Hunting Season
http://s19.sitemeter.com/meter.asp?site=s19southeastofdisorderIt's hunting season in and around Fenway Park again, and if someone doesn't start regulating this situation Red Sox fans are going to go the way of the Dodo. Over the past fifteen years Red Sox Nation has expanded faster than the Roman Empire ever dreamed. Unfortunately members of Red Sox Nation are being hunted by greedy and evil individuals. These individuals have proven to be much more adept in the field of hunting than Elmer Fudd or our current Vice President. There camoflague and ability to hide has kept us from spotting them before they can financially wound us.
Baseball viewership was something that used to be a blue collar hobby. This is something that you see if you can look beneath the layer of greed that has covered Fenway Park like plaque on teeth in a Crest commercial. A hot dog and a beer has been the meal of choice at Fenway Park since it was first opened in 1912. This is the working mans meal if one ever existed. While this is still the most popular selection for Fenway diners, it will now run you a not so blue collar $10 dollars for the combo. $10 dollar might not sound so bad, but this is about double what it would cost for the same thing anywhere else on the planet. The price is exponentially larger than it was before the organization decided to commercialize the idea of the Fenway Frank and Budwesier spent millions to be considered the official beer of the Boston Red Sox.
It is no secret that the Red Sox organization including players, management, and ownership have taken advantage of Red Sox fan loyalty over recent years to increase profits. The average ticket price is almost double the average of the rest of the league. Fans struggle to get tickets while local ticket agencies such as Ace mysteriously end up with hundreds of tickets for each game, and of course sell them for an inflated price. (More on that later) Jersey's go for over $100 each, hats reached prices of $40 after the World Series victory, and some food prices inside Fenway should be considered illegal. It seems the Red Sox aren't the only ones making money off the fans recently however; it looks like local businessmen caught the hunting bug and decided to bag some Red Sox Nationites as well. Of course like a well run organized crime group nothing moves without the boss saying so, and in this case the Red Sox are the boss. Here are three of the more lucrative business groups hunting fan's wallets.
1. Fenway Area Bars-On Christmas day 2005 the original Baseball Tavern was displaced in order to build luxury apartments, an era officially ended. An era that had been put in critical condition after Game On! and its $8 million dollar budget found its home at Fenway Park. Now Game On! is about as perfect a bar to watch a sporting event as ever was created; if you enjoy watching a game with upper class bandwagon fans, the pink hat crowd, and tourists. This bar set a trend in motion where bringing in the most fans to watch a game with good food, beer, and prices was no longer important. Instead it was to cater to the fan with the most money to spend. An $8 million dollar bar built around over priced food and giant flat screen HD tv's. It's neighbor the Cask N' Flagon was forced into winter renovations, these cost money and eventually reflect in the bill of the consumer. The Baseball Tavern was the true baseball fan's last stand in the Fenway area. A hole in the wall that oozed baseball history and had floors covered in beer stains from spilled $6.00 pitchers. That's right $6.00, if you do the math (5 beers in a pitcher, its $4.00 for one Budweiser at Game On!) it would cost you more than double that for the same amount at Game On!. Not too mention cheap food prices and a reputation for attracting only the most knowledgable of Red Sox fans from all walks of life, the pink hat and tourist crowd needed not apply. But after the World Series changes started to be made. All new flat screens were installed, prices were raised, and now it will move to a bigger and no doubt swankier location. It should not come as a surprise that the Red Sox are helping to facilitate the Baseball Tavern's move into a new location, after all why would the Red Sox want the riff raff that hung out in the old Baseball Tavenr around there park?
2. The Ticket Agencies-Possibly the most visual, yet still somehow secretive relationship in the world of sporting events is that between the teams and ticket agencies. While fans wait in line at the ticket window for hours, and eventually get sent away because a particular game is sold out, agencies hold massive amounts of tickets and sell at a premium price. Upper level bleacher seats for the upcoming Mets series are going for $125 dollars at Ace tickets, an incredible 600% increase above face value. And if these tickets don't sell by gameday, they will be pedaled outside and scalped for a premium price by an agency representative outside the park. If the Red Sox organization cared about the fan these agencies would be cut out. Scalping laws would be enforced outside the park and the actual fans would get a chance to buy face value tickets without sleeping outside of Fenway Park in order to do so.
3. The Boston Media-How many books can possibly be written about one team? Before the World Series victory dozens of books were written about the tortured fan base and the possible curse. Headlined by Dan Shaugnessy's "The Curse of the Bambino" which ran more updated editions than a World History text book. And then after the series it seemed like a race to see who could profit off the victory first as slews of books came out on the team. All selling at premium prices and most were nothing more than rehashing what happened throughout the year. If you are a Red Sox fan, and someone out there like you, there is a good chance you received one of these books for Christmas, and a loved one spent a large sum of money to get you a recap of something you just spent an entire year watching.
Despite all this, I as well as the majority of Red Sox Nation will continue to shell out cash for tickets, merchandise, and everything that comes along with the Fenway experience. It's the only game in town, and it's an addiction the majority of us were brought up on. The only thing we can really do is hope someone starts regulating hunting season before Red Sox Nation goes bankrupt.
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