NEWSLETTER
Unlike a regular big market team, the Chicago Cubs haven’t spent an inordinate amount of money on visible things like free agents over the past several seasons (of course, excluding 2015). Like a big market team, though, they did have the third highest ticket prices throughout that same stretch. The Cubs kept ticket prices flat for 2014, but opted for a slight increase heading into this season. That was the first increase in four years, which made sense given the previously-flat prices, the corner the Cubs seemed about to turn, as well as the ongoing renovations at Wrigley Field.
So, did the increase put the Cubs into a new stratosphere of ticket costs? Nah. They’re still the third-highest.
NBC Chicago, with the help of publisher Team Marketing Report, identified that the Chicago Cubs were once again going to have the third most expensive average ticket price in the majors at $44.81, behind the Red Sox ($52.34) and Yankees ($51.55).
The Cubs’ overall ticket increase (1.5%) was less than the average increase across baseball (3.3%).
When looking at the average amount of money spent by a family of four (based on four tickets, two beers, four soft drinks, four hot dogs, parking and two hats), the Cubs were still in third ($300.73), once again behind the Yankees ($337.20) and the Red Sox ($350.86). The Cardinals total money spent was sixth ($236.81), while the rest of the NL Central came clustered around the bottom ten.
With the Cubs’ national presence, increased TV ratings, historic ballpark, and unique big city location, there’s a reason for the high cost of the admissions (relative to the other teams). Hopefully, though, the product on the field continues to get better and warrants the cost.
(All that said, I wouldn’t mind if Wrigley offered $4.00 beers like the Diamondbacks or $1 dogs like the Reds.)
