When Will All MLB Games Be Deemed Unaffordable?

I just wrote this article after the disgust of watching the Yankee game with probably around half the seats empty due to the high prices. Looked around at league averages and other food numbers and came up with this little article..

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1605 ... ublished=1

Figured it could become a decent discussion...

Let me know what you guys think, thank you.

To answer your question, never. MLB relies on fans.

I have 7th row first baseline season tickets to the Phillies, and my seats are 38 a piece. If I go to right or left field, even all the way to the first row, tickets are 28. IF I go to the second deck, it's 27, and the terrace deck, which is still nice seats, are 16.


That's not outrageous at all.



The Yankees are paying dearly for their shamefull pricing and I hope that ballpark (or at least the lower level/boxes ) is nearly empty all year.

Lancemountain said:

I have 7th row first baseline season tickets to the Phillies, and my seats are 38 a piece. If I go to right or left field, even all the way to the first row, tickets are 28. IF I go to the second deck, it's 27, and the terrace deck, which is still nice seats, are 16.


That's not outrageous at all.



The Yankees are paying dearly for their shamefull pricing and I hope that ballpark (or at least the lower level/boxes ) is nearly empty all year.

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No that is not outrageous. I am talking baseball as a whole by the way. Not singling out teams other than the Yankees for the atrocious pricing. The MLB is always climbing in prices, even during tough economic times.

What about concessions? and parking? What is your net cost when you factor everything else in per seat?

Obviously it will never happen, it is more of just a statement saying that the prices keep increasing while everything else with the economy is decreasing.

By the way, the Phillies still saw a 10% ticket price increase.

I rarely go to games anymore (Maybe 5 or 6 a year). I'm sure I am probably in the minority here but why pay $50-$100+ to watch a game when I can watch it from the comforts of my couch. I feel there is a distinct difference between going to baseball game vs a football/hockey game which I attend more often. You don't really miss a whole lot at a baseball game, sure some exciting things happen but on the whole I feel they are not "must attend" events.

And to answer your question, a lot of games have become unaffordable already to a lot of families based on tickets/parking/concessions etc.

I went to 4 Braves game last year and when you add up my expenses it was much cheaper then going to Disneyworld for a week but when you have Boston Red Sox fans flying from Boston to watch a game in Atlanta, MLB isn't going to blink at their ticket prices.

Currently, the only MLB team really losing money is the Arizona Diamondbacks. Whenever I hear of contractionf or teams like the Royals or Twins, I mention the D-backs. I wouldn't be shocked if MLB gives them a loan like the NBA did to the New Orleans Hornets.

Y4NK335 said:

By the way, the Phillies still saw a 10% ticket price increase.

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This is true but to be fair the park has been generally full since it's been opened and they just won the world series/added salary. It's to be expected.

Beer went up .50 too :evil:

Right now it's already somewhat unaffordable to us. Over the last 4 years we have been going to less games each year. Some of that has to do with the fact that we have to pay for our son to get in now. Ticket prices have gone slowly up as has parking. You almost have to pay for parking when you have a small child if going to Miller park so street parking (when you can find) it is not an option for us.

So for a non marquee game in "decent" cheap seats 3 people @ $14 per seat = $42 That's if you walk up and buy them. Not buying them of the internet.
General Parking $8 for a non marquee weekday game $10 for weekend

So already for us we are up to $50ish just to get there. Then maybe tack on $20 for food.

$70 right now is a good chunk of change to watch a last place team (I know it's early).


Josh

Another sad part is, baseball games are still more affordable than hockey, basketball, and football games.

It's an interesting topic of discussion, and really has a number of ways of looking at it. Realistically, I can't see prices going much higher in large markets and still sustaining a significant fan base. However, there are still numerous markets that are quite affordable. I have a partial season package in right field at PNC Park that runs about $14 a seat, with seats three rows from the wall, and general admission and upper deck seats are $9. While food is largely outrageous, there are affordable alternatives...there is one concession stand that offers 'kid sized' portions at pretty reasonable prices (I don't think anything on the menu is over $2, and even though the portions are smaller than normal, it's still enough to fill you up for under $5). You can easily find parking within a 5 minute walk of the stadium for $5, and there is ample street parking if you don't mind walking an extra 3 or 4 blocks.

