Baseball Ticket Prices Soaring to New Heights

Fans who go to baseball’s three new ballparks will leave with much lighter wallets.

The sport’s average ticket price went up 11.8%--the highest markup in a decade--to $16.67 this year. But that’s nothing compared with the increases in Detroit, San Francisco and Houston.

The average at Comerica Park is $24.83, the fourth-highest in baseball and a 103% jump from the $12.23 average at Tiger Stadium last season, according to the annual survey by the Team Marketing Report.

“When you move into a new stadium it’s like comparing apples to oranges,” Tiger spokesman Tyler Barnes said. “Unlike Tiger Stadium, there are a number of premium seats.”

Those premium seats, with waiter service, cost $50-$75 a game, while regular seats cost $8-$30, up from $5-$25 at Tiger Stadium.

At Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco, the average of $21.24, baseball’s sixth-highest, is up 75.2% from the $12.12 average last year at 3Com Park, formerly Candlestick.

Houston’s Enron Field is reasonable by these standards. The average there is $20.01, No. 8 among the 30 major league teams. That’s up 50.4% from last year’s average of $13.30 at the Astrodome.

Red Sox fans will be feeling the pinch, too. Fenway Park has the highest average ticket price in baseball for the fifth consecutive season, rising 17.8% to $28.33.

Seattle, which moved to Safeco Field last season, is second at $26.31, followed by the New York Yankees at $25.94, the Tigers and the New York Mets at $24.29.

By comparison, the Consumer Price Index has gone up 3.2% since the start of last season.

While the CPI has gone up 25.9% since the start of the 1991 season, the average baseball ticket price has increased 92.9% in that period. The NFL’s average ticket price has risen 81% since then to $45.63, the NBA’s 81.3% to $48.37.

The survey didn’t include the NHL until 1994. Hockey’s average is $45.70.

NBA tickets went up 13.8% this season, NHL tickets 6.9% and NFL tickets 6.6%.

The Minnesota Twins have the lowest average ticket price at $9.33, even after a 10.3% increase this year.

The Angels ($13.19) kept their average at 1999’s level.

The Dodgers rank 17th with a $15.44 average, up from last season’s $13.67.