Play ball: Explorers ticket sales under way
By Bret Hayworth Journal staff writer | Posted: Tuesday, April 17, 2007
With the Sioux City Explorers baseball team nearing a May 17 home opener, individual tickets for the 2007 season went on sale Monday.
There wasn't a rush on the single-game tickets, Explorers general manager Shane Tritz said, primarily because season tickets are on sale year-round. But the ticket availability drew a few people in the late morning, including a longtime fan three minutes before the announced 10 a.m. sale time.
At Lewis and Clark Park, the home of the Explorers since 1993, Dave Olsen of South Sioux City paid $95.40 for 12 tickets -- two each for the six Sunday home games he'll be able to attend, with the first on May 20.
"I called two weeks ago. I knew what I wanted this year," Olsen said.
At 10:12 a.m., the second single-game purchaser arrived, Steve Weisz of Sioux City. He paid $47.70 for six reserved seats for one specific game -- the July 3 contest which features post-game fireworks. "That is one of their bigger sellers, on the 3rd or 4th, and with the fireworks, there is a lot of fan excitement," Weisz said.
Weisz was at the first-ever Explorers game in 1993, and he'll go to about half the home games this year.
A full 48-game season box seat runs $384 and a season reserved seat is $300. There are mini packs of 24- and 16-game choices, and single-game prices run from $5.95 to $9.95.
The X's front office is open year-round. "Once the last pitch is thrown of a season, we've already got people calling within a week" to buy season tickets for the following summer, Tritz said.
About 700 to 800 season tickets have been sold in recent years, and most season tickets are bought for the box seats. Among the non-box seats, the most popular sellers are located behind the third base-side home dugout, then behind home plate, Tritz explained.
"We've got a great season ticket base, being here 15 years. We've got individuals who've had the same seats all 15 years," Tritz said.
The announced attendance for many games has been about 1,600 the last two years, although the statistic includes the number of sold tickets, not bodies in the stands.
The highest attendance was reached in 1995 with an average crowd of 3,483. In 2003, the average attendance was 2,051. Weisz said the crowds began dropping since "the teams haven't been as good" and fans "found other things to do."
When Chuck Robbins was announced as the X's general manager in November 2002, the Sioux City native said he hoped to re-energize interest in the franchise.
"You've gone through the normal business cycle," Robbins said. "At first, everybody's excited. Now, it's not such a big deal. I think we need to find some ways to re-energize the whole attitude at the ballpark."
A Sioux City West High graduate, Tritz became general manager in January 2006 and shares the optimism Robbins had for bringing back fans.
"Ticket sales have been up this year," he said. "Our big push to the community is on affordable family entertainment."
Olsen started attending the games in the mid-1990s, and had season tickets for a few years. Olsen has seen more than 100 games, and said he hopes the attendance "is coming back. I think this year will tell. The true baseball fan, they'll be back."
Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712) 293.4203 or brethayworth@siouxcityjournal.com
There wasn't a rush on the single-game tickets, Explorers general manager Shane Tritz said, primarily because season tickets are on sale year-round. But the ticket availability drew a few people in the late morning, including a longtime fan three minutes before the announced 10 a.m. sale time.
At Lewis and Clark Park, the home of the Explorers since 1993, Dave Olsen of South Sioux City paid $95.40 for 12 tickets -- two each for the six Sunday home games he'll be able to attend, with the first on May 20.
"I called two weeks ago. I knew what I wanted this year," Olsen said.
At 10:12 a.m., the second single-game purchaser arrived, Steve Weisz of Sioux City. He paid $47.70 for six reserved seats for one specific game -- the July 3 contest which features post-game fireworks. "That is one of their bigger sellers, on the 3rd or 4th, and with the fireworks, there is a lot of fan excitement," Weisz said.
Weisz was at the first-ever Explorers game in 1993, and he'll go to about half the home games this year.
A full 48-game season box seat runs $384 and a season reserved seat is $300. There are mini packs of 24- and 16-game choices, and single-game prices run from $5.95 to $9.95.
The X's front office is open year-round. "Once the last pitch is thrown of a season, we've already got people calling within a week" to buy season tickets for the following summer, Tritz said.
About 700 to 800 season tickets have been sold in recent years, and most season tickets are bought for the box seats. Among the non-box seats, the most popular sellers are located behind the third base-side home dugout, then behind home plate, Tritz explained.
"We've got a great season ticket base, being here 15 years. We've got individuals who've had the same seats all 15 years," Tritz said.
The announced attendance for many games has been about 1,600 the last two years, although the statistic includes the number of sold tickets, not bodies in the stands.
The highest attendance was reached in 1995 with an average crowd of 3,483. In 2003, the average attendance was 2,051. Weisz said the crowds began dropping since "the teams haven't been as good" and fans "found other things to do."
When Chuck Robbins was announced as the X's general manager in November 2002, the Sioux City native said he hoped to re-energize interest in the franchise.
"You've gone through the normal business cycle," Robbins said. "At first, everybody's excited. Now, it's not such a big deal. I think we need to find some ways to re-energize the whole attitude at the ballpark."
A Sioux City West High graduate, Tritz became general manager in January 2006 and shares the optimism Robbins had for bringing back fans.
"Ticket sales have been up this year," he said. "Our big push to the community is on affordable family entertainment."
Olsen started attending the games in the mid-1990s, and had season tickets for a few years. Olsen has seen more than 100 games, and said he hopes the attendance "is coming back. I think this year will tell. The true baseball fan, they'll be back."
Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712) 293.4203 or brethayworth@siouxcityjournal.com
Story Comments
Read More and Post Comments 1 comment(s)
Please note: The following are comments from readers. In no way do they represent the views of The Sioux City Journal or Lee Enterprises. We will not edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to not post or to remove comments that violate our code of conduct. No comment may contain potentially libelous statements; obscene, explicit or racist language; personal attacks, insults or threats. Terms of Service
lets do this wrote on Apr 17, 2007 8:25 AM: