In the second season of any stadium, there are changes.  In the case of Yankee Stadium, the changes are pretty minor and are mostly of interest to the most hardcore of stadium insiders and stadium foodies. Here are some of the changes that we have been able to find thus far. Thanks to all on Twitter and elsewhere who sent in tips.

• There is a new concession stand near section 109 called NYY Steak Express. It replaces the Latin food stand that sold the terrible cuban sandwich. Good riddance. It seems that NYY Steak wants a piece of the $15 steak sandwich market, as they have priced their sandwich at the same pricepoint as Lobel's. STEAK WARS!!! So far we have heard mixed reviews, but the "beef on weck" action they have going on is intriguing  Be on the lookout for an NYYSI steak sandwich showdown review in the next week or so. (Thanks to @gcf123 and @holyshityouguys for the photos. Thanks to @JayDestro for additional info)
  
  

Photo courtesy of the guys over at Burger Conquest, who wrote an awesome review of the stadium's food this week.

• The Yankees have added seats to the cafe tables in the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar and garlic fries are now on the menu: (thanks to @hsilverm11375 for this tip and photo)

• The Field Level food court now has something called "Pizza Fritta," which they were handing out free samples for. It was basically a flattened churro.  This stand replaces the horrendous Famiglia pizza This is not actual pizza - it is a desert food. It replaces Mike's Arthur Ave Italian deli.
• The Field Level food court also got rid of the Boar's Head stand (it moved down the right field line) and has replaced it with a margarita stand. Yup. Margaritas at the Yankee game. What has the world come to? [video forthcoming]
• The fruit stand now has a salad bar. Yum. [photo forthcoming]
• The Malibu Rum terrace party deck is not open.  They say it will open in May 2010. It appears that there will be a doorway onto a platform outside the stadium where there will be views of the South Bronx. Thrilling.
• As we covered in the standing room post, field level cafe seating areas have been extended into the outfield.
• The concourse of the terrace level is now equipped for standing room spots with bar-like surfaces to place food and drinks.  As we mentioned in our standing room only post, you can't see the field from most of these spots because of the people in front of you and the angle of the terrace seats.
• The terrace level now has something called "Latin Food," serving what appears to be a really watered down Arroz con Pollo ($10).
• It seems that Yankee Stadium has hired a significant amount of new staff that are physically handicapped or impaired in a number of ways. People in wheelchairs, impaired walking abilities, etc. - "How Can I Help You" people and other kinds of workers. Good to see the Yankees are equal opportunity employers.
• As Leonora mentioned the other day, those who complained that the out of town scoreboard only showed 4 games at a time and couldn't wait 5 seconds for the slide to change got their wish. The new scoreboard screen looks like a crappy MSDOS program with white on black text of scores and the jersey number of the pitchers and no graphics, no runners on base icon, team graphics, etc. It is like a bad flashback to the out of town scoreboard at the old Yankee Stadium.
• You can now pick up pictures from the Yankee Stadium Photo Program on-site (near the area where they had the old stadium memorabilia last year).  Last year, the photographers gave you a card and allowed you to pick up your photos online. [video forthcoming]
• The Yankees have decorated some of the concrete corridors with stick-on posters of the best Yankees players.  It isn't anything too elaborate, but it adds some life and is a very welcome addition. [video forthcoming]

Editor's Note: Today Stadium Insider welcomes a new author to the team - Leonora.  For the past year, we have had the pleasure of reading Leonora's well-reasoned Yankee musings on Twitter (she's known as LeoKitty over there),as well as on her blog.  We've linked to some of her work before, and she definitely understands what the Stadium Insider concept is all about.  She goes to at least half of the home games every year and just like us, mostly resides in the upper deck.  For the time being, she will be providing Stadium Insider recaps for the games she attends, attempting to give our readers a sense of the atmosphere. Hopefully she'll contribute even more down the road.  Please make her feel welcome in the comments, and feel free to add your two cents if you were at today's game.

The game after Opening Day is generally a low demand game. It's usually a weekday day game for scheduling purposes (if they need to make up Opening Day itself, people like me who hold tickets for Game #2 don't suddenly have Opening Day seats in their hands) and other than that, the excitement seems to just go away for the general public for that one day. It doesn't mean that Yankee Stadium is empty, just at 60% capacity or so (see Ross' post about today's attendance here).

