Go Sox!

/but come on.. lower the prices.. lower players salaries.. make the game more accessible please.

Why not? Every single game is sold-out. You may as well jack up ticket prices until people stop buying tickets...

Not saying it's right - but it's all about makin' the owners money...just don't start losing...

Beatle_Matt: Not saying it's right - but it's all about makin' the owners money...just don't start losing...

It's basic economics - whatever the market will bear. The Red Sox are an incredibly well-run franchise, and a really hot brand. I hate them with the white-hot hate of a thousand suns, but there's no denying that they know what they're doing.

I don't see them losing anytime soon.

Dr.Knockboots: Go Sox!

/but come on.. lower the prices.. lower players salaries.. make the game more accessible please.

that was me being hopeful for teh sake of a better experience for the fans.

the real answer:

Make tons of money, have the MLB a 6 horse race from now until it collapses.
Sox/Yanks/Angels
Dodgers/Mets/Phillies

buy.up.everyone
400million dollar payrolls.. buy everyone.. make even more of a mockery out of the league..

notmtwain: Hmm, I seem to remember them getting swept in the playoffs. Does that count as losing?

You'd have to be a dunce to think that reaching the playoffs constitutes "losing" or having a losing season. Looking back at the last decade.. the Sox have been in the playoffs a bunch and won twice.

build a new modern stadium with seating designed for people taller than 5 foot 7 and I'll pay for a more expensive ticket.

theres no limit to what stupid fans will pay

Um, no.
I'll just stay home watch the Sawx beat up on my Indians for free, thanks.

Lost Thought 00: That should help weed out the pink-hatters

Anyone who would buy a pink baseball hat would gladly pay an extra $5 to "Go see my favoretest team ever play". Sadly, the only thing that weeds out pink hatters is failure. Take the bad with the good.

That's wicked retahted.

BunkoSquad: H31N0US: Anyone who would buy a pink baseball hat would gladly pay an extra $5 to "Go see my favoretest team ever play". Sadly, the only thing that weeds out pink hatters is failure. Take the bad with the good.

Exactly this. If anything, this will weed out anyone who's NOT a pink-hatter, like families and people who will continue to support the team even after a really crappy year or two.

/we need a second team
//bring back the Braves


Oy, I hate band wagonners, pink hat or no.

And pricces seriously need to go down in a lot of places. Boston ... well, it's evil, but they at least sell out consistantly.

Just tell me the dont' have $2500 tickets.

Lost Thought 00: Your Sarcasm meter might be getting low on juice, but point taken

I was going to have it serviced but I'm saving my money for a shiny pink Yankees hat.

As if the pro-sports system needs any more cash...
Asshats, all of them...

what that REALLY means is that the tickets are all going up at least $20 per ticket because you have to buy them through a broker - so the sox add $5 and the broker adds $15.

/scumbags
//I only go to games when someone brings me. (2 times this past season)
///ok I paid to go to the Futures game this year. That was fun.

That's OK, the Yankees are going to raise theirs $27.

The Red Sox do this and everyone makes excuses.

The Yankees do it and everyone flips shiat.

Dr.Knockboots: Dr.Knockboots: Go Sox!

/but come on.. lower the prices.. lower players salaries.. make the game more accessible please.

that was me being hopeful for teh sake of a better experience for the fans.

the real answer:

Make tons of money, have the MLB a 6 horse race from now until it collapses.
Sox/Yanks/Angels
Dodgers/Mets/Phillies

buy.up.everyone
400million dollar payrolls.. buy everyone.. make even more of a mockery out of the league..

Even as you reach a point where you have to respond to yourself, you're still whining.

yumpizza: The Red Sox do this and everyone makes excuses.

The Yankees do it and everyone flips shiat.

you'll get over it.

Apparently the recession is over in Boston, Red Sox to raise ticket prices as much as $5 per ticket

Cool. I can has job now?

beantowndog: yumpizza: The Red Sox do this and everyone makes excuses.

The Yankees do it and everyone flips shiat.

The Yankees raised some ticket prices by as much as $5?

The Yankees still have a lower average price then the Red Sox. And Cubs. It'll probably even go down this year due to price decreases on the mega luxury seats.

It's always funny to hear sox fans whine about the prices at NYS, when the average ticket price at Fenway is STILL higher.

B B B B B B BUT THE YANKEEES!!!

Good ... more revenue sharing for the 24 minor league feeder teams they use.

Farkers must be the purest of character, with the best wives in the world and the best clarity of thought. And none of their home sports teams suffer from bandwagon syndrome. I couldn't care less if anyone starts following a sports team only because it's successful. I only care the team and how it's doing.

FriarReb98: cptjeff: It's always funny to hear sox fans whine about the prices at NYS, when the average ticket price at Fenway is STILL higher.

Fenway Park: 37,400 night, 36,984 day.
Yankee Stadium III: 52,325.

I'm pretty sure the 15,000 more seats Yankee Stadium III has will more than offset that cost difference. Would love to see what the cost of selling out Fenway vs YS3 is.

