Ben & Woods On Demand Podcast
7am Hour - Padres Announce Small Season Ticket Price Increase
Ben & Paul kick off the 7am hour with a quick update on the 2024 Summer Olympics before we play our final game of Take On John with Woodsy returning to the show tomorrow! Then we get to "Don't (And DO Do This) before we talk about the email that the Padres sent to season ticket members last night, announcing a small increase in ticket prices, and we take your phone calls! Listen here!
- Duration:
- 47m
- Broadcast on:
- 06 Aug 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
You don't just live in your home. You live in your neighborhood as well. So when you're shopping for a home, you want to know as much about the area around it as possible. Luckily, Homes.com has got you covered. Each listing features a comprehensive neighborhood guide from local experts. Everything you'd ever want to know about a neighborhood, including the number of homes for sale, transportation, local amenities, cultural attractions, unique qualities, and even things like median lot size and a noise score. Homes.com, we've done your homework. Now, with the MLB app, you can get baseball your way. Pick your favorite team, your favorite players, and get customized highlights, stories, and breaking news right on your home field. Follow the action with Game Tip, where 3D replays at another dimension. Plus, notifications can keep you connected to every pinch, every hit, every game, the MLB app. Baseball, your way. Download it now for free from the App Store or Google Play. Block out another research and supply major league baseball tree parts used with permission. This season Instacart has your back to school. As in, they've got your back to school lunch favorites, like snack packs and fresh fruit. And they've got your back to school supplies, like backpacks, binders, and pencils. And they've got your back. When your kid casually tells you, they have a huge school project due tomorrow. Let's face it, we were all that kid. So first, call your parents to say, I'm sorry. And then download the Instacart app to get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes all school year long. Get a $0 delivery fee for your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order additional term supply. Welcome back to San Diego's number one cookie station. We are 97.3. The fan, our thanks again to Jesse Aguiler, Oreo. Fan joining us from Pittsburgh and getting ready for tonight's Christina Aguilera-themed Incorporated at 3.40 today when the Padres open a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, it'll be Dylan Sees on the mound looking to continue what's been a historic run as Jesse was talking about. A four incredible starts. His last four starts, the numbers, Paulie. 27 and 2/3 innings pitched. Three hits. It's pretty good. Or five hits, I'm sorry, that's still good. Five hits. Not as good, but still one earned run and 36 strikeouts. Wow, in 27 innings. In 27 and 2/3 innings. Five hits, a run and 36 strikeouts. Including a no-hitter, of course, on July 25th in Washington. Yeah, he's on one right now, man. Keep it rolling. Bailey falter. Decent left-handers had a pretty good season. He's getting air age just under four. But the way Dylan Sees has been pitching, and obviously all good things come to an end at some point, but you hope it's not today, you feel good. You get Dylan Sees, three four runs. You got to feel pretty good about your chances when Dylan Sees is on that mound with the bullpen that the Padres have put behind him after another off day, ready to go. So that'll be today's series opener. Tomorrow Michael King is scheduled to return after about 10 days off after he took that line drive in his last start. He will take on Marco Gonzalez in game two of the series. Michael King talked to the UT about that workload thing and how maybe the 10 days off is not the worst thing. It's the second time in this last month. He's had a 10-day break. They were able to give him a 10-day break around the all-star break because he pitched like three days before the all-star break and then not until like three days after it, so he was able to get one 10-day break in. Now here's another one. Just trying to stretch that arm and as many innings as possible as he continues to push past where he's ever been before, at least on the big league level. So Michael King been an important arm. He will pitch in tomorrow's series, middle game, and then still no word on who the Padres are throwing yet on Thursday remains a TBD for game three of the series. If you want to join us, I think I'm going to play take on Jon coming up here in a couple of minutes, chance to qualify for our new trip to Las Vegas, Kerry Underwood tickets at the resorts world, which is fantastic. I saw it when I was in Vegas a few months ago. Really cool place. Call now if you want to play our musical trivia challenge, 833-288-097-3, a couple minutes away, but you can get online first. Helps you have an advantage getting in, 833-288-097-3. Before we get to that though, Paul, you asked me an interesting question that there's no perfect answer for before the show regarding the Olympics. You remember your question? I do, yeah. Every time I get an update on the Olympics, it's always the medal count. And they show the gold medals, silver medals, bronze medal counts, and then your total medals. And I go, what's better? The overall medal count or having the most gold medals? Right now, in the overall medal count, the United States is well ahead, 79 total medals. China is second with 53. Host France is third with 48. But when it comes to gold medals, the United States is only tied for the most with China at 21. So I would say the United States is having a more successful Olympics run than