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Mets' Citi Field selling out of luxury suites
At the New York team's new Citi Field ballpark, all but one of the 49 suites, which range in price from $250,000 to $500,000, have already been sold.
Forty-eight of 49 suites at Citi Field have sold, and management has a list of 12 hopefuls vying for the last one. The suites go for $250,000 to $500,000 and leases run from three to 10 years.
“We’ve done very well, which might suggest we priced the suites low,” said Dave Howard, executive vice president of the Mets. “But we felt they were priced fairly. They are tremendous quality in terms of fit out, size and sight lines.”
The suites are a bargain compared with those at the new Yankee Stadium, most of which will run from $600,000 to $850,000.
The Mets had faced challenges selling the 45 luxury boxes at Shea Stadium, which are mostly in the outfield. All the Citi Field suites are within the infield — including a few “Sterling Suites” just two rows from the field.
The demand for the suites may spur the team to convert five single-game party suites into full-season rentals, Mr. Howard said.
In addition to the luxury suites, the new Citi Field will have 7,500 club seats, which will come with access to climate-controlled restaurants. These seats range in price from $60 in the upper Promenade level to $495 in the Sterling field-level right behind home plate.
Many season ticket holders, who have been presented with options for next year in recent weeks, are angry that their tickets will more than double in price at Citi Field.
But fans looking for cheaper seats will have options, Mr. Howard said. More than 50% of the 42,500 seats in the new stadium will cost $50 or less.
“We do have expensive seats, but they’re relatively limited,” said Mr. Howard. “We feel we’ve struck a proper balance in that regard.”
The cheapest seats will sell for $12 and will be available on select value dates. The least expensive seats sell for $5 this season. But Mr. Howard said the $12 seats at Citi Field will be equivalent to Mezzanine seats at Shea, which sell for $23-$38 on value games.
“Those $12 seats will be great seats,” he said. “Everything is lower and closer. The seats are wider, with more leg room.”
Citi Field will have about 15,000 fewer seats than Shea.
The team will likely eventually have an additional 2,500 standing room tickets available per game, but pricing and logistics have not yet been worked out.
Though there will be a left-field restaurant and offerings from well-known New York restaurants, fans will continue to be permitted to bring their own food into the ballpark.
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