Cubs Increase Average Season Ticket Prices Almost 20%

CHICAGO, IL — World Series championships come at a price for teams, and it looks like Chicago Cubs season-ticket holders will be helping to pay for part of the tab.

The Cubs announced Monday on its team website that the average season ticket at Wrigley Field will increase 19.5 percent in 2017. How much more it will cost fans to watch their world championship Cubs in Chicago will depend on location, with upper level infield seats only being 6 percent more and club box infield tickets seeing a 31 percent increase, according to Crain's Chicago Business.

This is Chicago's second consecutive year of a double-digit average price increase for season tickets. The increase also could make the Cubs season tickets in Major League Baseball, beating out the New York Yankees for that dubious distinction. Last year, the North Siders had the second-highest average season tickets behind the Bronx Bombers, according to the New York Post.

Team officials said the ticket increase was decided on after looking over the Cubs' 2017 schedule — which includes a marquee matchup with the aforementioned Yanks in May — and examining sales on the primary and secondary markets.

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During the 2016 regular season, home-game tickets on the secondary market sold for an average of 96 percent more than their original price, according to the Cubs website. In the postseason, the secondary market saw Friendly Confines tickets sell about 670 percent above face value and 1,206 percent above face value for World Series games, the website stated.

Another factor for the price hike is the team's effort to keep winning World Series titles. And that takes having the money available to re-sign players and go after free agents. With the ticket increase, the Cubs expect to earn about $20 million in revenue than this past season, Crain's reports.

Even thought Chicago is expecting that bottom-line bump next year, it doesn't mean the front office is ready to pull out the checkbook and re-sign the Cubs' biggest free agent, relief pitcher Aroldis Champman. The closer told ESPN on Monday that the team hasn't shown any interest in bringing him back.

More via the Chicago Cubs website and Crain's Chicago Business

photo by Tim Moran

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