NYT: Forget the Spicy Tuna Rolls; Most Fans Still Just Want a Dog

[Red Forman]

Per NY Times....


Forget the Spicy Tuna Rolls;
Most Fans Still Just Want a Dog

BOSTON — The Fenway Frank. The Dodger Dog. The Cincinnati Cheese Coney. They are, for better or worse, the gastronomic benchmarks at baseball stadiums across the country, and as much a gustatory ritual as beer, peanuts and Cracker Jack.

The humble hot dog and its culinary cousin the sausage have also managed to withstand the onslaught from food courts, luxury suites and expanded, health-conscious menus that fill the nearly two dozen ballparks built since 1990.

“It seems like no matter what they add, the No. 1-selling item remains the hot dog,” said Chris Bigelow, a consultant to stadium concessionaires. “It must be a Pavlovian response: you come to a ballpark, you have to have a hot dog. It’s true in the suites, too, despite all that catering.”

Fans are expected to gobble 26.3 million hot dogs and sausages at major league parks this season, according to estimates by the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. In many parks, hot dogs make up roughly 10 percent of food and beverage sales, and they are also a fan favorite in Japan and other baseball-loving countries.

Hot dog and sausage consumption around the majors has remained remarkably steady during the last decade or so, even as teams have turned their stadiums into designer dining destinations, with steakhouses, themed restaurants, brew pubs and waiter service. They have also withstood a public health campaign in New York that requires that calorie counts be posted on menus, including many of those at Citi Field and Yankee Stadium, where hot dogs remain top sellers.

Given the more elaborate dining options at these and other new ballparks, hot dogs may even end up being a default for diet-conscious fans.






http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/sp...tml?ref=sports

[Kingspoint]

$1 Dog Night gets me to go to games. $1 anything else night does nothing. I can enjoy a ballgame and have two or three hotdogs without feeling like I got ripped off paying $18 for them.

[Reds]

$1 Dog Night gets me to go to games. $1 anything else night does nothing. I can enjoy a ballgame and have two or three hotdogs without feeling like I got ripped off paying $18 for them.

The Reds topped the cheapest food category in the ESPN team rankings, can't say I disagree. I think the food is actually cheaper than it was 2001-2003ish and I can grab an imported beer for what a domestic would cost me at other sporting venues.

My buddy and I came up for a game last year and we ate before we went to the ballpark and then realized while we where there the food was soooo much cheaper than hockey games ($12 beers, $7 everything else there).