Cubs Charge The Most, Win The Least
Going to Wrigley Field for a beautiful day at the ballpark is pretty much the greatest thing to do on a summer day in possibly the greatest city in the world for spending a summer day in general. Whether you’re a real Cubs fan looking to cheer on your team, a dumb hot sorority girl who is a Cubs “fan” and wants to dress like a slut and get wasted and hit on, or even a White Sox fan traveling a bit too far north to enjoy a day at a baseball field with an old-timey feel (instead of a day at an amusement park), it is a great time. Does all this give the owners of the Cubbies the right to gouge their fans? They seem to think so:
So what does it cost to witness 102 years of baseball futility? More than any other team.
That’s right Cubs fans, your team hasn’t won a World Series since 1908, but to see the 2010 edition will set you back $52.56 per seat at beautiful Wrigley Field, according to Team Market Report’s annual Fan Cost Index. (And no, the price of admission doesn’t guarantee a win.)
TMR, a Wilmette company, each year releases a price index that measures everything from parking to concessions to ticket costs and this year the North Siders top the list.
The average ticket in MLB costs $26.79, up just slightly from a year ago.
The report shows that the Cubbies had the second highest price increase — up 10.1 percent for 2010.
An family of four can expect to spend a bundle. Figure in hot dogs ($4.25 each), beer ($6.25 each), sodas ($3.75 each), parking ($25.00) and a couple of baseball caps ($20 each), and taking the tribe out Wrigley Field will set you back a cool $329.74. Don’t leave home without that credit card.
So basically the Cubs have won exactly zero Championships since 1908, but they feel they can charge the most? I was discussing this with one of the many people who emailed me about this story, and we concluded that it was ludicrous how much a Cubs game costs. While an argument can be made that what I described at the beginning of this article about how it is the BEST way to spend a summer day may be enough to justify the prices they charge, in terms of a day watching professional sports it is outrageous. A Bears game may cost more, but that’s worth it in an entirely different way. A Bulls game is significantly less, so there’s no real comparison there.
The one thing that Mr. Ricketts and our dearly-departed friends at the Tribune have done is attempt to build a winner by spending more than almost any other team on payroll. I give them credit for that and while I will continue to bitch and moan about ticket prices, I will keep going to the ballpark so long as they continue to spend money and show a commitment to success on the field. (Who am I kidding, I’ll keep going to the park pretty much no matter what, amirite?)
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Time April 11, 2010 at 3:22 am
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