New York Yankees: Ticket sales will reach new heights in 2018
By Kyle Cardoza
The New York Yankees ranked fourth in the league in attendance for home games. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see them rank first in that category by the end of this season.
Opening Day is still more than three weeks away, but New York Yankees fans are more than excited for the new season. The team’s ticket sales say so.
Thus far, New York has already sold at least 650,000 more tickets than last year at this time. Surely the reasoning behind this bump in ticket sales comes from the Yankees’ deep playoff run, along with the new additions to their team.
Giancarlo Stanton, last year’s home run champ, joins Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and the rest of the Baby Bombers. That alone signifies that plenty of balls will leave the yard. And people love seeing the long ball.
Analysts already believe New York will challenge the current team record in one season – 264 by the 1997 Seattle Mariners. The Yankees smacked a league-high 241 bombs last year without Stanton.
Per YES: Yesterday’s Yankees spring training game out-rated two live regular season NBA games on ESPN, along with live regular season Knicks, Rangers, Devils and Islanders games on the MSG networks.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) March 3, 2018
The uptick in home runs is just one reason fans are flocking to the ticket booths. Highly-anticipated promotions for star-studded prospects are also something to take into account.
Judge took the league by storm last season, but that was unpredictable. Fans expect Gleyber Torres to step into a starting infield role and dominate opposing pitchers immediately. Miguel Andujar, Chance Adams, and Justus Sheffield are a few more guys that have New Yorkers eager.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
Newfound success will bring people to the Bronx, but a proportion of the seats are also filled by opposing fans. With the Yankees back as the team to beat in the American League East, fanatics of division rivals will want to be there as well.
The matchup between New York and Boston alone has probably already prompted sales. Both the Yankees and Red Sox looked primed to return to elite status this season, and they had similar offseasons.
Aaron Boone gets to square off against Alex Cora, something they never did while playing for the respective squads. The trio of bombers – Stanton, Sanchez, and Judge – will challenge Boston’s star-filled lineup that includes newcomer J.D. Martinez.
Overall, while the rivalry itself filled the seats at Yankee Stadium when both teams are expected to thrive, more tickets are sold. For a team that finished with the fourth-best average attendance in 2017, it’s just one more reason they could top the charts in sales this year.
Next: Boone should let Severino be the team's ace
And if the New York Yankees proved to be even better than they were last season, sellouts won’t be as rare as they were the previous few seasons.