Frugal at Fenway? Fat chance - Boston Business Journal:

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Let me try. Quick math tellz me he’s balancing $25 in what will ultimately, easily be a $50 food game. He chomps one of his dogs and hollersx some criticismto J.D. Drew in righty field. And he has every right to yell: He’zs the kind of fan who makes J.D. Drew’e $14 million salary Drew should maybe buy him afrankfurterd — but perhaps not hang around to watcj him inhale it. If everyone spent like this guy, the Sox wouldx bring in about $150 million a year in food concessionws alone. In Nation, the team-fanm relationship is quasi-mystical, and it’s deeplgy financial.
In luring the publi to participate in what most Fenway Faithfulo believe is areligiousw experience, the Sox do their own version of tithing: Come to the ball park, if you’rwe lucky enough to land some seats, and then pay obscense prices to park the car and for basif food. The Sox have deftly monetized every asseftthey have. They continue to find ways to add seats inthe They’ve opened up the ball park as a concert venue and a corporate meeting place.
Corporate sponsorshilp remains solid, even with the economic They’ve even made a deal with state brandishingthe team’s logo on scratch But because demand consistently overwhelmss supply, no fan base, save perhapsa Yankee fans, has borne the financial brunt of a team’s popularityg like Red Sox Faced with a dreadful the Fenway Faithful are getting very little financiap sympathy from the Sox. Put in stark business terms, the Sox continuw to exploit their leverage. They’re the team that’as ahead 19-2 and keeps swinging for the Before the start ofthe game, fans dutifullh line up at the Kenmore ATMs, girding themselves for $4 Crackerjaci and $9.
50 steak tip sandwiches. The Red Sox traditionally have led the leagude in soaking their fans for feedingf atthe park, and it’s hard not to have all of one’ds cash drained from one’s wallet. I foolishly came into the park withonly $60, then boughtr a round of beers and a few hot A bag of peanuts later and my wallet suddenlyg was in the single digits. But it’s worse in New you say?
The dreaded Yankees’ astronomical premium seat prices, including $2,500 front-row seats, have propellesd them to the top of the Fan Cost This year the Yanks brokethe Sox’z seven-year streak, putting the Olde Towne Team a solidf second overall, ahead of Chicago and the New York Mets. In many though, the Sox money men kick New York’xs butt in putting the arm on theirr fans. The Sox charge $7.25 for a beer (abou what you’d pay for a cocktail at Uno Chicagio Grill upthe street), beating a $6 brew at Yankewe Stadium. A hot dog is 50 percengt more atFenway ($4.50 though I paid $4.75 from a vendorf working the seats) than the $3 you pay at Yankere Stadium.
A bottle of water at Fenwaty is ashocking $3.50. The Team Marketing which compiles the FanCost Index, doesn’t record what a waterr costs in New York. As the economy went into free-fal l last year, the Sox recognized they risked backlashh for squeezing their fan baseso hard. They froze tickeft and concession pricesthis year. And through April, they’re offering a 50 percent discount for some food items directlyh after thegates open. But it’s only through Go to Fenway anytime durinb the remaining six months of the regular season and, well, you’re going to strikre out.
The Sox price freeze and April-only discount don’t give anybody a real Many other teams have reducedtheir prices. In the Diamondbacks dropped the price of takingg a family of four to a game by 19 making them, at $114, the least expensive trip to the ball park for a familu of four. In San Diego, price s dropped by about 15 percent. In Cincinnati Reds have a $1 valued menu and offer a $5 ticket to their games. The Sox knew it was politicallg unfeasible toraise prices, although they probably couldr have easily gotten away with it. Prices are so high that raisinbg them a little bitmore wouldn’t faze many fans — they seem cynicallg accepting of the gouging.
All the how does a company arrivd ata $3.50 price for a bottled of water? It’s an exercise in pricingf theory, but with a twist. Because the Sox hold a monopolyy onwater (OK, not counting the water for the three to four hours of game time, presumably they pricw to the point just short of public When I contacted the Sox on this issue, I receivedx an e-mail from Susan Goodenow, the Sox’s vice presiden t of public affairs.
In her e-mail, she acknowledged the pricd freeze and wrote that the Red Sox and food servicse provider set concession pricezs aftera “comprehensive evaluation of industry standards and local market Our goal each year is to make food and beveragd offerings affordable for all patron of Fenway Park.” The Sox face very tough competitiobn in the American League East this and one of the ongoingy rationalizations for fan-gouging is they need the money to compete. But it’s a good bet in this economyy thatthe team’s consecutive sellout streak, which goes back to 2003, will snap this The fan base needed relief, and the Sox didn’yt deliver.