We're going to the Giants/As game in AT&T park tonight. It's a little weird to see my first As game of 07 in someplace other than the Coliseum, but I figure since it's a pre-season matchup, I can be flexible. This explanation might not fly with some of the people featured in the WSJ's "Opening Day" (Mar 30, 07) -- the folks who are devoted to keeping a streak of opening-day attendance alive:
David Hoffmann has made it to every Cincinnati Reds home opener for 24 years, with a few close calls. April 3, 2000, for example, was Opening Day as well as the due date of his wife, Nancy. So he dragged Mrs. Hoffmann to the game, escorted her to their upper-deck seats for five innings and a 45-minute rain delay, then walked back to the car, which was parked in a free lot a mile away in Kentucky. Several hours later, the streak safely defended, Nancy went into labor with their daughter, Ashlyn.
But this isn't an article about those crazy streak-setters. It's about how crazy streak-setters are getting screwed by two factors: smaller venues for teams, plus team organizations that are now reserving opening-day tickets for people who pony up for pricey multigame packages.
That sort of economic discrimination isn't confined to the MLB. Another WSJ article today, "Class Warfare at the Infinity Pool," details the ways in which resort and hotel guests are being made aware of the perks that come with paying more for your room:
Jacob and Susan Rooksby got a peek at the subtle class distinctions during their January honeymoon at the Paradisus Playa Conchal in Costa Rica, where they paid $800 a night for a junior suite. When they first visited the resort's main pool, dozens of sunbathers clogged the chairs, a volleyball game was under way in the water and a Latin-style band played American hits by the bar. Two days later, they stumbled on a quieter pool, where an attendant was circling with cold towels among the 14 or so guests. But as soon as the couple set down their towels, the attendant asked them to leave. "He said, 'Oh. I'm sorry but this pool is only for Royal Service guests,'" says Mr. Rooksby...
I've never stayed at a resort. I don't know if $800 per night is standard. But I can see being annoyed with being made to feel like a second-class citizen when a five-day honeymoon starts at $4000.
In any event, resort spokespeople in the article all stress how all guests are equal but some guests are more equal than others. Quoth one:
"You are paying more so you are supposed to be getting more," says [Puntacana Resort & Club] spokeswoman Paola Rainieri de Díaz. She adds that hotel staff will ask "refined" customers -- for example, those who arrive on a private plane or who have an American Express black card -- or those who look like they have been to the Caribbean if they want to upgrade at check-in.
I see this as a natural extension of the bargains-at-the-expense-of-service mindset that drives a lot of consumer market segments. Wal-Mart has already showed what people will put up with to get bargains. Now the luxury brands are exploring the opposite end of the spectrum.
We were going to buy a multi-game pass, though we are certainly not wealthy; unfortunately, our friends could not get their shit together and choose games. They're a good deal! You get your pick of games, a discount on the tickets and first dibs at opening day, one of the few days of the year that the Jays sell out.
That may be the rub, of course; the really hot ticket in Toronto is the Leafs, and then there's the Raptors. And as a hockey fan, I can tell you that it's mighty annoying to know that you can't get seats because many filled by people in suits who talk on their cell phone for the entire game. It struck me as strange that Leafs fans where known as tame when you consider the sheer insanity of many of the club's followers, but it doesn't take too long looking at audience shots during a broadcast to realize why -- those guys aren't in the arena.
I stayed at an inclusive resort in the Dominican a few years ago -- catered mostly to North American university students, British families and European retirees, it seemed. It was nice, three-and-a-half stars, but not super swanky. We paid about $200 a night, Canadian dollars, during a busy season. So I'd hazard a guess that the resort the couple in question stayed at was already pretty fancy, and in their case I'd also probably be kind of annoyed.
Posted by: drunken monkey | 2007.03.31 at 06:42