So, last week, the Dodgers sent out their season ticket renewal requests.  In much smaller markets and on losing teams this often isn’t done until mid-Sept. or later, but when a team finds itself in an unlikely pennant race, well the desire to capitalize is strong and so the letters are sent. Now, I haven’t seen the actual letter, and TJ Simers does give a line by line critique of it in his Thursday column.  Its full of selling points, some a little exaggerated, to help the fence-sitter hop off on the renewing side, despite the bad economy.  The interesting one, which Simers glosses over, and perhaps thats because he doesn’t have to buy tickets for the Dodgers or anywhere else, is the part where the McCourts write that they are not raising the price for season tickets.  That’s big news.  The McCourts are not rich owners, they are owners that honestly can’t afford to own a team, let alone a premier franchise.  They are leveraged up to their eyeballs, and if they aren’t careful about giving out contracts like those awarded to Andruw Jones and Juan Pierre the past two years, well, they might have trouble making payroll one of these days.  So when a team who really needs money says they aren’t raising the ticket prices for what should be the most loyal fans, well that is big news.  Of course, along with the early request for money comes a big advantage that might off-set that lack of increase.  If say even half of the current holders send in money, many will send the whole cost of the package, the team will earn interest on that money.  If they get it in August, rather than November, well, that could be quite a bit of interest.  That is of course if that money isn’t going straight to pay off this years team.  The McCourts have huge plans to develop Dodger Stadium, creating a mini-carnival outside the actual stadium but inside a newly constructed wall– think Qualcomm with personality and, perhaps, class.  Also, next year is their move to Arizona for spring training, to a site that will merchandised to the hilt.  Those tickets wont be cheap either. So, like Simers, you are thinking this invitation is all well and good if they Dodgers are still tearing up the standings, and Manny Ramirez is still lighting up LA, but now that they are losing… why would you give them money.  To that I say, the Dodgers are only 4.5 out, and behind a Diamondbacks team that is also struggling to win each night against teams like Houston and San Diego.  The Dodgers are not out of it.  Secondly, if you aren’t following closely, you may buy into McCourts plea for money to make sure they are in it for next year, that the team can compete by bringing in expensive free agents.  The reality is that the teams payroll will probably not rise too much, no matter the response to the renewal letter.  But, as I have said time and time again, unless your team wins the World Series, or, as say the Rockies did last season, made the playoffs against all odds, raising ticket prices significantly is an insult to those who are most loyal. There is no bigger turn of the knife than when a team asks for patience and then raises ticket prices. With the McCourts holding the prices where they are, whether they mean it of not, they are saying thank-you to those that are most loyal.  It will be interesting to see how the fans respond.