MLB raises World Series ticket prices by 35 percent

NEW YORK -- Be prepared to pay if your team makes it to the World Series.

The price of regular box seats will be $250, according to notices some teams have started sending to their season ticket holders.

That's up from $185 last year, a 35 percent hike that is the steepest in nearly a decade, since Major League Baseball doubled the price from $75 to $150 in 1998. The cost rose to $160 in 2000, $175 in 2001 and $185 in 2004, where it stayed last year.

Premium seats, which include waiter service, cost even more.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig declined comment and Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

"The ticket prices are comparable to other major events," baseball spokesman Rich Levin said.

Baseball's ticket-price range for the Series will start at a low of $75, a $10 increase from last year.

While the top price has more than tripled since 1998, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers -- which baseball often ties its minimum salary to -- has gone up 24.7 percent since then, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Still, World Series tickets cost far less than seats for the Super Bowl, where tickets were $600 apiece last year. The NFL has not set the price for next year's game, scheduled for Feb. 4 in Miami.

In the first two rounds of the baseball playoffs, there will be slight increases. For the league championship series, the suggested range given to teams by the commissioner's office is $50-$95, up from $50-90 last year. For the division series, the range is $20-$55, up from $20-$50 last season.