DENVER (KDVR) — Coors Field’s relative cheapness and its hit-friendly Colorado air look could be having an impact on ticket prices.
The Mile High City is in the throes of a festive weekend leading up to Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby on Monday and the All-Star Game on Tuesday.
Interestingly, ticket prices for the Home Run Derby are now outclassing those of the game itself, according to several ticket sales sites.
Gametime now has the average get-in price for the All-Star Game at $30 less than the Home Run Derby. TickPick, another ticket vendor, has All-Star Game prices $17 less than the derby.
Potentially, this disparity could come from Coors Field itself.
Of course, ticket prices swing and swell as game day gets closer. Ticket vendors won’t have the final average price of the 2021 All-Star Game until the game is past.
However, preliminary data looks less expensive than years past. Tickets for this year’s All-Star Game opened at only a fraction of the average for the last eight years, according to ticket sales data from ticket vendor Seatgeek.
The 2021 game had an average opening price of $42 — only a quarter of the average in the last eight years.
Undoubtedly this could be the result of COVID travel restrictions or the late change of venue from Atlanta to Denver.
Coors Field is generally cheaper, however.
According to MLB data compiled by Statista, the Colorado Rockies are one of the league’s cheapest teams to watch. In 2020, it cost an average $65 to see the Rockies — a little over one-third the average of a Red Sox game.
Colorado’s stadium also has a well-studied reason to want to hit the bleachers for tonight’s Home Run Derby.
It is the undisputedly most hit-friendly field because of the thinness of the air and the city’s elevation. Major League Baseball’s Statcast ranks it first in overall hits among MLB stadiums.
Not only does it get more hits, but they crank a good deal farther in the Mile High City than elsewhere. A baseball with an equal batted ball speed, launch angle and pull goes 18.8 feet farther than average — the league-highest distance.
Furthermore, league rules have changed and will give fans even more distance. No humidor will be used in the contest this year, meaning dingers will travel farther.