As MLB Ticket Prices Rise, Fan Demographic Continues To Change
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Royals One Of Many MLB Teams To
Beef Up Amenities Around Club Seats |
As big money "changes [MLB], pushing salaries ever higher, the fan baseball is trying to attract is changing, too," according to Les Carpenter of the WASHINGTON POST. New stadiums with the latest innovations have "allowed teams to transform the old box seat into an entertainment palace, essentially moving the luxury suite to the field level, bumping families for corporations." Team Marketing Report indicated that in the last year the average ticket price for MLB has increased 10.1%, and Carpenter noted "much of that increase is due to a rise of prices in club seating sections." The Yankees for the $2,500 a game stadium seats at the new Yankee Stadium will offer a "package of amenities that include a martini bar, a museum, Internet protocol televisions, party suites, conference rooms and a concierge to secure dinner reservations or find theater tickets," as well as an art gallery. Yankees COO Lonn Trost: "Are we going to charge 5,000 people a lot to go to the game? Yeah, but we will deliver." NYU graduate school of sports management professor and former Rangers President Michael Cramer said of moving luxury seats closer to the field, "The front row sells. And the one behind that and the one behind that. But the problem is people think you can carry that back 100 rows." Cramer said that he is "worried that the game may be growing too expensive for the average fan to absorb." But Nationals President Stan Kasten said, "My whole thing is you can't restrict yourself to just your fan who wants to sit in the seats and watch baseball. Baseball for nine innings has a lot of different customers out there. Also nowadays you can attract groups from the whole office who want to come see a game." Front Row Marketing President Dick Sherwood said of increasing ticket prices, "Everyone in the industry says it's hard to believe prices can go up much more. What happens is you charge higher and higher prices and the fans balk. ... Have we seen the limit of ticket prices? Probably not. But are we nearing the limit? Probably" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/15).
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