As a 30-year Braves season ticket holder, price hikes are turning me off
Ever since I moved to Atlanta almost 30 years ago, I have loved the Atlanta Braves. But I’m starting to get the feeling that the Braves don’t particularly love me.
You see, I am a longtime Braves season-ticket holder — or more accurately, I have been coordinating a group of friends and colleagues who have shared season tickets to Braves games since Turner Field opened in 1997.
Because we were all connected with the philosophy and religious studies programs at Georgia State University, we jokingly called ourselves PLATO, the Philosophy Literati Atlanta Ticket Organization. We even once invited Ted Turner to join us at an annual barbecue, and one of his secretaries was kind enough to telephone us with his regrets.
We owned a pair of $10 upper-deck seats because that was all our gang of young academics could afford in those days. Over the years, we gradually worked our way into better and better seats, eventually cracking one of the “premium” levels.
And when the Braves moved to what was then called SunTrust Park in 2017, we moved with them, signing a multiyear contract.
Annual prices increased ‘shellshocked’ my friends and me
This year will mark my 30th season as an A-List member but, unfortunately, it may also be my last. After our contract runs out, the Braves are hitting us with a massive price increase.
During our first year at SunTrust, our “executive section” seats averaged $160 a pop. This was not cheap by any means, but it did include on-site parking, free food and beverages, and assorted member perks. This year’s tickets will go for around $177.50 apiece.
Most of us had assumed that a new contract would allow us to continue under similar terms, perhaps with nominal increases to reflect the changing times and economy. After all, the Braves have kept telling us how much they value our loyalty.
So, you can imagine how shellshocked we all were to discover that a new multiyear contract would begin at no less than $247 per ticket if we had signed on more or less immediately. It has gone up to around $267 since the new year, and it will go up still more if we elect a shorter-term contract. That represents a one-year increase of around 50%. It’s a more than two-thirds increase over the initial terms of our contract.
What’s more, the contract specifies annual “escalators” that increase the price each year by 4%, a figure that well exceeds the national rate of inflation. By the end of a seven-year contract, the price will balloon to around $337 a ticket, which more than doubles our initial ticket price.
In all fairness, it would be reasonable for the Braves to increase their prices. The cost of living has gone up, player salaries have swelled, and (despite last year’s injuries) the Braves have put an excellent product on the field.
But an increase of this magnitude feels like a real breach of good faith on the part of the Braves, and a real failure to reciprocate long-term customer loyalty.
And it’s not just my friends and I who are in this boat. As the AJC sports columnist Ken Sugiura wrote last September, A-List members at all levels have reported similarly egregious price increases, and similar feelings of being undervalued as the team’s long-term community partners. Numerous social media sites are abuzz with conversations on this topic, with fans pretty universally expressing feelings of disappointment, outrage, and betrayal.
I thought we were in it together with the Braves
To add a certain degree of insult to injury, the Braves have been attempting to disguise these price increases as rewards for existing members, as the expired offer last year did represent a slight fraction less than new members would have to pay.
But for someone who has been “with” the Braves about as long as Bobby Cox was a major league baseball manager (including 25 seasons with the Braves), this doesn’t feel like a reward. It feels like a thumb in the eye. And kind of an insult to our intelligence. At the moment, none of my colleagues, some of whom have been with this group for decades, is keen on renewing.
The sad part is that over these 30 years, my friends and I really have felt like we and the Braves were all in this together, through all of the highs and lows.
We really were treated well by an exceptional client services team, who were always there to accommodate difficult requests or to finesse last-minute emergencies. One representative even sent my daughter some autographed bling when she was recovering from major surgery.
But now, we pretty much feel not like members of the Braves family, but like assets in one column of an unsentimental accountant’s spreadsheet.
And it breaks my heart to know not only that we may not be continuing as A-List members, but also that we may not be loving the Braves quite so much.
Jon Herman is a retired associate professor of religious studies.
