OPINION
10
Outraged Taxpayers Not Going Out to Ball Game
By Kevin Spak
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Posted May 11, 09 9:23 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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New Yorkers would like to go out to the ball game, but the Wipons and Steinbrenners “have let their unfettered greed keep the fans at bay,” writes Allen Barra in the Wall Street Journal. Fans are outraged that their tax dollars have gone to fund stadiums they can’t afford to visit, with the cost for a family of four to take in a Yankee game jumping 49% this year, to $410, while the Arizona Diamondbacks, for instance, dropped 29%, to $114.
The Yankees and Mets justified this with an OPEC-like supply strategy, purposely building smaller stadiums to justify price increases. But baseball isn’t oil. Fans, still mourning the now defunct stadiums, have grudgingly decided to stay home and watch the luxe new parks on TV. “We can’t justify buying a ticket,” says one. And Barra quotes a local pol on efforts to fill empty seats by dropping top prices: "Only the Yankees would think a $1,200 ticket is affordable and a $2,500 ticket isn't."