Ratings and ticket prices of the times

Excerpted from the "As We See It" column in the November 29, 1975, issue of TV Guide, which I just acquired for my collection...

"Baseball, once unquestioned as the National Pastime, has taken a pasting in recent years--most of it dished out by the National Football League....

"Ah, but this year was different, as fans suddenly rediscovered baseball. One reason was that baseball is a bargain. It certainly doesn't cost $18 a ticket, which is the top price for warming a seat at a Washington Redskins game. As if to reward its fans, baseball responded with the most exciting World Series in years.

"For seven games, the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox played raw, frightening baseball, full of sensational saves and staggering errors, smashing victories and stunning reverses, heroes to idolize and goats to blame...

"The ratings were gratifying to NBC, but even more so to baseball, which had grown weary of being No. 2. For the final game, 60 per cent of the viewing audience was watching baseball on NBC. That came to nearly 76 million viewers--more than for any other sports event ever telecast.

"Baseball, at least until the next Super Bowl, is No. 1 again."

By way of comparison, Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, which had the highest baseball TV ratings since 1991, had about 39 million viewers. The Redskins actually currently have the highest ticket prices in the NFL. I can't find what the actual ticket prices are, but my guess is that, 27 years later, the face value on the worst seats at FedEx Field is at least twice $18. Face value because there's also a "personal seat license" thing involved. I don't want to think about what the top price would be, which would involve "club seating," I'm sure, and a pair of season tickets there probably cost more than I make in a year.

Then again, it's easy to pay $18 or more for a ticket to a Major League Baseball game these days. But, and I'm not sure Bud Selig and the players' union realize this, it is also still fairly easy to pay less than $18 for a ticket to a Major League Baseball game.