Paul Kengor: The absurdity of a $15 beer

I recently attended a Pirates game. As readers know, that’s no small step for me. I boycotted Major League Baseball after its ideological commissioner, Rob Manfred, needlessly thrust our beloved national pastime into the nastiness of partisan politics. Manfred and MLB boycotted the city of Atlanta in protest of Georgia’s Republican governor’s new election-integrity laws.

Why did I abandon my boycott, at least for one evening? Because a couple generous souls treated my entire family to a game. My youngest have pleaded with me to take them to a game. So their old man gave up his boycott for an evening. Manfred and his minions at their Manhattan corporate offices can count me among their suckers. (Then again, I didn’t pay for my tickets.)

But little did I know how much of a sucker I was about to become once inside PNC Park. My wife suggested I buy beers for the two guys who got us tickets, plus each of us. I was happy to do so.

My happiness turned to horror when I got the bill. It was $60 for four beers. That’s $15 for a beer. At a beer distributor, you could buy a case of 24 beers for the cost of those two. What an outrage.

Notably, not everything at PNC was so scandalously priced. Soft pretzels and peanuts and hot dogs are reasonable. A bottled water was under $4. And kudos to Primanti Brothers: the cost of a Primanti sandwich at PNC Park was about what you pay at the restaurant. I expected a markup, of course, but it wasn’t by much. In fact, a Primanti sandwich costs considerably less than a beer at PNC.

That brings me back to the beer spectacle.

What rational reason could there be for charging someone $15 for a beer? What moral justification?

To be sure, I’m a classical free marketer. I’ve taught economics for decades. I tell my students that markets are morally neutral. A free economy bases prices on the market forces of supply and demand. It’s the consumer, typically, that determines prices. Firms don’t charge a price they can’t get. Hence, PNC Park — or whoever is responsible for this ballpark robbery — is gouging fans for $15 per beer because PNC’s honchos can get it.

But, in this case, one questions that market theory. Think about it: Is PNC Park truly offering a price based on supply and demand? I can’t imagine that the pricers wouldn’t sell more beer — and make more money — if they charged $10 per beer, or even $12.

I assure you that, had I known the price ahead of time, I would not have bought those four beers. Would I have bought them for $10 each? Yes. In fact, I might have been willing to buy two rounds at $10 each. Now knowing the $15 rip-off, I will absolutely not buy beer at PNC Park again. In fact, I’m so aghast at the egregious gashing that I will not buy beer there again, period, even if they reduce prices. These folks are shameless.

What we have on display with beer at PNC Park is less a matter of markets and morality than absurdity. Charging anyone that much for a can of beer is absurd. Those responsible should be ashamed of themselves.