PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Are Cactus League spring training games too expensive?

Starting point is 00:00:05 Hello and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX D-BAC's audio-only podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am your mayor, PHNX. I'm joined by my vice mayor in Thunderstick, occasionally known as Jesse Friedman. Jesse, I know what you want to talk about and I know what I want to talk about. So let's get to it. Let's talk about Major League Baseball player pants. No, I'm so tired of talking about pants.

Starting point is 00:00:39 Can we please talk about something else? Oh my God. Yes, we could definitely talk about something else. It is weird how, though, the fanatics saga continues to kind of drag on, right? And I mean, it's just one thing after the next, but, you know, it's like we find out that they tried to basically, you know, do some things with the jerseys. Those didn't work out so well. the pants weren't great. And now, as of as a picture day this week and as of games being played this week,

Starting point is 00:01:12 we got a chance to really see some of those white pants in action, Jesse. And it doesn't leave a lot to the imagination. No. MLB really looks like they're trying to go for only fanatics.com is what they're trying to start over here. And, of course, the big part of that is showing you these beefy boys underneath parts. Like, what the hell are we doing? I mean, yeah, you're right. This is something that we have talked about too much on this show. Maybe not as much as Rob Manfred's career. Maybe we've talked about that more unnecessarily.

Starting point is 00:01:44 But it's just, it's amazing. What a disaster. This entire rollout of this new partnership with fanatics making the jerseys has been. I mean, literally from top to bottom, it's been a disaster. You and I have actually asked the question, like, why aren't we noticing this with the Diamondbacks? stuff and it's because the diamond back stuff doesn't have seem to have these same issues yeah i i i mean i guess once more of the photos come out maybe we'll we'll be able to compare with some of the other photos that have been taken but yeah i haven't i haven't noticed anything i know they've released some some pictures online already so what i have noticed is it's like the true white like we had the padres playing the dodgers uh on thursday and the white like those they both wore like

Starting point is 00:02:29 white white pants and those seem to be more of an issue i know the diamondbacks aren't white. They're off white. And I'm just wondering if that off white nature of their pants might have saved them from this embarrassment of their pants being like that. They do have all of their pictures from Picture Day just from waist up. So that's very, they were very smart about that. It does not seem accidental.

Starting point is 00:02:54 Yeah, every single picture is from waist up. I'm not kidding. You will not see a knee in any of those pictures. We do have a little bit of Cattel. And I don't know. What do you? I see a little bit there. Yeah, it's pretty see-through.

Starting point is 00:03:04 Yep, the D-Backs pants have the same problem. They have the same issue. I take back what I said here. They did do an amazing job, though, setting up their backdrop for Picture Day, by the way. They set up, I don't know if you had a chance to see that on social media. Yeah, that was pretty cool. They set up a bunch of balloons with paint inside and had the Diamondbacks players come pop them with darts. And that's just, once again, being a connected and dangerous team.

Starting point is 00:03:25 But, oh, man, Jesse, I'm with you. I don't, like, most of the time in any league, in any sport, when jerseys are new or there's a change. or there's a change. There's a period of time where people have their gripes, but mostly they're being nitpicky. These gripes, I feel like, are valid for most of the teams.

Starting point is 00:03:41 I don't think the Diamondbacks really look nearly as bad as some of these other teams when you talk about the lettering and other factors. But, I mean, for the pants to be as see-through as they are, it's, I mean, it's an embarrassment.

Starting point is 00:03:56 Like, it really is. And what's weird, it's not just the see-through nature of it, right? It's that the pants are kind of like such a light-fabreys. that you literally see like every you see the the crease from the pant or the shirt being tucked in right you see all of everything going on like in in you know that's it's like weird i can't i that's like the tag down at the bottom corner we're looking at the pictures right now the i think it's lordis he has a jersey tucked in and you can see like the tag that they put in the bottom right front of the jersey you can see it through his pants well i just don't understand how a mistake like this is made, right? Because it's like these pants go through a design phase. Then I imagine that they are reviewed and that they like model them. You think making sure they're not see through would be