I was running a bit late to the game as my bus had gotten backed up in traffic. The crowd outside seemed rather large but I quickly found a short security line and got on it. The female guard just sort of poked her nose into my bag and just waved me right in. For reference, here is the purse that I brought with me today:

It's a bit large and I think for a bigger ticket game it would have gone through a more thorough inspection.

The stadium was filled up at about that 60% rate I mentioned earlier. The bleachers were, as usual, totally stuffed and the Legends/Champions area was actually pretty full. Some of the outfield field level seating was pretty empty and the main, terrace and grandstand were thin in places. I'd guess that a lot of people with the Friday+ plan didn't go. Row 14 of Grandstand section 423 where I sit for that plan had me and two other people sitting in it for most of the game until I relocated a few rows down to sit with some friends in another mostly empty row.

The attitude of the crowd itself was a little annoying. I am a bit of a grump, but I found that people were being rather unfair to Javier Vazquez. Beyond that, the crowd was rather diverse in nature but pretty college student-age heavy.  Many of the people there were imbibing at a rapid pace which can make things unpleasant and is probably responsible for the boo-happy nature of the crowd. The Yankees offense having a slow day helped also likely exacerbated lingering angry feelings towards Vazquez.  I find it hard to believe that so many fans would boo a pitcher for allowing two runs in a game (the real booing started in the 3rd inning) if the Yankees had matched or scored more than that.

The Yankees made some changes to their outfield graphic/video boards this year. The player stats area now lists out a more detailed list including OBP (so now when Jeff Francoeur heads across town for the Subway Series, he'll know what is important) and SLG. The main HD video board features the current lineups for both teams, and now breaks the pitchcount out into balls and strikes. The last change is the out of town scoreboard is now a full list of all the games for the day. That is the change that I liked the least.

Here's what it looks like now (click for larger size):

Last year, the out of town scoreboard only showed four games at a time and cycled through them all.  I liked that it gave a sense of what was going on by letting you know the current batter and if there were any runners on base. The condensed view with only scores, outs and numbers of the pitchers doesn't give you a great idea of what's going on. It's a small thing, but I liked being able to quickly get a sense of what was going on in an out of town game without having to pull up the MLB WAP site on my phone.

Overall, this wasn't a fun game to attend. Between the Yankees not playing to the best of their abilities, the small crowd and the boo-birds looking for any excuse to get on Javier Vazquez' case, it was what I imagine Kansas City Royals games are like when the bullpen comes in and blows a Greinke start.

Just 24 hours ago we wrote on this very blog about the Yankees setting a new regular season attendance record. This evening, we have some sobering news to report - today's matinee against the Angels only drew 42,372 fans - the second lowest regular season crowd in Yankee Stadium history.

There is usually a dropoff from the first home game, but this was more pronounced than last year when the attendance went from 48,271 to 45,101.  Without the stadium having the "new factor," we expect attendance numbers to stick around the lower 40,000's until the weather heats up.  On a gloomy late April or early May day, we wouldn't be surprised to see a crowd dip below 40,000 for the first time.

Regardless of the exact numbers, the Yankees will still be among the league leaders in attendance, but that won't stop us from obsessively keeping track of the highs and lows. Its what we do.

According to our 2010 Yankee Stadium attendance tracker (just updated!), the Yankees have set the New Yankee Stadium regular season attendance record by drawing 49,293 for today's ring day showdown with the Angels.  The previous record was 48,809 for a penant race showdown with the Red Sox on September 26, 200.

The bad news? The team has still still yet to draw 50,000 fans (except for during playoff games) - a side-effect of being unable to move the high priced Legends Suites.

As we mentioned a few weeks back, the Yankees put standing room only tickets on sale for 2010, paving the way for the attendance record.  We expect this record to stand for most of the regular season, perhaps being broken when the Sox visit in late September.

Nothing like a little bit of shameless self-promotion to start the day!  Opening Day 2010 is upon us and as usual, a bevy of Yankee Stadium-related articles have cropped up around New York City. The free newspaper Metro NY has one such story about Yankees tickets and they kindly turned to us for some insights.  Unfortunately, they didn't post the article on their website, but you can find the scans below.  Click to make these bigger:

Its funny - we never thought to write a story about this because it is so old hat.  Meanwhile, Metro decided to make it a cover story.  We've come to accept that nobody is buying those overpriced tickets unless it is the playoffs.  For the regular season, there are going to be empty seats up front. We're over it. Anyway, we'll try not to pat ourselves on the backs too much, but we thought we'd share this with our loyal readers.