Comparatively, if I go to see the Pirates AA affiliate in Altoona, parking is $3, food prices are about the same (though beer is about half the price), and general admission tickets are $6. Obviously the Pirates are a bit of an unusual case, but I think we may see player salaries becoming adjusted over the next few years, and with that a decrease in the cost of seeing a game across baseball.

subject to change said:

It's an interesting topic of discussion, and really has a number of ways of looking at it. Realistically, I can't see prices going much higher in large markets and still sustaining a significant fan base. However, there are still numerous markets that are quite affordable. I have a partial season package in right field at PNC Park that runs about $14 a seat, with seats three rows from the wall, and general admission and upper deck seats are $9. While food is largely outrageous, there are affordable alternatives...there is one concession stand that offers 'kid sized' portions at pretty reasonable prices (I don't think anything on the menu is over $2, and even though the portions are smaller than normal, it's still enough to fill you up for under $5). You can easily find parking within a 5 minute walk of the stadium for $5, and there is ample street parking if you don't mind walking an extra 3 or 4 blocks.

Comparatively, if I go to see the Pirates AA affiliate in Altoona, parking is $3, food prices are about the same (though beer is about half the price), and general admission tickets are $6. Obviously the Pirates are a bit of an unusual case, but I think we may see player salaries becoming adjusted over the next few years, and with that a decrease in the cost of seeing a game across baseball.

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Very good points, I know the Pittsburgh Pirates are definitely one of those "exception" teams falling second to last on the list as far as pricing goes..

For me a Lakewood Blueclaws game is ideal living close to the stadium.

Admission $7-9 parking $2-3 and food and drink maybe $8-9 so a full night of entertainment for around $20 a person is so much more affordable than if I was to attend a Major League game for one of the surrounding teams (Phillies, Yankees, Mets) for at least triple/quadruple the price (With everything factored in).

*Obviously I know the Blueclaws are a Single-A affiliate of the Phillies and I am in no way saying they show a comparable level of talent (Ok, maybe they have competition with the Mets Kidding, Kidding). It also obviously is not the same sort of experience compared to attending a MLB game.

I'm part of this minority as well.

Don't have to worry about the actual costs at the park, traffic (and the long drive), etc.

EricChavezCollector3 said:

I rarely go to games anymore (Maybe 5 or 6 a year). I'm sure I am probably in the minority here but why pay $50-$100+ to watch a game when I can watch it from the comforts of my couch. I feel there is a distinct difference between going to baseball game vs a football/hockey game which I attend more often. You don't really miss a whole lot at a baseball game, sure some exciting things happen but on the whole I feel they are not "must attend" events.

And to answer your question, a lot of games have become unaffordable already to a lot of families based on tickets/parking/concessions etc.

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I take my family once a year. Luckily I get tickets from my work (3rd base, 4 rows back) Those tickes are around $100 each ! Crazy. If I had to pay.. well the wife dont want to sit in nosebleed so I'd try to do something like $25-$50 ea.

I live 2 hours away, so season tickets are not an option. I have thought about doing it and selling all but a few dates to go. Seems like alot of work though and high risk.

Unless Atlanta gets a new stadium, this is something I won't have to worry about. I'm paying more for MILB tickets this weekend than I do for Atlanta Brave tickets. Privately funded stadiums given to the city are the way to go, let me assure you.

You've gotta pick the right days to go. I know the Twins have alot of specials during the week:

Market Mondays (you get some percentage off a ticket based on how the Dow preformed the friday or week before)

Half-Priced Tuesdays (outfield tickets are 10.50 as apposed to 21.00)

Student Wednesdays (Upper Deck in the OF for 4.00 w/college I.D.)


I usually only go on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but sometimes they offer all you can eat seats for 35 bucks or so. All the food and drink you can have not counting beer.

What sucks, and I don't know if other ballparks do this, but the Metrodome recently limited it to 2 beers per person. They swipe your I.D. so they can keep track. I think its kind of weak, but probably smart

Football is big down here and you can hardly get a ticket let alone a good ticket without selling your wife, house, children and soul all for the tickets.That combined with the Texans record every year keeps me away.I love the hell out of football but I am not paying the prices they want for a ticket.Its not worth it to me.Never has been and never will be.Even if they become a superbowl contender.

