Very Much Sold On New Home

"The Presidential and Diamond seats will get filled over time. Supply and demand will fix it. Maybe prices come down. Maybe we win and those are the hot seats," one Nats executive said. But it doesn't look good, does it? "Not now."

However, having a few thousand extremely expensive seats is central to the economics of any team in a new ballpark. The problem isn't their existence. The difficulty is figuring out how to sell them, and at what price. If the Nats solve this marketing and pricing conundrum, then they're going to be one of the more economically powerful teams in the game.

"We're proud that we have 3,000 tickets that cost $5 or $10," said one Nats executive, noting that the number of bargain seats and the number of rich-only seats are about the same. One certainly subsidizes the other, in the minds of baseball owners.

Like most franchises, the Nats don't enjoy discussing $400,000-a-year suites where 25 people can be treated like Caesars. "You're not calling to ask about our revenues, are you?" Kasten said. "There's no constructive purpose in discussing that."

"No, I'm calling to tell you about your revenues," I said.

"Okay, that's different," said Kasten, laughing. "What's your guess? Which will be wrong."

But it won't be wrong by much. The Nats have 3,100 seats (including 1,200 in suites) that average about $180 a game. The impact of such seats is enormous. For $180, a normal fan could buy five good seats: one each in the box seats, the club level, the mezzanine, the gallery and the terrace -- all the basic sections of Nationals Park.

When you see someone in a Presidential Seat -- like Treasury Secretary Henry J. Paulson last week, sitting with friends in an otherwise empty section -- remember that every such seat generates the same cash as five seats at RFK. That's one reason more than 10,000 upper deck tickets at Nationals Park are reasonably priced.

So far, things almost seem to be going too well. The park seems to "play fair" with perhaps a slight advantage to pitchers. The concourses on all three levels have created gathering and viewing areas that encourage fans to leave their seats, wander the yard and seldom miss a pitch. At night, even the Anacostia River looks pretty from the first base ramps.

But let's not get carried away or trust one-month conclusions too quickly. After all, when it comes to Nationals Park, almost all of us have already been wrong once about almost everything.