Washington cracks ‘10 most expensive sports cities’ list

By Tommy Chalk - The Washington Times - Monday, November 14, 2016

Living in cities can be downright expensive. But living in cities near your beloved sports teams can be even more expensive.

Realtors.com recently ran a list of the 10 most expensive sports cities for fans. The list looked at three factors: 1) How much it costs to attend a game, based on an average ticket price, a hot dog, a drink and parking, 2) The median cost of housing within two miles of a stadium, and 3) How much more it costs to live within two miles of a stadium compared to other areas within the city.

In what should be no surprise, Washington, D.C., came in at No. 8 on the list. According to the research, the average cost of attending each of the four major sports teams is $197 for the Redskins, $109 for the Capitals, $87 for the Wizards and $63 for the Nationals.

The homes around the Verizon Center were the most expensive, with a median cost of $649,000, 53 percent higher than the median cost of homes outside of the two mile radius. Homes near Nationals Park, which is a consistently growing neighborhood, also had an expensive median of $524,900, 24 percent more than homes outside of the two mile radius. However, homes within two miles of FedEx Field, which is not located in D.C., had a median cost of $222,500, which was actually 47 percent lower than homes outside the two mile radius in D.C.

No. 1 on the list was Boston, where median prices within two miles of Fenway Park and TD Garden cracked the $1 million mark, with a median of $1.24 million and $1.2 million, respectively.

The most expensive median homes were within two miles of New York’s Madison Square Garden, coming in at a whopping $1.85 million, 335 percent more than homes outside of the two mile radius.

The most expensive sports viewing experience? The Chicago Bears, where it costs an average of $200 for a ticket, a hot dog, a soda and parking. Chicago came in at No. 4 on the list.

The rest of the top ten: