The absurd cost of going to a game at Fenway

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Red Sox Sell Most Expensive Tickets And Beer In MLB At Fenway Park
Toucher & RichApril 8, 2015 10:25 AM
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Fenway Park Concessions (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

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You've Earned Points for Reading!Claim points in our Reward Center, and earn more tomorrow.game in Boston, you need to remember your hat, your sunscreen and your mitt. You also might want to make a phone call to your financial adviser.

The Red Sox are currently setting the bar in terms of prices on both tickets and beer, new reports say.

Team Marketing Report said this week that even without raising ticket prices after a last-place season, the Red Sox still boast the most expensive tickets in all of baseball. The Red Sox’ average ticket price for non-premium seats is at $52.34, and the estimated cost for a family of four to buy four tickets, two beers, four soft drinks, two hot dogs, parking and two hats is $337.20.

Along the same lines, Business Insider dug into the Team Marketing Report numbers and reported on the most expensive beer prices in Major League Baseball, and the Red Sox far and away have the highest prices. A “small beer” costs $7.75 at Fenway Park in Boston, Wrigley Field in Chicago and Citizens Bank Parkin Philadelphia. However, that “small beer” in Wrigley consists of 16 ounces, and the “small beer” in Philly consists of 21 ounces.

A $7.75 “small beer” at Fenway Park is just 12 ounces.

In terms of cost per ounce of beer, the Red Sox sell their adult beverages for 65 cents per ounce. That’s 15 cents more than the second-highest price, and it ends up costing more than $2 extra on a 16-ounce beer.

Toucher & Rich, along with Marshall Hook, discussed the beer prices on Wednesday morning.

“Because there’s no salary cap, at times I’ve just wondered, ‘Who really cares about the amount of money these guys are spending?'” Rich Shertenlieb said with regard to Rick Porcello’s new contract. “Except for when it comes to things like this.”

Hook said that the Red Sox have to charge more for beer considering that their ballpark has a much smaller capacity than most others around the league. While it is true that Fenway Park ranks 27th with a roughly 37,500-seat capacity, Rich pointed out that it’s no excuse.

“That would be the ticket prices where you would make it up. A beer is a beer. When you charge a certain amount for a beer, it’s criminal,” Rich said.

He added: “You said that because there’s less seats there, they have to charge more for the beer because they’re not selling any. Well that, my friend, couldn’t be more wrong. The Boston Red Sox last year, if I’m just looking at the attendance for 2014, they are number 6 as far as the pure number of people who attended their ballpark. Not percentage; in pure numbers they are number six. So there is no reason they need to be making up money with the amount they’re charging for a beer.”

Hook still reasoned: “If people are buying it, why not charge that much?”

Fair enough.

Fred Toucher noted that the Fenway experience isn’t exactly all it’s cracked up to be, and it’s certainly not worth paying hundreds of dollars for.

“So I come out of there, I’ve been facing the wrong way for three hours. I’ve been staring at the bullpen while people walk across my line of sight. I’ve enjoyed a wet hot dog encased in flour and –”

“My knees have been smashing the iron in front of me because I’m taller than 5-foot-3,” Rich interrupted.

“Yeah, the whole stadium was constructed when the average height was 4-foot-11,” Fred continued. “It was before they discovered that you had to have Vitamin C. And now I’ve also gone bankrupt trying to have three beers.”