Prices going, going ... up

March 30, 2001
Web posted at: 1614 GMT

NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- Baseball fans going through the turnstiles for 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 survey, by Team Marketing Reports, 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 ticket prices are much lower than the average, and that baseball is still the lowest price option among major sports.

"A great majority of the seats are well below the average price -- in the $10-to-$15 dollar range," he said. And he said 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 priced tickets, coupled 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 prices 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.

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Team Marketing Report
Major League Baseball

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