Cubs capitalize on demand, raise prices on season-ticket plans

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - The Chicago Cubs are capitalizing on the demand for tickets after winning their first World Series in 108 years. The team announced a season-ticket pricing plan for 2017 with increases from 6 to 31 percent.

"It's not easy to raise ticket prices," said senior vice president of sales and marketing Colin Faulkner during the Winter Meetings on Monday. "We are really sensitive to the loyalty and support of our fans, but at the same time the value of our tickets right now is far exceeding the current pricing levels. It's important for us to realize some of that value and invest it back into the team and into the facility."

In other words, instead of allowing season-ticket holders to see huge returns on the resale market, the Cubs are simply increasing the face value so they get some value out of the demand. According to the team, the secondary market exceeded face value for regular-season games by 96 percent. That went up to 670 percent in the playoffs and a whopping 1,206 percent above face value in the World Series.

The team says the marquee nature of their interleague home games played a part in the increases. The Cubs host the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays while taking on the St. Louis Cardinals in three separate weekend series.

Last season the team had five tiers of ticket pricing depending on the opponent, but in 2017 they'll add one more tier (Diamond) for three specific games: Opening Day against the Los Angeles Dodgers, May 6 against the Yankees and July 22 against the Cardinals.

Club boxes will see the biggest increase (31 percent), while upper-deck box infield seats will see the smallest (6 percent). The average ticket increase will be 19.5 percent.

The Cubs stressed that more than 25 percent of their home games fall under the lowest two ticket pricing tiers, and that they had a 98 percent renewal in 2016. The team says it has 109,000 people on the waiting list for season tickets.