Also, we have struck up a deal with Fansnap.com and will be providing regular posts on their blog for the next three months.  This is an exciting opportunity for us to expand the Stadium Insider brand and help get the word out about the great service that Fansnap is providing.  Our first post is up now, and as you can see, it is very similar to what we do here.  Our goal over there isn't to sell tickets, it is to produce compelling Yankees-related content.  Hopefully you'll bookmark the page or subscribe to the RSS feed.

We'll stop boring you with site news and let you enjoy the home opener now. We'll be here in our cubicle, hammering away the keyboard.

With the excitement of a new season comes the events trying to capitalize on the excitement of the new season. Over the weekend, we found out about a couple of such events that may be of interest to readers of NYY Stadium Insider.

MEET THE 2009 WORLD SERIES TROPHY! MONDAY, APRIL 12 FROM 1-2 PM AT YANKEE STADIUM'S HARD ROCK CAFE.

First up is your chance to meet and take a photo with the 2009 World Series trophy (its got a great personality from what we hear).  Not much time to plan for this one, as it will be appearing today (Monday, April 12) from 1-2 PM at the Yankee Stadium Hard Rock Cafe.  If you're off from work or if you can take a long lunch, stop by for this unique opportunity.

This event is the kickoff of Hard Rock's "Your Home When They're Away" program at Yankee Stadium during the 2010 season - an effort to draw people to the Hard Rock at times other than on game day (no easy feat). According to a press release sent out by the restaurant, "guests can cheer on the 2009 World Champs in a stadium atmosphere with drink specials, $5 appetizers, door prizes* and receive an MVP (Most Valuable Patron) “Your Home When They’re Away”  lanyard, entitling them to priority seating at Hard Rock Cafe Yankee Stadium during  all away games throughout the Yankees’ 2010 regular season. (Some games subject to availability)"

Good idea, but they're going to have to come up with something a little better than $5 appetizers and priority seating to get us up to the South Bronx on a non-game day.  We'll have to wait and see if this ends up being a successful program.

MEET THE AUTHORS OF ROGER MARIS: BASEBALL'S RELUCTANT HERO. TUESDAY, APRIL 13 FROM 4-7 PM AT MICKEY MANTLE'S RESTAURANT ON CENTRAL PARK SOUTH IN MANHATTAN

Danny Peary, author of many books (and writer on the Tim McCarver show, which we won't hold against him) will be signing copies of his new Roger Maris book at Mickey Mantle's on Tuesday.  Co-author Tom Clavin will also be on hand. We haven't had a chance to read the book yet (review copy is in the mail), but the early reviews on Amazon.com are impressive - including some nice words from Bob Costas.  If you're a Roger Maris fan, you should at least check out the summary of the book and maybe even come out and meet the authors.  Mickey Mantle's is always a good time.

Around this time a year ago, the anticipation for the new Yankee Stadium was about more than watching baseball games - it was about a shiny new toy that fans, writers and players couldn't wait to get their hands on.  The boss had built a billion dollar mallpark and we were head over heels - fawning over every new amenity and obsessing over design components.  Fresh off of a walk-off laden 2009 championship run, the 2010 home schedule is just a day away. Obstructed views, overpriced tickets and new concession stands are a distant memory.  Today, we anxiously await Andy Pettitte's first pitch on Tuesday afternoon - the commencement of another 81 exciting games in the South Bronx.

Over in Queens, the preparation for a new decade of baseball at Citi Field has been different.  As our friends at the Mets Police have covered extensively, that facility has undergone fairly significant changes. They've added a brand new Mets museum (how did they not have this before?) and an Irish pub called McFadden's.  They moved the famous(?) home run apple to a more prominent location outside of the stadium, reconfigured the bullpens and dedicated the bridge beyond the outfield wall to William A. Shea.  This is without even mentioning the most major change - the lowering of the center field fence. While sweeping changes like this would have been good for blog content, we're pretty glad that Yankee Stadium is remaining largely unchanged for 2010.

