Phillies hit a new low with $8.50 Groupon tickets

Do you remember when the Phillies had a 257-game sellout streak, the longest in National League history?

Well if you’re reading this, you probably do. It ended in 2012 when the Phillies current demise from their height in popularity and power resulted in their missing the postseason.

The product on the field isn’t terrible–yet–as the team is hovering at the .500 mark as the season starts. But already, the ballpark is a ghost town.

A few days ago, the ballpark had just 19,047 attendees, a record low at Citizens Bank Park. Their capacity is over 44,000.

And their solution? Checkout Groupon.com. What was unthinkable five years ago now costs less than a burger and fries an most Philly establishments.

Fans can purchase an upper-level seat for just $8.50. or a lower-level outfield seat for $16.50, both half off.

By comparison, the Wilmington Blue Rocks, a minor league affiliate for the Royals, have tickets lusted for $7, and the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, Philadelphia’s Triple-A affiliate, has tickets more expensive, at $10.

That’s possibly because the current major league roster is filled with has-beens. The future of the team is buried in its farm system.

Even more surprising, two of the dates Groupon offers are a Friday (May 8th against the Mets) and a Saturday (May 16 against the Diamondbacks). Weekends are usually MLB teams’ bread and butter.

It’s not just Ryan Howard’s batting average that is hurting. The entire organization is subpar. Maybe this is the warning shot the organization needs to jumpstart its rebuild and use its massive TV money to seriously put together a rebuild.