1 week Ago
CHICAGO — It was cold in Chicago on Monday and Tuesday night, and the stands at Wrigley Field were emptier than normal. But some diehards still stuck it out to see a pair of Cubs wins over the Texas Rangers. I’m guessing a few of them even drank a cold beer or five.
But for those who wanted to warm up with a hot drink, let it be known they do sell hot chocolate at Wrigley Field. All it will cost you is ..
. $11.99? No, that can’t be right.
Twelve bucks for a hot chocolate? Advertisement Ah, let me check my spreadsheet. Oh yeah, that doesn’t include tax. So it’s more like $13.
(Not including tip if you’re buying from a vendor.) But it’s poured into a nice 16-ounce souvenir cup so you’ll never forget that time you froze your tuchus off at a Cubs game in April. Now, if you go to a White Sox game on a cold night this month, you can get a smaller hot chocolate in a regular cup for just $4.
99 (all prices are before tax, unless otherwise noted). They also have hot coffee for $4.99 at Rate Field, while at Wrigley Field, they only serve cold coffee in a can .
.. for $9.
99. So I guess it’s better to be cold on the South Side. Less expensive, anyway.
Just don’t watch the actual baseball. It’s not breaking news, but nothing is cheap at a professional sporting event, let alone Wrigley Field, where the Cubs pack ’em in, rain or shine, snow or sun. Starting with tickets, a parent taking a family of four to a game — or one person drinking for four — can experience losses of “biblical” proportions in their bank account.
That’s why a sizable portion of Cubs fans are fed up with Tom Ricketts and all the talk about the team’s budget constraints. A beer and a hot dog there could cost you $30. Meanwhile, White Sox tickets are fairly inexpensive, though if you want to eat or drink there, it’ll cost you plenty and the baseball isn’t exactly a bargain these days.
(Levy Restaurants is the concessionaire at Wrigley Field, and shares concessionaire duty at the Rate with Delaware North.) After I did a story on the Bulls charging more for concessions than the Blackhawks at the United Center, I realized I didn’t have up-to-date pricing on Chicago’s baseball teams. So last week, I walked the concourses at Rate Field and Wrigley Field and put together a detailed spreadsheet of concession prices at both stadiums.
Advertisement What I found isn’t shocking, and high prices for ballpark food and drink aren’t just a Chicago problem, of course. But while teams in other cities have begun to offer value menus , in Chicago, it’s a battle between exorbitant and extortionate. (The White Sox do offer some half-price items on Tuesday games.
) For years, I put together the Fan Cost Index surveys for Team Marketing Report. In our formula, we used the cheapest, widely available options for beer, soft drinks and hot dogs, etc. The one category that always went viral was the beer prices.
At Wrigley Field, which is famous for beer in the bleachers, you’re going to pay more than at the Rate for comparable beers. Most beers cost an extra $2 at Cubs games, some less, some more. Tack on a dollar and change for tax.
For instance, a vended Miller Lite at a Sox game is $10.99, while a vended Bud Light at a Cubs game will run you $13.99.
Before taxes, beer prices at Rate Field range from $10.99 for a 16-oz domestic can of beer for a 24-oz import beer can. At Wrigley Field, the cheapest beer is $12.
99 for a 16-oz domestic can and the most expensive is $16.99 for a 20-oz “Large American draft.” (At some stands, there are 24-oz souvenir beer cups for the same price.
) The actual cheapest beer on the Wrigley campus is $11.99 for a domestic can of beer in Gallagher Way, the beer garden between the ballpark and Clark St. But you’re not allowed to bring it back into the park — unless I guess you distract the person scanning your ticket with a clever “Hey, is that Ronnie Woo Woo?” And the most expensive beer at Wrigley is the beer bat, which now retails for $34.
99. (You can refill it for the price of a beer.) What about hot dogs, the other ballpark staple? The White Sox offer a simple $5.
49 hot dog, a relative bargain these days. The Cubs’ cheapest option is a Vienna beef hot dog at $8.99.
That’s more comparable with the White Sox’s “premium beef hot dog,” which at $7.99 is the same price as a Polish sausage on the South Side. Advertisement At Wrigley, a “Maxwell St.
Polish” is $11.99. Yes, a $4 difference for a Polish sausage.
I didn’t taste-test them, but if you have, let me know if the Cubs’ version is $4 better. Both parks are generally known to have good hot dogs/sausage options and have free-standing grill stands. Of the Sox’s 12 price points for hot dogs, only the two foot-longs are more than $10.
Meanwhile, the Cubs’ 10 other options range from $10.99 to $13.99.
What about peanuts and Cracker Jacks, you know, like the song? At the Rate, peanuts are $5.99, compared with $6.99 at Wrigley.
Cracker Jacks are $4.49 at The Rate, compared with $5.99 at Wrigley.
Other ballpark staples like soft pretzels, plain nachos and fries are about the same price at both parks. Pizza is hard to compare, because at the Rate you can get a slice of Beggars’ cheese pizza for $7.99, while at Wrigley, they offer Home Run Inn personal pizzas for $13.
49. At $7.99, both a bottle of water and a bottled soda are a buck more at Wrigley than at The Rate.
You can get a Smart Water for $7.49 on the South Side, but at Wrigley, it’s $8.99.
Honestly, this is where I find the pricing offensive. Water shouldn’t cost $7.99 (plus tax) anywhere.
It shouldn’t cost $6.99, either. The most expensive food items at each park are nachos with a giant pile of meat and toppings.
At the White Sox, they sell a “loaded nacho helmet” for $23.49, and in the Wrigley Field bleachers, they sell “grand slam nachos” for $27.99.
The White Sox are known for their food variety. This year, they’ve added Asian-themed stands like Fuku chicken and Lucky’s Korean-themed food. A mainstay item, the Cuban sandwich, is $11.
99, while a new dish, a veggie emparogi (it’s Polish-Colombian fusion), is $16.99. You can get barbecue ($17.
99 for a sandwich) in the outfield, and of course, there are $6 churro stands in the concourse. Advertisement The Cubs, with more limited space, are usually pretty basic. They have some interesting options but mostly put them in the bleachers, where the average fan can’t get to.
For instance, there’s a Small Cheval in center field now, with double burgers going for $15.99. (Fries are $6.
99.) There’s also a Hot Doug’s out there with three kinds of themed sausages for $12.99.
Who doesn’t want a sausage named after Shawn Boskie? One other area where the Sox clearly top the Cubs is in desserts. The Sox have a variety of ice-cream options in the main concourse, not to mention their gaudy, viral milkshakes. The new “Celebration Milkshake” is $19, or $2 more than the Campfire shake that you can still find in the club section.
To compete, the Cubs have added a “baseball donut,” which comes with a tube filled with fruit-flavored frosting that you can “inject” into the ball. The juiced donut costs $14.99.
There’s a “Sammy Sosa really has been welcomed back” joke I could make here, but these days, the Cubs’ big slugger is Kyle Tucker. You might have heard he’s a future free agent and the Cubs are going to need to pony up, oh, a half-billion to keep him. So if you like watching Tucker hit, you might want to get to drinking and eating, Cubs fans.
Signing an impact bat is going to cost a lot of beer-filled ones. (Photo of Wrigley Field concourse: Jon Greenberg / The Athletic ).
