These prime Blue Jays season tickets have been in their family for decades. Their cost just went up by $122,000

In an email to Blue Jays season ticket holders last month updating the next phase of the Rogers Centre renovations, a passing mention buried deep down pointed to one significant change for seat-holders close to the action.

After running through some of the major changes that will be part of a “completely reimagined lower bowl” starting next season, the message from team president Mark Shapiro dropped the hammer:

“This means, however, that your current seats will no longer exist as currently situated,” the email read.

The crux of that single line sent shock waves among Blue Jays devotees who have for years enjoyed watching their favourite team from proximity. Some of them later learned the revamped seating arrangements will cost tens of thousands of dollars more than what they are currently paying.

“It’s upsetting, it seems unfair, it completely ignores the loyalty we’ve had for the team over all these years, especially the years when they weren’t in contention,” said Steve Gamester.

Since 1977, his family has split season tickets for two seats near home plate, first at Exhibition Stadium and then directly beside the Blue Jays dugout at Rogers Centre. They have shared the cost with two other families every season since the MLB team debuted in Toronto. The seats originally belonged to three former longtime Star journalists, who later turned them over to their kids: George Gamester, Gerry Hall and Jack Brehl. They are one of just a few remaining season ticket holders from Day 1.

There’s no question their seats are good — they’re in the first row behind the “In The Action” section. The Gamesters were once asked during the playoffs to move to another location to make room for the MLB commissioner.

So after hearing about the lower bowl renovations, Gamester was expecting a price increase. But his family was totally shocked to find out the new price would be nearly 10 times higher.

Last fall when they renewed their seats for the 46th time, the final numbers came in at $15,000 for the pair of tickets, or $7,500 per seat for a total of 81 games. That works out to be an average of $92.59 for each seat per game.

After following up with their Blue Jays’ account representative, Gamester said they were told the cost to renew for similar tickets next year would be $68,500 per seat — a total of $137,000 for the pair. That works out to be $845.68 per ticket a game, or $1,691.36 for the pair.

He said they were also told the team would need a three-year commitment up front, a condition that hadn’t been required before.

“There’s no way we can afford $137,000 for baseball tickets,” said Gamester, who noted an increase of about 20 per cent would have been more reasonable.

He feels their only possibility to stay will be paying more money for worse seats.

“To me it feels like they probably want the original 1977 families to leave,” Gamester said. “It’s kind of like when a landlord renovates an apartment so that they can raise the price, which is very much a Toronto story right now.”

Gamester has been a witness to some of the most memorable moments in franchise history. He fondly recalls being at the dome when Joe Carter won the 1993 World Series with his walk-off homer and for Jose Bautista’s iconic bat flip in the 2015 American League Division Series. He remembers being at the last game in Exhibition Stadium in 1989, and was there when George Bell charged the mound and tried to karate kick Red Sox pitcher Bruce Kison in 1985.

His mother Heather Gamester attended the very first game at the CNE stadium in 1977. She remembers “suffering through the cold” over the years to watch the team even when the roster was terrible, and said it’s “disgraceful” to price out ordinary and loyal fans.

“We paid every single year and the price always kept going up but not to this extent,” she said, adding the family’s hope of passing the tickets from one generation to the next will probably end now.

“It’s becoming an elitist place to go.”

The Blue Jays say revamping the entire 100-level of the ballpark, much like the transformation of the outfield in the first phase, is solely aimed at improving the entertainment experiences for fans in a stadium that hasn’t seen much improvement since the dome opened in 1989.

The team says a major part of the next phase of renovations will be the introduction of three premium clubs that will be connected to the best seats at the ballpark and offer a variety of entertainment and services to fans.

Located directly behind the home plate, those clubs will offer members a separate entrance to the stadium, have their own sports bars and provide in-seat dining options among other things.

Shapiro has previously said Rogers Centre is among the ballparks that currently offer the fewest premium experience options in the league and in comparison to other entertainment venues in Toronto.

Premium tickets at Rogers Centre such as In the Action seats, The ScoreBet baseline seats, Ticketmaster Lounge and TD Clubhouse, are usually sold out and have long wait-lists.

For access to premium clubs and other seats in the revamped lower bowl, the team says season ticket holders — some of whom, like the Gamesters, have been with the team since it played at Exhibition Stadium — will get priority to choose before the rest of the general public.

“We know the deep history many of our long-tenured season ticket members have in their current seats and we are committed to supporting our members through this transition with priority access to hand-select their new seats to make memories for the 2024 season and beyond,” said Jays’ executive vice-president Anuk Karunaratne in a statement.

“All the changes we’ve made so far and to come in 2024 are driven and designed by our fans — in the lower bowl, that will include everything from wider seats each with a cupholder, improved accessibility, and baseball-specific sightlines, in addition to premium hospitality.”

The selection process has started with season ticket members interested in joining the premium clubs, and members will have a chance to select improved but non-premium seats in the lower bowl starting later in the summer.

“The entire 100-level seating is being reimagined with new seating, and as a result all season ticket members will have an opportunity to choose new seats from a variety of different pricing and location options,” the Jays said in a statement to the Star.

Still, many longtime fans feel the price for the revamped seats is too steep.

Sharon, an Oshawa woman who didn’t want to give her last name, said her family has shared the cost of a pair of tickets in Row 21 behind the Jays’ dugout with three other families for the past 20 years. They paid nearly $12,000 to renew the seats this season.

For similar seats after the planned revamp, she said they’ve been told the cost would be around $40,000. She would have been fine moving five or six rows back for the current price, but said that seems unlikely.

“The way they are treating us as loyal fans, it’s not fair,” she said, ahead of the Yankees game Wednesday.

Nonetheless some fans are excited to see what the new-look seats will bring. When the Blue Jays played at Exhibition Stadium, Arron Barberian remembers going to games and sitting in Row 2 with elbows on top of the Jays’ dugout. He estimates he has personally attended more than 2,000 games over the years.

At Rogers Centre he and other people share five seats in Row 9 above the visiting team’s dugout. Barberian hasn’t learned what the final pricing details will be once the renovations are complete, but he believes it will be worth it considering what’s happening elsewhere.

“When you go to a Yankee Stadium and you sit in the first five rows, the tickets are even more expensive than what Toronto is proposing,” he said, noting many other ball clubs offer more premium services to high-paying fans like valet parking, access to dining rooms with alumni among other things.

Even VIP tickets at a Leafs or a Raptors game are relatively more expensive compared to what the Blue Jays are promising their fans with premium seats, he said. (An advertisement last year in the Star said courtside seats can go for well over $1,000 per ticket for a game.)

“If you really want a great luxury experience, that’s not inexpensive,” Barberian said of the Jay tickets. “I’m really actually very excited to see this bit of luxury come to Toronto.”

One of the main issues he’s hoping the team takes into account while doing the renovations is accessibility: his son Harry was born with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. The family has been mindful of including a pair of accessible seats in their package, and he’d love for the revamped premium seating arrangements to have accessible areas as well.

“I’m really looking forward to an upgrade,” said Barberian, who added the existing food options and other services at Rogers Centre left a lot to be desired.

“You can look now at the renovations that have happened so far, and there may be no better general admission experience in the league. You have to trust in that.”

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