Is This the End of Baseball in New York City?

(Note: A.F.O.M.G. responds to last night's devastation below this post from Sip)

I'm sick. It's not cause of last night's 9th inning meltdown. Those things happen. They suck and it seems like they happen to the Mets more than others. But they probably don't. We just get to read about them more.

I'm sick because baseball in New York City is dying and will die in 2009.


* * * * *

Over the last week I received two e-mails that provoked a thought in me about the game that I had never felt before.

The first read:

"Hey guys. I'll pick up tickets for the Mets game on Wednesday night. The seats suck and are like $30 a piece. Who's in?"

The second read:

"We just got the price for out season tickets for next year. Shocking that they sent us these after a nine-game winning streak. Take a guess how much they cost." (Answer to come later in this piece).

Let's start with e-mail #1.

$30 to sit in Section 32 of the Upper Deck. I think this one was a "Gold" game or something of the sort. To give you some context, $30 would have gotten you a seat in the 1st row up the foul line in Arizona and you would still have $10 in your pocket.

Add the following:

$4 for the subway to and from

$14.75 for the B.O.A.F.O.M.G Special - Hot dog, prezel and a coke before the Top of the 4th inning

$8.50 - 1 Beer: 1 Fucking beer.

In short, we are looking at roughly $60 to not get drunk and watch a Mets game from shitty seats.

Combine this with the fact that I would not get to play basketball in the park (my favorite Summer activity) because of time restraints and instead have to go through Times Square in the middle of the disgusting New York summer heat in the middle of rush hour to get out to the stadium and the whole thing turns into a disaster.

Option B would be sitting in my apartment watching the game on my 42 inch flat screen for free.

Option C would be going to a local bar, eating some wings and getting hammered for about a third of the price.

Option D would be 12 minutes of Lap Dances at Scores.

To me, going to that game just wasn't worth it. How was I, a pretty spoiled brat, priced out of the HOLE that is Shea Stadium?

I grew up the son of two professionals in a sweet apartment in a very nice neighborhood in Manhattan. Yet I felt priced out of a Wednesday night ballgame in the middle of July?

And that brings us to the second e-mail.

My buddy Nails has always shared awesome season tickets, a box in the loge right between home and third. Over the years, the price has skyrocketed. I haven't sat in the seats this year, but I'm sure the current price would disgust me.

So next year, his family decided that between the lower tier down the line a bunch of rows back would be worse than sitting in the second tier behind home plate.Nails has the 4th row of what is essentially the "new" Upper Deck. The seat is much better, has a fancy name and enough leg room for both Ron Darling and AFOMG.

The price per ticket: $150 per game.

$150 to watch a stinkin' Mets game from the Upper Deck. I threw up in my mouth.

How was this the same team that ten years back pitched Bobby Jones every opening day?

I think back to 1995, the first year I was allowed to go to games by myself. A gritty 8th grader with a reasonable allowance who once a week would spring to go out to Shea, grab a $6 Outfield seat behind homeplate and share the wonder that was Shea Stadium with the other 18,644 fans.

Six dollars.

* * * * *

The new "modern" stadium is supposed to attract fans to come to the ballpark.Citi Field is going to turn fans away.

Normally, these stadiums are located in the heart of a city's downtown but Citi Field will still be a 45 minute train ride from Manhattan.

In Cleveland, I had tickets 8 rows behind the Indians dugout. The face value was $44. I'm not even sure that gets me into Citi Field.

Every year, even a couple of years back, me and some buddies would "splurge" for some good seats. $30-$40 later and you were sitting on the field close to your heroes. But there will never in my life be a day when I spend $200 or more to go to a baseball game.

That's just not baseball.

Baseball is about a nice summer day, kicking your feet up, havign a few beers and a few laughs.
It's not about the action of basketball.

It doesn't happen 8 times a year like football.

Going to a ballgame is as much about the game as it is the people you go to the game with. No longer.

* * * * *

For years we would sit in Nails' seats. Me, AFOMG and Nails.

Behind us were the three prettiest gals in Queens... in 1945.

Three women, all widows, who could not be a day south of 70. Yet they showed up to every game. Over the years they watched us grow and we made small talk. But it was always nice.

These women will be priced out of Citi Field.

Instead, next year, every time I sit with Nails we will look back to the row behind us, see a name plate for a generic financial instituion or law firm and then see a different group of corporate card expensing New York City professionals. They'll talk about the markets, the price of oil, the girl they seduced and they will definitely have a blast.

And the next day it will be a different group. And the same the following day.

The "fan" can no longer go to every baseball game. But the corporation sure can entertain at every single one.

And slowly Shea will no longer be Shea. It will be Citi Field. And then the real problems begin.

* * * * *

The Yankees have already cornered the "professional" market (Insert hateful term here).

The blue button down, black pants crowd that loves their Yankees but leaves in the 8th inning to make sure they get a good night's rest for tomorrow's opening bell.

Shea is where New York's grimey come or at least used to come to root for their charming shitty team.

And the Yankees know this.

My father shared a tale with me the other day about a friend of his at the law firm he works at who is giving up his season tickets to the Yankees because they are simply too expensive.

This man is a partner at a New York City law firm, which makes him probably in the top .1% of wealth in the world, and yet he can't afford baseball tickets?This is baseball. America's past time.

But like everything else in New York, the game has lost. It has lost to the all mighty dollar.

* * * * *

Which leads us to the question that so many of the new, Wall Street Journal-toting Mets fans might find interesting:

Is this all just one giant bubble? Is this the tech boom of the late 90's or hopefully the oil boom of today? And will the bubble one day burst in New York City?

Crowds at both Shea and Yankee Stadium are at all-time highs and the teams remain strong on the field. But with the new stadiums and ticket prices that appear to be at least 100% higher than at their current levels, will fans be priced out?

And what happens if baseball's revenue sharing continues to "even" the playing field?While this is a whole 'nother conversation, the fact remains that teams are locking up their young stars now for their first 8 years instead of 6. And there are now about 10-15 teams that can offer the contracts that five years ago, only the Yankees could offer.

What if the Yankees miss the playoffs in 2008?

What if Jeter, Damon, Matsui, Posada, Giambi, Mussina, Pettitte, Rivera after 2010 and the Yankees can't just buy replacements?

Can you charge $1000 to see a 3rd place team?

Or will today's $20 mil contract turn in next year's $40 million contract, with once again the Yankees and Mets being the only teams able to pony up?

From there other teams try to compete, ticket prices sky rocket every where and all of a sudden NO ONE can afford to go to the games?

* * * * *

It was a sad moment in Major League II when Jake Taylor marched out of Rger Dorn's office and proclaimed "I'm done with baseball." Fortunately for the fans of the Cayahoga, he wasn't?

I hope this is the same for Young Sip. But baseball is in a rough place.

If Sippy Momo won't go to a HUGE series in the Summer time because of the cost of going to the ballpark then what does that say about this game that we all love?Is this the beginning of the end? I hope not, but I just might be forced to become a full time Arizona Diamondback fan yet.
I could fly out first class, stay at a 5 star hotel, eat at NOBU, play a championship round of golf, sit on the dugout and then canoodle with some Arizona State undergrads.

Or...

I could get the best seat for one game at the New Yankee Stadium.

New York Is Dead.

Vaya,
Sip