Of course, there will be some minor tweaks at the House That George Built.  As we have heard for months now, there will be a new concession area dubbed the "party deck."  Last week, it was revealed in the Yankee Stadium A-Z guide that this new addition is actually the Malibu Terrace Deck and it isn't nearly as exciting as we had imagined it.  It is located directly above Gate 6 on the Terrace/Grandstand Level and "features a full bar and an assortment of grilled food." A source inside the stadium tells us that there won't be views of the field, but the Tommy Bahama-like area will feature views of the city.

The minor tweaks don't end there. Andre Chiavelli, owner of Vintage SportsCard Club located outside of the Yankees museum tells us that the Yankees have added a "fast pitch" (location currently unknown) like you find at carnivals to see how fast you can throw a baseball. Somewhere, Babe Ruth is rolling in his grave. There is also a new Johnny Rockets location (again, location currently unknown) and some new memorabilia stores - most notably the monument park store which will sell items from Chiavelli's Vintage SportsCard Club including many original framed newspapers of Ruth, Gehrig and even the 1927 world series.

As the season progresses, we'll be sure to snap some photos and keep everyone updated on any changes that we notice. We also plan on re-introducing the Stadium Insider game recaps.  As some of our original readers will remember, these recaps won't be like what you find in newspapers or on other blogs.  They'll chronicle the ridiculous sights and sounds that occur at every game, as experienced by season ticket holders attending the games.  We'll have our finger on the pulse of the Yankees fanbase, reporting the new scapegoat now that A-Rod has his championship (our money is on Javier Vazquez).  We're also newly armed with an HD flip-cam and plan on presenting some of the more colorful personalities and Yankee Stadium traditions with fan-shot videos.

If the 2010 Yankees can avoid injuries, they're primed for another championship run, and perhaps begin another dynasty like we saw in the late 90's.  NYY Stadium Insider will be along for the ride and we hope you'll join us.

We have been talking about this for months, but it is finally official - the Yankees will receive their 2009 World Series rings before the 2010 home opener on April 13.  The design of the ring is still super-secret (seriously - the google has nothing), but we've been in touch with someone who got a sneak peak of the 20 different options last month and he says we'll be blown away.

In addition to the ring day announcement, the Yankees also announced that Kristin Chenoweth (whoever that is) will sing the National Anthem and Bernie Williams will throw out the first pitch.  Bernie seems to be getting a lot of ceremonial first pitches lately, perhaps setting the stage for a number retirement and "Bernie Williams Day?"  That's a post for another day.

There is no official word on how the ring ceremony will unfold The LoHud Yankees Blog has the official release, but we've heard rumors from someone who works closely with the Yankees that they also have some special surprises in store.  We were told that there is going to be some kind of ceremonial jersey-changing by Joe Girardi (from jersey No. 27 to No. 28), but that just seems cheesy. He will have been wearing No. 28 for all of Spring Training and the first week of the season by the time April 13 rolls around.  We're hoping they decide to do it just for the sheer awkwardness of it all.

Something we would like to see is a ceremonial presentation for the addition of newest championship year on the wall behind the bleachers.  From looking at last year's setup, they didn't exactly leave room for such an addition.  However, it shouldn't have been difficult to re-paint it and cover it with a curtain to allow for a dramatic unveiling.

Its great that the Yankees have finally announced ring day, but it is also a bit unfair to fans who would have done anything to attend and now are left without any time to plan a trip to the Bronx. Last month, we received the following email from a die-hard Yankees fan in Illinois.  Here is an excerpt:

I'm a huge yankee fan from bloomington, IL.  I'm a retired teacher and have loved the bombers since back in the day with mantle, yogi, whitey, and son on.  i would absolutely die to get to go to this!!  and it's getting closer to april 13.  i would need to schedule airfare and can only afford one game.  i have called the yanks twice and they are giving out no information on this.  when do you think it will be confirmed and how will i find out?

Unfortunately, with less than 5 days to plan, this Yankees fan from Bloomington, Illinois is unlikely to attend the game. CC Sabathia was hinting at ring day since early February - would it have been so difficult for the Yankees to have officially announced it sooner?

In yesterday's post, we analyzed data about the 2010 Yankees ticket resale market, courtesy of Fansnap.com.  Today, we'll take a look at another must-visit website - the recently buzzed-about SeatGeek.com.  Since January 2010, SeatGeek.com has revamped their user interface and received attention from TechCrunch, Fast Company and Mashable - all thought leaders when it comes to new technology.

