World Series-Game 5

There was a vibe.

And it was different from a regular game.

The intensity was ratcheted up a notch. You knew you were experiencing something different. And the fact that it could be seen by others on TV...never factored in. It was intimate, for the 52,175 in attendance.

But it was not a full house.

Now I'm not saying the best seats were not filled, that would be untrue. But the far distant spots in the upper deck, where it starts to curve around, out past the foul poles, you couldn't miss it...there was a veritable plethora of unsold seats.

Now you could say it was scalpers not lowering their prices to flip them... But these are the worst seats in the house, and the scalpers buy the most desirable seats, not these.

So why were they unfilled?

BECAUSE THEY COST $881!

Now the funny thing is the vibe at Dodger Stadium was better than almost any show I've been to. At the venue, there's always jockeying for position. Someone won't sit down. Others talk. And then there's the pushing ahead, the intimidation. You know, you've experienced it at an arena show. Where the music is supposed to bring us together.

But not at the World Series. As Marc mentioned, once we exited the building, it would be a different story. And he was right. As soon as we hit the parking lot the police had a fan in a hold against a patrol car, arm extended, signing...

Blake said it was an agreement not to come back... For at least a year. There have been too many fan on fan crimes in the Dodgers lot. So the cops are cracking down.

But inside the building?

Everybody was friendly, everybody was in it together, it was the culmination of a long season, everybody was there for the Dodgers, for the game... Sure, there were a few Jays fans, but mostly you saw an ocean of Dodger blue.

And it was like a party.

This is not the baseball of yore, a solemn event. Where you sit quietly until the action takes place. There was a constant stream of music. Cheerleaders throwing t-shirts. It was all amped-up, sans the viciousness of the NFL.

Have you seen these players? Unlike in the Mantle/Mays days, they work out. But they're all not perfect physical specimens. They're short, they're tall, some are a bit overweight...but they have the skills. This makes baseball different, the only direct equivalent I can think of is golf.

But baseball's got a different momentum. Sure, the pitcher is regularly in action, like the golfer, but really what we're waiting for is a burst of activity, a hit.

And the Dodgers seem to have lost the ability to do so. And you can't win without scoring runs. And sure, the Jays' pitcher was stupendous and...

This isn't the baseball of the past forty years. This baseball goes fast, almost TOO FAST! The innings are going by and you want to put on the brakes, because this is the last game at the stadium for the year. But with the new rules, if there's not a lot of offense...

And the Jays are playing a different game, more old school, moving the runners around the bases. The Dodgers play statistical baseball, and it says to go for the long ball. And sometimes that works, but last night it did not.

So normally a game is an outing... The food is as important as what takes place on the field. But in this case, I couldn't get up, the food was irrelevant, I wanted to soak up the action, the experience, it demanded your attention.

And the question was...is it the same everywhere else?

Marc said no way... You don't get the party vibe in New York. And he also said you don't see overweight people at Dodger Stadium, that the contrast was palpable.

But what you've got to know, especially now, when "California" is a pejorative, when half the country has labeled it a hellhole... We've disconnected. We're not fighting back, why? Stay where you want, we have it good. Where else can you watch baseball at the end of October in the eighties? In your shorts and t-shirt?

Yes, it was a celebration of California culture, a victory lap. With the broad sky and the palm trees in the distance... A veritable paradise. How could you not feel good?

I will say that the air started to come out of the balloon at the end of the middle innings, especially when the Blue Jays pulled so far ahead, but before that? Everybody was in it together, willing the Dodgers to perform...

Even though they didn't.

So you had to be there... Just like at a show. But at what price?

Now you can't watch the show at home, except for rarely, like with Coachella. But if you tune in that just gives you FOMO. Yet baseball is all over TV, it used to depress ticket sales drastically. But not in L.A... Which always leads the league in attendance, in one of the oldest parks in existence. Sure, the food is better than it used to be, but not in the league of the two new stadiums in NYC, never mind elsewhere. The product isn't much different from what it was in the sixties. It's traditional, even down to the symmetrical field.

