The Team Marketing Report, which tracks the costs of attending baseball games with information provided by most teams, says it cost a family of four last season $229.14 to attend a Dodgers game.
OK, so these are tough economic times, as Jamie McCourt and Ned Colletti have recently told us, so I anticipate an announcement any day now the Dodgers will go easier on families this season.
Twelve dollars for parking, let's say, rather than $15, would be a good start. Parking was $8 when the McCourts bought the team in 2004.
Or, how about soft drinks, which sell on an average of $5 at Dodger Stadium, going for a buck or so less?
An average hot dog -- and aren't they? -- sell for $5 at Dodger Stadium. Why not $4.50?
It cost a family of four to attend an Angels game $140.42 last season according to the Team Marketing Report, or roughly $89 less than what it takes to buy the Dodgers experience.
Imagine a family having to pay $229.14 to watch the Dodgers before Manny Ramirez arrived.
THE ANGELS are raising ticket prices -- the average ticket last season costing $20.78 and now a little less than $22. The Dodgers, with an average ticket price of $29.66, will not raise season ticket prices.
"We're seeing more and more teams remaining static on ticket increases and trumpeting it, even though they raised ticket prices a year ago," said John Greenberg, the baseball expert for the Team Marketing Report. "For example, the Dodgers raised the price on a number of tickets a year ago, in some cases as much as $15 a ticket.
"But you can't very well raise ticket prices every year if you're not going to the World Series regularly, so some teams elect not to raise prices every other year while telling their fans, 'Look what we're doing for you.' "
In the five years the McCourts have been in charge, the cost for a family of four to attend a Dodgers game, according to Team Marketing Report numbers, has increased almost 57%.
Dodgers fans haven't objected, though, more than 3 million every year buying tickets, the quality of the team or the cost of the experience seemingly given little consideration.
But that brings us to the recent comments made by the wife of the owner, the Screaming Meanie, who complained when she first came to town that reporters write down everything she has to say, and the team's general manager.
We begin with the Screaming Meanie, who probably wonders what the poor people are doing tonight.
