Chicago Cubs: Tickets for home opener at historic highs

If you had the opportunity to see the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in the World Series, good for you. But maybe seeing them in the home opener will be a little more affordable? It will, but not by much.

So you couldn’t afford to go see the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. Join the other 90% of the blue-collared fans who couldn’t come up with the money. While it was great to see Cubs’ fans like Eddie Vedder, John Cusack and Bill Murray–lest not forget they are celebrities. But now that the Cubs are World Series Champions, it’s a new season. We can go see them in the home opener! Let me just search tickets and…….oh. Well, that wasn’t what I was hoping for.

While they aren’t near the cost of what they were for the World Series ($2000 or more), it’s not much of a reprieve. According to TicketIQ, the Cubs home opener will set you back an average of $443 per ticket. A family of four? Tickets, parking, food–and it’s just your everyday $1000 day at the ballpark. The one thing I MIGHT actually miss from the days passed? A more affordable trip to the ballpark. And even then Wrigley Field was no slouch.

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But this is the price of success, and I think it’s one that most of us are accepting of. The second highest asking price for a team’s home opener? The St. Louis Cardinals. But they, of course, open up against our Cubs. So we know where that is being driven up from, don’t we?

With all the additions and upgrades in and around Wrigley Field, this will become the norm. Parking meters will charge a higher rate during games. Nearby bars and restaurants will likely try to take advantage of the Cubs success. But when there’s a wave like this, can you blame anyone for trying to ride it as long as they can?

Next: It's a bright future behind the plate

My wife and I will make our yearly trip up to see family in Michigan, then head over to Chicago to catch a game. While I won’t lie, the cost of the trip will probably make me ill. But in the end, it will be worth every penny.  We take the South Shore over. Catch the Red Line into Wrigleyville, and exit into a sea of the most beautiful blue you have ever seen. Going into Wrigley to see the World Champs for the first time? That’s, by all means, priceless.