China, based on the fact that they're tied with gold medals, and we have 20 more medals in general. I think, if China had eight more gold medals than us, but we saw more overall medals, like who feels like they're winning? Call me a softie. I don't even know if it is a competition. Call me a softie, but ultimately, in the Olympics, finishing top three matters. Unlike any other sport, you know, the Padres have, what, 50, 52 silver medals this year for finishing second. Doesn't sound as good in baseball. You either win or you don't in most sports. But in the Olympics, you know, first, second, or third are all great accomplishments, especially in events where you're taking on multiple competitors. There may be, you know, 30 or 40 qualifiers, and you stand out by being one of the top three. That makes a difference. So I think the overall medal count is very important, and having 79 of them certainly reflects well. Now we have inherent advantages in population size and just training and everything that goes into being part of Team USA. So you'd be pretty embarrassed if we weren't doing very well in, I mean, I guess China has better population size than we do, but we generally do win. I don't think that we've lost a medal count since like the Soviet Union was around in the 1980s. So that's something you certainly expect from Team USA. It also kind of depends on like the event. Like if the USA men's basketball team wins gold, and they play in the quarterfinals today, 1230, our time against Brazil, there's how many guys are on that team, you know. - I was just gonna ask, does that count as 12? - No, it only counts as one, just one single gold medal for winning, whatever, six straight basketball games, and everybody on that team that worked so hard, you know, putting together the best team on the planet, yet one gold medal for that, whereas someone like Katie Ledecky will win five or six of them because she swims, you know, the 800, the 1600, the relays, the, you know, the medleys, whatever that they do, she's part of the team, and they can win so many more in swimming. So it kind of depends on which events your country excels in, in, you know, China, and there's different events, terms of like, there's like the shooting events and the judo with the different weight classes and, you know, events that have multiple medals available, whereas some sports just have the one, the Olympic golf tournament, you got one for men, one for women, that's it, one gold, one silver, one bronze, so it's hard to really calculate what's important. Honestly, I think what's truly important, and this is, is that everybody has fun? - Well, yeah, and they show off good sportsmanship, and I think in the Olympics, it's more important than anywhere else, but I thought one of the best moments of the Olympics happened yesterday, and it actually came on Simone Biles's worst day at the Olympics, she had her final two individual events, she fell off the balance beam, everyone was falling off, she ended up finishing fifth, not even meddling when she could've won a gold, and then she got deducted a couple of points when she stepped out of bounds on her incredible floor exercise and ended up settling for silver instead of gold, which she was favored to win, so that's kind of a disappointing result, even though she's the goat, had an incredible Olympics, kind of a disappointing way to end it, but I thought the incredible moment at the end, I don't know if anyone was watching her, or cares that much about gymnastics, but Biles got second, and her teammate and friend, Jordan Childs got third for the bronze, but the winner was this girl, Rebecca Andrade from Brazil, I think that's how they pronounce it in Portuguese, and she kind of grew up in the favelas, which are like the slums of Brazil, to turn into this world-class, really popular athlete that everybody loves, but she's always been competing in Biles's shadows, it's like being next to Tiger, or Jordan, or whatever, you can never be the best, because you're competing in the era of the best, and she nailed her routine, and won gold over Simone for the individual, or first individual gold, I think, and on the podium, both Biles and Childs on the side, did like the bow, like to her, like, you know, to congratulate, it's such an amazing picture, and such a great show of sportsmanship, not for a teammate, but for a competitor, but to show that kind of respect for someone from another country, getting together to do this, is really what the Olympics are all about, and I know this is an after-school special, the more you know, Saturday morning cartoon kind of thing, but if not in the Olympics, then when, when are you gonna do that? Because so often nowadays, and maybe you need to pull out the green boomer filter that you say for woods a lot, it's easy to get attention for being outlandish and, you know, being Antonio Brown, or Tio, or whatever, and being all about, you know, me, and social media, and everything, and to see someone get attention for being a good sportsman, and appreciating their competition, but can you imagine Michael Jordan losing in the NBA finals, and bowing down to whoever beat him, Charles Barkley, who beat him finally, he can't. - Absolutely. - And that's not, it's not a good thing that necessarily that Michael Jordan was so ultra competitive, that he was kind of a poor human on the basketball court, at least, I mean, he was. - He was, he was, he was a lunatic, and you know, it's not like Simone Biles is any less competitive, she's the goat, she's proven that she's the best, but she could take that moment and show, I can be a good sportsman as well, I love that. All right, we got some collars on the line, let's get to it, let's take on John. (upbeat music) - It's time for Take on Woods. ♪ Take on ♪ - John Woods. ♪ Take on me ♪ - Woods. - John's done very well in this game of Take on John, which is brought to you by instant, valvaline instant oil change, it only takes 15 minutes, you don't have to get out of your car, for directions and discounts, go to SoCoutoilChange.com, that's SoCoutoilChange.com, let's get right to it, let's go to line three, who's this? (upbeat music) How are you there? - Hey. - Hey. - Is this Chad? - Hi, yes. - Chad, congratulations, you're in, for our contestant today for Take on Woods, you wanna play, right? - Yeah. - All right, let's see if you can do it, if you can beat or tie John, you will qualify for our grand prize, two nights stay, Resorts World, Take it, Carry Underwood, tickets are on sale now at aexcess.com and R-W-L-O-S-Vegas.com, get right to the category choices for today, still have the afterlife sitting there, five song titles and artists, including the word after, hold please, five song titles to begin with the word hold, and our new category, Spreckensy-Doych, five bands or artists who made it big around the world, from Germany, or with German songs, so the afterlife, hold please, or Spreckensy-Doych, Chad, what do you wanna play? - Um, let's try a hold please. - Hold please, okay, today we're looking for five song titles that begin with the word hold, you'll have 60 seconds, if you don't know one, you can pass, we'll come back to it, if there's time left on the clock, first question is our two second song, Paulie is getting ready to play you some music, you need to identify both that song title and the artist to score the point and get the full credit there, so Chad, are you ready to play? - I'll do it. - All right, let's put 60 seconds on the clock, again, the category hold, please, all your answers will start with the word hold, your time begins when Paul plays the music, good luck, Chad, let's take on John. (upbeat music) - Um, hold on, by the cards. - Oh, incorrect, love is in always on time, in which 1977 hit by Toto. (upbeat music) - Hold on, pass. - Which 1994 debut single was a breakout hit for the band Hootie and the Blowfish. - Hold my hand. - Correct, the Thompson twins had their biggest hit with which 1983 New Wave song. (upbeat music) - Hold on. - Oh, not correct, 1966 and 1967 were good years for the R&B duo, Sam and Dave, who recorded their two biggest hit, Soul Man and which other classic of the genre. (upbeat music) - Hold on, baby. - Oh, not quite, let's go back to Love is in always on time, in which 1977 hit by Toto. (upbeat music) Ah, time is up. That one was Hold the Line, Love isn't always on time. Two second song was Hold on Loosely 38 special. You gotta hold my hand, hold me now by the Thompson twins and Hold on, I'm coming by Sam and Dave. Is he out there? You see him, you don't see him. - No, he's here. - Oh, he's here. - Yeah. - Where are you going? - I hate you, he's not cheating. - Oh, all right. Thank you. - Hold the chat. - Oh, let's pull the chat down. Don't look at the chat 'cause they put some of the answers up. All right, Chad, hang on the line. Chad's score is locked in. John has done very well and we appreciate it again. Last day with Woodsie out of town, so. - You guys got time for a quick story? - Yeah, please. - Please. - So I've been out of my house since last Saturday, not this past but the moment before, no gas leak. - Ooh. - Yeah, so. - Potential for explosion. - Right, thank you Ben. So I've been staying with my daughter and her boyfriend in Delmar and I get home last night. It's been great, actually. I don't know how it's been for my daughter's boyfriend, but it's great to be able to hang out with my daughter more anyway, I get to last night. I kept here last night and they're watching you guys on YouTube. - Ah! - They don't listen to my show ever. So congratulations, you got a couple of tier ones of Delmar and my daughter. - Thank you, John's daughter, my boyfriend, we really appreciate it. - Well, if you're listening right now, you can cheer dad on. In today's game, the category is hold please. - Hold please. - Hold please. - Okay. - All right, 60 seconds on the clock. Your time begins when Paul plays the music. Good luck, John. Let's take on Chad. - Hold on loosely, 38 special. - Correct, love is in all ways on time in which 1977 hit by Toto. - Hold the line. - Correct, which 1994 debut single was a breakout hit for the band Whoody and the Blowfish. - Hold my hand. - Correct, the Thompson twins have their biggest hit with which-- - Hold me now. - Correct, 1966 and 1967 were good years for the R&B duo, Sam and Dave, recorded their two biggest hits, Soul Man and which other classic of the genre? - Take your time, you've already won the game, so. - Okay. - I will let you. - I think for another-- - Sam and Dave, I know he did so many times. - 25 seconds, I think. - Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. - You got it, yeah, I know you can hear it. It's in your head. - Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. - Cue it up for a second, you're falling. That's a good song, right? It's a great song. I don't know, it's escaping me. I'm not gonna get it. Hold on, I'm coming. - There you go, you have, I didn't, when you said cue it up, I thought you were gonna cue up the music. - Boy, that's gonna be a drop later on the show, isn't it? - That is the idea. I've actually got, I've just looked, I haven't been saying it three other times, but now I'm coming a couple of different ways. John? - Put that at the end of the like segment next time. - I'm coming. Love this song. - So how did I do? - You wanted four to one. - Oh, wow, okay. - Another win for John, very well done. - Thank you. - I think you had one tie, but otherwise you held your own. - Thank you. - What was gone? - I've enjoyed