Starting point is 00:04:42 one of the priorities. Not like a very advanced step in the process. Like you probably do that before you do. These are dry. Jesse, these are dry. What happens when they dump water on him for winning a game? It's it's, it's naked time is what it is. It's naked time. That is a scary thought. I'm just, I just sometimes when stuff like this happens, I think it's a true. reflection of how fast this stuff moves and at some point quality control definitely is lacking here i i think MLBPA is going to have to continue to try to get some changes made from fanatics in order for them to proceed with just the low quality nature of some of this stuff you know yeah i mean the teams have already done their photo day right so if major league baseball actually does come and

Starting point is 00:05:27 and decide that they're going to change these things would teams like go back and retake all of their their photos? Are they going to throw the darts at the wall again and recreate the same paint effect they had earlier? That still sounds like a fun time. I mean, I'm not opposed to that. I would want to come back. But yeah, I just hate it. I hate that this kind of mistake. I'm a big jersey guy. I've talked about this in the past. I like hats. I like jerseys. I like I like owning them, you know, and I still think the Diamondbacks are at least going to get away with a little less scrutiny, like I said in the past because of the fact that these are New Jersey. So they're happening During this transition phase, we don't have any other jersey to compare it to that looks like these.

Starting point is 00:06:08 So at least the lettering and stuff will probably give them a pass on for the Dback stuff. But the pants, the pants are not, it's not good. It's not a good situation with the pants. I don't want to see some of the things that we're seeing out there on the field, Jesse. And I never asked for that. One way to increase viewership. I'm telling you, only fanatics.com. Only fanatics.com.

Starting point is 00:06:29 Fanatics has already taken over the merchandising world. There was only a matter of time before they moved into pornography and other fields like that, right? But speaking of good times, by the way. Spring training is here. Spring training games are here. It's the most wonderful time of the year. I am speaking to you from the past. I right now might not even exist anymore.

Starting point is 00:06:51 I might live in the Bahamas permanently from this point, Jesse, and this might be the last time you get to hear my voice on this show, which I know would be a very welcome thought, at least in your mind. But we do have the most wonderful time of the year with spring training games being here. People love it here in the Valley, of course. It's really what makes Arizona baseball Nirvana. Not only do we have this wonderful team we can root for, but we have all these wonderful games that we can attend. However, it's breaking the bank a little bit, Jesse.

Starting point is 00:07:21 It's a little expensive to be attending these spring training games. It's not what I remember them being back when I was a kid. However, I wasn't paying for them back then. So who the hell knows how much you and I were, actually it was costing our parents to take us to these games. It just feels like spring training games have kind of ascended to a point where they cost more than like a regular season baseball game. Yeah. I mean, it's like it's no, it's certainly no secret that this is a big part of tourism in Arizona this time of year.

Starting point is 00:07:53 People flock to the valley just for the sake of spring training and these ballparks aren't very big. And for some of the bigger market teams, you're just getting this enormous influx of people. and the stadiums that hold 12, 13,000 people. And, you know, more demand means higher prices. That's just kind of the way the economics work. But yeah, things have gotten a little ridiculous. You guys are currently listening to the Thursday version of Jesse and Derek. So with that being said, we're looking at prices for games on Friday and Saturday before these games

Starting point is 00:08:27 had been played. So the Diamondbacks Rocky Spring Training opener. tickets for that game Derek the lowest price that you can pay right now just buying tickets straight from the team so we're all on the same same playing field here $46.50 is the cheapest ticket you can get to D-Backs Rockies on Friday. Is that a seat or is that like a lawn ticket? Yeah, that is a seat for the purpose of this very scientific study that we're doing lawn seats are not allowed.

Starting point is 00:08:56 We're not counting those as actual seats because they're not really seats. Well, and does every spring training facility have long seats or there's some that do not? I think that's a good question. I don't think Scottsdale Stadium doesn't have won seats, right? Is that why they have that weird structure out there over there and like right field with the party deck and everything like that? Yeah, yeah, no, I don't think they don't have room for that out there. So, yeah, $46.50 is the cheapest ticket to DeVox Rockies. The most expensive seat in the house is $76.

