FAN SLAM

By DAN MANGAN
NY POST
December 9, 2003 -- Foul bawl! That's what you'll be hearing from Yankee fans now that the World Series losers plan to hike ticket prices by up to 35 percent, The Post has learned.
Season-ticket holders of the so-called Main Box MVP seats will have to shell out $55 per game instead of $45, a 22 percent jump, while a Main Box seat will cost fans $45 - a $3 hike - if they buy it on the day of the game.

Other sections slated for price increases include Main Reserved MVP season tickets, which will cost $40 per game, compared with $35 last season, and Tier Box MVP - which will run season-ticket holders $35 per game instead of $30.

Still, nearly 25,000 seats out of 57,545 at Yankee Stadium - including those in the Bleachers, Tier Reserved and Tier Box sections - will have no price increases next year.

And most of the bigger price increases are concentrated in seats that are sold to corporations or wealthy individuals who can more easily absorb the hit.

Another way the Yanks are lessening the blow is by offering a slew of special discounts that in some cases will let fans nab a $35 seat for just $5.

While most Bronx Bomber fans likely will bite the bullet and cough up even more money to see their beloved baseball team, some are saying enough is enough and will give up their season tickets.



"I'm not going to go in on this year. I'm done," said Brad Kloza, 30, a TV news producer who since 1996 had bought a season-ticket package with two friends.

"This year was just ridiculous. It just went up so much . . . you start to feel like a chump paying such money."

Kloza and his pals, who last season shelled out $6,200 total for three "Main Box MVP" section seats at 46 Yankee games, last week learned that those seats will jump to a whopping $7,600 in the 2004 season - a nearly 23 percent increase, even with an advance-purchase discount.

If a fan buys a seat in the same section at the box office the day of the game, it will cost $70 per ticket compared to $52 last season - a 35 percent price hike.

"It's becoming a very expensive habit," said Kloza's buddy Matt Jones, who nonetheless is keeping his tickets.

The Yankees have not yet publicly announced their 2004 ticket prices, but have sent current season-ticket holders price sheets so that they can make advance purchases, which are sold at a discount.

"We've worked very hard to have a ticket price structure that is fair and attractive to fans in all areas," said Yankees spokesman Rick Cerrone. "It's a known fact that the Yankees put all their revenue back into their team . . . we want to keep a quality product on the field."

The Yankees have the biggest payroll in baseball, and also have steep costs from revenue sharing and a luxury tax mandated by Major League Baseball.

But recruiter Rick Maddock, who buys two seats for 12 Saturday games per season, said he is "kind of surprised" that next year he will have to pay 14 percent more for that package, which is jumping from $35 per ticket to $40.

"It's getting pretty close to football tickets now," said Maddock. "I said to my wife, we'll get them this year, and we'll see after that, because it's getting to the point where it's too much money."