I was sitting with a group of people a couple of weeks ago, and the subject of our radio station’s summer bus trip to see the Cubs came up.
I was asked about my strategy of eating on our trips.
Twenty years ago, this was an easy answer — you walked in when the gates open and ate inside the park. The gates open two hours before first pitch, and the Cubs offer a 25-percent discount at the concessions stands for the first hour the gates are open.
That means a $6 hot dog is worth $4.50, and the souvenir-sized drink is $6.25. I know, that’s still a ridiculous price, but you know that’s what you are getting into when you commit to going to a major league baseball game.
A couple of dogs, some fries or nachos with cheese and a drink and you’ve put $15 into a meal that comes in wrappers and plastic containers. And yes, there is something really wrong with that.
But in recent years the neighborhood around Wrigley Field has changed. There have been bars there for 100 years, and they almost always have served food. But in 2019, landscape of Wrigleyville is now seasoned with restaurants everywhere you turn, and the food choices range from sushi joints to barbeque and wings to Chicago-Style pizza. They are full on game days.
If you went to one game every homestand during the season, you could eat in a different establishment outside the ball park every time you went and never visit the same one twice.
So more and more people are taking advantage of that, and put me among their numbers.
If you pass on all of that in favor of the traditional ballpark fare, you’ll find that inside. Dogs, nachos, peanuts, popcorn, Cracker-Jack and all the other popular choices are behind counters scattered throughout the concourses.
But now even the standards are side-by-side with some non-traditional choices. Prefer grilled or crispy chicken to a hot dog? You can get that. They also have vegetarian options if you are into that.
Baseball has swung and missed on a lot of things over the last 20 years, but they have adapted to the cravings of its ticket-buyers pretty well.
Part of that comes from the fact that ticket prices have gone up in all of the major sports to a point where the ordinary, everyday fan can’t afford to buy them. Higher-priced tickets means the average yearly income of those who buy them goes up. Higher wage earners have more sophisticated tastes in their everyday lives, and that is now reflected in stadium food.
Beer is still the prominent beverage in a baseball stadium, but you will now find wine and other froo-froo drinks on the menu at certain stands. Even mixed drinks can be had if you look for them.
I used to mock all of this, by the way. As a 51-year old guy who has never had a drink of alcohol in his life and prefers polish sausage to a perfectly-cooked steak, I had no need for any of these new offerings and I poo-pooed the need for them in general.
I was wrong on that.
In this case, more is better. And for the Cubs, selling $10 sandwiches ads up faster than $6 ones.
Big picture: having options is good.
So have a helmet full of nachos smothered in cheese and sour cream. Sink your teeth into a grilled chicken sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes if that’s your thing. Or have a couple of hot dogs, which is a sandwich by the way, and enjoy the freedom America offers by only putting ketchup on them if that’s the way you want them.
Now, if big stadiums can start working on increasing the number of women’s restrooms!