myself very much. - And I appreciate it very much. Thank you very much. - Thank you. - Thank you, Johnny. - Thank you to your daughter and boyfriend for tuning in this morning. And that's it for take on John, at least until Woods goes on vacation again. All right, let's get to traffic. We'll come back. Don't do this includes some Ben Higgins like just funny, flub audio. - Yes. - Major League broadcasts a lot. - Nothing outrageous. Just a couple of ones that made us chuckle from a couple of broadcasts last night. So we'll get to that coming up next on San Diego's number one sports station, 97 through the fan. - So this season Instacart has your back to school. As in, they've got your back to school lunch favorites, like snack packs and fresh fruit. And they've got your back to school supplies, like backpacks, binders and pencils. And they've got your back. When your kid casually tells you they have a huge school project due tomorrow. Let's face it, we were all that kid. So first, call your parents to say, I'm sorry. And then download the Instacart app to get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes all school year long. Get a $0 delivery fee for your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order additional terms apply. - Now with the MLB app, you can get baseball your way. Pick your favorite team, your favorite players and get customized highlights, stories and breaking news right on your home fee. Follow the action with Game Tip where 3D replays add another dimension. Plus, notifications can keep you connected to every pinch, every hit, every game. The MLB app, baseball, your way. Download it now for free from the App Store or Google Play. Block out another research and supply major league baseball trade parts used with permission. - You don't just live in your home. You live in your neighborhood as well. So when you're shopping for a home, you wanna know as much about the area around it as possible. Luckily, homes.com has got you covered. Each listing features a comprehensive neighborhood guide from local experts. Everything you'd ever wanna know about a neighborhood, including the number of homes for sale, transportation, local amenities, cultural attractions, unique qualities and even things like median lot size and a noise score. Homes.com. We've done your homework. - I did this. - It's time for Don't Do This. - What were you thinking? - Three stories from the world of sports that make us all shake our heads. - Why? - How many times do I have to tell you? - I'm sorry, I fudged up, guys. You idiot, you moron. - You're so mad. - The apple sometimes does far fall from the tree. - Don't do this. - Do not tweet that. - With Ben and Woods. - I like a Nickelback song or two. - On '97 through the van. - Seeing some good suggestions from the tier ones. A John versus Woods. Like all-star take on Woods. It's something I would like to see happen as well. - Celebrity Jeopardy. - Yeah, the two champs going head-to-head. And, you know, John, I give the category. That may have to stop as well. Because he's getting pretty good at it as well. Yeah, he's close to Woods. I don't think he's quite there. Like Ken Jennings against James Holzauer and, you know, champions Jeopardy. But pretty good on both of them. And I would like to see it head-to-head. We've come down to probably some of the music and in different categories on different days. We may need to do like a best of five or something for a week and really to determine a true champion between the two of them. All right, don't do this. It's brought to you by the Craft Taco in Sreno Valley. Craft Taco is some of the best quality tacos in all of San Diego. Go to the Craft Taco.com. Take a look at their happy hour specials today. The Craft Taco.com. And the streak rolls on, Polly. Last night, the Chicago White Sox trying to avoid some American League history were unable to do so, losing their 21st consecutive game, tying the American League record. They fell on the road five to one to the second worst team in the American League, the Oakland Athletics. I was a one-one game until the fourth and a two-run tie-breaking single. White Sox never scored again. And they have now matched the 1988 Baltimore Orioles who started the year 0 and 21 and now have company in the American League record. There are still records to be had. The National League record since 1900, held by the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies who lost 23 straight. Now, there is even a further record beyond that. If you really wanna dig way back into the baseball annals, the 1889 Louisville Colonel's from the American Association which was kind of the precursor to the even American League in Major League Baseball. They lost 26 straight and a year they went 27 and 111. Could it get that far? I don't know, if they don't beat the A's, this series. And if they don't, they will tie the National League record, the 23. Who knows when that next win is coming? Couple quotes from after the game from Pedro Grafalle. We talk about it every day. Everybody knows what it is. It's 21 in a row, it sucks. It's painful, it hurts, you name it. Like I said, it's not lack of effort. And then Frank Thomas who's on their post-game show, White Sox Hall of Famer, said it's time to snap. The only way through the players right now, snap. I'm serious, I don't wanna hear no more. We're trying, no more. They're working hard every day. Nope, it's time to snap. It's time to kick over the spread, change something up. But last time the White Sox won. God, I get it. They're not playing the same team 21 times in a row, but you would think they gotta win one. I mean, you would think. They haven't won since July 10th. So we are approaching a full month since their last win. And even on July 10th, they lost 'cause that was a double header and they split it. So, I mean, if you're a White Sox fan, you've seen a loss pretty much the entire month. So they're now 27 in 88. I mentioned that the A's are the second worst team. They're 20 and a half games behind the A's who are the second worst team in the American League right now. 20 and a half behind the A's. The A's. And they are on pace to finish. 