WORLD SERIES TICKETS COST WAY TOO MUCH

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     There are hundreds of thousands of people - some of whom call a cardboard box their home - who are living on the streets in cities across the United States.  There are families - including children - who are starving for food...eating out of dumpsters because otherwise they don't eat at all.  Homeless and hungry.  Why in America?

     The National Alliance To End Homelessness says...more than one-half-million people are homeless on a given night in the U.S.A.  Why in America?

     And DoSomething.org reports U.S. government statistics...that 1 in 6 Americans go hungry everyday.  Why in America?

     The Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians are the 2016 National and American League Champions.  And the athletes of those two teams will face each other in the Major League Baseball World Series beginning on Tuesday, October 25th.  But for a fan to attend Wrigley Field in "The Windy City"...(starting with Game 3)...and to watch the Cubs and Indians play...will cost - according to ESPN - between about 2-thousand and nearly 25-thousand dollars for each ticket.  Why in America?

     ESPN reports that one spectator purchased 4 box seats...along the first base line at the Cubs home stadium...for Game 5...for an unreasonable 17,950 dollars apiece.  And another fan bought 4 tickets for Game 7...in the first row behind the Cubs dugout at Progressive Field in Cleveland...for an exorbitant 24,500 dollars each.  If there isn't a Game 7, the buyer will receive a full refund.

     I realize this is America...but I find it most disturbing...and absolutely disgraceful...that a baseball club can charge the amount of money equal to the cost of a house...several cars...or a 4-year education at a fine college or university...so that four people can watch one single baseball game.

     Add it up yourself.  The fan - noted above - who paid 24,500 dollars a ticket... shelled out 98-thousand dollars for 4 seats.  Obviously, this is a person who can afford that kind of money.  But not too many of us can.  

     Suppose the price of the tickets were not so outlandish.  Let's say the tickets were only one-hundred dollars each...or even one-thousand dollars apiece - which is still a lot of money to see a baseball game.  But for argument sake, I'll use the higher figure of four-thousand dollars for 4 tickets.  Perhaps that individual could donate 94-thousand dollars to charity, so that many thousands of people could eat.  

     I find it outrageous - in fact, disgusting - that there are people in our country... who are actually willing to spend thousands and thousands of dollars...for a ticket to see a baseball game.

     Oh I know the Cubs haven't been in a World Series in 71 years...and the team hasn't won the world championship since 1908.  But give me a break.  To spend almost 100-thousand dollars for four people to attend a baseball game...is insanity.

     Now don't get me wrong.  I love baseball.  But regular season games are too expensive, as it is.  Sure...inflation raises the prices of everything.  But not this much.

     A short 50 years ago...my dad would take me to Yankee Stadium in New York City to watch Mickey Mantle and our beloved "Bronx Bombers"...and bleacher seats were only 75 cents each.  And - in 1966 - a lower box seat at "The House That Ruth Built" cost just three-fifty.  That's three dollars and fifty cents.  But here's the really amazing difference... from not too long ago...to today's prices.  According to Baseball-Fever.com...37 years ago at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland...a reserved seat for the 1979 World Series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Orioles...had a price tag of only 12 dollars.  Not 12-hundred dollars.  Not 12-thousand dollars.  But 12 bucks.  There is no logical reason that any 2016 World Series ticket at Wrigley Field should attack a person's bank account for up to 25-grand per ticket.  It's unconscionable.  And before you decide to criticize me... remember I wrote..."There is no... logical reason."

     Tickets to a World Series game should be affordable so that the average family - with a mom, dad and a couple of kids - can go see their favorite team in person...or that a group of teenagers can create a special memory for their youth...without it costing an arm and a leg.  Tickets should not be so expensive that only wealthy people can go to the stadium.

     I'll quote a comment by someone - identified as "Walkabout" - who I don't know, but who posted remarks on the CNBC Website.  "I've got the best seat in the house, my house that is.  Big screen TV, beer fridge, nachos and noisy friends.  Top that MLB."  A nice sentiment, but "Walkabout"...or anybody else...should have the opportunity - if they so desire - to actually be at Wrigley Field...or any baseball stadium...any year...and not have to pay thousands of dollars to see a World Series game.

     Baseball is America's national pastime...for ALL Americans...not just the national pastime...for the super-rich.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.

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