New general manager Jason Smorol made the announcement inside NBT Bank Stadium.
The Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, lowered the single game, general-admission ticket price for adults by $3, Smorol said. In addition, the team won’t charge members of the military for admission into the stadium’s general-admission seating area.
General-admission tickets are now $5 for adults. Tickets for children and seniors remain the same at $4, the Chiefs said.
The move to reduce ticket prices comes after the Syracuse Chiefs this year posted the team’s lowest season total for paid attendance since 1997. The Chiefs attracted just over 345,000 fans in 2013, or about 5,150 per game, according to the Triple-A International League website.
The Chiefs say they decided to lower ticket prices after listening to fans and reviewing the ticket prices for other teams in the International League, Smorol said in his remarks to reporters at NBT Bank Stadium.
“We had one of the most expensive tickets in the International League,” Smorol said.
He thought the team’s ticket-pricing structure was “confusing,” saying the stadium had $14 seats situated near the $20 seats.
“We want to keep it simple for the fans, make it easy for the fans, and these are things the fans are telling us,” he said.
The team has also expanded the Home Plate Club exclusive seating area and renamed it “Premium Field Box Seating.”
Previously, the Chiefs offered a food and beverage service to everyone in the Home Plate Club. Now, the team will offer that same service to everyone with the Premium Field Box Seating area, Smorol said.
Single-game tickets in the Premium Field Box Seating area are $12 for adults, $10 for children, seniors, and active and retired military members, the team said.
The new ticket prices compare with the 2013 Home Plate Club ticket costs, which were $20 for adults, children and seniors and $14 for most of the other 100 level seats, according to the Chiefs.
The Chiefs have also renamed the reserved seating area “Box Seat Reserved.” In that section, single-game adult tickets are now $10, down from $12; tickets for children, seniors, and military members in Box Seat Reserved are now $8.
The tickets previously cost $9 for children and $12 for seniors, the Chiefs said.
The Chiefs are also offering season tickets for the full 72-game schedule. They cost $575 in the Premium Field Box area, and $350 in the Reserved Box area.
The Syracuse Chiefs also started their season-ticket sales blitz at the CenterState Business Showcase on Thursday, the team said.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com