Baseball's Sky High Prices: What Happened?

Posted by Kevan Lee :: April 3, 2008 @ 12:58 pm

Nothing can beat a day at the ballpark…except, possibly, avoiding bankruptcy.

The two used to be mutually exclusive. Catching a baseball game was inexpensive, enjoyable, and memorable. Families used to be able to spend a day at the ballpark without spending a lot of money, but seeing a game in today’s multi-million dollar arenas is cause to consider a person-to-person loan from Lending Club.

The high price of tickets, food, and souvenirs has turned a day at the ballpark into a serious financial investment. People go on vacations for less than they spend at a doubleheader, and with new buildings going up across the league, the pricing trend will only continue its rapid rise.

One of the new stadiums is Nationals Park, home of the Washington Nationals. The downtown D.C. digs are state-of-the-art, environmentally-conscious, and expensive. The stadium cost $611 million to build, and it was paid for entirely through public funds. The architecture is brilliant, and the stadium sits as the gem of a new development community. But $611 million? The Nationals might have been better off purchasing Puerto Rico.

The high prices don’t end on the stadium receipt. Once inside, the cost of attending a game quickly skyrockets with every peanut and Cracker Jack, and “Take me out to the ballgame” turns into “Getting taken at the ballgame.”

Here is a look at the damage done by root, root, rooting for the home team at Nationals Park:

Tickets

Nationals Park seats 41,888 fans and has a premium number of clubs and suites. Price, however, is hardly affected by supply; good seats will cost a small fortune. Bad seats, on the other hand, will not. At five dollars a pop, the cheapest seats in the house are downright economical compared to a night at the movies. Not surprisingly, however, the cheapest seats also offer the cheapest views, holing up thrifty consumers in the upper reaches of the left field bleachers, where home plate is over 400 feet away.

A good compromise might be a spot on the lower level near the dugouts, where at least you could see the action. Tickets for the lower bowl go for anywhere from 35 to 82 dollars, or slightly less than a one-night stay at the Hampton Inn. The better seats, though, would at least give you a chance to snag a foul ball, get an autograph, and hawk both of them to pay off your ballooning baseball bill.

Those looking for a ritzy experience would never lower themselves to sitting among the common folk in the bleachers. The rich and privileged occupy the suites, which is convenient since it takes being both rich and privileged to afford the swanky digs of private baseball Eden. At $1,000 per person, watching baseball from a suite or luxury box strikes an apt comparison to being the King of England for the day. Sadly, most people who rent out these lavish lounges do not watch much of the game, since they are too busy schmoozing potential clients and counting their rolls of hundred dollar bills.

Concessions

If at some point you get hungry, be prepared to mortgage your future for your appetite.
Typical ballpark fare at Nationals Park is pricey. A hot dog for $4.50? Might it be made of truffles? At that price, you had better load up on the toppings bar with enough sauerkraut and relish to last you through your forties.

Getting that hot dog taste out of your mouth will run up a bill, too. A medium soda is another $4.50 out of your pocket, which is a high bounty to pay for a 50/50 split of ice and Sprite. And if you’re in the mood for a souvenir Nationals cup, then you must also be in the mood to overpay to the tune of $5.50 per plastic sippy.

For sots, the cost is much greater. A cup of beer is $7.50, which adds up rather fast for frustrated fans bent on drowning their Odalis Perez-related sorrows at the tap. A trip for three beers will cost $22.50; it is a good thing they cut off alcohol service after the seventh inning.

Hot dogs, soda, and beer are certainly expensive, but they are nothing compared to the excess of Nationals-centric fare. With designer food carts located across the concourse, baseball fans have a veritable smorgasbord of dining options, but straying from typical Americana can cost you.

A basket of fish and chips is $9.50, which one might expect to pay at a fine dining restaurant but not from a greasy concourse cart. Likewise, the bases-loaded nachos are a lesson in price gouging with their $10.00 ransom. Ingredients: carnita meat, refried beans, salsa, cheese, guacamole, olives, and peppers. Consequences: heartburn and not being able to afford the bus ride home.

But the most egregious Nationals Park offense is the crab pretzel ($10.00). A platter or a full meal would be a reasonable suspect for the double-digit price tag, but doling out a Hamilton for a fancy pastry is highway robbery. Unless that pretzel is made from the last crab on earth, there is no way that it could ever earn its lofty cost.

Souvenirs

Food and foul balls aside, there is one more important part of the ballpark experience: souvenirs. Fittingly, acquiring a memento from your baseball experience will cost you the leg to go with the arm conceded to the Nats dog, but at least you’ll look cool.

Aside from the ball cap (a tepid $15.00 setback), the greatest prize from a day at the ballpark is a team jersey. Nothing says team pride like an authentic uniform top, and nothing says extortion like the price you will pay to get one.

A jersey of a team star like Chad Cordero, Dmitri Young, or Ryan Zimmerman costs $89.99—a high price to pay for the peer pressure of belonging. For 90 dollars, you might expect the jersey to be tailored or made of gold, or at least autographed. But the price includes nothing more than the bare minimum.

In total, a day at the ballpark, complete with lower-level tickets, concessions, and souvenirs, will cost a family of four over 500 dollars. It may be time to change the “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” tune from “I don’t care if I ever come back” to “I can’t afford to ever come back.”

Sources
blog.washingtonpost.com
www.nationalspride.com
www.jdland.com
www.stubhub.com
www.mlb.com