SeatGeek's approach is different from Fansnap's as it tries to time the market, educating buyers on when to purchase their tickets.  For each event, email alerts for significant price drops and "ticket analytics" are offered, featuring a graph of ticket price trends compared to face value.  SeatGeek.com uses a proprietary algorithm (similar to what professional brokers use) to achieve an 82% accuracy rate on price predictions.  Below, you will find the page for the Yankees home opener against the Angels:

As we touched on yesterday, it is obvious that prices are trending down, and we wouldn't be surprised to see prices creep down to around 200% of face value by the time all is said and done (if not lower).  The idea of ticket prices plummeting as the event approaches is fairly obvious, but even more so when considering how flooded the market is with tickets. Here are some other ticket-buying tips for Yankees fans (courtesy of the good folks over at SeatGeek.com):

• Ticket prices tend to rise for games with promotions and giveaways.  We advise fans to check the schedule in advance and buy tickets to those games as early as possible
• For highly anticipated games, ticket prices tend to decline. here's an example: http://seatgeek.com/event/show/330578/boston-red-sox-at-new-york-yankees-2010-05-18/ We expect that ticket prices will continue to drop throughout April and May for this game.
• Ticket prices tend to spike for the first game in a homestand. On the other hand, if the game is the last ballgame in a homestand, ticket prices tend to decrease.  We believe this is a classic case of pent up demand.  When a team is on the road for a couple weeks, fans miss them.  By the end of the homestand, fans have had their fill and ticket prices will decrease.

SeatGeek.com even features a premium "ticket portfolio"section for $15 per month.  This seller's tool will provide an estimated value of your season tickets and keep track of your "portfolio," letting you know when to sell and when to attend games.

According to this tool, our 41 game plan in section 428 with a face value of $1,640 is valued at $5410 - 330% higher than face value.  The tool is surprisingly accurate - we know someone who has already unloaded all 41 games of the same plan a comparable location for nearly $6,000.  The key is that he sold the majority of his tickets before any of the public on sale dates - a time when ticket data from sources such as Fansnap and SeatGeek were incomplete.

The two websites providing us with valuable data the past two days are competing for the same consumers (they make money when people click through and buy tickets from listings they've aggregated), but fans looking to make an educated purchase can benefit from using both tools together.  If you're a frequent traveler and make airline ticket purchases, consider this analogy - Fansnap is Kayak.com and SeatGeek is Farecast.com (now Bing travel).  Savvy travelers use both of those tools to get the best possible price on airline tickets.

By taking a peak at the data on SeatGeek.com (especially the seller's tools), we were able to understand that even in what is perceived as a buyer's market, profit margins for Yankee ticket brokers are still extremely lucrative.  At the same time, their data tells us that if buyers remain patient they can avoid paying insane markups on 2010 Yankees tickets.

When it comes to actually buying tickets using these websites, Fansnap is still our choice.  Seatgeek offers compelling data and a slick web design, but the event ticket maps are clunky and aren't conducive to easily finding and purchasing tickets.  There is an ugly mix of different colored dots representing the best values and the map isn't as intuitive as its counterpart on Fansnap.com. As a reminder, this user interface was just re-launched a couple of months ago, so they are likely still working out the kinks.

Until the Yankees institute a variable pricing model for ticket sales, fans will be forced to navigate the muddy waters of the secondary ticket market. For a long time, this was a scary proposition for the average Yankee fan - it was a world of high volume sellers, pushing clients to buy based on their terms. Regardless of whether we actually buy tickets through their portals, websites like Fansnap.com and SeatGeek.com are helping buyers make educated ticket decisions based on current market conditions - not the agendas of ticket scalpers.

With the season fast approaching, now is as good of a time as any to take a look at the secondary ticket market for 2010 Yankees home games.  Most of the reasonably priced tickets directly from the Yankees have been gobbled up, so sources like Stubhub, Ebay and Craigslist are the places to go.  In this two-part series, we'll introduce a new crop of fan-friendly websites designed to empower ticket buyers and examine how they may be keeping ticket prices in check.

