New York Yankees lower some premium ticket prices

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Yankees are lowering premium ticket prices and offering some ticketholders free passes to fill empty seats as the baseball team deals with the recession.

The team is halving the price of first row Legends Suite season seats to $1,250 from $2,500, and offering fans who already bought those tickets a refund or credit, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

It is cutting other Legends Suite prices to $650 from $1,000. First-row Delta Sky 360 will cost $550 instead of $750.

"There are a few hundred suite seats in our premium locations that have not been sold on a full-season basis," Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner said in a statement. "As a result ... the Yankees are announcing today a program that adjusts certain prices and benefits."

Other fans who bought Legends Suite tickets at various prices will get complimentary seats for some regular-season games.

Steinbrenner several weeks ago told reporters that certain seats might have been priced too high.

The Yankees have garnered much attention for ticket prices at the team's new $1.5 billion stadium.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig earlier this week told The Associated Press that it is up to the Yankees and New York City's Mets to consider cutting their ticket prices to bring more people to their ballparks.

Baseball officials have said they expect league attendance to be down as much as 10 percent this year.

(Reporting by Robert MacMillan in New York and Ben Klayman in Chicago; Editing by Richard Chang)