Red Sox raise ticket prices after announcing team will cut payroll in 2020

The Boston Red Sox don’t want to spend more money in 2020, but their fans won’t be so lucky. The Red Sox released ticket prices for 2020 on Tuesday, and it’s going to cost more to attend a Red Sox game next season.

Red Sox tickets will increase by 1.7 percent. The team’s pricing will also change based on five different tiers of games. The Red Sox laid out all those changes in a color-coded chart.

Unless you want general standing-room tickets, prepare to pay at least $30 for a seat at Fenway.

That 1.7 percent increase isn’t all that steep compared to what the Red Sox have done the past couple of seasons.

The messaging around this particular increase, however, is not ideal. In September, the Red Sox announced the team would cut payroll for the 2020 season. Owner John Henry wants to make sure the Red Sox don’t surpass the luxury tax, and that could mean Mookie Betts and/or J.D. Martinez get moved in the offseason.

On top of that, the Red Sox are coming off a disappointing year. As a follow up to the team’s 2018 World Series win, the Red Sox finished 84-78 and failed to make the playoffs.

That makes 2020 the perfect opportunity to decrease ticket prices — or at the very least, keep them the same. Instead, the Red Sox will ask fans to pay more next season.

While attendance is down around Major League Baseball, the Red Sox were one of the teams that actually saw an increase in attendance in 2019.

That may not repeat in 2020. The team’s performance — combined with ticket hikes — could be enough to dissuade Red Sox fans from going to games next year.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik

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