38 and 124, which would be the most losses since the 1899 Cleveland spiders went 20 and 134. I think that one is, no one's out of reach since they already have 27 wins. But other than that, it's gonna be a history-making season and a bad way for the Chicago White Sox. - Well, speaking of the Oakland A's, that brings us to our next, don't do this. And one of two MLB broadcaster flubs that we played them this morning before the show started. And they got a little chuckle out of me. They got the chortle. Chortle out of Ben. - A chortle. - So this one goes to the A's broadcast. And no, I'm sorry. This is actually the Chicago broadcast. The, yeah, this is NBC Sports Chicago, but they're talking about the A's Mason Miller and they have a sponsor read for their injury report. - This time after our injury report presented by a well-now urgent kill care and the all-star closer. - Well-now urgent care is the line. Well-now urgent care. - This time after our injury report presented by a well-now urgent kill care and the all-star closer urgent kill. - That's a good flub right there. That's a funny, innocuous good flub. - And then another flub. This one coming from the Philadelphia Phillies broadcast. And they were talking about Bryce Harper. And I guess he was wearing his pants rolled up. Showing the sock. - That's a good flub. - That's a good flub right there. That's a funny innocuous good flub. - And then another flub. This one coming from the Philadelphia Phillies broadcast. And they were talking about Bryce Harper. - The socks and the stir-ups. - A little calf showing down there with the long socks. - And that one is in for a strike. It's three and one. - Just as Bryce went with his pants up, I'm not sure I've seen Garrett with his pants down. I bet it didn't sound right. (laughing) - It sure did not. Here's the three one. (laughing) That's what it does. Oh, you know, sometimes things happen up here. What I mean by he doesn't have his pants folded up under the knee. - Ah, yes, thank you for clarifying. - That's really what you meant. (laughing) - Just as Bryce went with his pants up, I'm not sure I've seen Garrett with his pants down. That didn't sound right. (laughing) - He's saying fun with it. - That's a good one. I hope they have people who save those. And like you, and just can bring them up whenever they want off a soundboard somewhere. - Hey Dan, remember that one time. - All right, little do do this here. - Dee Dee, mega doo doo. - Could've saved the Simone Biles, Jordan Childs moment was a very much doo doo this moment. But how about this one? This is actually a follow up. Remember the story from earlier this year, it was figured prominently on don't do this when a Jackie Robinson the statue in Wichita, Kansas was like vandalized, stolen, destroyed, and you know, huge investigation, hate crime. They determined they were just trying to steal like the metal and melt it down and sell it, whatever it was, still horrible thing to do to rack and steal a statue. But here's the doo doo this and the good news. Yesterday evening, a replacement, a new statue has been unveiled in the city park where it was stolen six months later. Bob Lutz, who is the executive director of league 42, they were able to raise the funds, get it replaced at McAdams Park, which is a local like youth league park where Jackie Robinson's statue has been sitting there. So it's a good ending to a story that was a pretty bad one earlier this year and it's good to see that Jackie Robinson's statue back there. Yes. And that's don't and do do this for a Tuesday. That was don't do this with Ben and Woods, a 97 three the fan. All right, when we come back, we're getting ready for Eric Groupner, the CEO of the Padres, to join us at the top of the hour. I know he's coming on 'cause he wants to talk about season ticket renewals. The letter went out to season ticket members last night. If you've got some thoughts, Padres fans, I've seen mixed reaction to the, what the Padres say is the small increase in ticket prices for 2025 to keep your season seats. You can join us. We can also go through the action last night in Major League Baseball. We got, we got a wild card race that is heating up in the National League. It is as close as it has been all season long. We'll get to that coming up. If you want to get on the line, 833-288-097-3, 833-288-097-3, you can give us a call during the break. Come back with more Ben and Paul on San Diego's number one sports station, 97 three the fan. Just saw what I thought was an intelligent take about the Padres season ticket renewal email that was sent out yesterday. Gonna talk about that here. Eric Groupner, CEO of the Padres is gonna join us at the top of the hour. But if you're a season ticket member and you want to join us and talk about what was announced last night, the email that you got from the Padres, you can call us 833-288-097-3. Essentially though, and you know, I saw a copy of the email and the Padres announced, I think it's the fourth straight season that ticket prices are gonna go up in 2025. However, unlike the last couple of years where there were more significant increases when the team added significant payroll, this year's increase is a lot smaller. And the Padres say it's an average of 3%. Now your, your tickets may vary. It may be a little bit more than that. It may be a little bit less than that. Padres