Baseball’s new song

Scripps Howard: Baseball fans are increasingly divided into two classes of people — those in the premium seats and everybody else.

The idea is to give the premium fans a comfortable seat in the best location in the stadium and provide them with special amenities — exclusive bars, restaurants and lounges not available to the great unwashed — and charge them an arm and a leg for it.

At Nationals Park in Washington, Major League Baseball’s newest field, the premium seats, right behind home plate, go for $170 to $325 and are often mostly empty. It is glaringly and embarrassingly obvious on television, but perhaps the premium fans are back in their private club watching the game on television.

Hundred-dollar barrier

A survey by The Washington Post sports section showed that five teams had broken the $100 barrier for premium tickets, with the Dodgers the highest at $223. But those prices are so high that 23 of the 30 major league teams had below-average premium ticket prices. The lowest was the Colorado Rockies at $36.50.

But, as they say in baseball, wait until next year. That’s when New Yankee Stadium opens, and the club has carved out 1,800 seats in the 25 sections closest to the field. The best seats go for $2,500 — that’s per game, not per season — and the other good seats go for $850, $650 and $500. And you know other clubs will follow.