Ticket prices for Yankees 2024 World Series compared to 2009

Over their illustrious history, the New York Yankees have established themselves as the most dominant team in baseball.

The first of their staggering 27 World Series championships came in 1923, 20 years after their creation. Bar a notable gap between 1978 and 1996, their presence at the pinnacle had been relatively steady throughout the 20th century. Success has been less easy to come by this century, however, with the Yankees last winning the Major League Baseball crown in 2009.

For Yankees standards, the recent championship drought has been significant. The world today is vastly different from when the World Series was held 15 years ago.

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Britney Spears then sat atop the Billboard Hot 100 and the world was still reeling from the effects of the global financial crisis that had begun the previous year. The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) did not exist, and neither did COVID-19. At that time, the World Health Organization had concerns about another pandemic involving the H1N1 influenza virus, also known as swine flu.

Inflation, one of 2024’s buzzwords, is present for the World Series. Postseason ticket pricing in 2009, the first year in the current Yankee Stadium, ranged from $50 to $425 at face value for seats in the Bronx. At the top end, the $425 ticket price represented a $100 jump over regular season prices. At the bottom, the jump was $45, or 90% of the World Series price.

This year, the lowest price for a seat at Yankee Stadium during the World Series was $151. For that, ticketholders get a spot in the back of the stadium’s famous right-field bleachers. However, that “low” price was only available to preferred full-season ticket licensees, according to MLB.com. Tickets available for public sale started at nearly $205 in the bleachers and topped out at more than $2,115 for the premier sections near home plate.

The hot dogs at Yankee Stadium have proven to be far more resistant to rising prices. The 2009 cost was $6. In 2024, it is $6.29.

Base fare on the New York City subway to the 161st Street station in the Bronx costs $2.90, compared to $2.25 in 2009. Gas prices have risen similarly. They were recently hovering at about $3.23 per gallon on the East Coast, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration records. In October 2009, the average regional cost was $2.57. Going to the West Coast, the cost in September was about $4.23 per gallon compared to $2.95 in October 2009.

The East Coast versus West Coast matchup in this World Series is a common one, last seen in 2020 when Tampa Bay faced the Dodgers. The Dodgers have been in four of the last eight World Series, winning once in 2020. The Dodgers have won seven of their 21 appearances in the championship series. The Yankees have won 27 of their 40.

The two teams last faced each other in 1981, a series the Dodgers won in six games. Back then, the cheapest tickets were just $15. The teams played in 10 World Series before then. The Dodgers also won in 1963 and 1955, when they were still located in Brooklyn. The Yankees won in 1977, 1956, 1955, 1953, 1952, 1949, 1947 and 1941, when a ticket cost just $5.50.

Mickey Mantle was a huge star for the Yankees for half of those eight wins. During the Yankees’ last title run, the team was led by former captain and shortstop Derek Jeter, who led them to five championships from 1996 to 2009. This time around, the Yankees are propelled by outfielder and offensive juggernaut Aaron Judge. The team also boasts high-performing power hitters Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton, providing a lineup fitting of the Bronx Bombers nickname that sums up the team’s history of home run supremacy.

Overshadowing the World Series today is a looming presidential election, which could take place just three days after the series ends. In 2009, former President Barack Obama was in the first year of his presidency and fresh off winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” earlier in the month. President Joe Biden was vice president, Vice President Kamala Harris was San Francisco’s district attorney and former President Donald Trump was a reality TV game show host who that year had joined Twitter.

Elsewhere in entertainment, the world during the World Series was awaiting the release of Michael Jackson’s “This Is It,” the documentary film featuring rehearsal footage from Jackson’s planned comeback concerts that were canceled after his June 2009 death. In somewhat similar news, they were also awaiting the release of Avatar, which came that December. Fall TV premiers in 2009 included Lost, Mad Men and Glee, streaming on the iPhone 3GS or via the new operating system Windows 7. The latter replaced the notoriously unloved Windows Vista system.