The Braves open the NLCS tonight against the Mets and
"plenty of good seats are available" at Turner Field,
according to Al Levine of the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION. As of
last night, 6,500 seats remained for Game One and 10,000
remain for Wednesday's Game Two. Tickets range from $45 to
$60. Braves 3B Chipper Jones said, "It's awfully
disappointing" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 10/12).
PLAYOFF FEVER? The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Sam Walker
reports that MLB playoff games are not "drawing the crowds
the way they used to," and less-than-capacity attendance
during the divisional series' "is cause for concern" for
MLB. Noting the available tickets that remained for games
in Phoenix and Arlington, Walker writes that "theories are
as plentiful as discarded peanut shells." There are "the
usual complaints about high ticket prices," but fans and
analysts say that one reason is that the playoff games "are
losing their biggest asset: suspense. The same rich-market
teams have been winning the playoffs with numbing regularity
year after year, far more than in other professional
sports." Walker: "It doesn't help that many of these
perennial winners are hitting their home runs in
nontraditional baseball markets such as Phoenix, Dallas and
Atlanta, where football, golf and even NASCAR are followed
more closely. ... To help shore up playoff crowds, several
clubs, including the Braves, have begun selling early-round
tickets by themselves, rather than forcing fans to reserve
World Series tickets at the same time. The idea, teams say,
is to attract more casual fans to the early games" (WALL
STREET JOURNAL, 10/12). CNBC's Ron Insana interviewed the
Wall Street Journal's Kevin Salwen on playoff attendance.
Insana: "Why are fans suddenly losing interest in baseball?"
Salwen: "Baseball has to realize, that it is one of many,
many different entertainment options. And when you've got,
for example, Arizona [charging] $55 for a playoff ticket,
that's a really tough purchase for a person to bring his kid
to the game or for a family of four to go" (CNBC, 10/11).