even say some tickets will be a little bit less next year, but the average increase next season is 3%. And Padres fans, you know, have to do the calculus every single year and decide is it worth it to me to renew my season tickets at a slightly higher price for next year. And I'm certainly not gonna tell you how you wanna spend your money. It's, you know, season tickets are a pricey commodity, especially here in San Diego. I will, I'll throw a little logic at you first, and I'll say a 3% increase. If you compare it, let's say you're paying, you know, $4 a gallon for gas. I know it's a little bit more than that, but just to keep it simple, a 3% increase would then be about $4 and 12 cents for a gallon of gas. A year from now. Yeah, a year from now. It's, it's not, not good. Sucks that you're paying more for gas, but that's not shocking in any way. I wouldn't expect someone to go, I'm done. I'm not buying gas anymore. It's 3% higher than it was a year ago. So in that sense, 3% doesn't seem overly outrageous. Now, we're talking with season tickets, especially if you get the full gold. Yeah, it's kind of a necessity. Yeah, and we're talking about the, if you've got the full gold package, it's not dollars. You're paying, you know, several thousand dollars. So 3% can still be, you know, a couple hundred to more higher than you were paying last year. Now per game, it may only be a dollar or so, you know, $2, $3 more per game. But over the course of the season, that may be another $250, $400, depending on how good your seats are and how much you're paying for individual tickets. So that's just kind of the math that goes through my head. But there was a take that I want to get to from someone in our chat. It was pretty savvy and advanced, I thought. So let's take your phone calls and we'll get to that right after a check of traffic here on 97.3, the fan. Now let's go out to the phones for a second here and see what some tier ones and season ticket members have to say, or if you're not, you can have an opinion on this subject as well. Just go right to the top of the board, Andrew. - Welcome, you're on 97.3, the fan. We've been in Paul this morning, how are you? - Doing good, doing good. - How you doing, man? Are you a seasoned ticket member? - Good, I don't, I have in the past, my parents have in the past, but they've all seen no way of the decision and there's currently not season ticket holders anymore. Said, you know, I definitely think it's expected if you have tickets, you know, prices will go up. So that's, you know. - Sure. - That's my thought on that, but then otherwise, as far as how the Padres are doing right now. - Sure. - And forget about the wild card race, just win the division. - It's the best route. You know, Padres dropped a half game to the Dodgers last night who won their game against the Phillies, a close game, but pulled it out, so they're five games behind. Certainly got three left against the Dodgers late in the season. We said this week might be a good week to catch up. Dodgers get off to a good start. They got the Phillies this week. They got the Pirates and Paul Skins later in the week. So you want to make up at least two to three games, I would say before the end of August. If you're going into September and you're still five, six back, that's a huge mountain to climb. Then you pretty much have to have an unbelievable month of September, but it's definitely doable. Even if you're a baseball traditionalist, I love that there's both the division and the wild card route to the playoffs. I mean, Padres essentially are in two playoff chases right now. One, where they're trying to chase down the Dodgers, which could come with even a buy in the first round of the playoffs. So that's a worthy aim. I mean, go for it if you can, because you may get to skip the wild card round entirely. Then there's, of course, the wild card, which is tied with three teams for three spots. And I think the Mets are a game and a half back, but the Diamondbacks, Braves and Padres are all tied atop the standings. It's going to be a really fun last month and a half of the season. Let's go to Darren. Darren, you're next up here on 97.3, the fan. Good morning. Good morning, guys. How are you this morning? Good, Darren. Good, guys. Hey, so I am a season ticket holder. So I just want to lay out what it's like for us, especially after this last increase. So we started getting tickets in 2021. Obviously, the reason we did that is because we had that limited capacity because of COVID. So we wanted to get in. Immediately after that, there was an increase. And then-- Same by the way. Same. I bought tickets. That's when I bought my season tickets with Woodsy. We started the season. I think a lot of people did. So then, obviously, 2022 was magical. We got to go to postseason games. So, of course, we renewed. And there was an increase. And of course, we expected there to be an increase. But then after last year, you have Groupner. And I don't know if he came on this station or the other station. But he virtually said, two fans, like, hey, if you don't buy these tickets, someone else will. And that was kind of the marketing ploy. So to fans, after 2023, where the team-- I mean, they gave up, right? That's not even up for debating, where that's what happened, is the prices went up and fans were essentially told, hey, you are replaceable. So to me, this increase means three things. Number one, it does mean that the Padres are telling you the fans are replaceable. Number two, it means that they're not guaranteeing that the money's going to stay on the field. Payroll came down this year, and it's going to come down again next year. That's not linear with season ticket prices. Number three, which I think is probably the most frustrating, is