We were first introduced to Fansnap.com during the 2009 season and have been hooked ever since.  For those who haven't already utilized the site, it is to the secondary Yankees ticket market what Kayak.com is to airline ticket purchasing.  In other words, it culls all of the ticketing options for your selected game and presents them to you in the most fan-friendly way possible.  There is an intuitive seating chart that stars the best values, ensuring that the tickets you buy on the secondary market are going to be in line with the current pricing trends. The website even features an underrated blog that breaks down key ticket data that will be compelling to fans.

According to Fansnap.com, the Yankees 2010 home opener on April 13, 2010 (ring day, Matsui return), is the 11th "hottest" MLB event of the 2010 season (based on average ticket price). The chart is below:

Interestingly, this was the third "hottest" MLB event as of three days ago and has since plummeted.  Regardless, the game's ranking on the "hot" list only tells part of the story, as fans don't buy average ticket prices - they buy best values.  To that end, Fansnap.com has implemented a sometimes-flawed "best value" tool for all of the events on their website, giving fans a quick snapshot of the tickets they should buy at that moment.  Here is what they were showing for the Yankees home opener as of Satuday, April 3 at 4PM:

At different times, different listings are featured, based on current availability.  The flaw in this system is that listings on the source websites aren't static. For example. the "best value" Field Dugout 128 seats highlighted above were on sale from Ebay.com.  When we clicked through, the starting bid was for $199 per ticket - not $150 as the chart showed.  When we chose not to purchase the tickets, Fansnap intuitively asked us why, and we had the opportunity to report the discrepancy.

Within hours, we had a response from Fansnap about the faulty listing.  A representative from the company said, "we sometimes see eBay sellers re-using their listings to list multiple sets of tickets without paying a new listing fee so it may be that the seller was just changing data during the course of the listing period.  It was a strange situation as I rechecked the listing just now and the tickets did sell for $150 per ticket but when I clicked through yesterday to review them - they were showing the $199 price that you saw." Despite its flaws, the best value tool is helpful, and proves fans can get in the door for the home opener for way cheaper than what the average ticket prices are reflecting.  It is also nice to see Fansnap's responsiveness in adjusting listings so they aren't misleading potential buyers.

In more good news for those hoping to score tickets to the Yankees home opener, demand isn't exactly keeping up with the abundant supply of tickets.  The following list (once again, supplied by Fansnap) shows the number of available tickets on the secondary market (obviously not including peer to peer websites such as Craigslist):

It is fairly obvious that prices are due to plummet as nearly 2,000 new tickets have flooded the market since 4/1 and the average price has dropped nearly $20.  Anecdotally, we're hearing the same.  While one fan reported selling a pair of Grandstand outfield tickets for $350 early in March (face value: $40), the current prices are nowhere near that.  Today, we heard of a pair in section 409 going for $210.

For comparison purposes, home opener tickets were averaging $525 at this time last year, nearly $275 more expensive than the current average of $253.  Yankees fans who were forced into becoming ticket brokers during the relocation process were definitely expecting a more potent market for the 2010 season, but should realize that ring day is nowhere near the draw of the opening of a new stadium.  Too many fans are buying tickets to sell instead of to attend.

From the stories we have been hearing, and the data that Fansnap has provided, it looks like this trend is going to continue for foreseeable future. While the Yankees are undoubtedly one of the biggest draws in MLB, the majority of their "hot 100 games" are on the road ("hot 100 games" once again decided by Fansnap's hightest average ticket prices):

Team      Home Games   Away Games   Total "Hot Games"
Red Sox          30                   27                57  (18 games vs Yankees)
Blue Jays         17                    3                 20  (13 games vs Yankees or Red Sox)
Yankees          14                   27                41  (18 games vs Red Sox)

An ominous sign for resellers, but a welcoming sight for people who were shut out of buying tickets directly from the Yankees.

Once again, the anecdotes support the data.  A Twitter follower checked in with this report:

Users on NYYFans.com are reporting similar problems:

Stubhub is definitely a buyers market. Made 3 sales this past week:

Friday 9/24 Red Sox - $126 for a pair in Grandstand Dugout
Saturday 5/29 Indians - $53 for a pair in Grandstand Dugout
Thursday 6/17 Phillies - $81 for a pair in Grandstand Dugout

These are all after fees

From analyzing the Fansnap data, we can conclude that opening day ticket prices are due to fall off a cliff, and the rest of the 2010 season might follow suit.  In part two of the series tomorrow, we'll consult professionals when it comes to forecasting event prices, SeatGeek.com, to see if our hunch is correct.