Trout, Pujols Not Enough to Boost Angels Ticket Sales

Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Apparently lower beer prices aren’t enough to keep Los Angeles Angels season ticket holders happy. Angels Vice President of Marketing and Ticket Sales Robert Alvarado recently revealed that season-ticket sales have declined by over 20 percent the last two years.

“We operate our business in an event town. It’s not a sports town,” Alvarado said in speaking with the L.A. Times. “Although there is a rabid following for the local teams, the following tends to follow performance. It’s always been like that in Southern California.” Acevedo expects to sell between 18,000 and 19,000 season tickets, figures well short of the 21,000 sold last season.

Watching the Angels miss the postseason four consecutive years can be hard on Halo fans, and it’s only made worse by unrewarding free agent signings meant to take team to the next level. One can’t blame them for canceling their season seats.

Tickets are still available for the March 31 opener against the Seattle Mariners and, while Alvarado expects a sellout, the Angels won’t find many paying full price. Opening Day seat prices have dipped to $20 a View All-Star ticket, three dollars less than similar seats for a March 29 exhibition game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In addition, a $10 ticket the following night gets one a Mike Trout bobblehead; surprising given that it can be sold online for more.

The downward trend doesn’t necessarily mean that fans have lost faith in the Angels, especially with three potential All-Stars in Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton, and Albert Pujols in the lineup. They are simply turned off by inauspicious starts to 2012 and 2013 campaigns that ended the team’s postseason run before it started.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have a renewal rate near 98 percent for the upcoming season, but it’s easy to forget that just two years ago they slashed ticket prices in the wake of the team’s worst home attendance since 1992; a trend that stopped with former owner Frank McCourt’s departure. The Angels don’t have their storied history or a fan base that spans the world, but they do field a team worth watching well into October. If they can learn anything from the Dodgers, it’s that winning cures all.

As they have the previous 11 seasons, the Angels will surpass three million ticket sales. The only question is whether a majority of those tickets are used when September comes around.