it just seems like a lack of transparency and if we want the money to stay on the field and people are willing to do that, they're willing to pay more for a premium product. But last year, we saw the opposite of a premium product. But the price is still went up. This year, we haven't yet seen if they're a playoff team. We certainly hope they are, and it's been fun. But they're not even waiting to see what the products have filled this year to charge us more money. So the fan that's just frustrating, and it's starting to feel less like we're appreciated and more like we're kind of being milked right now. So frankly, that's kind of how I feel. And I think a lot of people agree. - You know, you bring up some good points, Darren. The Padres usually announce the season ticket renewals right around now. And you don't know how the season is necessarily going to end. But I will say, and this isn't a defense of the Padres, it's just kind of an explanation. The Padres will plan, you know, they didn't decide last night what the season ticket increase was. This is something, this is part of like a five to 10 year plan of where they think prices will be going. And when they invested, you know, 200 plus million dollar payroll last year, they thought, okay, and then we're probably going to, you know, hopefully make a deep playoff run, and that'll hopefully be able to sustain another ticket price increase to help pay for all these star players that we got. Well, they increased the payroll, didn't have the really good season. And then there was like, what we had already decided, we were going to increase prices. Now this year, they've decreased the payroll, and they're still increasing the prices. Now it's much smaller, but they're also playing way better. So you don't really know, the one thing you can't plan for as a team is what the results on the field are. You know what you can maybe invest in the team payroll wise, but you don't know how it's going to perform on the field. And you've already made a lot of those decisions about where you kind of think, you might adjust a little bit, like, oh, we're having a pretty down season, maybe we should scale back the increase, or wow, we surprised, you know, like last year, I don't know what the Arizona Diamondbacks did, but if they sent out their season ticket renewals in August, and they probably said, yeah, I don't think we can charge anymore, this team's not doing that well. Then they went to the World Series. Now maybe individual ticket prices went up at that point, but I would hope some season ticket members got a nice deal when they locked in early, and then all of a sudden went to the World Series. But the comment I saw from a civil luthi in the chat, which resonated with me, and I think just logically, I wonder if Padre's fans, even season ticket members see this, he said, or she said, prices are determined by demand. Okay, that makes sense, obviously. Supply and demand is economics 101. If the team undercuts itself, resellers just get more money. I'd rather the team get the money, and I thought about that, and I said, okay, and Padre's could be good citizens and go, you know what, this is more than just a business, it's a baseball team's part of our community. Let's say the average price right now is 50 bucks a ticket, and they slashed it down to 10 bucks. We want everyone to get in for 10 bucks. Average price, what would happen? Everyone would go, you're amazing, Padre's, this is fantastic, you're selling all the tickets for $10. Well, yeah, there'd be a lot of season ticket members, but they're also would be-- They would sell the season out. They're 81 games, all 46,000 seats in minutes. Well, let's say they still limit it though, to 20,000 season ticket members plus, and then they still have the individual tickets in which people can then, including ticket brokers, could then go buy all those $10 seats, and season ticket members could resell them on StubHub. Well, if every game sold out, what are you gonna pay for your Padre's ticket on the resale market? Still 80 bucks, 100 bucks, 120 bucks. So now all those resale tickets, which my guess would be as a large percentage of every game, whether it's season ticket members who aren't going, or individual tickets that are bought through the various websites. Dude, open up your phone right now and open up StubHub. How many are available for game time? Game time, vivid seats, whatever, there's a tick pick. There's so many different options now for the second-hand market. There are thousands of tickets. So all those tickets are still getting sold, but then it's the ticket brokers who are making all the money and not the Padre's, who it's their product, it's their payroll, it's their players that they're paying and using your ticket prices to pay their salaries. I can see why you can't just slash prices 'cause you haven't been doing great. If people are still filling Petco Park, then they're gonna fill Petco Park regardless and who should be getting the cost of the tickets. The Padre's are the secondary market. I guess it's the Padre's in my mind. Let's go to-- I see you would assume the money then goes back into the team in some capacity. I mean, and they have been putting it back in the team more than they ever have before. But again, if they keep slashing payroll like they did this last year, and there were competitive reasons to do it this last year, but then if they go another, you know, 40 million down, you know, I mean, then you would have to-- Definitely. Is there any indication that they will or won't do that? We don't really know. We don't really know what's gonna happen next year. If they're gonna keep it at the same level, if they're gonna go down or if they're gonna go back up, there's been no indication of