Wind Surge makes the right call on baseball ticket prices | Opinion

Last April I wrote a column slamming the price of tickets to Wichita Wind Surge minor-league baseball, pointing out you could go see their Major League parent team, the Minnesota Twins, for less.

Today, I’m happy to report that the situation has changed, and very much for the better. The team has just reduced ticket prices for the upcoming season to levels affordable to Wichitans across the economic spectrum.

Better yet the team has eliminated sneaky add-on taxes and charges, which in the past meant you couldn’t buy a $15 seat with a $20 bill.

Under the new price structure, $11 gets you a seat along the outfield baseline, $14 gets you a little closer in, $17 gets you behind the dugout and $19 gets you behind home plate. For families, admission to the outfield berm is $8 for grownups, $4 for the kids.

If you buy in advance, you get a dollar off, except on the berm.

That’s more like it.

The Wind Surge got off to a stormy start in Wichita for a host of reasons, but probably the biggest was its frankly elitist pricing policies. All seats in the park were face-valued at $15, but add-on charges, some open and some undisclosed, took the price up to as high as $21.63 — more than $86 for a family of four.

For almost 150 years, the charm of baseball has been that it’s the most egalitarian of pro sports. From millionaires in the luxury suites to the 13-year-old spending his lawn-mowing money, everybody could go to a game and everybody could have a good time.

As a baseball fan, the changes being made now are exactly what I’ve been hoping for since Dec. 5, when my Eagle colleague, business columnist Carrie Rengers, broke the news that the team had been sold. The new owner, Diamond Baseball Holdings, is a nationwide group that owns nine other Minor League franchises.

So far, Diamond’s been making the right moves.

They brought back Jay Miller as team president, a true baseball guy and three-time Minor League executive of the year.

Miller was the handpicked choice of Lou Schwechheimer, a baseball visionary and gregarious soul who moved the former New Orleans Baby Cakes to Wichita in 2019, but died of COVID before the first pitch was thrown at the new stadium.

Before his untimely death, Schwechheimer had promised that the Wind Surge would be the people’s team — tickets $15 or less and cheap concession options. Those promises died with him.

Meanwhile, the powers that be realigned Minor League Baseball, downgrading Wichita from Triple-A, the highest level of baseball short of the majors, to Double-A, the level that the Wichita Wranglers occupied before bolting to Northwest Arkansas after the 2007 season.

After Schechheimer died and Miller resigned, baseball took a back seat to bean-counting.

The most epic fail was a hidden 8% upcharge on tickets and everything else sold at the ballpark to help fund commercial development of four acres of riverfront land, which the city sold the team for a dollar an acre as part of the incentive package that brought the team here.

Called a “ballpark development fee,” the charge was undisclosed until after you completed your purchase, no refunds.

Some accused me of excess negativity in my column last year.

So let me offer this observation about the 2022 season: The team admirably did its job on the field, winning their division and playing for the championship.

It’s a pity that we didn’t have a full stadium to watch it.

The best spin I could put on 2022 attendance is that the Wind Surge did make the top 10 in the Texas League.

There are 10 teams in the Texas League.

But after the changes of the last few weeks, I think we can confidently reset this relationship.

It appears we now have a front office worthy of the team and the community at large.

The home opener is April 11. See you at the ballpark.