Globe graphics:
 Smaller capacity at four stadiums
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Ballparks prove less is more
Demand, revenues climb as teams reduce seating
ST. LOUIS -- Not that long ago, Red Sox officials were arguing that Fenway Park was too small to allow the team to remain economically viable.
''It's clear we are maxed out on seating capacity and ticket prices," former team chief executive John Harrington told the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce in 2000. ''In the long run, it's just not feasible to compete in Fenway."
Fast forward six years: The Red Sox have pledged to remain at Fenway, adding some seats but capping capacity below 40,000. Meanwhile, dozens of other teams are shrinking their parks to Fenway-like proportions.
Last week, the Cardinals opened the new Busch Stadium in this baseball-mad Midwestern city with 3,500 fewer seats than they had at their old ballpark next door. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies sliced their seating capacities by 9,000 and 19,000 seats, respectively, when they moved into new ballparks. In New York, the Yankees and the Mets are planning new parks with 16,000 fewer seats between them. On the West Coast, the Oakland Athletics put tarps over the upper deck of McAfee Coliseum this spring, cutting its capacity from 48,000 to 34,000.
Fans get a more intimate stadium, with better sightlines to the field. Shrinking the ballparks also has another effect: By making tickets scarcer, teams create urgency among fans and drive up demand. When fans worry about getting seats, they buy earlier and invest in season tickets -- which brings guaranteed money for the teams and insulates them from slumps on the field.
Since 1995, average seating capacity at major league parks has fallen 11 percent, from 51,106 to 45,395. At the same time, average per-game attendance has jumped 22 percent, to 30,936. And as tickets have gotten scarcer, the prices have more than doubled, to an average ticket price this year of $22.21, according to Team Marketing Report.
The small ballparks bring in far more money for teams: At the average park, ticket revenue per game has more than doubled over the last decade, according to a rough, back-of-the-envelope calculation of higher ticket prices multiplied by higher attendance.
In St. Louis, the Cardinals already have sold nearly all their seats this season, even though the team has the third-most expensive tickets in baseball, behind the Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs.
On Opening Day here last week, thousands of fans swarmed downtown, some setting up lawn chairs outside the new Busch Stadium to soak up the atmosphere or offering to buy tickets for enormous sums.
''The high bid was $1,000 for my tickets," said Kent P. Zimmerman of St. Louis, a Cardinals' season ticket holder who was approached by a ''big guy wearing a Cardinals' shirt" to make the sale. He conceded: ''I was tempted. I was getting close to catching a cab and going home."
Two years ago, before the stadium was built, Zimmerman was so concerned about being able to get seats in the new, smaller ballpark that he and three acquaintances each plunked down $2,000 to buy personal seat licenses, and they agreed to pay another $46 a game on top of that.
Some sports finance specialists call it the ''scarcity effect," and it works best in places such as Boston, New York, and St. Louis where baseball fever runs high. ''It's supply and demand," said Dennis R. Howard, a professor at the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. ''With constrained supply and lots of demand, it's a ballclub's dream to be able to exploit that situation."
On average, the nine teams that have built stadiums since 2000 hiked prices 52.9 percent in the first year, Howard said, using data from Team Marketing Report, which tracks ticket prices. In St. Louis, the average price has increased about 12 percent this year, mostly because of the new park's layout, with thousands of seats closer to the field and more high-priced premium seats.
To be sure, cutting seats is more than just a cold, economic calculation. It coincides with the rise of historic revival ballparks, which replaced stadiums that were built to house both football and baseball teams.
The Cardinals' new stadium gives fans sweeping views that include the city's famous Gateway Arch. The new concessions put hot dogs and peanuts to shame: Fans can buy everything from barbecue pork sandwiches to chocolate-dipped strawberries.
''The old Busch Stadium was one of those cookie-cutter stadiums -- this has a great view of downtown," said Chris Macfall, sitting about two dozen rows behind home plate recently. ''It's incredible. The stadium is just packed. This proves how baseball-mad St. Louis is."
The historic revival parks started in Baltimore in the early 1990s, when Larry Lucchino and Janet Marie Smith -- then high-ranking executives at the Orioles -- proposed a ballpark that flew in the face of baseball's reigning wisdom, which then called for large, modern stadiums. (Lucchino's boss at the time told him, ''No one moves from their house to a smaller house. They move to a bigger house.") Camden Yards, an intimate ballpark downtown, featured an arched brick facade, views of the city, and steel in place of concrete. The team even refused to call it a ''stadium," insisting on ''ballpark" instead.
Attendance soared. Other teams picked up the historic revival theme as well, and soon intimate parks were popping up all over the league.
Lucchino said he and other Orioles executives wanted to create an irregular, old-fashioned ballpark because of its aesthetic appeal and never considered that a smaller park might create an ''artificial shortage" of tickets.
''Baseball is a game enjoyed best by people who feel close and connected to it," he said. ''If you're trying to recreate that feeling, that irregularity and charm, you don't do it by dramatically doubling the size."
At Camden Yards and its successors, teams found themselves selling not just tickets, but the experience of the game -- walking around the stadium, watching batting practice, and shopping on closed-off streets nearby. (Lucchino is now chief executive of the Red Sox, while Smith is senior vice president for planning and development. The
''It's not just a seat: This is a memory that you will take with you," said Gerald Smith, chairman of the marketing faculty at the Boston College Carroll School of Management. He said baseball's ''value pricing" strategy lets teams charge more to those who value the experience at the new parks, rather than sell more seats at bigger stadiums for lower prices. ''Essentially, people value that experience so much that they're willing to pay more and more," he said.
There are examples from other industries as well. Airlines market seats with extra leg room, a classic instance in which fewer seats improve the life of travelers, who reward airlines with their loyalty. Technology companies often attempt to build the excitement around new products, such as
In St. Louis, the Cardinals see firsthand the benefits of improving fan experience in their ballpark. Cutting seats is a key part of the equation. Fewer seats create a more intimate feeling, making the atmosphere electric.
''We somewhat subscribe to the adage that you don't build the church for Easter Sunday," said Mark Lamping, the Cardinals' president. ''One of the best experiences is to have a ballpark be as intimate as it can be. We believe there's a connection between intimacy and the number of seats that are occupied."
St. Louis started selling packages of tickets for Christmas two years ago, and have sold out each time. The team got the idea from the Red Sox. The holiday tickets persuade fans to buy earlier, so teams can count on the money right away.
Macfall, the Cardinals' fan seated not far from home plate, marked his calendar for the day tickets went on sale. He said his tickets, $85 each, easily could sell for higher. ''I'd pay $250 apiece," he said. ''This is a piece of St. Louis history."
Sasha Talcott can be reached at stalcott@globe.com. 
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