what that is for next year. But what you're paying for is next year's team right now for those season tickets. We don't know. I mean, if they keep dill and cease and they keep Louisa rise, we're both under contract next year. They may wanna extend the payroll and do other things. They could invest that money back in the team, but I guess that remains to be seen. I know the track record though with AJ Preller, and we'll see what happens in the post-Peter Seidler era, has been absolutely, they've reinvested tons of money in the team. Let me ask you, do you view it as a bad look or is it smart business or is it just the way things work in your opinion when you see payroll go down and season ticket prices go up? I don't know. I mean, you know, I think what inflation this last year has been about three and a half percent over this last year. Three and a half percent. Essentially a three percent increase is just kind of keeping pace with what's going on everywhere. I mean, I'm not trying to sell it, but if you could get by and you could have said, well, we're not gonna increase it all this year. It's a big PR win, at least, right? I mean, you know, is it worth it for the three percent? You know, it's a business. I don't run a business. I'm not a CEO, you know, this is a big time company. I don't know what economics work for the San Diego Padres, but they're certainly gonna face some criticism. I saw people in my timeline going, "Oh, I can't do it anymore." That's it. I can't take another increase. And I feel for those people, and I feel a little bit conflicted because I'm no longer a season ticket holder or a partial season ticket holder anymore. So it's kind of like, you know, should I even have an opinion on it? But it does seem at its core to be a pretty simple supply and demand issue. And on a smaller scale, like, I expect, like you mentioned gas prices earlier. Gas, you need gas, you need to buy gas. You don't need to go to an amusement park, but I would assume amusement park prices probably go up by about three percent. - You tried to go to Disneyland lately? - Yeah, I mean, everything. - But if I'm going, because you're going to the, an elite, well-run organizational place, like if you're going to the worst amusement park, it's probably going to cost cheaper. But Petco Park is not the worst amusement park. In fact, it's one of the best. So I do understand that, but I also can totally 100% sympathize with somebody that's going, I'm already spending a small fortune on my season tickets. I've been a season ticket holder for 10 years. You slash payroll, you know, we didn't resign or keep one soda, Blake Snell, Josh Hader, et cetera. We had to let them go to payroll issues. And yet the tickets are going up. That sucks. I understand that as well. - Ultimately, the fans actually have all the power here. And if the Padres truly are charging too much, they will, they will see it. They will not see the renewals that they're hoping for. They will not see the sellouts going forward, but as Adam Klug said in the chat, they're selling out almost every game, well over half the games. Of course, they're raising prices. What business that sells everything out doesn't then raise prices a little bit? I mean, that is, that is not unique to the Padres. It's not unique to Major League Baseball. It's not unique to sports. It's unique to any venue. If you've got a popular concert, I mean, Taylor Swift, when she sells out every stadium, are those tickets? You know, is she keeping them at $15, Paulie? I haven't been, but I'm pretty sure it's pretty pricey to go to a Taylor Swift concert. - Speaking of somebody that bought tickets for his wife and him last year, wasn't 15 bucks, to tell you that. - And she's not a bad person because her ticket prices are expensive for her sold out concert. She and she treats the, you know, she treats her employees or whoever, you know, the people who put on the concert are the crew really well. We've seen those stories. If the Padres are doing that and that's what they're doing and they're treating their players well and running the organization well, that's one thing. If they're doing it badly, if they're like the Oakland A's, like one thing that I saw was that the Oakland A's are jacking up ticket prices for the finale 'cause it's the last game in Oakland. That's, that really sucks. 'Cause they're not treating their fans or anyone well. - And I think you, see, I don't like the dynamic pricing but I get it. I think you'll get it. - Yeah, but I also feel like anyone who says the Padres haven't at least been trying and trying to treat their fans well, give them a good experience. - The A's have no grounds to raise ticket prices literally ever. - No. - Like they, they do not, they have not earned the benefit of the doubt. I know the Padres, I'm pretty sure it was a recent thing that they started doing like dynamic ticket pricing. You know, a Friday night game against the Dodgers is gonna cost a little bit more on a single ticket price than a Wednesday afternoon against, you know, the, the White Sox. And that's just because there's a higher demand and I get that. - All right, well, we will bring some of these questions and concerns to the CEO of the Padres. Eric Grouppner is going to join us coming up here at the top of the hour and the timing is not, you know, surprising. This is certainly something I'm sure he wanted to address when we scheduled him to come on today. So we will talk about some of these issues with the guy who's, who's in charge. Coming up next, don't go away, more Ben & Woods on San Diego's number one sports station, 97.3 the fan. - What kind of programs does this school have? How are the test scores? How many kids do a classroom? 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