It is well and good the Reds will not price Mr. and Mrs. Cincinnati out of Great American Ball Park in 2003. Family Of Four can attend games without selling blood. “Maintaining affordability,” the team calls it. It rows against the national current of filling stadiums and gyms with rich people who write off the games as an entertainment expense.

        (Watching the likes of Jose Silva try to get hitters out might not qualify as entertainment. Not in the strict sense of the word. But, whatever.)

        You can buy a $5 seat at the shiny new ballyard with its back to downtown. Ten bucks will get you a bleacher seat and a million-dollar view. The team is proud that 60 percent of the seats will cost $16 or less. That's fine.

        But, here's a question:

        Would you pay more for tickets if the Reds agreed to spend the proceeds on players? How much more?

        Would you spend $15 on a bleacher seat to watch a contender? Or, would you rather pay $10 to watch mediocrity?

All about the product

        Say the Reds raised announced prices $5 across the board. Assuming 2.5 million in attendance, that's an extra $12.5 million. That's one Kevin Brown or a couple Dmitri Youngs, give or take. Would you go for it?

               I think you would, and I think you would quickly.

        The myth is, we won't pay. The Reds are operating under this myth, which is why 2003 ticket prices will be pleasantly low. Also, naively underpriced.

        The Reds worry about maintaining affordability. They should worry about the quality of their product. Put a good team on the field and the tickets will sell themselves.

        The day after the Reds announced the range of prices at GABP, we ran a story about the team's meager 2002 payroll. Reds chief operating officer John Allen said the team could net as little as $8.5 million in revenues from the new ballpark in 2003.

        That's a year of Junior Griffey, from the knees up. It's Randy Johnson, throwing right-handed.

        The myth is, we won't pay. Says Don Schumacher, “I think this market will pay. People aren't naive here. Give us a good product, we'll pay for it.” That doesn't explain public support of the Bengals. But it bolsters the notion that there is more money to be spent on major-league sports here than is perceived.

Baseball matters

        Schumacher runs a local sports marketing and management company. Assessing fair ticket prices is part of what he does. “We're not price sensitive here, so much as value sensitive,” he says.

        That goes with any business. The Maisonette is doing well; Captain's Cove Motor Yachts last year sold more than 40 boats that cost at least $600,000. Since 1998, cost of a premium Reds ticket has increased from $14 to $32. Those seats were usually taken, especially in Griffey's first season here. The team doesn't sell $1 hot dogs anymore, either. No one at the ballpark is starving.

        Baseball is not just a night out here, the way it is in lots of towns. Reds fans do not choose between baseball and a movie, or baseball and dinner. Baseball still matters here. If any local team can get away with charging a little more, it's the Reds. But the product has to merit the cost.

        Good for the Reds for keeping it affordable. Better still if they make it worth the money.

        E-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/daugherty.

DAUGHERTY: Fans will pay more if Reds win more What are you using Cinergy seats for?

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