Working to try and become a more regional MLB entity in South Florida, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays begin their three game stint against the Texas Rangers today at Disney's Wide World of Sports just outside of Orlando. When the announcement was made last December, the plan—rather hope—was that the Disney's field where the Braves do Spring Training, would be expanded to meet ticket sale demand. At last year's announcement, the facility was to be expanded by 2,000 seats. Now the hope is the Rays won't be embarrassed as ticket sales have been sluggish and there is a chance the 9,500 seat facility—without the expanded seating—will not be sold out. As reported by the Tampa Bay Tribune:

"Quietly, behind the scenes, the Devil Rays organization has reached out in the Central Florida community and is donating hundreds of tickets to youth groups, so that there's a real grass-roots support for major-league baseball in Central Florida," Williams said. "The advertising has been beneficial, the editorial on the game has been beneficial, the fact that the Devil Rays are winning has been beneficial. As always in Central Florida, savvy consumers will wait until the weather is confirmed to be great to have a great time."

There also was talk in December of making a Rays series in the Orlando area a recurring event, but neither [Disney Sports vice president Reggie] Williams nor [Rays president Matt] Silverman would commit beyond this year.

"I think it's appropriate to wait until after this series has taken place," Williams said, "to have any discussion about the future."

"It's a possibility," Silverman said. "We'll do a review of the series after it's concluded. Anything we do would have to be in conjunction with the city of St. Petersburg [which holds the lease on Tropicana Field and receives a share of ticket revenue from every Rays home game]." 

With the first full month of the 2007 season in the books, it’s not too early to look at how clubs are doing in terms of ticket sales. By taking a look at April’s sales, we can get an idea of how last season’s wins and losses might impact off-season sales, as well as how any player acquisitions or stadium developments roll into the overall.

Using data from the Sports Business Journal, ESPN, and MLB.com, I’ll be digging into how clubs are doing in terms of ticket sales, starting today with the NL East. Needless to say, sales have not been good for the majority of the division with three clubs (Braves, Nationals, and Marlins) having sales in the bottom third of the league, while the Phillies and Mets are holding their own in the top ten.

How is the National League East faring in terms of ticket sales? Select Read More for details.

In a program thought to be the first of its kind in MLB, the Atlanta Braves and GE Money have joined together to offer a 90-day same-as-cash financing plan on the purchase of full or partial season-ticket packages. If it works for a washer and dryer, why not season tickets to see the Braves? As reported by the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

"It's a unique and interesting thing for our industry as a whole," Braves senior vice president of sales and marketing Derek Schiller said prior to Monday's announcement. "No other professional sports team has done this type of promotional plan to my knowledge."

The Braves began offering the financing plan during their first homestand of the season, and Schiller said "several" customers immediately bought season tickets using the option.

The GE Money Sport Finance Program is available for any ticket package over $199, which includes full or half season, 20-game plans, flex plans or by combining 4-game packs. Fans purchasing ticket plans in excess of that amount are eligible to apply to take advantage of a special 90-days, no payment and no interest term if the balance is paid before the end of the promotional period.

Try putting your cell phone in a scrapbook...

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times reports today about the new technologies in place at the ballpark that may, one day, make that ticket stub in your scrapbook a thing of the past. As reported in Ballgame Keepsake Goes Electronic:

A host of professional teams, including the Washington Nationals, are introducing new systems allowing fans to enter games using their cell phone, driver's license or similar means, potentially making paper tickets a thing of the past.

The Nationals and Tickets.com last weekend began testing a new system called Ticket@Phone, which allows fans to send an electronic ticket to their cell phone and enter the game by scanning a bar code on the phone's screen. Only four fans used the service over the weekend at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Fla., where the Nationals are in spring training. But the team plans to make it available to fans throughout the season at RFK Stadium on a trial basis.

Will the days of the paper ticket forever be gone?  "What you're seeing are the first steps toward the near-virtualization of the ticket," said Sean Moriarty, chief executive officer of Ticketmaster. "I don't think the [paper ticket] will be completely eliminated. But for a team, the goal is to provide fans as much flexibility as they can to access events." 

The increased excitement generated by the off-season signings by the Red Sox are paying off.

The Red Sox report a 6.4% increase in ticket sales from the same period last year, and have already passed 2 million tickets sold. At this time last year, the Red Sox had sold 2,135,353 tickets compared to 2,272,724 as of today—a difference of 137,371.

“We continue to be aggressive in our efforts to make sure that our tickets get into the hands of more fans—of more families—rather than have so many hoarded by some of those who participate in the secondary market,” said Red Sox President/CEO Larry Lucchino. “That's why we limited the maximum purchase Saturday to eight tickets.  The bottom line is that we want more fans to have the opportunity to enjoy the Red Sox at Fenway Park.”

To that end, the club will offer tickets for the Green Monster, Right Field Roof Deck, Opening Day (Tuesday, April 10 vs. Seattle), Patriots Day (Monday, April 16 vs. Los Angeles Angels) and the nine home games versus the New York Yankees via on line drawings (with telephone options).

(source: The Red Sox)