Mar 8, 2009 9:02 pm US/Pacific
With Manny On Board, Dodgers Tickets Go Fast
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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Joe Torre and Manny Ramirez announced Ramirez's $45 million contract with the Dodgers at a news conference in Arizona on March 5, 2009.
CBS
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Los Angeles Dodgers player Manny Ramirez slides past the tag of Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto after scoring the Dodgers second run on a double by James Loney at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Oct. 4, 2008.
Jeff Gross/Getty Images
Dodger Ticket Information Center
Los Angeles Dodgers single-game tickets went on sale Saturday, with prices unchanged from last season and the team figuring to benefit from fans joyful over the signing of slugging outfielder Manny Ramirez.
The start of single-game ticket sales "couldn't come at a better time," just three days after Ramirez's signing, Dodgers Director of Ticket Sales David Siegel said.
Since Ramirez's signing Wednesday, "there's definitely been a buzz like we haven't seen all off-season," Siegel said, with both more calls coming into the ticket department about season ticket and partial-season ticket plans.
Siegel said sales are strong, but he provided no details.
The single-game ticket sales began at 10 a.m. at Dodger Stadium, online at www.dodgers.com, Ticketmaster outlets and by calling (866) Dodgers.
There is a limit to four tickets per person for the Dodgers' April 13 home opener against the San Francisco Giants. Opening Day tickets are expected to sell out "very, very quickly," according to Siegel.
Opening Day tickets sold out in 30 minutes last year after selling out in 15 minutes or less each of the previous two years. The bulk of the 56,000 tickets for Opening Day are sold through season and partial-season ticket plans and will continue to be available after Saturday through those plans.
Ticket prices are unchanged this year following several seasons of increases. The team had been planning to increase prices, and inadvertently placed a price list on its web site last week that included increases, but decided against it because of the worsening economy, Charles Steinberg, the team's chief marketing officer, told the Los Angeles Times.
Siegel described sales of season tickets and partial season-tickets as "going pretty well" despite the recession and what had been the uncertainty over whether Ramirez would return to the team.
"With the state of the economy, we are taking every single account and really reaching out to them personally one by one and finding out what we can do to find the package that works out for them," Siegel told City News Service.
"We can't do things the way they've always been done. We have to leave no stone unturned and find creative packages for everyone."
When asked whether uncertainty over Ramirez effected sales, Siegel responded, "We try to sell the experience of Dodger baseball, not one player. Anytime you hang your hat on wins and losses or one player that takes it out of your control."
"The thing that we control is the fan experience, from the time they enter the parking gates to the time they leave the parking gates. The fan experience is what we can control and that's what we sell."
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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