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.

Corporate Execs Fill Stadium Seats

Professional sports has always been regarded as an escape for fans, and it seems that these days corporations – and thus, franchise owners – are getting their own respite.

Corporate Ticket Sales up 58% (http://tinyurl.com/ya6rues)

In “Corporations Come Back to the Ball Game”  Forbes.com reported the data of an annual index compiled by TicketOS, an online firm dedicated to helping corporations manage their ticket information.  The index, which trails the ticket activity of 15 different companies, said that these firms were responsible for 38,175 season tickets in October 2009, compared to 24,129 last year.  As Forbes.com pointed out, that is a significant – 58% - increase.

The number had dropped last fall amidst the questionable role of ‘the corporation’ in the recession.  But as the economy s-l-o-w-l-y begins to pick up pace, so has the confidence of corporate executives to allow themselves to be seen having fun.

And since fun means a beer and a hotdog watching the game, no one could be happier than team and stadium owners.  The majority of teams in the four major American professional leagues: the MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL were all dealt major blows from the financial crisis.  Stadiums lost many of their big sponsorships from traditional partners such as GM, and sports fans have been less than eager to shell out money for a game. 

Good thing we have the corporations.

While the average sports fan may be outraged to hear that the (unnamed) corporations are shelling out cash to kick back and watch their favorite teams fight for the playoffs, it seems that these companies are responsible for keeping attendance up and preventing game black-outs until fans are able to get back in the action.

Stadiums that gained the most: (from Forbes.com: Top 10 Stadiums for Corporate Ticket Sales)

STADIUM	CITY	OCT 2009 SALES	% INCREASE from ’08
Madison Square Garden	New York City	2,891	66%
Yankee Stadium	New York City	2,840	48%
Verizon Center	Washington D.C.	1,846	32%
Fenway Park	Boston, MA	1,842	22%
Dodger Stadium	Los Angeles, CA	1,743	32%
FedEx Field	Washington D.C.	1,401	17%
American Airlines	Dallas, TX	1,230	50%
Giants Stadium	E. Rutherford, NJ	1,201	22%
Philips Arena	Atlanta, GA	1,617	30%
Citizens Bank Park	Philadelphia, PA	982	19%