The Better Your Ballclub, the More the Beer Costs

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You can have a good baseball team. You can have (relatively) cheap beer at the ballpark. But apparently, you cannot have both.

The WSJ dissects data like no one else, coming to these conclusions:

According to data collected by Team Marketing Report for the 2009 season, beer prices vary dramatically among big-league teams. A 21-ounce beer costs $4.75 in Pittsburgh, but you’ll shell out $8.75 for a 20-ounce brew at San Francisco’s AT&T Park. This led us to wonder: Does quality have anything to do with beer prices?

Surprisingly, it does. A team with a .600 winning percentage charges, on average, about $1.30 more for a 16-ounce beer than does a team with a .400 percentage.

So which ballclub offers the best value based on its team’s winning percentage? At Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, you’ll pay a modest $6.75 for a 21-ounce beer while watching one of the best teams in the National League. And for all their losing seasons, at least the Pirates allow their fans to drown their sorrows at a decent price. Even after factoring in their dismal record this season, that 21-ounce beer they sell at PNC Park is still 32% less expensive than it should be by this measure.

Of course, that $4.75 could buy you a six-pack (72 ounces) if you watch the game at home, even with prices for beer going up.