Padres will suck but at least their food is cheap

Padres are introducing some ridiculous deals involving their concession stands. An example: "The "5 for $5," available at every home game, includes a regular-sized hot dog, peanuts, popcorn, cookie and soda for $5. For an additional $5, fans can swap the soda for a 16-ounce draft beer."

Concessions is one of those things that venues use to make profits hand over fist, so it's kind of cool from a fan's perspective that the Padres would be willing to create some crazy deals.

almost 3 years ago soco 7 comments 0 recs |

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These dollar deals

transform consumers and foster a positive feeling around the park. I witnessed this last summer at Petco, where dollar dogs and sodas left a lasting impression on me and the kids (age 12 to 56).

[cue Frank Capra footage]

…people actually smile when they bring their trays of food back to their seats. Vendors smile back because they’re helping people instead of ripping them off. Relaxed parents empower kids to budget and purchase food on their own. Fans chat up other fans about what a good deal they’re getting. It’s contagious

[fade out Auld Lang Syne]

It’s fun and resonates, I think, because people sense it’s an honest value – not the illusory values so often peddled as the norm at pro sports venues.

For their part, the Dbacks appear to be beta testing Phase 11 of their plodding Value Items campaign, heralding the long awaited arrival of, among other gems, the $3.50 pretzel and $1.50 “Pepsi in a Thimble”

Absolute wildmen, these guys ;-)

If the FO is the focus of anything, something is seriously wrong with the picture ! - unnamedDBacksfan 2/20/09

by Diamondhacks on Mar 7, 2009 1:11 AM EST reply actions

Shocking.

’Hacks almost instinctively turns this into an indictment of the current ownership.

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Mar 8, 2009 6:14 AM EST up reply actions

Funny, I don't

remember any screaming deals from the previous ownership group though, so I think it’s more of an indictment of the whole organization instead and the organizations of the 28 other clubs too

Human thought is so primitive, it's looked upon as an infectious disease in some of the better galaxies. That kind of makes you proud, doesn't it?

by unnamedDBacksfan on Mar 8, 2009 10:13 AM EDT up reply actions

Agreed

I contrasted the Padres’ rollout w/ our current Dbacks because, well, this is a Diamondbacks site, we’re Diamondback fans, and local concession policies affect us. ( It’s not a definitive comparison, btw, I’m just kinda throwing it out there as a snarky, potentially entertaining, counterpoint).

But I agree. Food and drink prices are much bigger than any local critique. Pro sports have convinced a sufficient segment of their captive audiences that it’s normal to shell out for the privilege of ballpark food…and enough people do, to justify the model.

I dont recall screamin’ concession deals from Colangelo either, although he did bring MacDonalds on board, which was our most popular, value priced concessionaire. Quietly replaced in favor of pretentious niche vendors, like Fatburger and Gordon Biersch. What is it now, eight or nine bucks for a hamburger?

So, distinctions can be drawn, I think, between current Diamondback owners v other teams (and v Jerry), in terms of how they cater to the lower income set – and probably should – in light of Mr Hall’s familiar braying about how affordable they are. Correction – how they are the most affordable ;-)

Again, I’m sorry if some of you guys are tired of hearing it, but beyond the overarching concession issue across pro sports, ~~P.T. Barnum’s~~, er…Mr Hall’s excesses help make this an issue locally.

If the FO is the focus of anything, something is seriously wrong with the picture ! - unnamedDBacksfan 2/20/09

by Diamondhacks on Mar 9, 2009 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions

It

is an indictment against the ownership, and like unnamedDbacksfan said, that includes all of the owners. Often times the entertainment industry uses high consession prices to make profits, but also a price point that is greatly inflated. If the Padres are successful with this, then I would hope other owners would follow suit.

I am Shiva the destroyer, your harbinger of doom this evening.

by soco on Mar 8, 2009 11:09 AM EDT up reply actions

High prices are counter-productive

I’m the poster child for this. I won’t buy beer at the park, because it’s over-priced and/or undrinkable [yes, they have $4.50 beer, but it’s not anything I would actually want to swallow]. If they reduced the price of the good stuff to, say, six bucks, they’d make more money off me because I’d not mind paying that for a decent brew. Instead, they make zero.

Incidentally, much the same goes for cinemas. I won’t pay five bucks for a soda – especially not when it’s ten bucks for a ticket and I have to sit through twenty minutes of thinly-disguised advertising before the trailers – but if they charge a reasonable price, like Chandler Cinemas do, then I’ve no problem with it, and the cinema makes more money off me.

'As times goes by, as times goes by, they say "he's washed up", "he's finished" , "he's a loser", "he's all through". You know what? The only one that's going to tell me when I'm through doing my thing is you people here.'

by Jim McLennan on Mar 8, 2009 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions

I'd

be interested to see the actual numbers behind this, though. They must realize that they still can make what they want to at a higher price point, otherwise why keep it high?

On the other hand, it would be interesting to see if the Laffer Curve idea could applied in some ways to concession prices. Would skimming the price of certain items keep revenues the same?

I am Shiva the destroyer, your harbinger of doom this evening.

by soco on Mar 8, 2009 5:28 PM EDT up reply actions