Detroit may have some of the nation’s least-expensive real estate, but baseball fans in the Motor City are paying the highest prices in the U.S. (and Toronto) when they buy a beer at a Detroit Tigers game.
At $8.75 for a small beer, visitors to Comerica Park pay the most for a small beer, according to a new round-up by TheStreet.com. That’s $.75 more than the price charged by the runner-up, Marlins Park, where the newly renamed Miami Marlins where their flashy uniforms.
The third-place stadium on the list should come with an asterisk (and not just because it’s home to the greatest baseball team on Earth… in spite of its current record). Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia may charge $7.75 for a beer purchased from the vendors walking up and down the aisles, but as TheStreet points out, beer buyers get 21 ounces for that price, so Phillies fans are actually only paying the ninth-highest price-per-ounce.
Boston’s Fenway Park had been the most expensive place to buy beer in last year’s report, but it drops down to fourth place on the list (a position the Red Sox should get used to with Bobby Valentine as manager) with its $7.25 price for a small beer.
You have to cross the border to pay the (approximately) $7.19 for a beer at Rogers Stadium in Toronto. But unless there is a massive change in the exchange rate during the baseball season, that will remain slightly higher than the $7 charged to all the people skipping work to check out a Cubs game at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field.
Because we know how much you all love clicking through slideshows, here’s a link to the complete list at TheStreet.com.
Exactly why I don’t drink at games unless in a skybox.
the Miami Marlins wear their uniforms, they don’t where them. #corrections
**seriously** c’mon. If you’re getting paid to blog, then for the love of whatever you hold holy, bloody proof your posts before you post them. This should not be rocket science for anyone who writes for a living.
+1
I will proofread for health insurance!
+1
I will proofread for health insurance.
(Plus I’m originally from Philadelphia!)
Don’t feed the bears. Do NOT buy the pricey beer. And pricey beer sellers will not come.
I have no idea where one can get a small beer for $6.50 in Nats Park. It must be really small, and crappy beer to boot.
I think you can get an aluminum can 16oz of Miller Lite in right-field next to the small Ben’s vendor (not the real stand mind you but the little cart over by the family picnic area).
Ideally what you want to do is arrive to the stadium way before the first pitch and hit up the happy hour prices and grab some Shake Shack.
Who could afford a beer at Nationals park after paying $40 to park?
You’re paying $40 to park?
I hate to be mean, but you’re an idiot. You can park right across the street in a private lot on game-day for $25. It’s cash only and they let you come in really early and are in no rush getting you out after the game.
It’s nice – you can bring a cooler of beer, pop the trunk and tailgate if you wish. I just did it last Saturday.
If you don’t mind a 10 minute walk, you can park up S.Capitol St in lot HH for $5. The lot is attended (usually with an MPD officer too) during and after the game, and there’s enough foot traffic after the game that it’s a safe walk.
I think that beer that’s sold in any stadium that has the naming rights of a beer or is actually owned by a beer company, should be sold for very little. Let’s face it, the bloody naming rights deal already gives them the advertising. Why do have to charge so much for their product in the stadium? I don’t have any answers, but I thought it would be fun to raise the question.
I am not saying that all stadiums should give away for a cheap price the product or service of their naming rights folks, but if you’re in a place with the name and that’s what they make, why not?
Discuss.
Seems like two unrelated topics. They charge for beer so they can make money. Meanwhile Advertizing costs money. Perhaps they need to charge that much for the beer because of all the money they spend on the naming rights to the ballpark. Or much more likely they just charge that much because they can and like driving fancy cars.
Beer is not sold by the brewer at the stadium.
Nearly every stadium I know of is managed by a third party company for their food and beverage operations. What this means is you are adding an additional “middle-man” that has high over head considering the cost just to secure the initial contract.
Delaware North Corporation and Aramark are two big players. What ends up happening is you have bland, over priced food and alcohol selections as a result.
The companies selling the beer at the stadium are not the breweries. They’re usually 3rd party vendors who pay a fee (and/or a percentage of sales) to the team to provide concessions.
Nice try, but it’s still $9.50 pal.
Well, at least at Nats park they serve decent beer, so I don’t mind paying for one or two when I go to the park. But for those in the more price-gouging stadiums, I suggest you get one of these:
http://amzn.com/B0023GKHIO
http://amzn.com/B0021X2WQY
This is I love my local minor league team. Dollar beer nights, go BayBears!
>not just because it’s home to the greatest baseball team on Earth…
The Phillies? Thank you for the laugh. Every team has bad years, but the Phillies constantly suck, the fans are beyond rude, and the city has nothing to offer outside of the historic area.
