Recession Makes for a Whole New Ballgame for Ticket Prices

Much like we've seen with gas prices, the recession can be your friend when it comes to baseball ticket prices, too.

Major League Baseball was certainly grateful when the recession waited until the end of the 2008 season to rear its ugly head. Despite attendance dipping about 1% from 2007, America's wealthiest sport saw its revenues climb half a billion dollars. Luckily for sports fans, that trend will not continue.

By the beginning of the 2009 season, most teams had already downed the proverbial stiff drink and prepared to offer creative ways for their fiscally weary fans to enjoy an affordable trip to the ballpark.

The San Francisco Giants set aside a chunk of seats to start experimenting with fluid dynamic pricing, which uses an algorithm to set ticket costs based on factors such as their opponent, day of the week, weather, and even the opposing starting pitcher. Basically, if the Giants face a kid the Nationals just called up from AAA on a blustery weeknight, you're going to save big.

In the midst of a Fire Sale for the ages, the Pittsburgh Pirates recently tried to entice their disheartened fans with an inventive deal that shaved a dollar off certain tickets for every run the team scored the previous weekend. Unfortunately, their depleted lineup laid a couple of goose eggs on the scoreboard that Saturday and Sunday. But hey, it's the thought that counts, right? Even the epically gluttonous New York Yankees got into the act when they slashed the obscene price of their $2,500 Legends Suite seats down to $1,250. I hear they feature vibrating massage cushions and diamond-encrusted cup holders.

But after a quick search through MLB.com's "Fan Value Corner," the most legit deals I could find come from my hometown San Diego Padres. On "Coca-Cola Value Weekends," you can score an upper deck ticket, hot dog and a Coke for just $12 (most teams save these deals for weekday afternoon games). On top of that, there's the "5 For $5 Value Deal," which gets you another hot dog, another drink, popcorn, peanuts, and a cookie at every single home game. Deals that good at gorgeous Petco Park should have you boarding a plane for America's Finest City.

Although Yasar posted recently about avoiding high ticket prices by watching games at a local sports bar, catching a live game isn't the budget-buster it once was thanks to new value pricing.