In a few hours, not long before David Ortiz will give the Sox a 5-4 walkoff win over the Tigers, there will be an announcement over the public address system in the press box.
“Today’s paid attendance is 37,498,’’ it will say. “This is the 602d straight sellout at Fenway Park, dating to May 15, 2003.’’
For more than seven years, the Red Sox have claimed that for every home game, the number of tickets sold and distributed has eclipsed the seating capacity of America’s Most Beloved Ballpark. But recently, the task of filling those seats has grown more difficult. Television ratings are down, and marketing campaigns have been revved up.
The Sox are not the hot ticket they were five years ago, and the scalpers on Brookline Ave. are feeling it, too.
Rich, who declines to give his last name, has been scalping tickets for the better part of a decade. He is originally from Charlestown and says he used to work with heavy machinery until an accident left him with a titanium plate in his neck. When a few acquaintances first asked if he would be interested in the ticket business, he balked.
“I thought, ‘How could anyone make a living doing this?’ ’’ he said.
He found out fast. Rich claims he made about $100,000 in his first year re-selling tickets to NASCAR events and Sox games. This year, though, he says he’ll be lucky to bring in one-third of that.
A fellow re-seller overhears Rich’s claim.
“[Down] 70 percent? It’s way worse than that,’’ said the man.
The other scalper is silver-haired with a belly and a limp. He’s wearing a Red Sox jersey and isn’t interested in saying much more.
“Things are bad enough already,’’ he says.
Business is better on this Saturday. Rich sells his 15 tickets in less than half an hour. Despite that success, he repeatedly cautions that that was a rarity. Come back during the week, he says. He claims that several times the previous week he was left holding a dozen tickets.
A couple of blocks farther north on Brookline Ave., this season’s harsh market is more evident. Rich’s tickets were standing room and were going for about $100 each.
