SCC Blog

The Unsanitary World of Major League Baseball?

So this week’s post has a little different, well, flavor than our typical post.  A story I heard on ESPN Radio driving to work a few days ago on Colin Cowherd’s radio show caught my attention.  Apparently, there are a number of Major League Baseball stadiums around the country that aren’t exactly up to par with health codes.  The story, published in Conde Naste magazine, leads with the following sub-title:  “In some stadiums, the rats and flies have pretty good seats”…probably not what baseball’s ticket buying consumers were hoping to hear.  

The magazine, apparently in an attempt to identify whether the league’s wealthiest teams play in cleaner ballparks, conducted a survey of health-code violations at 11 Major League Baseball Stadiums.  The results would provide contrasting perspectives.  Two of baseball’s richest franchises (New York Yankees and New York Mets) are indeed playing in some of the cleanest ballparks.  The Yankees, with revenues of $327 million, posted 45 health-code violations.  The Mets, with revenues of $235 million, had 58 violations.  On the other end of the revenue totem pole is the Kansas City Royals.  The Royals (with just $135 million in revenues) managed fewer violations than either New York franchise with only 32. 

Two West Coast teams, the Los Angeles Angels and the Oakland A’s, committed far more violations than any other team in the league, hardly a statistic worth bragging about.  The Angels had 732 violations, including a cockroach infestation and an unidentified vermin infestation that forced the closing of one food stand.  An October inspection of the A’s yielded similarly unspectacular findings:  dirt, insects, rodents and chemical contamination.  All told, the franchise racked up 493 violations.

Inspections at other ballparks turned up some other real treats (pardon the pun).  At Miller Park in Milwaukee, health inspectors found mouse droppings on the floor in a food preparation area and mold in several ice machines.  Safeco Field in Seattle was cited for keeping raw meat, seafood and poultry too close to prepared foods.  The fine folks in Philadelphia will I’m sure be happy to know that inspectors at Citizens Bank Park found a fly infestation near the dessert containers.  And sinks for washing hands weren’t made available to all food handlers at Minute Maid Park in Houston. 

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks?  Maybe not this time but thanks anyway.

*** Questions for Classroom Discussion ***

1) How important are concessions to a franchise’s overall revenue?

2) Do you think the findings of this report will influence fan decisions to attend a Major League Baseball ballpark?  Why or why not?

3) Do you think the findings of this report will impact fan decisions to purchase concessions at the next game they attend?  Explain your answers in detail.

4) How does this story impact Minor League Baseball, if at all?  Discuss as a class.

Posted in General, Public Relations/Publicity, Social issues |

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