Mains: Why ticket prices won’t go down
From SABR member Rob Mains at Baseball Prospectus on April 30, 2018:
Exactly 15 years ago today, former Baseball Prospectus writer and mover-on-to-bigger-things Nate Silver published this article about the lack of relationship between player salaries and MLB ticket prices. In the ensuing decade and a half, one of the refrains we hear every year is that it costs too much to go to a ballgame and the reason is all of the money these players are making. This illustrates two points:
- Some controversies never die.
- It was 15 years ago! Time flies when, well, you’re getting really old.
Recent news brought this into focus. The Orioles are offering free tickets to kids for the entire season. Well, it applies only to kids under age 10. And only for upper deck tickets. And the deal requires the purchase of a full-priced adult ticket. But if it sounds like I’m picking on the Orioles, I’m not. The adult ticket, depending on the opponent, costs $18-$39, but if you bring two kids, then that’s only $6-$13 per person. And they’re making every game available, not just April weeknights against Tampa Bay and September weeknights against Oakland. Good for the O’s.
On April 17, the A’s gave away free general admission tickets to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Oakland Coliseum which, as I wrote last week, opened for baseball on April 17, 1968.
Read the full article here: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/39619/flu-like-symptoms-ticket-prices-wont-go/
Originally published: April 30, 2018. Last Updated: April 30, 2018.