NewYorkYankees posts

In the world of professional sports, rising ticket prices is the norm.

But in a recession, keeping ticket prices the same for a year is news.

The New York Yankees announced that prices for 84% of their tickets, or 41,928 seats, will remain the same in 2010 from 2009.

Fans will see 13% of the stadium's tickets, or 13%, drop in price next year, while 1,704 tickets, or 3%, will increase.

Not bad for a baseball team with more than 90% of its inventory sold and with some of the highest ticket prices in Major League Baseball.

The Yankees realized at the beginning of this season that some of the premium seats at the new stadium were overpriced and cut the prices to some of the seats for season ticket holders by as much as 50%. Prices dropped from $2,500 to $1,250 for some seats and from $1,000 to $650 for others.

CNBC reports that those suite tickets that dropped in price in April will cost $1,500 in 2010. Also, season ticket holders who were told to expect to pay 3% to 6% more each year for their seats probably won't have to pay those extra costs in 2011.

The first level of non-premium seats -- one level up behind home plate -- will drop from $325 to $250 or $235 per game per seat, depending on location, in 2010.

Without getting in to all of the intricacies of Yankee ticket prices, and the various seats available for a simple ballgame, it's safe to say that for most fans, it won't cost more to go to a game next year at Yankee Stadium.

Steady prices are better than rising prices, and that's about as good as it gets for baseball fans.

The new $1.5 billion New York Yankees stadium is off to a rocky start. With 26 home runs in the first six games of the season, the stadium set a new Major League record -- and the majority of those bombs were launched by players who weren't wearing pinstripes. Physics experts are trying to figure out what the heck is wrong with the stadium.

Now the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that the Yankees are slashing prices on the high-end seats that were embarrassingly empty during the team's first home game. According to the Journal, "The Yankees cut season-ticket prices on some of their premium seats by as much as 50% -- to $1,250 from $2,500 for some seats and to $650 from $1,000 on others. Customers who purchased such season tickets will receive their choice of a refund or a credit."

It's news that brings any baseball fan out of the off-season doldrums: Bleacher tickets to the first two games at the new Yankee Stadium will only cost a quarter, the Yankees announced Tuesday, and grandstand tickets will be $1.10.

The "Turn Back the Clock" promotion matches the prices for the opener of the original Yankee Stadium against Boston on April 18, 1923, when Babe Ruth hit a third-inning home run off Howard Ehmke.

But don't get too excited. While it is the opening of the stadium, they're exhibition games (against the Chicago Cubs, a good team worthy of seeing) and for the general public to get the tickets you have to wait for season-ticket holders and even partial season-ticket holders to get the discounted tickets. The exhibition games are April 3 and 4.

Matthew Mitchell, a fan who has been going to New York Yankees games since 1984, is suing the team over the steroids scandal that pointed the finger at 20 current and former Yankees. He says the Yankees committed "consumer fraud," and he wants a refund of $221 for tickets he purchased and a public statement from the team.

Is he kidding? He's asking for $221??? This screams publicity stunt to me, and I'm almost ashamed to be giving him the attention he desires.

He says he's suing the team because he didn't get what he paid for – steroid usage changed the game and he says that's not what he bargained for. So far, the Yankees are ignoring him, as they should.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.