Sigh, it's that time again. I've got a call in to my rep. 50/50 shot she calls back. I am renewing. I'm actually feeling pretty good about them for next year, but agree with you that if Kyrie walks and AD doesn't come, you could see a lot of STMs fleeing.
I know that a few people PMed me about buying tickets for the sake of the resale market and I discouraged them. I think a lot of people are finding out why. Outside of the big games, I've felt like it's been a bit tougher to sell this year as the season went on. Also, I don't think that a lot of the new people realized that STMs who have been around for a while are getting much better prices for the same, or better, tickets than the newbies. Makes it harder for them to sell. There's clearly not as much excitement as last year, and expectations coming in were way too high. It's certainly not as much fun as it was last year.
Having said that, I don't think it matters whether a price increase is warranted. They're going to raise the prices for the exact same reason that they always do: because they can. They have a long wait list and "limited upgrade options" means that most of the people who are current STMs will be renewing. Not to mention that somebody has to pay for those new seats.
If the team isn't good, the wait list will dissolve, but my impression is that it is very, very long. They're not too worried.
Mike