Ticket Prices

In a letter that will reach fans next week, the Ravens are notifying season-ticket holders that the prices of their seats will increase for the 2007 season. Club seats will increase by $25 per game ($250 for the season for the eight regular-season games and two preseason games), lower-level seats by $20 and upper-level seats by $10. The average ticket will cost $82.14, up from last season's price of $66.14. In the letter, the Ravens say they need their average ticket price to be in the top half of the NFL to stay competitive.

There's no more disgraceful imposition in all of sports comparable to what the NFL continues to do: permitting teams to exploit, or mug, ticket buyers by forcing them to pay regular-season prices for exhibition games. It's a longtime complaint, but only if the public rebels by staying away will the practice be terminated.The league, by its actions, no longer cares about demonstrating any sense of decency or fair play. Fans are being violated. Too bad. It's arrogance in the first degree.This being said, let's hasten to point out that an advertisement appeared in The Sun that was, in a sense, attention-getting for fans.

Major League Baseball teams, emboldened by last year's banner season and home run records, have increased their ticket prices by an average of 9.7 percent for the 1999 season.The Orioles, who didn't increase prices this year, nonetheless have the fifth-highest-priced tickets in baseball. Orioles tickets will average $19.82 each, well above the major-league average ($14.91), according to a survey by Team Marketing Report, a Chicago-based newsletter."Baseball marketers clearly are confident that the wave of fan support from a banner year in 1998 will continue this season," said Sean Brenner, editor of Team Marketing Report.

Wake up, Baltimore! The Ravens were founded on the principle, "Show me the money." You expected them to operate as a not-for-profit organization?When a team pays $10 million to sell the name of its stadium, you can expect a distasteful corporate tie-in.And when a team says it will hold ticket prices for three years, you can expect a major increase in the fourth season.Much as it might disturb some segments of the local populace, the calendar no longer reads 1955.And much as it might disturb the PSINet Ravens, their latest bows to the almighty dollar only mean that they will be judged even more harshly than before.

The average price of a Ravens ticket in Baltimore will be 6 percent below the NFL average this season.The team's ticket prices average $42.75, not including "premium" seats in the skyboxes or club seat areas. The NFL's average is $45.63 this season, according to an annual review by Team Marketing Report of Chicago.When they announced three years ago ticket prices for the new stadium, Ravens officials promised no price increases until 2001. Club seat customers have already been notified that their annual bills will go up by as much as 50 percent by 2003.

The Orioles released their schedule for the 2000 season yesterday, along with some favorable news: For the third straight year, ticket prices at Camden Yards will remain the same.This will be the longest stretch that prices have gone unchanged in Baltimore since 1986-89. It's only the sixth time in club history that they've stayed the same for three or more years. Tickets will range from $9 for bleachers to $35 for club seats."We are very mindful of trying to keep ticket prices within the range of most family budgets," Orioles majority owner Peter Angelos said in a statement.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Charge 'em more and they'll still come.That appears to be the lesson learned from the Orioles' across-the-board December ticket price hike as fans and corporate sponsors are lining up in record numbers to see a piece of the 1998 season. The club had sold 2,748,772 tickets at the start of business yesterday, about 80,000 more than at the same point last year, according to vice-chairman of business and finance Joe Foss.The enthusiastic response strongly suggests that the Orioles will eclipse last season's record 3,711,132 attendance.

Tickets for the Orioles' 1999 season go on sale Saturday, Dec. 5 at 9 a.m., and they'll be the same price as last year."We're not changing prices on any seats," Orioles spokesman Bill Stetka said yesterday.Tickets will be available for each game except the Orioles' season opener against Tampa Bay. Individual game tickets will go on sale Dec. 5 at the Orioles' box office at Camden Yards from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday, Dec. 6 from noon to 5 p.m. They also will be available that weekend at Orioles stores in Washington and York, Pa., and through Ticketmaster at 1-888-848-BIRD.

The Orioles may or may not win their division, but they have already come out near the top in the category of priciest tickets.The team's average ticket price of $19.77 is the third-highest in baseball, according to the annual survey by Team Marketing Report, a Chicago-based newsletter.The survey shows the Red Sox have taken over the top spot, with an average ticket cost of $20.63, up 15 percent from last season. The Yankees are second at $20.51.The cheapest seats? The Minnesota Twins, at a paltry $8.22, unchanged from the year before and less than half what the Red Sox are charging.

The explanation is so simple, few people give it a second thought: Big-league teams such as the Orioles are payingmillions more for their players, and must, therefore, charge millions more for tickets.Not so fast. Economists who study sports say the linkage between ticket prices and player salaries is one of the most misunderstood elements of the game, up there with the infield fly rule.Most fans have it backward: Increased ticket prices probably drive up salaries more than increased salaries drive up ticket prices, say experts.

