Costliest tickets put Red Sox at top of MLB

NEW YORK -- The Boston Red Sox have baseball's top average ticket price for the sixth straight year at $42.34, and the sport's overall average increased 2.8 percent to $18.69.

Boston's average increased 6.7 percent, according to the Team Marketing Report's annual study, which was released Thursday. The New York Yankees are second at $24.86, followed by the New York Mets at $23.50.

The Red Sox play in the major leagues' smallest ballpark, Fenway Park, which has a capacity of about 34,000. To increase revenue, the team is constructing seats atop the Green Monster in left field.

World Series champion Anaheim had the largest increase, its average rising 35.5 percent to $15.97. Minnesota's average went up 22.2 percent to $14.40, Philadelphia's rose 13 percent to $17.24 in its last season at Veterans Stadium and Houston's increased 10.1 percent to $20.78.

Montreal has the lowest average at $9 U.S., counting only tickets for the Expos' 59 home games at Olympic Stadium, not their 22 games at San Juan, Puerto Rico. Kansas City is 29th at $12.13 and Florida is 28th at $12.78.

Nine teams had a decrease, with Texas' average dropping 11.4 percent to $15.98 and Tampa Bay's going down 8.5 percent to $14.49.

Cincinnati's average went up only 5.2 percent to $17.53 despite by the Reds' move into the Great American Ball Park.

Premium seating, which for many teams includes a large percentage of its season tickets, were not included in the averages. Because of the shift by many teams to charge different prices for different opponents, a weighted averaged was used for each section for each team.

By comparison, the NFL's average ticket price last year was $50.02, while the NBA's average is $43.65 this season and the NHL's average is $41.56.