Starting point is 00:09:26 So you're bringing a family of five out there. you're well into the, you know, and then there's parking, you're well into the $300 range for D-Backs Rockies, which of course is a heated rivalry. Everybody. Everybody wants to see implications for the regular season and whatnot. Well, okay. So to be fair, what about a game that more people would want to attend universally? Like, I know we had this blowout in game one between the Dodgers and the Padres that we just

Starting point is 00:09:52 saw, but what about that game on Friday between those two teams? What's that? What's that going to cost me? Well, it's not going to cost you much when people are hearing this because Friday's already passed. But, but. Oh, excuse me. Sorry. In the past.

Starting point is 00:10:09 Sorry, I had to do that to you. Yeah. So on Friday, it's complicated because the best seats for that game are sold out. So we actually can't buy a ticket like right behind home plate from Ticketmaster. But the most expensive seat that you can buy is $84, including fees for D-Backs pod. Or for Dodgers Padres. The least expensive is $78. There's not a lot of difference there.

Starting point is 00:10:32 Not a lot of difference there. Where does that $84 ticket put me? I think it was like somewhere along the baseline or something. And the $78 was just like the worst baseline seat. And these are camelback range. These are a camelback range. So I'm in the sign. So your, yeah, your sunburns in the third inning if you didn't come here.

Starting point is 00:10:49 What is the little sun seat thing mean on the website? Jesse, what does that mean? They mark their sun seats? Shouldn't that be every seat in that Godforsaken stadium? I'm pretty sure it is. Yeah. I didn't check all of them. But yeah,

Starting point is 00:11:03 I don't know if they're, I don't know if they're like legally required to do this. But if you go on Dodgers.com and like buy spring training tickets, they have like little notes. You know, you probably seen this. Like, oh,

Starting point is 00:11:12 this seat has an obstructed view. This seat, you know, things you might want to know about the seat. And yeah, all of the ones that I was clicking on for that particular ballpark did say sun seat because we all know there's no shade at Campbellback ranch. What about,

Starting point is 00:11:25 uh, since we're still in the past, since we're in the past from when this, this drops. What else you got for me on Friday? Yeah, so Cubs White Sox, a similar situation where the best seed in the house is no longer available. So we can't check that one, but the most expensive that is available is $64, including fees, the cheapest seat that is available is $51. Now, these are from the team, right? So this isn't from any kind of reseller. These aren't any reseller fees or anything like that. These are just straight up from the box office, best seats available and what they

Starting point is 00:11:54 cost. Right. $51 to $64 is the range for Cubs White Sox. $76 to take on a D-Backs Rockies game. $64 to take on a Cubs White Sox? That's just outrageous. And the wild thing is that it just makes me feel old because I'm sure there's some people that probably would find these ticket prices to be very reasonable.

Starting point is 00:12:17 Maybe the Arizona Diamondbacks have spoiled me as a fan because the Diamondbacks do such a great job of making regular season tickets. It prices so low. I mean, I also experienced that a little bit when I went to a Chicago Cubs game in Riggly. Through a reseller, I was going to pay like over $100 for a standing room only ticket. And I ended up being able to get it from the team for like $22 or something like that, right? So it was substantially lower to be able to buy it straight from the team. But Dodgers and Angels are completely sold out on Saturday.

Starting point is 00:12:51 Yeah, I couldn't check anything there. That's not a huge shock because, you. show hey, you know, facing the former team, that whole, that whole narrative. I am looking at Cubs Giants for Saturday right now. This is Cubs at Giants and Scottsdale. Yeah, this is at Scottsdale Stadium. Most expensive seat in the house is $105 before fees. Jesus.

Starting point is 00:13:10 At least expensive is 35, but that's, I'm, well. That's at least a decent rate. Do they have $35 tickets? Oh, yeah, they do have some. Yeah, okay, that's a bleacher seat. A bleacher seat is $35 plus fees. So, yeah, and just running through some of the other ones real quick, Mariners White Sox on Saturday.

