00:01I'm at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and I just paid $7.99 for this hot dog from
00:06Concessions. But less than a mile away, I could get a nearly identical one for
00:12just $2.29. That means I'm paying 249% more at the stadium. And it's not just
00:19hot dogs. A 24-ounce beer at the stadium costs nearly 92% more than it would at a
00:26bar down the street. And this burger costs nearly 70% more than it would at a
00:31restaurant in the same neighborhood. I love the Dodgers, but this shit sucks.
00:37Last year, I paid $11 for a bottle of water at a Lakers game. Instead of just
00:43accepting it, I asked a simple question, why? What I found was that most stadiums
00:48use a kind of monopoly power. There are 39 places to buy food at Dodger Stadium, but
00:54they're all operated by or in partnership with one company.
00:58We need to make sure that the corporations in this country are not
01:02squeezing every single extra dollar off of the consumers' backs.
01:08The thing is, fans helped pay for most of the stadiums across the U.S. with
01:12their taxes. And it's that fact that could be the key to stopping stadium
01:17food from being so expensive in the future.
01:21In my search to understand how we got to $8 hot dogs, I found three turning points
01:27that transformed stadium operations into many monopolies. First, the rise of the
01:32all-powerful concessionaire. America's earliest stadiums didn't have dozens of
01:38concession stands like today. Instead, independent vendors would flock to games and
01:42sell snacks like popcorn, peanuts, and, of course, hot dogs. Those vendors set their own prices.
01:49It wasn't until the late 1800s that independent vendors began consolidating into larger concession
01:56businesses and signing exclusive contracts with stadiums or teams. So instead of multiple
02:02independent vendors, only one vendor or company would be allowed to sell food at a given stadium.
02:07This significantly limited vendor competition. They were able to knit together their contracts
02:16at several stadiums and arenas that happened to be in the same market. So it would be very typical for
02:22one vendor to specialize in a particular area of the country, like in the Northeast.
02:29For example, a concessionaire named Harry M. Stevens founded Harry M. Stevens Incorporated, a company that
02:37provided concessions to three of New York's major league teams at the time, the Yankees, Giants, and the Dodgers.
02:45He would establish his pricing based on a cut. So if a hot dog was 10 cents, then he would
02:53get the cut of that hot dog.
02:55They actually became much more sophisticated before the teams themselves became stadium operators.
03:02Even with less competition, from the 1950s to the 70s, prices stayed low. For example, at Brooklyn's
03:10Ebbets Field in 1956, a hot dog and a beer cost 60 cents total, roughly $7 to $7.50 in
03:19today's money.
03:20Two decades later, that price hadn't moved much. In 1976, a hot dog and a beer sold for $1.25
03:29at Queen's Shea Stadium, or about $7.53 today.
03:34Nobody was trying to get rich running these venues. They were simply trying to provide an amenity for the folks
03:42who were coming to the venue.
03:43Most stadiums still follow this concessions model. Like I mentioned, there are 39 different
03:49restaurants at Dodger Stadium, but their prices are all set by or in conjunction with Levy
03:54Restaurants, which has provided all the concessions for the stadium since 2005.
03:59And it wouldn't be long before concession companies and teams wanted to cash in.
04:04That leads us to the second shift, one in ownership.
04:10Before the 80s, most U.S. stadiums were owned and operated by local governments, which meant
04:16cities got a share of the profits from food sales. But by the time the 90s rolled around,
04:21many U.S. stadiums were in need of major facelifts. In that decade alone, 95 new sports venues
04:27were either built, renovated, under construction, or in the planning stages.
04:32This transition wasn't cheap. The average cost of building a sports facility rose from $3.8
04:39million in the 1950s to $200 million in the 90s.
04:44Shea Stadium, a spanking new park, is dedicated by Mayor Robert Wagner and manager Casey Stengel
04:50of the New York Mets, who have found a new home.
04:53To get these expensive construction projects done, teams started contributing financially
04:58to the stadium's construction.
04:59While they weren't paying for all of the venue, they were typically in for, estimates would
05:06say about 40% of the cost of building the venue, on average.
05:10Take the Baltimore Orioles, who contributed $9 million to the construction of luxury skyboxes
05:17at Camden Yards.
05:18And during the construction of the Seattle Mariners Ballpark in 1999, the team contributed $145
05:25million toward the $517 million budget.
