Dodgers Raising Ticket Prices -- Again

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CA -- The Los Angeles Dodgers are raising ticket prices, with double-digit hikes for the second year in a row, and increasing parking prices for season-ticket holders by as much as 27 percent, according to a price list sent to season-ticket holders.

In each of the four full seasons under the ownership of Guggenheim Baseball Management, the Dodgers have won the National League West and led the major leagues in tickets sold. The Dodgers have capped season sales at 35,000 tickets and expect to hit that level again next year, David Siegel, vice president of ticket sales, told the Los Angeles Times.

The Dodgers also have led the majors in payroll the last three seasons, although they are expected to cut that number for a second straight year, according to The Times. Ticket prices are a function of supply and demand, not player salaries.

Siegel would not discuss the range of price hikes nor say whether the team had cost increases this year that would justify a sharp increase in ticket prices next year. However, in addition to record payrolls, he noted the ownership has invested more than $200 million into stadium upgrades, including a new sound system, scoreboards and wi-fi, The Times reported.

The Dodgers raised the price of the cheapest season seat -- on the reserved level, by the foul poles -- to $11 per game, an increase of 120 percent over two years, according to the price list sent to tickets holders Thursday, The Times reported.

Bill Snoberger, 59, an equipment manager for a manufacturing company, told The Times the price of his top-deck seats has doubled under Guggenheim ownership, including a 20 percent increase for next season.

"I knew it was going to go up," he said. "I had no idea it was going to go up in one fell swoop."

-- City News Service, photo courtesy of Los Angeles Dodgers