6.06.2007

The Royal Inevitable Screwing Begins

Deadspin linked to this first, but I wouldn't be upholding my duties as a hater/blogger if I didn't mention the increase in price for Nationals tickets.

Fuck you, Lerner family. I'm paying for this new-fangled stadium and you want all the profits. The least you could do is give us a .500 team instead of the roster of 24 minor leaguers and Ryan Zimmerman.

To all the critics who want to point out to me that a new stadium means increased prices: no fucking duh. I still won't hear that noise. This is a sharp increase and basically confirms my worst fears that the Lerners suckered us into buying them the most expensive baseball stadium in world history just so they could screw us twice over once it was ready. Fuck Washington baseball.

15 comments:

  1. Hi Rusty,

    Thanks for the link, and yes, this is high quality bullshit.

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  2. It's particularly galling, since 1) they're fielding a shit team (again), and 2) they got the stadium for (essentially) fucking free, so it's not like they need to jack up ticket prices in order to pay off the mortgage.

    What a way to re-establish a baseball tradition in a town obsessed with the NFL and college hoops: alienate your potential fanbase with a deliberately shit product and some of the highest ticket prices in the league. Fuck you, Lerner family...I'll stick to DC United games - even when the team is sucking, the tickets aren't $400...

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  3. its still nothing compared to what the ticket hikes will be for the new yankee stadium.

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  4. yes i believe even the phillies are doing better than the nats.

    +1.

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  5. il ratto: yeah, but at least the Yankees spend money on their payroll...and most years, it actually gets them to the playoffs. (This year? Not so much.) The Lerners are spending less than every team but Florida and Tampa on their payroll and charging NY/Boston ticket prices, when they were given a $611+ million gift from the District.

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  6. Well... maybe they need money for steroids?

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  7. Basically, they are hoping that these seats will be bought up by corporations and lobbying groups. The lobbying rules, however, changed this year so Congressmen can no longer accept tickets over $250. Way to screw the average person and yourself Lerner.

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  8. Hey man, it takes money to lose money!

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  9. I might be mistaken but I'm fairly certain it isn't a balanced rise in ticket pricing. The most expensive seats (that none of us could afford anyway) are being raise significantly in order to offer as many seats as possible at affordable prices (as low as $10). Sure it sucks that I will never be able to sit behind home plate, but the tickets that I would normally buy in Baltimore or Philly or Atlanta will not be a whole lot more expensive in Washington.

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  10. Yes they will. There will still be some super-cheap seats in the upper decks, but anything relatively close to the action is going to cost an arm and a leg. The Nats have priced out their fans in exchange for lobbyists and law firms.

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  11. this post is retarded.

    first, d.c. got the team, then the lerners bought the team. the lerners didn't sucker d.c. major league baseball might have.

    second -- and this might be a tough concept for the instant gratification crowd -- it can take a couple years to build a good team, rather than treading water with a mediocre team. if the lerners are fielding minor leaguers next year and the team is a loser, rant away. but knocking them this year shows you just don't understand major league baseball. and probably not cape cod league, either.

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  12. Maybe the Nats were trying to compete for the Greg Oden / Kevin Durant sweepstakes... oh, wait...

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  13. Nickel,

    Accusing me of not understanding baseball is worse than calling me a Holocaust denier. The Lerners can raise the prices when they field an even medicore team. That won't be for a while. And the argument that increased prices means better free agents and draft picks is BS to me since we gave them a $611,000,000.00 head start.

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  14. rust-o:

    um, not quite as bad as the holocaust thing.

    and we didn't give the lerners a head start. we gave major league baseball a gift. and they collected that in a higher price paid for the team.

    and i'm not saying higher prices mean better players next year. but a rock-bottom payroll this year does. hence the weak team.

    last, the tickets are worth whatever the market will bear. if the owners are overcharging, even fewer people will go than go now. the lerners will suffer. it's called capitalism. which may equate to 'screwing' to you, but is actually as american as apple pie and that national pasttime thingy.

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