My Friend the Accountant

Great guy.  Self-made, one of  a lot of kids, the last one in the line, father died when he was a young teenager.  Worked his rear end off, smart, serious, engaging, good husband, father, thoughtful, dependable, good neighbor, just a wonderful person.

We went to the Phillies game the other night, had a fun time, as the hometown nine won, this time in convincing fashion.  We enjoyed the game and used it as a vehicle, as many do, to get caught up.  We touched upon a lot of subjects, including the expense of going to a baseball game.  My first reaction was to joke that the expense seemed to pale in comparison to going to a 76ers' game (where there are 41 home games to the Phillies' 81) or an Eagles' game (where there are only eight home games and the Eagles' make sure to get their monies' worth).  But we did some basic math -- parking costs $20 if you want to park close enough not to exhaust your young kids by the time they get to the ball park.  Tickets on the second level can cost roughly $35 apiece, which means that's $140 for a family of four.  Let's say you need four waters -- at $5 apiece and you purchase food for four people.  It's not cheap there, so let's say by the time you buy the French fries, chicken tenders, and perhaps other artery-clogging food and ice cream you spend say $30 on water (two for the adults) and another $70 on food.  (Beers go for about $12 apiece, so let's surmise that the adults will not drink in front of the children -- not the best assumption at the ballpark).  So the interim math is $20 for parking, $140 for tickets, and say $100 on food.  Already that's $260 dollars.  And for good measure perhaps you purchase a souvenir or two, you know, a Phillie Phanatic hat or a team hat or a jersey shirt or something, and let's say you spend another $60.  That's about $320 for a family of four.

For one game.  And let's suppose you want to go to several more during the season.  That could be roughly $1,000 for four games.  That's a lot of money, especially where the average income in the region is less than $60,000.  Is it reasonable to expect someone to pay more than 1% of his/her income for the luxury of going to a baseball game and for an increasingly strange and hard-to-fathom product?  Last year there were more strikeouts than hits in the game -- for the first time ever.  And it took on average four minutes for a ball to go into play.  Even taking into account the odd turns the game has taken, it remains expensive to go to a game.

So, some questions must be asked.  Is it good business to charge $5 for a water as opposed to encouraging people to bring their own reusable water bottles and filling stations so that they can save money?  Is it good business to charge what they do for food, too, and $20 for parking while they are at it?  The principal owner of the team is worth more than $1 billion and vowed in the off-season to spend "stupid money" to sign free agents, and then gave Bryce Harper $330 million over 13 seasons for a guy who is about half as good as the unavailable and area native Mike Trout.  Perhaps John Middleton paid "market" for Bryce Harper, and it stands to reason that he believes he bestowed many good things on his fans with that signing, the signing of Andrew McCutcheon, and the trades for Jean Segura and J.T. Realmuto.  What he and his fellow owners -- all seemingly well-intentioned, good folks -- did not do was improve upon the fan experience in the one way that would help the fans -- making the game more affordable.

Those who defend baseball will argue that the game still draws a lot of fans and that only a few franchise have financial/attendance problems.  And they might be right.  I have gone on and on about the average age of a fan being 58 and how the younger generations are not flocking to the game because climate change has meant it is very hot to sit out there for 3.5-plus hours, because the game is increasingly boring with pitching changes, mound visits and strikeouts and such.  When the average age of a fan is 58, what that means is that you have people who are making more money presumably in their jobs because they are at a point where they are highly paid or they are retired and have save up enough to spend their discretionary money on leisure.

Perhaps.  But there is a big "but" in all of this.  Most people do not have enough to retire on.  The good economy will not last forever; we have not had a recession in 10+ years.  Parking is not all that close to the stadium, and as people age they will not be able to get to the ballpark or do the necessary walking within the stadium to get to their seats.  After all, the average person in the country is not in the best shape.  Discretionary income might not be as discretionary for people as it is now.  At some point people might say "are you crazy, I will not pay $5 for a water or $11 for a beer or $10 for crab fries.  That is insane."  (My family already is saying it).  And with brutal competition for your internet/cable dollars, people might be content to watch at home (and that gets into a whole other set of issues -- loneliness and isolation, which could end up being bigger killers than heart disease and cancer).  Putting all of this together, baseball has a unique opportunity to create a wonderful experience for a community -- where people can gather -- outside -- for a fun event that creates community.  It really can do this.

If it doesn't price people out of the market.  Especially when there are 81 games and the games are not as scarce as football (which has its own set of issues).

So back to our conversation.  His refrain -- "how can the average guy afford this?"

The answer is, increasingly, that he cannot.

Even with a growing population.  Even with a good economy.

Businesses can make decisions when they are on top or perceive that they are that can render themselves extinct.  Boxing and horse racing used to be among the top five spectator sports.  There is nothing to say that other games will not evolve them into more fringe sports.  Minor league baseball is fun, fast and affordable.  But the big-league game is not.

All you have to say is $5 for a water and you lose me at hello.

The Lords of Baseball should think hard about this.

And make some changes.