So...uh, when does free agency start?

[interloper]

6 minutes ago, owknows said:

The Orioles are also bucking the trend (so far at least) regarding overpaying for free agents. I think they learned some expensive lessons in the recent past and have decided to try something new.

This guy loves billionaires huh

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, owknows said:

Or maybe the site's main metric is designed to highlight the fact that crackerjacks for the kids, and a hot dog and a beer used to be part of the experience.  And that increasingly over the years they have become as incrementally difficult for a family of four at the ballpark as tickets.

The fact that people now have to plan to eat before going, and consume nothing while there.... reinforces the Fan Cost Impact of things... it doesn't mitigate it.

When?

I was going to games with the family in the late 70's and early 80's and my dad wasn't springing for overpriced dogs and soda.

That stuff isn't needed to enjoy a game.

 

[Going Underground]

2 minutes ago, owknows said:

Or maybe the site's main metric is designed to highlight the fact that crackerjacks for the kids, and a hot dog and a beer used to be part of the experience.  And that increasingly over the years they have become as incrementally difficult for a family of four at the ballpark as tickets.

The fact that people now have to plan to eat before going, and consume nothing while there.... reinforces the Fan Cost Impact of things... it doesn't mitigate it.

The Orioles did have the kids corner. $1.00  soda and $2.00 hot dogs.Not sure they had it this year or napkins but that is another story.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Number5 said:

Get off my lawn!

It is very true that I don't want any of you on my lawn.

[Going Underground]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

It is very true that I don't want any of you on my lawn.

That is why god invented lawn darts.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, Going Underground said:

That is why god invented lawn darts.

Man,  I miss lawn darts.

Fun game.

[Frobby]

14 minutes ago, owknows said:

The Orioles did some good things in 2022...  including making games more accessible to fans with ticket prices. I applaud this effort.

The Orioles are also bucking the trend (so far at least) regarding overpaying for free agents. I think they learned some expensive lessons in the recent past and have decided to try something new.

I'm not criticizing the Orioles at all.  In fact I think they're already trying to do what I have suggested they do, which is build a winner without expensive multi-year FA's.

If you want to argue that taking a family of four to any pro sporting event is affordable and fairly priced... let's just say we will agree to disagree. I certainly haven't argued that baseball is any better or worse than any other sporting league.

Only that it is expensive... and that this expense costs them fan generational continuity in the long run.

 

Well look, I’d be lying if I said baseball was as cheap as it was when I was a kid.  And obviously player salaries have a lot to do with it, so don’t get me wrong.  I’m just saying that there’s a wide variance between the expensive and inexpensive tickets, and teams run a lot of promotions.   You can buy a 13 game plan for less than $17/ticket if you’re so inclined.  You can buy tickets on the Kids Cheer Free promotion.   It is not at all far fetched that you could take a family of four to an Orioles game for under $100.

[Number5]

7 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

It is very true that I don't want any of you on my lawn.

[Yardball85]

1 hour ago, owknows said:

As I had stated earlier, I think that pricing Joe Lunchbox out of the baseball entertainment dollar is what is unhealthy for the sport's future.  And any suggestion that player salary and the cost of attending an MLB ball game are not heavily interdependent is being willfully blind to the correlation and the causation. Teams chase revenue. Success drives revenue. Teams chase success by attempting to buy it through insane free agency. The purchase price is passed along to consumers in the form of ticket, concession, memorabilia, and merch prices... in addition to broadcast rights prices... which fuels the next round of spending.

You can argue chicken or egg if you want to... but the price of Baseball as entertainment has explosively outpaced inflation... making it unavailable to all but the most successful. Particularly when viewed over the course of a 162 game season. Going to a baseball game used to be like going to the movies. Now it's like going to a Broadway Show... in a limo.

You're right... there's no use in crying about.

But I'm not suggesting crying about it. I'm suggesting a way to succeed without participating in it... And one which could have an infectiously positive impact on the future of the game.

This is an absurd and bizarre, to put it kindly, position to take.  The Orioles should be doing EVERYTHING they can, and using all resources and avenues available, to make the team better, now and in the future.  This means they should be drafting and scouting well, utilizing the international market, making smart trades, and signing free agents.  