In a letter that will reach some fans as early as today, the Ravens are notifying season-ticket holders the prices of their seats will increase $5 to $15 per ticket for the 2009 season. The majority of seats in the bowl of the stadium will increase by $10, and some upper-deck seats will go up by $5. The biggest bump of $15 is for some club seats and lower-level seating around midfield, which are the most sought-after tickets at M&T Bank Stadium. In the letter, which was obtained by The Baltimore Sun yesterday, the Ravens say they need their average ticket price to be in the top third of the NFL to stay competitive.

The summer concert season is about to kick off. Ticket prices aren't cheap. But if the rising cost of, well, just about everything is making you rethink a real vacation, a concert could be a worthy indulgence. Over the last few years, the market for ticket sales has expanded beyond just Ticketmaster, helping to provide a wider range of prices. (If you remember back in the 1990s, the band Pearl Jam canceled a summer tour in protest of Ticketmaster's monopoly on ticket sales, which included surcharges.

Felix the elephant is having a baby, and the newest addition to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore can't arrive soon enough. With new leadership, a strong base of state funding and reduced ticket prices, the zoo in Druid Hill Park is poised for resurgence. An infusion of corporate dollars would greatly help it along, even with a new pachyderm in the house. The zoo, which reopened this weekend for the season, is a 132-year-old institution that's been showing its age for some time; its facilities are many and its maintenance needs too often deferred.

The Internet has had a lot of unexpected impact on countless ways we live our lives. Among them is how much we pay to attend sports events. If you haven't noticed, it's a lot more. The Super Bowl, of course, magnifies everything. The stakes are enormous for the teams and players participating. Drawing and holding an audience is huge for the television network broadcasting the game. Advertisers put their creative reputations on the line, vying for who can come up with the commercial that can create the most water-cooler buzz.

Sure, the Ravens are on a franchise-record nine-game losing streak that has sent them wobbling, like a poorly thrown pass, into last place in the AFC North. Sure, they haven't won since before Halloween. But Ravens fans, who have had little to savor on the field, can at least be cheered by the news - confirmed by the club this week - that ticket prices won't be increasing in 2008. A hollow victory? Perhaps. But in a season in which victories are as rare as blocked punts, you take good news where you can get it. The team is 4-11 heading into tomorrow's final game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at M&T Bank Stadium.

Catch Neil Young live for his Chrome Dreams II tour. Don't miss the chance to hear one of the most influential singer/songwriters, who began his solo career in the late 1960s. Young performs at 7:30 p.m. today and tomorrow at DAR Constitution Hall, 18th and D streets Northwest, Washington. Ticket prices are $67 to $157. Call 410-547-7328 or go to ticketmaster.com.

New rides and attractions - plus efforts to lure families instead of just teenagers - will continue to drive increased spending and attendance at theme parks worldwide, a new study forecasts. After a sluggish 2006, spending at U.S. theme parks is expected to grow 4.3 percent this year to more than $12 billion, thanks in part to increased ticket prices and the weak dollar, which is spurring visits by international tourists, according to a report released yesterday by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore is endangered. Plagued by declining attendance, reduced funding, high ticket prices and facilities in disrepair, the zoo seems more a candidate for closure than expansion. But some Baltimoreans are reluctant to give up on it, largely because of a sense of history and tradition that has endeared it to them. "Every year we looked forward to going to the zoo," said Sarah David, a Johns Hopkins senior raised in Pikesville. "When I speak to other people who grew up in Baltimore, we remember the zoo as a part of growing up. It unites people, and in that respect, it's a very important aspect of the city."

When the Virgin Festival returns this August to Pimlico Race Course, it will bring with it the hottest touring act of the year - the Police - along with the highly successful hip-hop group the Beastie Boys and acclaimed alt-rockers Smashing Pumpkins. The festival, sponsored by Virgin Mobile, comes back to Baltimore Aug. 4-5 with about 35 other indie rock and hip-hop acts and DJs on multiple stages. Tickets will go on sale in about three weeks. The festival made its Baltimore premiere last September with one day of music that included the Who and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

With cheap seats, conversations with high-profile composers and programming that includes a CSI-style forensics exploration of Beethoven next season, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will challenge two of the most common complaints about classical music - that it's too expensive and too old-fashioned. As part of a strategy unveiled yesterday to bolster attendance, the BSO will reduce the average subscription cost to classical and pops programs by 40 percent. New and current subscribers to the BSO's 2007-2008 season, the inaugural season of music director Marin Alsop, will pay only $25 per concert for seats anywhere in Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, including the usually pricey box seats.