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Rays To Limit Free Parking In 2008

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By MARC LANCASTER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 13, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - You'll still be able to get free parking for Rays games at Tropicana Field in 2008 as long as you've got enough family or friends along for the ride.

The Rays announced Friday that vehicles with four or more passengers will continue to park for free at team-controlled lots. Other vehicles will be charged $10, a return to the fee that was in place before Stuart Sternberg granted free parking to all in his first two seasons of ownership. Parking in remote lots will cost $5, also the same as in 2005.

The return to paid parking was expected, but the Rays figure to experience some backlash from fans who have grown accustomed to the free-parking perk that was intended all along to be temporary.

'Certainly I think we have to be prepared to hear that,' Rays senior vice president and chief sales officer Mark Fernandez said Friday. 'But I feel really good about the fact that if you come as a family of four or two groups of two, you're still going to get to park for free.

'I think most folks understand that we've made significant capital investments in the facility because we wanted to enhance the fan experience, and we're proud of those - the way the building looks and feels. This is just about trying to make sure that we have the resources to manage our business appropriately.'
Ticket prices for 2008 will remain mostly unchanged. Full season tickets will cost the same as they did in 2007 and there have been only slight alterations in single-game ticket prices: Upper deck tickets will cost $1 more, while outfield ticket prices have been reduced by $1.

There is one new wrinkle that will affect walk-up customers, though. The team has added a surcharge of $2 to tickets purchased on the day of a game within five hours of game time. That practice is growing in popularity among major-league teams, and the Rays say it helps prevent increases in ticket prices for those who buy in advance.

'I think we're doing it in the most fan-friendly way I've seen, which is we're doing it five hours before,' Fernandez said. 'So if a fan wants to walk into the Tampa office or go online at 10 in the morning, they can still get it without the surcharge. We have among the highest walk-up numbers in all of baseball, and all we're trying to do is encourage folks to buy even 24 or 48 hours early.'

The Rays will continue to work on a two-tiered pricing system, with tickets to 21 so-called 'prime games' priced anywhere from $5-$60 more than the same seats for the other 60 home dates. This year's prime games include all 18 home dates against the Red Sox and Yankees along with the June 17-19 series against the Chicago Cubs.

The price range for regular games will run from $9 for upper deck seats to $210 for home plate club seats. For prime games, the range is $14 to $270.

Game times for the 2008 home schedule still have not been determined, but the Rays are considering following another industry trend and moving up start times of Saturday night games by an hour to 6:10 p.m. That would allow more time for postgame activities, such as the concerts the Rays regularly scheduled after Saturday night games in 2007.

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227 or mlancaster@tampatrib.com.

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