So what is the draw?

It's almost mystical.

In reality, Los Angeles is a two team town. The Dodgers and the Lakers. Sure, there are other outfits, other leagues, but if you live here you know, these two are the primary ones. And everybody is aware of them and how they're doing.

But the passion is different. On the east coast you want to fight to the death over your team, that's the way support is evidenced, with attitude, almost anger. Whereas here...it's all pleasant.

Then again, how to describe the vibe of Los Angeles to those who see it as a scary place where no one can make ends meet? But in truth, L.A. is a giant suburb, and chances are where you live there's little crime, you feel safe, which is what it really comes down to. And how depressed can you be about your problems, how much can you complain, when every day it's sunny and warm, all you have to do is walk out the front door to feel glad to be alive.

Which means you don't need a sports team to feel good about yourself. The team is an addition to your life, not everything.

But what is it worth to you? Do you need to go?

Obviously some saw the financial proposition as too much. Nearly a grand for a baseball game? No. Whereas with shows there's no limit to what people will pay just to be inside, as long as they can see the stage.

So why don't they charge what the tickets are worth at concerts?

In sports, it's a badge of honor to have paid a lot.

And the funny thing with shows is for all the bitching and moaning, people still buy the tickets. Because they need to be there and the ducats are probably underpriced.

But they hate on acts...say they're greedy if the ticket prices are too high.

Maybe that's a difference. The Dodgers are the Ticketmaster of the team. They take the heat and the players skate... The players are fungible, the team remains. Whereas with concerts, it's the act's name on the marquee.

But why should shows be priced artificially low? Let's go one step further, why should the entire industry be handicapped by the vocal few who bitch about high prices and either pay them or don't go? Fans are willing to pay. And if the acts don't charge, then the secondary market gets all the uplift.

These guaranteed sellout acts should take a page from the Stones. Admit that they're worth it and charge a fortune, what the tickets are truly worth. They're gonna sell, and no one comes out of a show and says they paid too much for a ticket. Either they loved it or they didn't. Price doesn't come into the equation, no one says I paid $200 but really it was only a $100 show.

But that's the world we live in. Where everybody's afraid of the bogeyman. That there's some force out there and if you make one false move...

Newsom has proven this wrong for the Democrats... Ironic that he's from California. Schumer and Jeffries are still pussyfooting.

If the concert industry shook off the constraints and charged what the tickets are worth... The audience would adjust, get over it, in a short period of time, they'd accept this as normal. This is kind of like the switch from sale to subscription by Adobe and then Microsoft... Sure, there are people complaining that they used to pay once and have it forever, but under the new model, you get constant updates. Adobe's revenue went down for a brief period, and then shot up!

It's about changing the mind-set.

In the concert industry we've got the fallacy that the problem is Ticketmaster. No, the problem is we've got too many people fighting for too few underpriced tickets. Who wouldn't want to be a scalper. Score a good seat for $250 and you can flip it for a grand! It's found money! Sure, not every show...but a lot of these acts are guaranteed sellouts.

So you can sit there at home and instead of complaining you can't get a ticket in the frenzy, you'll ask yourself what is it worth to you to go?

Nobody on the consumption side is going to like this at first. Just like they said music should be free back in the sixties. An extremely desirable good, which is perishable to boot, is going to command increased attention and ultimately revenue...why not capture it?

All you've got to do is be brave.

You're paying for Ohtani to play for the Dodgers, we're all paying. We don't sit at home and say he should take less. If anything, we know that if he does, the Dodgers and their deep pocketed owners will just capture the revenue. Why can't acts be paid what they're worth? So the secondary market doesn't capture the uplift?

We need a change of heart and mind. Someone's just got to step up, and then the whole paradigm will flip. This is what the audience wants, a fair shot at getting a good ticket. And under the present system, that's an illusion. Yes, this will probably cause face value to go up, but it can also go down, based on demand... Like I said, the public thought corner upper deck seats weren't worth the price...but they still had the option to buy them. Wouldn't you like the option?


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