For $5 more, Miami Dolphins fans can sit in the
shade
A Harvard business professor has confirmed for the Miami Dolphins
something fans have known for years: Midday in the September sun at Sun Life Stadium, it gets excruciatingly hot.
So
as part of the first increase in Dolphins ticket prices in three years, there will be a higher cost for shade.
Fans
sitting on the shady side of Sun Life will pay about $5 more per ticket per game than fans roasting in the sun on the opposite
side.
The south side seats also have the advantage of being behind the Dolphins' bench.
The increase, part of
a 2010 season pricing scheme that will see higher ticket costs for 56 percent of seats, was announced Thursday.
The
Dolphins decided to overhaul their pricing structure after hiring Harvard business professor Robert Stavins and specialists
at MIT to do an analysis.
``We said, `How would we do this if this were a new stadium?' '' said Dolphins CEO Mike Dee,
who knew of the New England academics when he was an executive with the Red Sox.
Six new pricing categories were added
on the 100 and 400 levels, and ``most of that takes into account sun and shade,'' Dee said.
When the Dolphins open the
home season in early September, fans in the usually shady south-side seats will enjoy temperatures up to 15 degrees cooler
at the typical 1 p.m. kickoff, said Andy Tingler, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Miami's normal high temperature
in September is 89 degrees, but with humidity, it can feel like it's 110, Tingler said.
Even in October, the average
high is in the mid-80s.
``I went to a few games in the past year, and I can tell you it was a lot nicer in the shade
than in the sun,'' Tingler said.
The Dolphins aren't the first warm-weather team to go this route.
DOLPHINS 2010 TICKET
PRICES
The Dolphins
will play New England, Buffalo, the Jets, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago and Tennessee at home. The NFL will release
the schedule in April. The Dolphins will sell individual game tickets to the opener -- opponent TBA -- beginning in May. Below
are seat categories and prices for 2010:
Lower
Prime/South: $120 per game on a season ticket; $150 single-game price
Lower Prime/North: $115;
$145
Lower Sideline/South: $110; $135
Lower Sideline/North: $105; $130
Lower
End Zone (Rows 1-4): $105; $130
Lower Corner/End Zone: $87; $110
Upper Prime/South
(Rows 1-4): $100; $125
Upper Prime/North (Rows 1-4): $95; $120
Upper Prime:
$75; $85
Upper Sideline: $60; $70
Upper Corner/End Zone: $42; $52
Phan
Zone: $34; $45
Parking will remain $25 to $28 per game.
