Ticket Prices

The St. Louis Cardinals have raised ticket prices 3 percent for the 2008 season. Team president Mark Lamping indicated today that season ticket holders will be notified of the 3 percent increase by mail and e-mail.

“We believe that Cardinals tickets will remain a great value,” Lamping said.

The price hike averages out to about $1.15 a ticket. View the full story, with more quotes from the club president here.

So, does this mean that Dewitt really does plan to raise the payroll into the $110 million range as he said? I’d like to think so, but we’ve all heard the “if the right player comes along” line far too many times. I think I’ll take a “wait and see” approach. Why do ticket prices have to go up? Was there not enough money generated by the new stadium? Wasn’t every game over the last two seasons a sellout? Didn’t the club record an all time attendance record in ’07? Didn’t we buy everything from infield dirt to urinals from the old stadium? I guess that wasn’t enough for Mr. Dewitt to raise the payroll. Now he’d like those 3,552,180 fans to each give him another $1.15. I imagine that if “the right player” doesn’t come along, he’s going to have quite a few angry Cardinal fans to answer to.