The capacity does affect the price. I understand that. And yet it moves. It's still cheaper to go to a game at NYS then fenway.

\BTW, YS 2.5 is more accurate.

cptjeff: beantowndog: yumpizza: The Red Sox do this and everyone makes excuses.

The Yankees do it and everyone flips shiat.

The Yankees raised some ticket prices by as much as $5?

The Yankees still have a lower average price then the Red Sox. And Cubs. It'll probably even go down this year due to price decreases on the mega luxury seats.

It's always funny to hear sox fans whine about the prices at NYS, when the average ticket price at Fenway is STILL higher.


I do not think you are accurate in your assertion. The mean ticket price at YS is WAY more expensive than the mean ticket price at Fenway.
You may be correct that the median ticket price is higher at Fenway, but that is a function of the fact that YS has many, many more seats -- predominantly bleachers and upper deck capacity.
Not to be a troll, but I don't have that much of a problem with the team raising ticket prices by $5. Compared to the increase from the YS 2008 prices to the new YS 2009 prices, it pales in comparison.
Sure, I don't like paying more money to see a game. I don't like paying taxes either. But I know that tax revenue is necessary for the government to function effectively. Likewise, the additional revenue from raising ticket prices $5 each (my quick math indicates an additional $14M) is necessary for the Red Sox to compete on the free agent market with the Yankees. Moreover, unlike taxes, no one is forcing me to go see the Red Sox. If one is so offended by the price increase, don't go. If tickets don't get sold, and people stop coming, market forces will then correct the error.
Lastly, as a life-long Sox fan going back to the days of Bill Monbouqette, Jim Lonborg, Carl Yastrzemski, Rico Petrucelli and Tony Conigliaro, I really don't have a problem with those who have jumped on the bandwagon. The more the merrier, I think....

I don't know as a fact, but I think the mode would be higher at Fenway, since YS has a very large number of very cheap obstructed view bleacher seats.

Come to think of it, Fenway has a lot of obstructed view, non-bleacher seats. Still love it, though.

Baseball's economic structure was created in the 1800's. With the dominance of two or three big-market teams, it will continue to lose market share until a crisis forces restructuring (see the National Hockey League for an example).

Here's an idea: Let's not group teams by geography but, rather, by payroll. So let's put the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Dodgers, and Cardinals in one division. And in another division you could have the Marlins, Rays, Royals, Pirates, and A's. And continue to tax the rich for the benefit of the poor. Since the playoffs are pretty much a crapshoot, I'd be willing to bet that the economics of baseball would radically change (for the better). It wouldn't quite emulate the NFL's model of parity but it would be a great start.

Still get to plenty of Angel games at ~10$ a pop. Good seats too

beantowndog: cptjeff: The Yankees still have a lower average price then the Red Sox. And Cubs. It'll probably even go down this year due to price decreases on the mega luxury seats.

It's always funny to hear sox fans whine about the prices at NYS, when the average ticket price at Fenway is STILL higher.

Link (new window)

Heh, I guess my quick google search turned up an outdated result.

Still, when your franchise is second in the league after being first for 10 or so years straight, you can't really talk.

But keep in mind that's a function of the super ultra high end premium seats. YS has a lot of affordable tickets for the average fan.

bubbaprog: Beatle_Matt: Why not? Every single game is sold-out. You may as well jack up ticket prices until people stop buying tickets...

Not saying it's right - but it's all about makin' the owners money...just don't start losing...

This. It's basic microeconomics. If you're constantly selling out games, your tickets are too cheap. Period.

The equilibrium price for a ticket is that at which the stadium is at capacity -1. If you sell out, your tickets are too cheap. If you have more than one empty seat, your tickets are too expensive. Given that this is covered in essentially every 300-level micro class, it blows my mind how few executives really understand it.

And in the case of football, if you don't sell out you get blacked out. There are always mitigating circumstances. Of course, one of the basic tenants of business is you don't piss off your customer.

"The Team Marketing Report released its annual survey Thursday and said the average price of a Yankees home ticket was a major league-high $72.97, a 76.3 percent increase from last year's $41.40.

The Boston Red Sox, who had been first for 13 consecutive years, were next at $50.24..."

TO THE GOOGLE!

skinink: Farkers must be the purest of character, with the best wives in the world and the best clarity of thought. And none of their home sports teams suffer from bandwagon syndrome. I couldn't care less if anyone starts following a sports team only because it's successful. I only care the team and how it's doing.

I don't know where the urban legend of Red Sox 'pink hatters' came from. "Red Sox Nation" predates 2004, and the first colored hats I noticed were on Yanks fans in the late 1990s (although I lived in NY).

If Red Sox fans are bandwagoners, who were Yankees fans taunting with their '1918' chants for so long?

I'd bet that the increase in Red Sox fanhood post 2004 isn't any more dramatic than the increase in Yankee fanhood in the late 1990s, or any of their other successful eras.

And I'll guarantee that the TB Rays had a much greater increase in fanhood, percentage wise, last year than the Sox or Yanks ever had.

$5 increase in ticket prices? so who is going to be the big ticket free agent they pick up?