Red Sox fans better be prepared to open their wallets

The first home series is in the books, and Red Sox fans are relatively happy about the results they’ve seen on the field. It’s a brand new year for Boston, the weather has been close to perfect at Fenway Park and Boston has won every series so far this season to bring their record to a rather impressive 6-3. What could possibly bring a Sox fan back down to Earth? Perhaps a look at the hit their wallet will take if they choose to attend a game or two in 2015 will accomplish that.

It was reported last week that a ticket to Fenway Park to see your Boston Red Sox do their thing will cost more than it would to see any other team in Major League Baseball. Granted, according to Jon Greenberg at TeamMarketing.com, the average ticket rose 3.3 percent across the league, while Boston’s did not change at all due to a horrific season in 2014. The average price for admission is $28.94, while it will cost you a whopping $52.34 on average to attend a game on Yawkey Way. It’s no surprise that the Yankees come in second at $51.55.

The team has clearly been very successful under the current ownership team and the Sox’ popularity has been at an all time high throughout the last decade or more with three World Series victories to show for it. The park is also much smaller than other squads’ with fans that aren’t as rabid as Red Sox Nation. However, it does make the Jon Lester contract negotiations that much more difficult to stomach, and it makes you shake your head when you think about the front office not offering a guy like Jacoby Ellsbury a penny more than what they “budgeted”.

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Their current payroll is close to 185 million dollars per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, which is an amazing figure when you think about it. This is presumably the biggest argument in favor of having tickets remain at the top of the league. On the other hand, one could argue that if you’re going to charge fans the most in MLB, you better be putting a quality product on the field and investing that cash back into the roster. In other words, the classic “…well it’s not my money anyway” fan adage isn’t even close to the truth.

As far as tickets going up overall around the league, owners are spending more money and cities are putting new ballparks up. Not in Boston though, where Fenway Park is an ancient relic and not even close to approaching a modern day stadium. The feeling of tradition and mystique is palpable within the walls of Fenway, but let’s be honest; Boston could have used a new baseball park twenty years ago. Of course, if you ask John Henry, baseball will be played at Fenway for decades to come.

The bottom line is that the Red Sox are still trendy, and fans want to go see and support their baseball team in Boston. If they continue to be successful, most seats will be occupied on any given night. It’s just important to keep in mind these figures from the Boston Globe: For four average-priced tickets, two small draft beers, four small soft drinks, four hot dogs, parking, and two adult-size caps at Fenway Park, fans pay $350.86. That is also the largest cost for something sports business insiders call the Fan Cost Index (the average price to take a family of four to a game). Which reminds me – don’t even get me started on the cost of beer at Fenway!

It doesn’t seem that anything is going to drastically change in regards to the amount of money a fan will be required to dish out to watch the Red Sox, and John Henry and company are probably doing just fine financially, but they better make sure that having a winning club is the top priority going forward. People are more informed about the economics of the game than ever before. We all know that “If you build it, they will come”, but I’m pretty sure James Earl Jones didn’t take into account Fan Cost Index when he was waxing nostalgic.

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