CNBC's Darren Rovell believes that Major League Baseball is overvaluing tickets to baseball games. In a Monday afternoon story, Rovell noted that tickets to last night's Royals-Indians game were going for less than $5 on the secondary market, thus proving MLB's pricing to be jacked up.
"If teams don't accept that, on a given night against a bad opponent,
their ticket is worth $1, then they are just denying the reality,"
Rovell wrote, adding that the Washington Nationals were selling tickets
for $1 (along with $1 hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn and parking).
In the wake of last night's 19-1 thrashing of the Kansas City Royals by
the Cleveland Indians, I doubt that anyone in Royal blue thought they got their money's worth. Sports Illustrated's Joe Posnanski wrote a story about the game
titled, "The
worst pitching performance ever."
Here's Rovell's take:
It's a fine line, but in the end, I think it's the right move. You see, the truth is that there's no such thing as devaluing your product. When your product is good again, people will show up. So how about the Royals, who are 20-19, and the Indians, who are 24-13, and are at the bottom in league attendance? It's obviously not on-field performance that is keeping people from the ballpark.Royals fans probably don't want to ever hear the name Vin Mazzaro again. But his next pitching expedition might be more palatable if the tickets are only a buck. Hell, you may be able to see history made. Any objections to $1 tickets?These teams have to work harder to make going to the game a more attractive option. Until then, they have to make like the Nationals and advertise bargain-basement prices to get butts in the seats.
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I think it's more of an issue of no one wanting to drive to Raytown. I live in Lenexa and work north of the river. From either place, I have a 20 minute drive to the stadium, where I am forced to eat/drink at the stadium because the only other option out there is a Taco Bell. They either need to lower ticket prices to make it more conducive to spending money on concessions, or move the stadium where people and restaurants exist on non-game days.
The Royals treat themselves like a minor league franchise with the carnival they created in the outfield and gimmicks between every inning. I've been to about half of MLB stadiums, and no one does any of that crap to the extent that the Royals do. They have gone all out for families, which mostly only go to weekend games, and left the actual baseball fans either annoyed with the stadium atmosphere or the hassle of actually going to the stadium. People were doing the wave in the eighth inning of a game we were losing 7-2 last night. It is sickening.
The problem is pretty straightforward: How many people do you know who actually pay for tickets to Royals games? Sure, you'll have some walkups on Friday or Saturday night (or maybe tonight when Danny Duffy makes his debut), but on a run-of-the-mill Tuesday night? They can barely be given away at times.
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