This is like saying I like when my boss takes me to McDonald's for lunch, so why would I ever want him or her to take me out to the Palm, even if they suggest it? Just because you, for some reason, would rather the Angeloses keep more money in their pockets then spend it to make the team better.  I mean, the mental gymnatsics and hoops you jump through to say, "I want the Orioles to be a small market team and not add good players in free agency" is just ridiculous.  My only guess is that you are a close friend or relative of ownership, and are trying to convince fans to not want to spend your friends/family members' money on good players. 

[Yardball85]

11 minutes ago, interloper said:

This guy loves billionaires huh

This is the kind of guy that would be upset if his boss put him up in the Ritz--or even a Holiday Inn--instead of say, a Motel 6.  Just a really bizarre set of posts. 

[Going Underground]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Well look, I’d be lying if I said baseball was as cheap as it was when I was a kid.  And obviously player salaries have a lot to do with it, so don’t get me wrong.  I’m just saying that there’s a wide variance between the expensive and inexpensive tickets, and teams run a lot of promotions.   You can buy a 13 game plan for less than $17/ticket if you’re so inclined.  You can buy tickets on the Kids Cheer Free promotion.   It is not at all far fetched that you could take a family of four to an Orioles game for under $100.

Even the Nationals who are listed as expensive in the index had deals. Harris Teeter Family Fun Pack depending on where you sat for $25.00  or so with a hotdog,chips and soda or water included  

[sportsfan8703]

I guess I’ve reached the point of the off-season where I’m at do we really need to add a bat?  Stowers and Vavra spent the last 1/3 of the season up. Westburg is ready. Cowser could be ready are June. 
 

Is Brantley, Voit, or Mancini worth even a one year deal?  I could see us rolling with what we have, figuring out what we have, and signing a vet depth bat like Jesus Aguilar to a milb deal with a ST invite. If we need a bat, we can always get a rental at the deadline. 

[owknows]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Well look, I’d be lying if I said baseball was as cheap as it was when I was a kid.  And obviously player salaries have a lot to do with it, so don’t get me wrong.  I’m just saying that there’s a wide variance between the expensive and inexpensive tickets, and teams run a lot of promotions.   You can buy a 13 game plan for less than $17/ticket if you’re so inclined.  You can buy tickets on the Kids Cheer Free promotion.   It is not at all far fetched that you could take a family of four to an Orioles game for under $100.

I don't think we really disagree about much.

There is wide array of ticket prices. And I think even Fan Price Index shows the Orioles being particularly fair, and if I recall correctly their family of four number for 2022 was $156

You're reading my comments as if they were directed at the Orioles. They were not.

Nor were they a criticism, as much as an identification of one of the factors that is feeding the decline of generational popularity in baseball.

Many of us have a love for the game. For me that love was cemented by two things. My Dad taking me to the ballpark as a kid... and my Little League experience as a kid.  Affordability was a big part of that. When I was a kid we didn't have two nickles to rub together. My father worked two jobs to make ends meet. Mom delivered newspapers to keep us ahead of the bills. But we could still afford to go to 33rd St a couple times a year... Saw Mark Belanger hit a home run...  that was a rare feat.. and I had a ratty old mitt and some fish-heads to play Little League with. I found old deposit bottles in the woods and took 'em to the 7-11 to buy baseball cards. That's where I fell in love with the game.

Eventually my father built a very successful business. and we didn't have to worry about that kind of thing.. But I kept my love for the game that was built in those early experiences.

Baseball was once literally the cost of a matinee movie...  stands were packed... all the time... but slowly.. generationally.. this has changed... the last generation to FULLY embrace baseball were boomers...  I guess there's a part of me that thinks selling out every game ...and families embracing is early might change the trajectory baseball is on... wishful thinking maybe

 

 

 

[Just Regular]

Asking here as honestly have no clue, is the Fan Cost Index sensitive to StubHub, Seatgeek, etc?     My guess is it uses the Clubs List Price, but like everything else in the world that's just the starting point of a negotiation.

Now that the team is better and the kiddo old enough, will probably get back more next season, but know I'm behind on the most efficient consumer practices for any given day.     The Yard won't be as full as it'll get in a few years, so imagining surge pricing will only be taking baby steps in 2023.

[Sports Guy]

Orioles “perfect offseason”?

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/35131093/perfect-mlb-offseason-plans-5-key-teams
 

Sign T Turner, Verlander, Martin, J Turner and Bassitt.

167M payroll.