Basic Economics Rant #2,428

Some of you may know that I have a burning love for baseball. When baseball and pricing intersect it turns into a conflagration.Case in point, a recent column by Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News on the price of seats at the soon-to-be new Yankee Stadium, shows that while Luppy knows his sports, he should stay the heck out of economics.Please read the article for yourself, but the synopsis is that he thinks the prices are too high and that something should be done about it. What exactly, he does not say. The story talks about a fan he knows who will be unable to afford to keep his season tickets for next year when the Yankees move into their new home. He seems to think that just because this guy is a "real fan" that he is entitled to change the law of supply and demand.Please, spare me the sob story. What the Yankees and many performing artists are realizing is that it is the live performance that has the real value for fans. Price is set by the perception and demands of customer. If the value was not there, no one would pay.Here is the kicker. Lupica's column appears for free to all on the users of the Internet who care to read it. Of course, it requires three "pages" to read his whole column. Why? Because the model at the Daily News is still based on the 19th century model of ads supporting print. In order to read the story you must endure the ads from three pages.The Yankees are just doing a better job of understanding economics. Good for them!PS - I am a Met fan!