This All-Star Game is Seattle’s priciest ever. Here’s just how much
SEATTLE – Fans at Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game will experience an atmosphere that is markedly different from the last two times Seattle hosted the event.
Chances are their wallets will also feel the difference.
Prices everywhere, from the ticket booth to the concessions stand, will be significantly higher than in 2001, the last time the sport’s finest squared off in Seattle, at what was then called Safeco Field. Not to mention the prices in 1979, when the Kingdome was first, and briefly, the center of the baseball world.
All that reflects a cultural event that has evolved considerably in the past four decades, embracing the social media pageantry of the 21st century. This year’s All-Star Week is expected to generate over $50 million in economic activity, according to Visit Seattle.
Though the prices below are subject to fluctuation, it’s clear that those hoping to attend the festivities at T-Mobile Park will have to pay a pretty penny for it.
Take me out to the crowd
All-Star Game ticket prices
1979 – $7 (mail order); $17 (box seats)
2001 – $160 and up
2023 – $279 (300 level); $639 (average price)
The steepest price of admission to the 1979 All-Star Game was $17 – about $70 in today’s money – but there were also $12 and $10 ticket options. Some fans copped seats for as low as $7. That would be just under $30 today.
Ticket prices for the 2001 game were significantly higher: about $270 in today’s money for a low-end seat. Despite police efforts to bust scalpers, resale tickets were going for $300 to $700.
This year, tickets along the first and third baselines run upwards of $1,000, according to SeatGeek.
FanFest
2001 – $15 (adults), $10 (seniors and children)
2023 – $35 (general admission)
Home Run Derby
2001 – $50 (reserved); $75 (box seats)
2023 – $225 (lowest price); $387 (outfield bleachers)
In 1979, the Home Run Derby didn’t officially exist. That didn’t stop 15,000 fans from watching sluggers like Mike Schmidt of the Phillies take batting practice the day before the game. Why such a draw, even with no actual competition? As one Times reporter suggested, “maybe because it was free.”
The other “festivities” that year included a party-turned-autograph session thrown by Dave Winfield for 5,000 fans, mostly children. That was also informal (and free of charge).
Fast-forward to 2023, and the All-Star Week has turned into a full-blown tourist attraction, with a scope far greater than the game itself. That way, says Victor Matheson, a sports economist at the College of the Holy Cross, the league manages to draw far more fan revenue than it would for a single three-hour ballgame.
“Major League Baseball doesn’t want you to come to Seattle for a weekend and spend your money going up the Space Needle,” Matheson said. “They want you to put your money into Major League Baseball.”
Stadium parking
2001 – $20
2023 – $60
In 1979, fans were warned that street parking might be limited, and to be mindful that the buses would be filled with commuters heading home from work. That was the extent of public transit; light rail would not exist until 2009.
Parking for the 2001 All-Star Game was $5 more expensive than it was during the regular season – when it was only $15 at today’s Lumen Field Garage on Royal Brougham Way. Other lots in the area had similar prices.
This year, fans can usually find regular season parking at Mariners Garage, across the street from T-Mobile Park, for around $60. But for the day of the All-Star Game, advance parking passes are available on resale sites for upward of $200.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack
Beer (regular season prices)
2001 – $5.50 (16-ounce domestic); $6 (14-ounce craft)
2023 – $12.50 (16-ounce domestic); $13.50 (16-ounce craft)
Bag of peanuts (regular season)
1979 – 75 cents
2001 – $2
2023 – $8
Mariners Dog (regular season)
2001 – $3
2023 – $9
We couldn’t definitively pin down what King Beers, the Kingdome’s famous 32-ounce Rainiers, or King Dogs cost in 1979. Media reports remembering the time pegged the cost of a King Beer at $2.50. The dome’s giant hot dogs presumably cost around 75 cents, the price of hot dogs at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park that same summer – that is, before the price was raised to 80 cents, turning Giants fans “irate.”
Ahi poke bowl (regular season)
2023 – $17
Poke bowls – and other specialty food items like crab sandwiches and bao buns – were not everyday staples of the Kingdome, nor were they available at Safeco Field in 2001.
Root for the home team
Programs
2001 – $10
2023 – $15
Jerseys
2001 – $75 (home Mariners jersey)
2023 – $115 (home Mariners jersey); $155 (All-Star Game jersey)
T-shirts
2001 – $15
2023 – $40
Licensed sports merchandise didn’t come around until the 1980s and 1990s. Stadiums like the Kingdome sold caps, pennants, and buttons – as they did for the 1979 All-Star Game – but other apparel items were only found in unofficial mail-order catalogs.
Even in 2001, team merchandise was not considered a significant moneymaker. “Listen, this is not what I do for a living,” one T-shirt vendor told the Times that year. “This would be a tough way to make a living.”
That’s a far cry from today, where retail shirts, jerseys and ball caps have turned into big business. In the case of the All-Star Game, those revenues will not go directly to the Mariners, but will be shared by the league as a whole, Matheson said.
“You don’t really care whether everyone wants a Shohei (Ohtani) jersey (as opposed to a jersey of a Mariners player) because that’s going to be shared evenly across the league,” he said.
Regular season tickets
1979 – $1.50 (general admission) to $5.50 (box seats)
2001 – $6-$41
2023 – $25-$100+
The exponential rise in regular season ticket prices over the past three decades has less to do with inflation and more to do with the basic business model of sports leagues, Matheson said.
“Basically every new stadium built in the last 25 years has been smaller than the stadium that it replaced – but with tickets that are much, much more highly priced,” he said. “The Kingdome held more fans than the park that replaced it. But (T-Mobile Park) is designed to sell tickets at a premium price, rather than selling a lot of $6 nosebleed tickets.”
Today, the average Mariners fan spends about $50 on a ticket, according to SeatGeek. That price can vary widely depending on factors like seat section, team matchup and junk fees. And it’s a far cry from the $1.50 you could pay in 1979 (just over $6 today).
Mariners average home attendance
1979 – 10,425
2001 – 40,958
2023 – 28,753 (so far)
There weren’t many reasons for fans to go see the 1979 Mariners, cellar-dwellers of the American League West, who boasted notable names like Mario Mendoza (batting .198, two points below his own line) and Bruce Bochte. The 2001 Mariners proved to be a far more attractive draw, especially with 27-year-old rookie Ichiro Suzuki leading the team to 63-24 record – a 19-game division lead – at the All-Star break (on the way to their historic 116-win season).
Though this year’s M’s have had a somewhat disappointing first half of the season, attendance is still up – however slightly (1.8%) – over last year’s numbers. Mariners home attendance dipped to a pre-pandemic low of 21,000 in 2012, but has slowly recovered over the past decade.
At the old ballgame
Average MLB player salary
1979 – $113,558
2001 – $2,264,403
2023 – $4,907,108
The modern system of free agent contracts was in its infancy in 1979. That year, Rod Carew, an All-Star with the California Angels, led the league with a salary of $800,000. Carew’s salary was the highest in MLB history to that point, though it would be just $3.3 million in today’s money.
In 2001, Alex Rodriguez commanded the highest salary in the majors – $22 million in the first year of his megadeal with the Texas Rangers. That year’s Mariners team ranked 11th in total payroll, thanks in part to hefty contracts for Ichiro, Jamie Moyer and Aaron Sele.
The highest MLB salary in 2023 is Max Scherzer, who is earning $43.3 million with the New York Mets (and will not be at the All-Star Game).
This article includes information from the Seattle Times archives.