Take Me Out To The Ball Game…

The great American pass time, baseball, is just too expense for the average American family, and it has been for a long time. Things keep getting worse though. The economy is in the toilet while the building of new stadiums and rising salaries of players have pushed the cost of going to a game out of the reach of too many. I remember my husband telling me how his father would take him and his three brothers to watch the Yankees when he was little. I often wished I had had a son so he could have passed the tradition on to his little boy. My husband always loved the game, even as a toddler he would play in the backyard, hitting balls and rounding around the imaginary bases. Imagine all the money I saved by having girls?

I was listening to the news yesterday at breakfast and heard a baseball fan on the radio saying she paid $35 for parking and $45 for a ticket. I almost fell off my chair. I was complaining about it to my husband later on and found myself getting irate so I said this will be tomorrow’s blog! I am going to give you some prices based on Yankee Stadium, because that is our “team” and my daughter is there today.

The highest non-premium tickets costs: $51.83

Beer costs 50 cents per ounce or $6 for a 12 ounce beer!

Hotdogs $3

Parking $35 (the lady didn’t lie!)

Prices do vary by city and team, so check yours in this link: https://www.teammarketing.com/public/files/2011_mlb_fci.pdf

Now let’s say a family of four would like to go to a Yankee game today, what would it cost for:

4 Tickets: $207.32

Parking: 35.00

Hotdogs: 12.00

2 Beers: 12.00

2 sodas: 6.00

Program: 5.00

Total $277.32 and that’s without any snacks or extras! Nice! Is it really worth it?

I was telling my husband that everyone should save up and get a giant screen TV and pay for a sports channel and watch from home. You get better seats, better food, no traffic, and a better view of the plays. It’s outrageous that such a long standing American tradition has been out priced for so many fans.

Here are the new lyrics for Take Me Out To the Ball Game:

Tune me in to the ball game, help me dodge the crowd

I’ll stock up on peanuts and cracker jacks

I can watch while I lay on my back

I’ll still root, root, root for the home team

If they don’t win it’s no shame

Cause it’s 3 hundred dollars I’m not out

For an old ball game

Yes it 3 hundred dollars I still got

To my good name!