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Finer Things
Pay Me at the Ball Game
By Staff Writer
It's baseball season, and a great excuse to go to your local ball park to celebrate the sport and root for your favorite team. But baseball isn't all fun and games. Sometimes it comes down to cold hard cash, what with millionaires owning teams and the skyrocketing salaries for the best players. Here's the lowdown on the priciest ballpark and team in the Major Leagues.
Most Expensive Ballpark for Fans
Whether or not the Boston Red Sox are the most successful team of the decade may be questionable, but one thing is for sure-they're certainly the most expensive team to see at home.
A recent Team Marketing Report has surveyed the Fan Cost Index of Major League Baseball teams and, after being overtaken in 2009 for the first year since 2001, Fenway Park is once again at the top of the chart.
The Fan Cost Index is the total price for a typical family of four to see a game. The FCI includes the price of two children's tickets, two adult tickets, four small soft drinks, four hot dogs, two small drinks, two programs and parking. Fenway Park's FCI was $334.78, making it the most expensive park to see a game.
The Cubs' Wrigley Field came in at a close second with $329.74, while Yankee Stadium placed third at $316.32.
Fans of the Red Sox aren't paying for the most expensive tickets, however, as the average price of a ticket at Wrigley Field $52.56, a scant few cents more than Fenway Park's average ticket price of $52.32.
World's Most Expensive Sports Team
The New York Yankees have a long and storied history as a team that produces legendary players. Forty-four Yankees have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, including such players as Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and, of course, Babe Ruth.
Maybe that's why the New York Yankees are the most expensive sports team in the world.
According to the first Annual Review of Global Sports Salaries, written for sportsintelligence.com and covering the salaries of 211 teams in 2009, the average Yankees player makes just under $7 million annually, while their highest-paid player, Alex Rodriguez, makes over $30 million. The Yankees were paid so much, in fact, that they had to pay a $23 million luxury tax to the MLB.
Following the Yankees are Spanish soccer, football teams Real Madrid with an average salary of $6.3 million per year and Barcelona with an average salary of $6 million. The second best-paid team in the US (and fifth in the world) is the Dallas Mavericks, whose average salary is $5.3 million.
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