Chicago Cubs spring training ticket price hike a swing and a miss for loyal fans

This week, we’re wrapping up another successful Cactus League spring training season here in the Valley of the Sun.

I have made it my mission to visit all 10 spring training facilities and that mission will be accomplished Wednesday as I visit Sloan Park in Mesa for some Chicago Cubs baseball.

Last year, the Chicago Cubs became World Series champions for the first time in over 100 years. Millions of fans around the world celebrated. It was finally over.

No more being the butt of every baseball joke. No more saying, “There’s always next year.” No more having to explain to your children that it’s OK to be a Cubs fan although they’ll never win a World Series. No more Fourth of July barbecue grumblings about how the season is halfway over and it’s already a disaster.

All of that is done.

And how does the Cubs organization say thank you to millions of fans that have stuck with the team for over an entire century rewarded?

By charging three times the standard rate for spring training tickets.

That’s right. The average ticket price for a Sloan Park Cubs game was $106. Lawn seats were more than $50.

I understand the free market system. I understand capitalism. I understand if you have a good product, people will pay to use it or see it.

But we’re not talking about the New York Yankees or the St. Louis Cardinals (I know, that hurts) that have a historic track record of successful teams, we’re talking about the Cubs.

The Cubs have had nothing but a record of failing teams for 100 years and yet boast one of the most loyal fan bases in the history of sports.

And those fans, for the first time in generations, get to be proud of their team. They get to hold their heads high for the first time in 100 years only to see their loyalty be rewarded with spring training ticket prices that knock an average family of four right out of the park.

Swing and a miss, Cubs.