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Ballparks are always working on getting people in their seats. Lately they're reaching their fans through their stomachs with all-you-can-eat concessions -- a never-ending supply of nachos, hot dogs, popcorn and soda. These tickets cost around 50 percent more, usually ranging from around thirty to fifty bucks -- although they can run up to the two-hundred-dollar mark, according to USA Today -- and the trend has hit dozens of arenas, stadiums, and tracks.
At least one fan interviewed by Sports Illustrated is all for it. Matthew Cavalier recently took in an Orioles game at Baltimore's Camden Yards, sitting way out in left field (so to speak) in order to take advantage of the pumped-up food options. Cavalier thinks some teams need that extra calorie boost to get their fan base into the stadium. "The Phillies, Yankees and all them are always going to be fine. They don't need to do this. But for fans of, say, this team, it's a good plan."
It also seems like a good deal -- from a strictly monetary point of view. Nutritionists take a more jaundiced look at the trend; just because you're allowed to eat "all" you can doesn't mean you should. "Anytime you have an open buffet, people are more likely to eat more and drink more," Lona Sandon, an American Dietetic Association spokesperson, told Sports Illustrated. "It's perceived as cost-effective. Well, not when it comes to your health." Perhaps in an effort to fend off public health criticisms, some parks include healthier fare among the fries and ice cream; Camden Yards, for example, has a salad offering. But -- really, now. When you're at a ballpark, are you thinking about salad?
Maybe part of the problem is in the marketing. "All-you-can-eat" doesn't have to be taken literally, pointed out Jack O'Brien, president of support services for Aramark, which provides food to ballparks across the country. "That's not the intent of the tickets," he explained to Sports Illustrated. "The [all-inclusive] tickets provide the experience of a ballgame without reaching in your pocket. You know that everything is taken care of." Everything except, perhaps, your diet goals.
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7-21-2010 @8:59PM Clue said... Take (burp...excuse me) out to the ball (burp...excuse me) game... :o)
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7-21-2010 @9:11PM ed said... As soon as I hear of all-you-can-eat PIZZA, I'm headed to the ball game.
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7-21-2010 @10:16PM Marcie said... Why don't they just put a trough in front of all the seats and that way people won't even have to get up to get their slop....Uh....I mean food.
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7-21-2010 @10:18PM Sue said... We all gotta die of something. You wanna eat too many chili dogs, you go ahead. I'm gonna OD on lobster and chocolate :)
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7-21-2010 @10:30PM Mark said... Why don't the health experts get out of the way and let natural selection do it's job?
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7-21-2010 @10:30PM Don said... I'm from Pittsburgh. The Pirates do this because they certainly can't get fans into PNC Park with BASEBALL!
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7-21-2010 @10:59PM TOM B SI NY said... Great : so now i have the same fear of going on an airplane and getting stuck next to some 400 pounder who is gonna block the view, plus get up all game to score some more food, then have more taxes tacken out of my pay check because the 400 pounder has a medical disability and cannot work , so the food at the game is on the working class, they eat all game, plus i got to hike it across the parking lot and they get to park in the hanicap zone at the front gate great
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7-21-2010 @11:33PM M.A.Korman said... What people are eating is their own business. Nutritionists should keep quiet unless their opinion is asked for. If they choose to obsess over food and its contents they are free to do so but should not annoy others with their opinions. No one is forcing them to eat or drink anything they don't want to. We can make our own choices about food.
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7-22-2010 @12:13AM Lisa said... People don't eat these foods on a daily basis. Let them eat what they want at the ball park. It is as American as, well, as baseball and apple pie!
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7-22-2010 @12:47AM Guy Jones said... The food Nazis will now attempt to shut down any sports arena that offers this
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7-22-2010 @1:44AM elreno65 said... I am getting so tired of all these lizard basta*ds who want to tell all of us what to eat, what kind of car to buy, how much electricity to use, and everything else. We should start spitting on the stupid watch dogs and cover their hollow heads with the condoms they want to give to our grade school kids. Real Americans should rise up and put a stop to these sick do-gooders!
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7-22-2010 @4:57AM KittyBelle said... Heck, all-you-can-eat buffet at a baseball game... imagine the parents of teenage boys who eat like they have a hollow leg (or two) and spend more on food than the ticket itself at events like this. And how about their mother who would be the one eating the salad, but thanks to some medication, has a constant need for a drink in-hand, which usually means buying 3 or 4 during a long-time event like a ball game (and at $5 for a soda or tea, that gets ugly really quickly). I agree that there are those who will be waddling out of the game with chili and nacho crumbs scattered down their bellies, but there are some folks who would use this wisely.
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7-22-2010 @11:31AM doodoolemonque said... Sounds to me like a lot of you are getting awfully neurotic, worrying that somebody might tell you what to eat or what not to eat. As important as nutritionists are and as successful as they have been in getting out their message, I'd wager not one of you has been denied a calorie of fast food, sugar, cream or fat. But there are those who have learned to eat more healthfully, and are living healthier, happier and lives, because somebody used their head and listened to a valuable message. Y'all may live nice long healthy lives continuing to eat whatever you want, whenever you want, but there are tens of thousands alive today who would not be, were it not for this message. Why does this scare you so much? Y'all soooo afraid of a smart person, with a degree saying "ya know, you might not want to go back for thirds on that fried Twinkie."
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