The Baseball Information Every Fan Needs To Know

Baseball season is in full swing, and fans across the country are ready to hit the parks and enjoy a game.

And lucky for them, ticket prices barely increased from last year. According to the 2010 Major League Baseball Cost Index, the average ticket to a MLB game increased just 1.5% to $26.74.

The Minnesota Twins moved into a new open-air stadium this year, allowing the MLB team to charge higher ticket prices (Image via Twins Directory)

The cost to take a family of four — which includes ticket, merchandise and concession purchases — to a MLB game dropped by more than one dollar to $194.98.

Here’s how the teams stack up, according to the Index issued by Team Marketing Report:

• The Boston Red Sox hold the stop spot  on the FCI; the cost to take a family of four to a game at Fenway will cost you $334.78.  This is about $5 more than the Chicago Cubs and $18 more than the New York Yankees.
• The Cubbies may not offer the most expensive game day experience, but they do sell the priciest tickets, at $52.56.
• The Chicago Cubs increased their ticket prices by more than 10% this season (perhaps the new management?)
• Eleven other MLB teams, including the Minnesota Twins, raised ticket prices.
• Six teams dropped their average ticket prices this year; 13 remained flat, or showed an increase of less than 1% (like the Yankees).
• The Diamondbacks offer the cheapest average ticket for the fourth straight season, at $14.31.
• The Los Angeles Angels are the best bargain.  The AL West champs dropped ticket prices by 5.6% to $18.93.

Rickett’s Chicago Cubs: ‘Lovable Losers’ No More

The Major League Baseball season kicks off next week, and new owner Tom Ricketts is preparing the Chicago Cubs for what he believes will be the team’s most successful season yet.

For Ricketts, success is measured not only on the scoreboard, but also on the balance sheet — both of which the previous Cubs owner, Tribune Co., neglected.

Cubs fans are notorious for faithfully attending games, even when their team can’t deliver a coveted Win.  This seems to be something the Tribune Co. took advantage of.  Under the company’s guidance, Wrigley Field – the home of the Chicago Cubs and one of the most visited baseball stadiums in the country – fell into disrepair.

New owner Tom Ricketts immediately set out to revamp Wrigley Field (Image via Dan Brennan)

In hopes of increasing its chances at getting to host events like the All-Star Game this summer, Ricketts and his family made improving the stadium their top priority. According to the Sports Business Journal,

The arrival of the Ricketts family has prompted an aggressive plan to revamp the 96-year-old Wrigley, with the first phase of work featuring a new, PNC Bank-sponsored club area done this past offseason. It will culminate in 2014 with the opening of a six-story, 400,000-square-foot building adjacent to the ballpark to house team offices, premium space, a team museum, hotel, retail shops, restaurants and other areas.

While the renovations will surely please fans, it is not necessarily what the team needs most.  Last month, Sports Business Journal teamed up Turnkey to ask sports industry leaders what Ricketts should do first as new owner of the Chicago Cubs.  More than 50% of those surveyed said that improving the team’s on-field performance should be focus number one.  Renovating Wrigley Field came in third, with only 17% of the vote.

The last time the Cubs made it to the World Series was in 1946. That same season they were plagued by William Sianis' Billy Goat Curse. (Image via chibarproject.com)

According to SBJ, the Cubs have been working intensely to improve their season stats.  The team started last year with the third highest Opening Day payroll ($135 million), and those at the top “have pledged to plow profits back into the team.”

“I don’t believe in ‘Lovable Losers,” Ricketts told SBJ.  “And we don’t believe in curses or billy goats.  It’s just not what we’re about.”

To read more about Ricketts and his plans for the future of the Cubs, click here.

Five Rings Over Rio

http://tinyurl.com/yh4hbom

Rio de Janeiro is set to host the 2016 Olympic Games after the International Olympic Committee voted today.  This win for the Brazilian country is more than a symbol of pride, but a symbol of cash as well.

Entering this morning’s vote, Brazil was the only country in the top 10 economic powers of the world that had not hosted an Olympic Games, said Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

“For the others it would be just one more Games, for us it would be an unparalleled opportunity,” he said. (sportsbusiness.com)

And what an opportunity it is: Rio expects to generate $2.8 billion in revenue, $570 million of which will be domestic sponsorships.

“The Brazilian economy is strong and is seen by all as a growth market.  The timing for a South American Games is good.  And from a commercial standpoint, there is a parallel with Beijing and the impact the Chinese games had in bringing new companies into a thriving and important BRIC market,” said David Abrutyn, Managing Director and Head of IMG Global Consulting.

Rio de Janeiro celebrates chance to host 2016 Olympic Games (http://tinyurl.com/yhnqqjk)

“A Rio Games represents a big appeal for companies looking to do business and hoping to get into the South American market.  It will act as a catapult for their business interests,” he said to sportsbusiness.com.

While this is a good opportunity for American brands looking to further expand, the loss was a surprise for Chicago where the Olympics were expected to generate $3.8 billion in domestic revenue, $1.2 billion of which would come from sponsors. 

Despite the fact that the Windy City’s Mayor Richard M. Daley regarded the Games as a means to combat the recession and to boost the economy, the city of Chicago did not stand behind him; 84% of the city opposed hosting the 2016 Games.

“No Games Chicago organizer Alison McKenna said, ‘I oppose the Olympics coming to Chicago because instead of putting money toward what people really need, money will be funneled to real estate developers,’” said David Zirin on rabble.ca.

As of July 2009, Chicago had spent $48.2 million on the 2016 Olympic bid which budgeted $4 billion.  Its city council further pledged tax-payer dollars to cover any financial shortfall.

The bid did not make it past the first round of voting, despite the presence of President Obama, Mrs. Obama, and Oprah Winfrey.