ARE BASEBALL PRICES OUT OF WHACK? VISITING ANY MAJOR LEAGUE BALLPARK JUST MAY BREAK THE FAMILY BUDGET NOWADAYS.Byline: Evan Pondel Staff Writer The chalk lines have been drawn. The outfield grass is mowed like a checkerboard checkerboard the pattern of a chess or draft board; used in many circumstances to display the results of mixing a specific number of variables. The variables are listed in columns designated along the horizontal border and the same or different variables in lines along the vertical . And all the players are ready to dig their heels in for today's opening of baseball season in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . But taking the family out to the ballgame, replete with peanuts and Cracker Jack Crack·er Jack A trademark used for a candied popcorn confection. , will cost more this season - in some cases a lot more. A family of four will spend approximately $155.52 at the ballpark this year, up nearly 3 percent from a year ago, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. data compiled by Chicago-based Team Marketing Research. The most expensive in baseball is a day at Boston's Fenway Park • • [ , home of the Red Sox, where the cost for a family of four is about $263. In Philadelphia, the average cost for a family soared more than 26 percent, in part to offset a new stadium. Even the least expensive game, those hosted by the Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (French: Les Expos de Montréal) were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1969 until 2004. After the 2004 season, the franchise relocated to Washington, D.C. and became the Washington Nationals. , will cost more than $100. ``This a challenge for professional sports The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. . The cost of going to a game is very expensive. And we're seeing a shift in that only upper-income individuals can afford taking the family out to the ball game,'' said Jack Kyser, chief economist The Chief Economist is a single position job class having primary responsibility for the development, coordination, and production of economic and financial analysis. It is distinguished from the other economist positions by the broader scope of responsibility encompassing the for the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Economic Development Corp. New ownership of both local Major League Baseball "MLB" and "Major Leagues" redirect here. For other uses, see MLB (disambiguation) and Major Leagues (disambiguation). Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. teams this season has brought a number of changes, including some cost shifts. A Dodger game for four averages $153.52, according to the Team Marketing data. An Angel game will cost about $20 less. Complicating finances for the Dodgers, the team has lost $50 million a year during the last several seasons. To change that trend, Boston real estate mogul Frank McCourt
Francis "Frank" McCourt (born August 19, 1930) is an Irish-American teacher and author. , who bought the Dodgers in January, is under pressure to churn more green for the boys in blue. The most immediate change has been an increase of 25 cents for almost all concessions. A large beer alone now costs $7 - the most expensive brew in baseball. Parking jumped 25 percent to $10 and the average ticket price rose 3.3 percent to $16.92. The Angels, meanwhile, have raised the average ticket price 4 percent. The cost of hot dogs and soft drinks will also cost more this season. They have good reason to, however, as new owner Arturo Moreno Arturo "Arte" Moreno (born August of 1946) is an American billionaire of Mexican descent. On May 15, 2003, made history by becoming the first Hispanic to own a major sports team in the United States when he purchased the Anaheim Angels baseball team from the Walt Disney Company. shelled out $146 million for key free agents like Vladimir Guerrero Vladimir Alvino Guerrero (born February 9, 1976 in Don Gregorio, Nizao, Dominican Republic), and known in his native Dominican Republic as Miquéas (Spanish for Micah), is a Major League Baseball right fielder who plays for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. and Bartolo Colon over the winter, nearly as much as the $183.5 million he paid for the entire team last May. Despite his hefty investment, Moreno cut the price of beer, programs and souvenir caps. The team now markets itself as the family-friendly, economical alternative, hoping to make up for the lower prices in volume. The team has already seen the strategy pay off, with season ticket package sales already outpacing last year, when the team was fresh off a World Series victory. ``If a guy can't afford something for his kids, the pleasant experience of going to the ballgame becomes a sour one very quickly,'' said Robert Alvarado, director of marketing for the Angels. ``We feel we can make it up in tonnage.'' Despite the increases, the total cost of attendance - which includes four tickets, sodas and hot dogs and two beers, programs and ball caps - at both ballparks remain below the league average. ``The new owners would like to keep it that way,'' said Derrick Hall, a soon-departing vice president of communications for the Dodgers. ``But we've had to make adjustments in certain areas to make sure the organization doesn't lose money.'' The ownership change created a significant disadvantage for the Dodgers, as both outgoing General Manager Dan Evans and his replacement Paul DePodesta were unable to land any high-profile free agents. While the Angels were able to use the excitement their acquisitions generated to stoke ticket sales, the Dodgers have less to rally around. Then again, said David Simon, president of the Los Angeles Sports Council, Dodger Stadium has consistently been among the best-attended ballparks in the major leagues - beating other two-team cities including New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Chicago and the Bay Area - so better performance by the team can only increase sales slightly. ``If the Dodgers draw 3 million fans, as they do most years, most tickets are sold well before the year begins,'' he said. ``The people who buy those are doing it by rote or because of how the team did the year before. If there's big free-agent signings or off-season news, that'll affect walk-up sales throughout the season, but not season tickets.'' Becky Vallett, executive editor of Team Marketing Report, said the price of seeing baseball has most affected family attendance. A family feels satisfied nowadays squeezing one or two games in during an entire season. ``But I don't think baseball is dying, it's just changing and probably attempting to accommodate more families.'' In recent years, the Dodgers have formed a pact with The Coca-Cola Co. to attract more families. For $48, a family can purchase four upper deck or pavilion seats, four Cokes and four hot dogs. That package deal is up $8 from last season. The Angels are slightly more aggressive with their package deals, offering a variety of options to drum up business. For example, $39 could net a family four upper-section seats, food, beverages and Interactive video game tokens for Sunday and Wednesday games. The stadium also offers $3 tickets for kids and teenagers on Tuesday nights and right field tickets between $5 and $10 Monday through Thursday if purchased at the box office. ``If you want to look up value in the dictionary, here's a pretty good description: Our team's payroll is about $100 million, among the top three in the league. And our ticket price is the 23rd-lowest on average,'' said the Angels' Alvarado. David Carter, a professor of sports business at the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission , said teams in all sports struggle to balance increased costs with the fans' spending limits. ``You've got ... grandparents grandparents npl → abuelos mpl grandparents grand npl → grands-parents mpl grandparents grand npl in the stands and children with hopes of maybe catching a foul ball. I'd be dubious about anyone who tries to price someone out of that kind of experience.'' Staff Writer Brent Hopkins contributed to this report. Evan Pondel, (818) 713-3662 evan.pondel(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): drawing, box Drawing: (color) no caption (ANGELS, Dodgers, baseball, bat) Box: THROWING DOLLAR SIGNS SOURCE: 2004 Team Marketing Report Warren Huskey/Staff Artist |
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