The start of the baseball season is usually accompanied by two neat statistical news releases. Forbes Magazine’s 2006 team valuation figures are not available, but Team Marketing Report‘s newest MLB Fan Cost Index is. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the elimination of the Coliseum’s third deck led to a 25% increase in the average price of a seat. What is surprising is the fact that many teams with new stadiums are towards the bottom of the list. Granted, most of those teams (Detroit, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee) have been perennial cellar-dwellers in medium-to-small markets, but there appears to be a clear correlation between on-field success and ticket price. Baltimore and Seattle charged a hefty premium when their teams were more successful and their stadia were newer. As both went into the tank in the last few years, price hikes have been fewer.

To put things into perspective, here are a few more bullet points that you might find interesting:

1. In 1999, the A’s average ticket price was $10.10. That means that in seven years, ticket prices have gone up 118%.
2. 1999 payroll was only $26 million. The current payroll is $62 million, a 138% increase. Pay-to-play is the name of the game.
3. There’s no better indicator of MLB clubs’ revenue disparity than ticket prices. Ten years ago, Boston had the highest ticket price – $15.43. Cincinnati had the lowest – $7.95. Boston still holds the mantle of as ticket price champ, with its average price at $46.46. Kansas City now has the lowest – $13.71. There’s also a multiplier effect because teams like the Red Sox, Yankees, and Cubs routinely sell their seasons out, as opposed to the oft-lackluster attendance records of the lower-revenue teams.

The Fan Cost Index is frequently cited by analysts and economists, but it tends to paint the fan experience with too broad a brush. Before his untimely passing, Doug Pappas wrote an article for Baseball Prospectus that deconstructed the FCI and sought to obtain more granular, circumstance-based data.

Now that the A’s have raised ticket prices 25% over last season, what’s in store for the remaining years on the Coliseum lease? And what can we expect when a new ballpark is opened? Will it have a China Basin-like pricing structure, or will it look like PNC Park’s tiering system?