05:29With bigger investments came a new type of contract.
05:33Take a look at this lease agreement between Yankee Stadium and the New York City Industrial
05:38Development Agency.
05:40Under this agreement, signed in 2006, the Yankees manage and control the stadium's operations,
05:46keeping all revenues derived from concessions facilities.
05:50Essentially, sports teams said, if we're going to help build and operate the stadiums, we want
05:57all, or at least most, of the profits.
06:00And this is when we start to see the steady increase in concessions pricing.
06:06Across the NFL, the average price of a 16-ounce domestic beer was about $10.96 in 2025.
06:14That year, the most expensive one sold for $16.99 at Northwest Stadium, home of the Washington
06:21Commanders.
06:21To put that into context, this 12-pack of 16-ounce beer cost me $14, or roughly $1.17 per
06:30bottle.
06:31I went to Dodger Stadium to see just how much a single day at the park would cost me.
06:38Could I just have the Dodger dog and a bottle of water?
06:48It's pretty good.
06:49Worth $8?
06:51I don't think so.
06:53Hi.
06:54Can I get the Stella?
06:55And then, um, do you guys have the Dodgeritas here?
07:01Two drinks are $65.
07:07Can I get your bacon cheeseburger?
07:10One?
07:10Just one.
07:12In total, I spent over $100 at the park for a hot dog, a burger, and a few drinks.
07:18And I'm not alone.
07:19How much do you think you spent on concessions, food, and drink today?
07:25Around $250.
07:27Seven to eight drinks.
07:29And then we got the helmet and nachos.
07:32And that's about it.
07:34That's a lot.
07:34The drinks are a lot.
07:35How much did you spend on, like, drinks in total?
07:38Yeah, I probably had four or five, maybe $100.
07:40Realistically, I spent, like, $66.
07:43Essentially, we're paying for the contracts.
07:45Because you're paying $45 for parking and then $26 for beer.
07:49How much did you spend on concessions, food and drink, at the stadium today?
07:53Um, about, like, $350, probably $4.
07:57Do you come to, like, the games a lot?
07:59No, that's why, girl.
08:00If I come a lot, I'm getting that in my purse.
08:03Technically, she could bring in her own snacks.
08:06Dodger Stadium, along with most MLB stadiums, allow outside food and non-alcoholic drinks.
08:13But baseball stadiums are an outlier.
08:16That's because other major league sports, like the NFL, NBA, and NHL,
08:21generally restrict outside food and drinks.
08:24This lack of competition turns spectators into a captive audience.
08:29We've made it to the third shift.
08:31In the case of stadiums...
08:33You have thousands of fans in your venue for, say, a two- to three-hour window,
08:37where the only items that are available for them to purchase as amenities
08:42are items that you control the price of.
08:45Stadiums aren't the only places with a captive audience.
08:48You've probably experienced this before.
08:51At the airport.
08:53But there's one key difference.
08:55At most major U.S. airports, there are rules that keep food prices in check.
08:59Local airport authorities can cap how much an airport can charge under a policy called Street Pricing Plus.
09:08For example, in the New York area, if this chocolate bar costs an average of $8.27 on the outside,
09:16airports can only charge that street price plus a 15% upcharge, capping the price at $9.51.
09:24You can take a look at our So Expensive episode about airport food to see how difficult it is to
09:30enforce street pricing plus.
09:31But at least there is a policy in place.
09:34And right now, New York lawmakers are trying to implement something similar for stadiums.
09:39The Fair Concession Pricing Act.
09:41The bill would allow venues to charge a maximum of 20% above street prices for food and non-alcoholic
09:49beverages.
09:50To really understand how something like this would work, I spoke to New York State Senator April Baskin.
09:56So for people who haven't read the bill, what exactly is the Fair Concession Pricing Act?
10:03If you're at a stadium or an arena and there is a hot dog for sale,
10:10if the 10-mile radius around the arena has establishments that have hot dogs that are priced at $5,
10:18that means that in the arena, the hot dog cannot be any more than $6.
10:24One of the main arguments for implementing street price for airport food is that it's sold to a captive audience.
10:31Since that's also the case for stadiums, it should be pretty easy to enforce street pricing, right?
10:38Not exactly.