Now if you were referring to The Yankees, The Red Sox, The Rays, The Rangers, that statement would at least be somewhat credible.
about 5 years ago comerica park sold 32 oz beers for around $8.50. first, due to lawsuits, the 32 oz beer was gone, then the prices for smalls started shooting up.
there was a vendor at a beer stand in left field who used to fill your cup for just a tip. yeah, he got fired…
AT&T Park. $9.75 for a “premium” beer, $9.25 for all others.
Yeah I figured At&t and the Giants would top this list knowing what they charge…
AT&T Park. $9.75 for a “premium” beer, $9.25 for all others.
I used to have the Saturday plan for the Mets and there were four guys who sat in front of us who would unfailingly have 8 beers a game at $7 each. Hell, I sat in such crappy seats they were only about $15 a game and these guys were spending nearly four times the ticket price to get drunk. Well, after watching the Mets who can blame them.
Hey Alan, that was my buddy Mark and I in the “denial” phase of our Mets fandom. Now that we’ve moved into the “acceptance” phase, our excessive drinking is no longer necessary as we know the team has no hope of success.
So you don’t have to click through 11 pages of CRAP:
1. Detroit Tigers
Price of a small draft beer: $8.75
2. Miami Marlins
Price of a small draft beer: $8
3. Philadelphia Phillies
Price of a small draft beer: $7.75
4. Boston Red Sox
Price of a small draft beer: $7.25
5. Toronto Blue Jays
Price of a small draft beer: $7.19
6. Chicago Cubs
Price of a small draft beer: $7
7. Atlanta Braves
Price of a small draft beer: $7
8. St. Louis Cardinals
Price of a small draft beer: $6.75
9. Tie: Chicago White Sox/Texas Rangers/Washington Nationals/
Price of a small draft beer: $6.50
10. Tie: Baltimore Orioles/Los Angeles Dodgers
Price of a small draft beer: $6.25
THANK YOU. I fucking HATE that slide show crap. Some idiot thought “Gee, our content is only OK, can I artificially boost our page views without actually making a contribution, so I look like a genius to the CEO but don’t actually have to do anything?”
#8 is called Busch Stadium and they still made the top 10.
Last time I went(road trip 3 years ago) they didn’t even offer “premium beers”. I did a lot of walking around to take in the ball park and the game was hard to watch 5 errors in the first 6 innings. During my lap I couldn’t find a “local brew” outside of the stadium name sake, Busch, Bud, Bud Select, Bud light, Bud Ultra and maybe there was a Michelob.
In 2009, San Diego’s large beers were $9. That lasted until someone figured out that the large and small beers were actually the same size.
What’s a “small” beer, and how does a team “where” uniforms?
Marlins Park is actually $9 domestic, $10.50 imported, or it was at least on the Friday night game I went to. I’m planning to go the next Sunday afternoon game, so I’ll take a picture.
Petco Park had their beer marked down to $8.50 this year, down from $9 and they didn’t even make this list?
I wish people would stop going to games, season tickets and psl’s are outrageous enough, beer, soda, dogs, wowzers.
Baseball, and all other major league sports have priced me completely out of the market. I can’t afford to take my grandchildren to a ball game, let alone buy them any food or drinks at a stadium.
Because of those absurd prices for tickets & Concessions, I have lost interest in sports and don’t even watch them on TV.
The Phillies are the greatest team on Earth? Hahahahahahahahahhahahahahaha
Prices in Toronto would be higher because of the exorbitant liquor taxes in Ontario.
During a televised Blue Jays game they showed one enterprising fan unscrew the lens from his binoculars and pour himself a beer!
Boston’s Fenway Park.. …drops down to fourth place on the list (a position the Red Sox should get used to with Bobby Valentine as manager)
Ouch. It hurts because it’s true.
Not to get off on a tangent, but nobody is forced to pay for the beers. The real crime to consumers is the corporate welfare that paid for Comerica Park (and many other of the stadiums in this survey). The cost of the stadium was $300 million and taxpayers paid 63% of that. ($189 million). Comerica pays $2.2 million to have their name on the stadium, but that money goes to the Tigers who collect more corporate welfare. This in a state that has been cutting funding to education and reducing funds to the cities. There are also two other sporting facilities funded by taxpayer dollars, yet people complain if money is given to museums, the Detroit Institute of Arts or opera theaters. How come I do not hear an outcry from the republicans on this issue? Oh that’s right, the people getting the money are rich white guys