Wrigley's worst seat
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A beautiful day for a ballgame in the second-worst seat in all of baseball, according to Bookies.com. Photo: Justin Kaufmann/Axios
Anyone who has visited Wrigley Field on a budget knows that some seats offer sightlines that are … less than great.
- A new study shows that the Friendly Confines actually has one of the worst seats in baseball. Bookies.com considers Section 428R, Row 1, Seat 2 the second-worst seat in baseball, behind a seat at Fenway Park.
Why it matters: MLB tickets are expensive — even, as it turns out, for the worst seat in the house.
What's happening: Wanting to investigate just how bad this seat is, we went to Wrigley together and endured quite a hike to get to the nosebleed-inducing outfield 400 level.
- Once we got up there, the weather was actually nice and breezy — but we could have used a closer bathroom.
- Sightlines to home plate were OK as long as we craned our necks around a giant metal pole.
Between the lines: You would think the Cubs might discount a seat that has a huge girder obstructing the action, but that was never mentioned when talking to the ticket agent or perusing online.
- The ticket goes for $37, plus fees.
The intrigue: We tried to avoid the fees by buying at the ticket window for a weekday game against the lowly Pirates.
- But the Cubs force you to buy the tickets on the MLB app, which adds the pesky fees anyway.
- For two tickets nearby — the actual seat was already sold — the total price was $82.
What they're saying: Robert Brewer of Madison, Wisconsin, who bought two seats next to the cursed seat, told us, "I didn't know when I bought these seats that they were right next to the worst seat in the house, but these are fine."
The other side (of town): The worst seat at Guaranteed Rate, per the Bookies.com study, is Section 558, Row 21, Seat 12.
- The usual cost: $15.
Zoom out: Inflation hasn't missed baseball games. According to recent data from FanCostIndex, it costs an average of $312.85 to take a family of four to Wrigley.
- That's the second-most expensive price in MLB, behind Boston.
The bottom line: Wrigley had a lot of open seats for this game, so it was easy to move around to better spots. But this is a terrible seat for $37.
