Cubs season ticket holders, brace for 6% to 31% price hike
Chicago Cubs fans have found the road to the World Series is paved with high ticket prices, and next year won't be any different.
Season ticket holders are seeing increases of 6 percent to 31 percent for 2017.
When season ticket holders received their invoices on Monday, they saw ticket prices raised depending on the game, opposing team, seat location and other factors. The overall increase will be 19.5 percent for the whole season, said Colin Faulkner, senior vice president of tickets, partnership and marketing for the Chicago Cubs.
"Sure, the 19.5 percent increase is significant," Faulkner said. "And it was a tough decision to make, and we put a lot of thought into it. But we truly feel there is still tremendous value to fans."
This latest price increase follows another in the 2016 season of 7 percent to 43 percent. That's when the team showed promise of capturing that World Series trophy and the season ticket renewal rate was 98 percent.
On the open market, postseason tickets went for 670 percent of face value and World Series tickets went for 1,206 percent of face value. That's why the Cubs organization believes the demand will remain strong for 2017, Faulkner said.
Seats with a 6 percent increase for 2017 are upper box infield seats while the 31 percent increase is for club box infield seats.
Season ticket holders need to put down a 20 percent nonrefundable deposit by Dec. 19 and then provide the full payment by Jan. 20.
Faulkner said season ticket holders still save money over the course of the season, compared to individual ticket buyers who pay more for similar seats during a regular season.
"Clearly there is demand," he said.
But will that demand continue for the post-World Series Cubs?
After all, there are still construction and parking issues around Wrigley Field, and some fans just wanted to stick around long enough to see their Cubbies capture the World Series after 108 years.
The Chicago Cubs organization isn't worried.
There are 109,000 names on the waiting list for season tickets.