mark Fernandez, Rays senior vice president and chief sales officer.

In August the Rays launched its “Feel the Heat” campaign to tie in playoff tickets to future season ticket sales, and now the team has converted more than three quarters of the deposits collected to season ticket packages.

Fernandez declined to give exact numbers of deposits or current season ticket holders, but sources close to the team said that 2009 sales would be the largest since 1998, the Rays first season.

That's excellent news. We've beat the sustaining income idea to death, and I'm not going to do it again, but this is a step in the right direction towards burying the attendance talk.

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Comments

Dude

Can’t you wait like 10 minutes before posting again?

Seriously though, good news about the season ticket packages. Winning has a higher correlation to revenues than does market size.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Feb 4, 2009 8:07 PM EST reply actions

I'm an instant gratification whore.

by R.J. Anderson on Feb 4, 2009 8:11 PM EST up reply actions

I can't believe how big of an influence the news of drafting Rodriguez is having...

on season ticket sales.

by rglass44 on Feb 4, 2009 8:38 PM EST reply actions

Fixed, fixed.

by R.J. Anderson on Feb 4, 2009 8:45 PM EST up reply actions

Good to here about the season ticket sales going well.

Garaunteed Revenue, included in attendence numbers etc.

I think they can make a run at beating the 98’ attendance record. Money to fight the big boys is good.

And hopefully once people see what attendence looks like with atleast somewhat of a season ticket base we can finally get a plan submitted/finalized for the new stadium.

by twenty5psi on Feb 4, 2009 9:28 PM EST reply actions