10:39The difference between an airport and a stadium is that while airports are well understood to be pieces of public
10:47infrastructure,
10:48even if the stadium is publicly owned in full or in part,
10:53there is a legal argument that can be made that if the stadium is privately operated,
10:59that once one enters into the building, then it becomes a private environment.
11:04Judith is right.
11:05LaGuardia Airport, for example, is run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,
11:11while Yankee Stadium is operated by, well, the Yankees.
11:17But that's why New York State plans on getting creative.
11:20For example, when Yankee Stadium was built in 2009, the total cost was about $2.3 billion.
11:27But about $1.2 billion of that came from public subsidies and city tax breaks.
11:35The team also doesn't have to pay property taxes because the stadium was built on publicly owned land.
11:41The Fair Concession Pricing Act would require stadiums that receive any taxpayer money to adhere to street pricing plus 20%.
11:49If a stadium violated the rule, it would risk losing tax exemptions, face fines up to $10,000,
11:56and have to repay a portion of the public funds they receive.
12:00Historically, public investment in stadiums was based on the premise that stadiums would provide economic benefits to surrounding communities.
12:08But experts aren't so sure that's the case.
12:10In one survey from 2017, 80% of economists agreed that stadium subsidies cost taxpayers more than the local economic
12:20benefits.
12:21When local governments make these types of investments, they have to also think about the cost burden on the people.
12:31Not just the investment, but even afterwards, after the investment, people are still spending their money.
12:41Another bill, called the Honest Oversight of Ticketed Dining and On-Site Grub Act, or Hot Dog Act, would direct
12:48the FTC to study stadium concession prices nationwide
12:52and recommend ways to make them more affordable.
12:55You get a price, you know, $16 for a beer, and you have no idea how that money is being
13:02chopped up and where it's going.
13:03We need to make sure that the corporations in this country are not squeezing every single extra dollar off of
13:12the consumers' backs.
13:13Both the Fair Concession Pricing Act and the Hot Dog Act are currently active, but neither has been passed into
13:19law yet.
13:20These proposals are meant to force the hands of teams and stadium operators.
13:25But I was surprised to find at least one stadium making a change on its own.
13:30And it says it's working for the stadium and fans.
13:33When Mercedes-Benz Stadium opened in Atlanta in 2017, it launched what it called Fan First Pricing.
13:40It's a model that prices concessions at or near what you'd pay on the street, like $2 hot dogs and
13:48$5 beers.
13:49We took those core items and made sure that they were available at what we call street pricing.
13:56If you could go outside the venue and get a Coca-Cola, you know, for $3, then we expect it
14:02to be $3 inside the stadium.
14:03With cheaper concessions, you would think the stadium would make less money, right?
14:09Actually, the opposite happened.
14:12The stadium says fans spent 16% more on food and drink, and it saw a 30% increase in
14:18total transactions.
14:20Overall spending also increased by 20%.
14:23Speaking with Tim made me realize just how much concession prices influenced the fan experience.
14:29They have the freedom to further invest, if you will, in the experience.
14:37That ultimately results in hats being purchased or a jersey being purchased or other items within the experience now going
14:46into the basket, if you will.
14:48The model we have in place leaves people feeling more valued and feeling more fulfilled.
14:53And then yet when they leave the venue, oftentimes they have taken or purchased more things, but do so in
15:02a manner where they're like, wow, I got a lot more for my money.
15:05Tim says the fan first pricing model has also caught the attention of other stadiums.
15:10It can be done in full scale like us, or it might be as simple as a fan friendly meal
15:15pack.
15:15So with everything I've learned, the only question left is, will anything actually lower the price of a stadium hot
15:22dog?
15:23The answer depends on who you ask.
15:26For State Senator Baskin and Congressman Goldman, these bills are a step in the right direction.
15:31We need to push forward and make sure that the consumers' rights are front and center.
15:37And that's why we are pushing forward with this bill.
15:41And at a minimum, there's a lot of transparency and there's more data that we can study and learn more
15:47about this.
15:48How realistic is it for it to become an actual law?
15:52The success of all of these bills really depends on the people and how much they push people like myself
16:00and my colleagues to get it over the finish line.
16:03When we agitate the consumers and remind them how much of their hard earned tax dollars went in to creating
16:14that arena or that stadium, it will help them connect the dots.
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