Junk Food Tax To Affect Ballpark Food Prices?
August 25, 2009 · Christopher Chavez · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Recently Major League Baseball has become more involved in government affairs. Lately, it has all been about steroids and performance enhancing drugs. The newest topic is not going to go well with the fans: junk food tax.
As if $7.50 isn’t enough for a hamburger alone, the United States Government wants to add an additional tax to what many doctors consider unhealthy food products.
The government has not addressed whether it will affect prices at sporting events, but how will the baseball world respond as it gets even more expensive in a bad economy?
Just about everything sold at a ballpark nowadays is junk food, so sporting events definitely will be affected by this tax.
The last few days there have been more government officials than ever pushing for a junk food tax. These types of taxes are being dubbed as “sin taxes.” The sin tax on cigarettes has been pretty effective and has caused several people to stop smoking.
The junk food tax has soaring expectations from the government and probably won’t stop everyone from consuming what doctors don’t want. New York Governor David Patterson proposed an 18 percent increase for sodas in the city. Patterson is one of the many people who believes that taxing food will help the public make smarter eating decisions.
The government has seen an increase in the obesity rate the last several years. To keep America healthy they are going to try to go after the consumer’s pockets to stop them from eating. The additional tax added to junk food will probably put Ballpark Hot Dogs and Hamburgers at record high levels.
Recently the Yankees and Mets with their new stadiums have made the seats wider to adjust to the new size of the average American. They also had to lower ticket prices as there were fewer people attending games than expected. In this low economy baseball is getting more and more expensive for the average American fan.
Citi Field and Yankee Stadium have some of the best food that one can get at a stadium. There is a lot of variety, from the traditional hot dog to sushi to Mexican food. But how far will Americans go to get these amenities?
Let’s say the average ticket to a game costs $40. Getting to the ball park will add some money as you will need to pay for gas or a train/bus fare. Then you add the $15-$20 that one spends on parking if you drove, and you have already spent at least $55.
If you want a hot dog at the game, get ready to add at least $5, plus tax, and then add the junk food tax on top of that. You just spent about $6-$10 depending on what you decided to eat.
In the end the total may equal what a person makes in a few days of work and an entire paycheck goes to the game.
A suggestion that could be made is that owners take a look at how much money is coming in from what fans spend on food. If the amount has declined steadily they might consider lowering the prices to adjust to the new tax and keep them at the prices before the tax.
Another way that owners could adjust to the junk food tax is to make “picnic areas” what they are and let the fans bring in their food to the designated area where people could hold a picnic.
At Shea Stadium, the picnic area was outside of the stadium and did not let people watch the game live as they ate their own food but let them eat and look at a television as they ate.
If the tax is added to junk food, what will Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig do anything about it? It seems like he’s too busy right now with the steroid investigations to be bothered by a tax on the fans.
Bud Selig does a good job by paying attention to the game and keeping it clean, but at the same time pays attention to who makes up a great part of the game: the fans.
Without the fans the game is no longer exciting or fun.
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