Basketball is the same way.My wife has never been and I refuse to go.I need to make one sacrifice and take her one day but its a pretty unjustifiable waste of money in my opinion.

As for baseball...I can get pretty decent tickets at Minute Maid for pretty cheap in my eyes.A seat behind home plate 20 rows up will cost me $50 a ticket.Not too bad in my eyes.But I still think they could be cheaper.The food is where they get you.I have gone to the astros game several times and ended up spending more on food and drink than we did on parking and tickets.That's a lot of money.And no...we don't get much for it either.You may get two hotdogs, a thing of nachos, a coke and a couple of beers and pretty soon your wallet is empty.But I don't personally see any reason in going to a game if I can't sit in a decent seat and have something to eat and drink.If I have to play the budget game...I just won't go.Me and my wife were just looking at tickets and I decided against it because by the time you factor in $109 for the tickets and then parking, a ball to try to nab some autos on and the food...I'd spend way too much.We will go in May for my Birthday and then again a few weeks later and those may very well be the only two times we go.I prefer quality over quanity here and trust me...that television sure is a lot better than having to trek up to the nether regions and die of a nosebleed.

I think whats going to happen is the owners are going to lose their rear ends because they are going to start seeing a decline in games attended.The salaries they are paying and the prices they ask for admission and concessions have long been out oif control and the only thing that has ever stopped anyone from raising prices is a lack of the ability to do so.You blank some of those seats out for a few years and they will realize..."Hey, we need to tone it down a bit".The only bad thing is a lot of seats will be filled because there is always some rich person or another fan to take your place when you don't have the cash to go.Its going to take some major decrease in ticket sales to hurt the owners before they are finally put in their place.

Just so everyone knows...by rich people I mean people who really aren't fans of the game.You see a lot of them at the ball park all the time and about 95 % of the game they are staring off into space or talking to someone.They don't watch the game, they don't even wear anything baseball related to the game, and they never pay a lick of attention to the game.Its more like a social outing than attending a baseball game.And the sad thing is a lot of owners know that there are plenty of businesses that take their clients and employees to games so they can always sell out the high dollar seats.Who the hell takes a client top a game to impress them and makes them sit in the upper deck?

Even though it was football related it reminds me of that miller high life commercial where they were in one of the club suites and he said.."Man...you can't even hear the game in here".Thats what I think of a lot of these types of people.Stay your butt at home or go to the local country club and play a round.Leave the games to the fans.

Minor Leagues all the way!!!! Just the other day i was able to get third row seats for Omaha Royals right behind the dugout for 20$ total. Awesome game to watch, and the same tickets would have cost me over 5,000$ at the New Yankee Stadium
-Aaron

I've always been a big fan of college baseball...

I am lucky to live in a town with an absolutly great college baseball atmosphere, i would put it above most mlb atmospheres. I have a season ticket and a parking pass that runs about $200 for the season (25-30 games on average). All GA tickets are anywhere between 5-8 bucks. Believe it or not... this is one of the pricier venues in college baseball.

So... i think my point here is to go check out your local college baseball team. At worst you are out a few bucks to watch 3 hours of baseball. It is also a great substitute to paying high prices at an mlb park. And you will still have some money left over to "splurge" on a few mlb games

predatorkj said:

Just so everyone knows...by rich people I mean people who really aren't fans of the game.You see a lot of them at the ball park all the time and about 95 % of the game they are staring off into space or talking to someone.They don't watch the game, they don't even wear anything baseball related to the game, and they never pay a lick of attention to the game.Its more like a social outing than attending a baseball game.And the sad thing is a lot of owners know that there are plenty of businesses that take their clients and employees to games so they can always sell out the high dollar seats.Who the hell takes a client top a game to impress them and makes them sit in the upper deck?

Even though it was football related it reminds me of that miller high life commercial where they were in one of the club suites and he said.."Man...you can't even hear the game in here".Thats what I think of a lot of these types of people.Stay your butt at home or go to the local country club and play a round.Leave the games to the fans.

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Don't single out the rich only - at least around here we have plenty of fans who couldn't call themselves rich but are just out the game to get attention for themselves with drums, whistles, horns and other garbage. They don't know jack about the game.

Most call them A's fans.