RACK the Dodgers

The Assassin · Post by **The Assassin** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 12:50 am

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/ESPNSports/st ... 688&page=1

I thought Fox owning them was bad. This mcCourt so far has shown me he is just as big a chicken shit as Murdock was.

originalreport
Fan's Season Ticket Bill Rises 650 PercentL.A. Dodgers Fan to Boycott Opener for First Time in 43 Years After $104,000 Increase for Seats Behind Dugout
Irv Zeiger will be staying home from Dodger Stadium's opening day for the first time in 43 years to protest a steep ticket price increase. (ABCNEWS.com)
By PETER IMBER

LOS ANGELES, April 9, 2005 — Irv Zeiger actually ordered his first season tickets for Los Angeles Dodger games when the team was still in Brooklyn. The owner thought he was a nut. But Zeiger got them and he still has the ticket stubs from the first opening day game ever played at Dodger Stadium in 1962.

He hasn't missed an opening day game there since — a streak that goes back 43 years, a streak that will be broken this Tuesday when the Dodgers play their 2005 home opener.

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Irv Zeiger won't be in his seat Tuesday. He'll be staying at his home watching the game on television. It's not because he's ill. It's because he's heartbroken.

Zeiger's had at least four season seats right behind the Dodger dugout for all those years. He was in them for Sandy Koufax's perfect game in 1965 and Kirk Gibson's World Series home run in 1988. Last season, he paid $16,000 for them — $4,000 a ticket.

But when Zeiger got a phone call this winter from the Dodgers ticket office, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I thought she was kidding," Zeiger said. "And that's exactly what I said to her, 'You got to be kidding.' And she kind of giggled over the phone and said, 'No, that's the price.' "

The price to get four tickets behind the dugout this year would be $120,000 — nearly eight times the old price.

The reason? Four rows of new seats have been built in front of Zeiger's old ones. The dugout is now 30 feet closer to the field. The new seats also include great parking and gourmet food. And the Dodgers say they need the money.

'Expensive Business'

Greg McElroy, a Dodgers vice president, makes no apologies for the new $30,000 season ticket price.

"It's a very expensive business to run," he said. "And if you want to field the best team, you're going to have to pay for the best players."

Inflation is a fact in baseball. The average salary of a major league baseball player this season is expected to be more than $2.5 million. That's more than double what it was 15 years ago. Baseball ticket prices have also more than doubled in that time, up 120 percent while the consumer price index has risen only 45 percent.

Cross Traffic · Post by **Cross Traffic** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 7:21 am

He should call up the Angels ;)

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:39 pm

That's sad. I don't think the old guy should get a discount or anything, but raising the price of those seats from $4000 to $30,000 in one fucking year is pathetic.

The Dodgers are my new team to hate.

Laxplayer · Post by **Laxplayer** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 5:00 pm

Hey, McCourt needs to make money somehow. What an asshole.