It was only by chance that I stumbled on "Seats of Gold" by Wright Thompson. I'm not a sports fan, so I don't regularly read Sports Illustrated, but I'm glad this crossed my path. Thompson shows how pursuit of short-term profits is eroding the baseball experience for fans -- or at least fans that aren't making mad cash.
I can relate. We went to a couple of baseball games this year. Even though I'm not a rabid sports nut, I can enjoy a good baseball game once in a while. I remember going to see the Cards when I was a kid at Busch Stadium. It was a good, cheap, way to spend an evening.
It's not so cheap anymore. Prices keep climbing, and it's pushing out a lot of fans. I think a lot of people have noticed the climbing prices, but Thompson does a great job of illustrating one of the reasons it's happening -- and the effects.
From the beginning, the Yankees and Wall Street were linked. The bull market that ultimately led to mad speculation and the Great Depression started in October 1923, within days of the team winning its first World Series -- in its first season at Yankee Stadium. Old-money New Yorkers followed the Giants. The dreamers took the subway from Wall Street to the Bronx, the games timed to the close of the market.
Lavish spending was always part of the new-money ethos of the Street. Great seats, especially at Yankees games, impressed potential clients. The secondary market for big games grew outrageous, and, as the team won titles throughout the 1990s, smart fans found they could pay for an entire season by auctioning off a choice game or two to bankers hungry to make a deal. Good Yankees-Red Sox tickets could go for as much as $2,500. Maybe, in hindsight, it seems a little greedy to expect a season of baseball for free. But smart fans were just following the law of supply and demand.
What could be more American?
The Yankees made nothing extra off this ticket scalping. Very uncool. So, in 1998, the team created a new front row, called the seats the Legends Boxes, and started charging $197.50 per game. Each year, fans and corporations happily paid the increase, so the prices kept rising.
The Street couldn't afford to say no.
Why not?
If you're a middle-class sports fan, the answer will make you sick.
What greed does to loyalty: Seats of Gold
It was only by chance that I stumbled on "Seats of Gold" by Wright Thompson. I'm not a sports fan, so I don't regularly read Sports Illustrated, but I'm glad this crossed my path. Thompson shows how pursuit of short-term profits is eroding the baseball experience for fans -- or at least fans that aren't making mad cash.
I can relate. We went to a couple of baseball games this year. Even though I'm not a rabid sports nut, I can enjoy a good baseball game once in a while. I remember going to see the Cards when I was a kid at Busch Stadium. It was a good, cheap, way to spend an evening.
It's not so cheap anymore. Prices keep climbing, and it's pushing out a lot of fans. I think a lot of people have noticed the climbing prices, but Thompson does a great job of illustrating one of the reasons it's happening -- and the effects.
And even if you're not. Go read the rest.