Starting point is 00:13:26 That ranges from about $40 to $80. And then the ones way out on the west side, smaller market teams, Reds Guardians ranges from 23 to 42 on Saturday. And then Rangers Royals on Friday. That was the cheapest one I could find. 1750 will get you into that game and do a non-lawn seat. And then $50 is the most expensive there. Credit to those guys out there, right?

Starting point is 00:13:49 Because I mean. It's not like the Rangers just like won the World Series. Right? I mean, my God. And I mean, again, that's, see, that seems like a little bit more reasonable. That seems like what I remember spring training games costing, right? Like, 50 bucks is going to get you the most expensive, nicest seats. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:14:05 But for the most part, you can get in the door for under $20 per person. And that's really where a lot of these games should be at. Reds Guardians is close, but I'm not paying, I'm not paying $23. We're a cheapest seat to get into that game. Reds Guardians doesn't feel like a specially thrilling matchup necessarily. Although you can see noted top 100 player in baseball, L.A. Dale Cruz, if you go to that game, most likely. Oh, you're lucky Damon's not here to hear that right now. The most important thing is to get out and watch some spring training games because this is an incredible, incredible time of the year.

Starting point is 00:14:40 But it does beg to ask if some of these prices are getting a little out of control because then, of course, after this point, you've got a lot of resellers that are adding on to that. Yeah. If you're going to a second party, third party, excuse me, and you're trying to buy tickets here, you are most likely going to pay over $100 for so many of these games. Yeah, especially the ones that have sold out completely. Yeah, that's where it reaches a level of being outrageous, right? I mean, that's where you have to say, like, I get it. I understand the excitement. And especially if you're a fan of a baseball team here in Arizona that you don't get to normally see.

Starting point is 00:15:14 Like, you're not a fan of the Diamondbacks. You're a fan of, like, let's say the Royals or the Brewers or. one of those teams and you want to go out and watch as many games of theirs as possible, but they just make it really hard for it to be an affordable ask over a month for someone to attend that many games when you're charging close to $100 at some of these ballparks on, you know, and I get it. Like the Cubs at Giants, it makes me wonder if another game out at Scottsdale Stadium is going to be much cheaper because it's the Cubs.

Starting point is 00:15:41 Yeah, Cubs Giants. I mean, that's about as expensive of a matchup as you could find probably. Anyway, well, I again, hope I make it. back from my cruise. That's the biggest thing because I want to watch some baseball games. And I want to go with my friends. I want to go drink beer and enjoy baseball game. No offense to the job I have. But if I told most of you that you had to go to a baseball game by yourself, not drink alcohol and then write me an essay afterwards about what you saw, you most likely would think that that wasn't a very good deal. So I think you can understand Jesse's life sometimes here.

Starting point is 00:16:15 But I'm going to take him out and get some beers and stuff. But I do have to correct Scott still stadium does have a lot. It does have a little bit of a long, right? Just not very big. It does not. There's like a center field wall that kind of pops up. They don't have that. Yeah, they don't have a lawn area there, but there is definitely a lawn at Scottsdale Stadium.

Starting point is 00:16:33 Okay. Well, Jesse's wrong. As usual. You know, how it is. What else is new? Yeah. All right. Well, make sure you drink lots of water when you're out there and wear that sunblock.

Starting point is 00:16:43 And that's for Jesse. If you're listening, I mean, you could probably take that advice too, but that's mostly for Jesse. Maybe I can get away from the sunblock for. for actual games because I'm sitting in the press box, which is presumably shaded. I don't know. Sun can come right in that window. Yeah, it doesn't take much. I mean, once it gleams off those pants, once it reflects off the white pants,

Starting point is 00:17:04 and then you get a glimmer of that, you know, just that reflection from someone's thigh because you can see right through the pants of their thigh coming off into your eye. You're going to wish you wore that sunblock. But is there, let me just ask you real quick. Is there anything that can be done about this, about these, training ticket prices? Is it just kind of the way it is? The demand is just high enough. This is what the, it's just supply and demand. This is just kind of how it is at this point. I don't know because it's on a, it's, it's per team, right? You know, like the Diamondbacks make that

Starting point is 00:17:33 a priority for themselves, at least during the regular season that they offer one of the most fan-friendly costs overall to attend a baseball game in all of MLB. And they prove it year and year and year and year and year in and out, right? Like they always are at the bottom of the list as far as the index on how much it costs to attend a game no matter what, you know, caveat there is, no matter if it's a family of four, a single person, whatever. Four hot dogs, four hot dogs, yeah. Four beers, including one for your eight-year-old. Yeah, exactly.

