World Series: Putting Ticket Prices in Some Perspective

Headline news is being made by the cost of a single ticket to attend a World Series game at both Wrigley Field in Chicago and Progressive Field in Cleveland. But accounting for inflation, has it always been this way or have things just spun out of control? Let’s take a look here and see.

What the Scenario Is Like Today

You would expect that the cost of a single ticket to attend an MLB playoff game, and especially the World Series, would cost more than a regular season game ticket. But how much more is the question. And there is no answer to the question because we’re operating here with the main economic premise of supply and demand.

There are only X amount of seats in a ballpark. Except of course in Chicago where entrepreneurs sell what they call “roof seats”. That’s right, seats for sale on the roof of their home or apartment. But that’s not the norm, so let’s stay in the supply and demand mode. Here’s one example of how it works.

ESPN is reporting that one fan bought four seats to a World Series game in a bullpen box along the first base line for Game 5 for $17,950 each. A pair of seats was also purchased on StubHub for $16,000 a ticket for Games 3 and 4 — one by the Cubs’ dugout, the other one by the Indians’ dugout.

And the average cost of a ticket is currently (because it’ll continue to rise until tomorrow night) estimated to be a cool $3,000. I don’t know about you, but that definitely leaves me out of the hunt for one.

What the Scenario Was Like Yesterday

But is this something new, or has it always been this way? I decided to look into that a little bit and as you probably guessed too, it’s definitely something new. At least it is on this scale.

For example, in the 1963 World Series, 50-some years ago, when the Los Angeles Dodgers behind Sandy Koufax swept the powerful New York Yankees in four games, prices were different — very, very different. A field box seat at Dodger Stadium in 1963 went for $12. A bleacher seat cost $2, and programs sold for 50 cents.

Now, Let’s Do the Math

Of course, back then:

A first-class stamp was five cents.
A Hershey’s chocolate bar was a nickel. They go for around $1 now.
A gallon of gas was 25 cents. The average price today is around $3.50 for regular gasoline.

So, let’s do some quick math. We’ll take gasoline as an example. Using the formula to find the percent of change, that would be 3.50 – .25 divided by .25, and we get a 1,300 percent increase in the cost of gasoline.

And for ticket prices, well use the average $3,000 cost making it 3,000 – 12 divided by 12 giving us a 49,000 percent increase in the cost of a single ticket to attend a World Series game today.

Case closed. This is ridiculous. But not to worry, there’s going to be a full house at both ballparks for each World Series game.

Here’s a Possible Remedy

The problem doesn’t rest with the teams. They set a face value price for each ticket. And that price is much higher than a standard game ticket, because after all it is the World Series. What happens though is that scavengers like Vivid Seats and StubHub wind up with tickets that they buy and sell on the “resale market”.

More from Call to the Pen

Most of the tickets they buy come from greedy bastards like a stockbroker who, if he knows anything, recognizes a dollar when he sees one, even though the tickets are a “gift” from the company he toils for. Then the brokers “offer” these same tickets up for sale and that’s how you get to $3,000.

To eliminate the stockbroker and everyone like him, as well as the middleman, why not create a lottery that is run by MLB so that there’s a more equal distribution of the wealth, i.e. tickets? Sounds like socialism though, huh? But really, wouldn’t this be a better way?

The trouble though, if truth be told, is that MLB likes it just the way it is. Why? Because they profit from the hype and the excitement, plus stories about it that are written like this one. It’s talked about everywhere. And as the Kardashians would say – there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

Next: 5 Holes for Mets to Fill in 2017

Now understand, I bleed baseball just as many of you do. And I might sound like Donald Trump (perish the thought), but the system is rigged and it needs to be fixed. But let’s forget about all that and just settle back and enjoy the World Series! This one is bound to be a true Fall Classic.

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