|
Prices going, going ... up
|
 |
March 30, 2001: 11:14 a.m. ET
Baseball fans will pay 13% more for tickets on opening day this year
By Staff Writer Chris Isidore
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Baseball fans going through the turnstiles on opening day across the nation Monday will be paying about 13 percent more than they did last year, according to a survey of prices.
The increase makes baseball the sport with the fastest growing prices, but still leaves it by far the least expensive of the major U.S. sports.
The survey, by Team Marketing Report, finds that the average cost of a ticket this season will be $18.99, up from $16.67 last season. The biggest percentage increase is by the Pittsburgh Pirates, who move to a new stadium, PNC Park, this season. The team's average ticket price soared 82 percent to $21.48 from $11.80 last year.
 Another team moving into a new park, the Milwaukee Brewers, also raised prices by more than half to an average of $18.12 from an average of $11.72 last year. But Kurt Hunzeker, associate editor at Team Marketing Report, said that part of the Pirates' and Brewers' steep increase in average ticket prices is due to addition of some new high-price ticket options. He said the median prices for tickets are much lower than the average, and that baseball still is the lowest-price option among major sports.
"A great majority of the seats are well below the average price -- in the $10-to-$15 range," he said. He added that initial reports on pre-season ticket sales indicate that attendance should be up this year, despite the higher prices.
Team Marketing Report also puts together a Fan Cost Index, which computes the cost of taking a family of four to a game. It calculates two average priced adult tickets and two children's tickets, along with four soft drinks, two beers, four hot dogs, two programs, parking and two caps. This year the index rose 9.5 percent for baseball to $144.98. The cost index for the National Basketball Association is $266.61 this season, while it's $255.80 for the National Hockey League and was $256.72 for the National Football League last year.
 Only one team, the Detroit Tigers, cut ticket prices this season, lowering them by about 4 percent. Four others -- the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Houston Astros, the Colorado Rockies and the Baltimore Orioles -- kept prices unchanged.
The most expensive ticket is at one of the league's oldest stadiums, Boston's Fenway Park, where Red Sox fans will pay an average of $36.08, up 27 percent from last year, and $7 more than the second-highest price, at Yankee Stadium, where tickets average $28.90. Not surprisingly, the two parks also rank one and two in the Fan Cost Index, with a family spending $214.32 at Fenway and $192.60 at Yankee Stadium.
Baseball's average ticket price has more than doubled in a decade, increasing 120 percent from 1991, when it was $8.64. In the same time period, the Consumer Price Index has increased 30.4 percent, according the U.S. Labor Department.
The average salary of players, $851,492 in 1991, has more than doubled in the same time period and is expected to be more than $2.2 million when the season opens Sunday.
"Players have absolutely nothing to do with ticket prices," said Donald Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, the sport's powerful union. "We had nothing to do with the recent decision to charge for Web broadcasts. These are management decisions, which management makes based on what each club or central baseball determines is the economic condition of the country and each market."
Click here for a look at baseball stocks
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, the former owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, who has decried rising player salaries, tried to emphasize the game's relative value compared with other sports.
"At a time when increased industry costs have resulted in an increase in ticket prices, Major League Baseball is pleased to note that our ticket prices remain by far the best value among the major professional sports leagues, and most forms of entertainment," he said.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