Starting point is 00:18:02 They do all of that, right? So it's like, yeah, I mean, I think that unfortunately it becomes a thing of, like, you know, how are you going to restrict it? Is MLB going to oversee it and demand that they all charge similar prices? I mean, that would, I feel like, be seen as a crazy overstepping of their authority and maybe going too far. I think the only way people can change that is by not paying to go see those teams and showing with their wallets, right? That's not going to happen. It's like you said earlier.

Starting point is 00:18:36 It's a supply and demand thing for a team like the Dodgers. They're going to be an attraction, especially with this team that they put together, right? So part of that and part of overpaying all of those players, is being able to thus then charge more money for tickets to see that team and having people willingly still pay that. So I don't think that there is much you can do. I think the only thing the teams can do is keep it in perspective a bit that if you're a team like the Diamondbacks

Starting point is 00:19:03 and you're trying to build your fan base still, you're not a team like the Cubs, you're not a team like the Dodgers that just kind of have that homegrown generational fan base, you might want to consider even lowering your spring training prices because the Diamondbacks are on the higher end of things here. And I feel like they could be a little less expensive as well. Yeah, I guess maybe the workaround is, you know, if you want to go see a team that costs more generally,

Starting point is 00:19:27 go see them at Surprise Stadium, go see them in Go see them in Goodyear. You can probably save some money by driving. I mean, maybe you live closer to there. I don't know. It's a good point. Yeah, going to different state. Go ahead and away game for those teams. Although, I mean, I guess I shouldn't call good year ballpark a less desirable stadium

Starting point is 00:19:43 because we had it. Yeah, pretty ranked top. near the top of our tier rankings. So yeah, that's one workaround. You can probably save some money that way, depending on the ballpark. But Saw River Fields is always going to be pretty pricey when the devax are there, I think. I mean, this is a reflection of everything that you pay a ticket to go see, right? In a way, like there's certain bands that you have to pay more to go see than other bands.

Starting point is 00:20:03 And so then some people like myself, I like to go see smaller bands at places like the Crescent Ballroom here in town because I can get a ticket for that for under $20 versus going to some of the bigger shows. was a well known, you know, acts and paying 150 plus to see them down the street at the footprint center or Chase Field, right? So, yeah, I mean, it's, it's kind of just part of the way things go when you have something that is a desirable draw, right? It's an attraction and people want to come see it and you have no problem selling tickets and when you can raise those prices and have people still pay that amount. That's, that's what you're going to do. So, but hopefully they continue to keep things somewhat affordable at a lot of these ballparks and keep it easy on us.

Starting point is 00:20:48 Arizona's to still enjoy going out and seeing spring training games and attending. I know some people like to go on a little road trip around town and go to all the different ballparks and that's a very, very cool. It's not a very long road trip here. It is not. It is not at all. So make sure if you get a chance to do that, do that, have some fun and enjoy spring training. Of course, we will be here reporting on this team all season long during spring training,

Starting point is 00:21:13 regular season, postseason, world series, world series parade, all that stuff. But I'm putting a little bit ahead of myself. As you know, though, every year is our year. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore Kman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman. Of course, our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Starting point is 00:21:35 You're on a boat right now. I am on a boat right now. I have no internet connection. How is the boat? It's relaxing, Jesse. Nice. I haven't checked to Twitter one time. Well, we appreciate your guys.

Starting point is 00:21:48 It's time. We thank you so much for stopping by and remember kids. Baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when I don't see your ding-dong through your white pants.

PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Are Cactus League spring training games too expensive?

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