Camelback Ranch prices coming down
It wouldn’t be the middle of the offseason if I didn’t write about spring training ticket prices, but I’m pleased to inform you that the good news keeps coming.
There has been noteworthy progress in the battle to make exhibition games more affordable, and the graphic below does most of the explaining:
| Team | Low | High |
| Angels | TBA | TBA |
| A’s | $12 | $25 |
| Brewers | $13 | $22 |
| Cubs | $15 | $28 |
| D-Backs | $15 | $25 |
| Dodgers | $15 | $42 |
| Giants | TBA | TBA |
| Indians | $12 | $27 |
| Mariners | $12 | $23 |
| Padres* | $12 | $23 |
| Rangers* | $13 | $23 |
| Reds | $12 | $27 |
| Rockies | $15 | $25 |
| Royals | $13 | $23 |
| White Sox | $15 | $42 |
| *Denotes 2010 prices | ||
You read that right — the White Sox are finally offering something resembling cheap seats. They reduced the price of their bottom three sections, with an especially dramatic reduction of their “baseline reserved” section. Having watched this kind of stuff for a while (it’s one of my top two crusades), a 25 percent drop in a single season is a pleasant surprise.
Also, it’s a nice gesture that it costs under $10 to provide your own seat. It cost $8 in Camelback Ranch’s inaugural season, and it’s back to where it started.
Of course, some issues remain. Camelback Ranch still hosts the most expensive seats in the Cactus League by far, as the chart to the right shows.
The White Sox and Dodgers are charging well more for their second-best section than every other Cactus League is charging for their top seats. Some clubs haven’t released their 2011 prices, but they likely won’t come close to matching what the Sox will charge for the “dugout field box” section, especially since they jacked up those seats by $5 to compensate for the lower prices elsewhere.
But hey, that the White Sox reduced prices at all, and significantly in some sections, is remarkable, because they’ve rarely budged from their determined “correct” prices, even in the face of attendance issues. Perhaps this will set a precedent for creating a much-needed “get into the park” price point at U.S. Cellular Field when the games start counting.
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Christian Marrero Reading Room:
*Paul Konerko believes Ozzie Guillen and Kenny Williams when they say the focus will be on the field in 2011.
*From the man who brought you “Mystery Team” comes a new enigma: Mystery Groin. Yes, Scott Boras says Manny Ramirez was derailed by an injury he didn’t even know he had.
*J.J. tries to figure out what the Sox can do with Dayan Viciedo.
*Mike has some doubts, but ultimately calls the Konerko signing “perfectly cromulent.”
*Among tweets with pictures of Juan Pierre working at a homeless shelter, Scott Reifert showed us the ad circulating around the city:
The great news — if fans want to get a jump on the season when pitchers and catchers report, they have options for saving a little bit of money.
I can’t remember if I commented on this in my off season plan but one of the problems I thought the White Sox have had is too much turnover. That’s why I like the fact they’ve brought back Konerko and Pierzynski. I think chemistry plays a big part in the success of a team and we kept the chemistry in tact.
Ugh.
Really good players win baseball games.
Winnings games equals to happy players and thus good “chemistry”.
yeah…AJ is going to try way harder to get that sac fly when PK’s on third cause they’re BFFs.
I hear Manny went to Doctor Professor Layton for the diagnosis. He’s the Dr. James Andrews of mystery maladies.
I don’t know what to feel about the players throwing their weight behind “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.
@Jim, might be nice to have an article sometime in the next week on available bullpen arms, both righties and lefties, I know some of the big names but sox are probably gonna have to find some under the radar alternatives
What’s the word on J.P. Howell? I’m pretty sure the Rays non-tendered him, but I don’t know what his health status is for next season. Any chance of that?
Howell had surgery on his left shoulder in May 2010. Since recovery takes at least a year, I think that eliminates him from our bullpen.
I pay $17 for a box seat to Pirates games in spring training. General admission is $9.75 for a season seat. They ARE the Pirates, but we get to see the Yanks, Red Sox, Rays, Phils & Tigers too.
I bought my Ozzie plan on Wednesday. I’m all in (or 13/81 in).
I still think you have to be a fool to pay that much money for Spring games.
If you want a cheaper baseball experience in Arizona, try the Arizona Fall League games. If you’re into prospects, the league is made up of 6 or 7 prospects from all 30 teams.
Only $5 admission for any seat in the house and $1 for a program. There are never more than a few hundred in attendance. The league runs from mid-October to mid-November which is a pleasant time to be in Arizona.
I’ve been wanting to go, but I don’t think of it until they release the list of players, and that’s too late to arrange affordable travel across the country.
They need to publish the list of players heading to the AFL a month earlier, for my convenience.
Interesting Viciedo thoughts from JJ. I really wonder what it would take to get Joba, if they’d bite on Viciedo.