Concession stand sandwiches vary from $1.50 to $3 on the Masters this 12 months.
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Andrew Redington/Getty Photos
The Masters went viral nicely earlier than its first tee time on Thursday, as patrons — aka spectators — arrived on the Georgia golf match to concession costs seemingly straight out of the times of yore.
It is not that the costs have out of the blue dropped. It is that they’ve managed to remain low for many years, at the same time as inflation and conflict in Iran ship the value of many different items skyrocketing.
The Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership’s hallmark pimento cheese sandwiches price simply $1.50 this 12 months, as they’ve since 2002. They have been on the menu because the first match in 1934, once they price 30 cents every, the equal of over $7 at this time — that means the value has truly gotten higher since yore.
“From the gadgets supplied to the value paid, Masters morsels are a mode of concessions consistency,” the match mentioned on Instagram Tuesday.
This 12 months’s numerous meat sandwiches, breakfast gadgets and desserts — just like the Georgia Peach Ice Cream Sandwich — price not more than $3.00 every. The priciest choices, cans of beer and wine, will run you a whopping $6.00.
Actually, a very indecisive or snacky attendee may purchase one in all every of the 27 menu gadgets for a grand complete of $78.75.
“After paying elevated costs at different sporting occasions, that is truly an actual nice shock to truly pay these costs,” spectator Monica Johnson informed NPR final 12 months. “I do not even keep in mind these costs in childhood.”
NPR has reached out to match organizers for extra data. Many have spoken publicly over time in regards to the significance of conserving their menu easy and inexpensive.
“We take sure issues very, very severely. Like the price of a pimento cheese sandwich is simply as essential as how excessive the second minimize (of grass) goes to be,” Augusta Nationwide Chairman Billy Payne mentioned in 2007.
The Masters’ web site explains that in its early days, most patrons got here to city solely on a day journey as a result of a “dearth of lodge rooms in Augusta.” The purposefully no-frills menu “allowed for the low costs and in addition offered a method to arrange the meals in resident Augustans’ kitchens,” it says. (The sandwiches had been made by a collection of native caterers earlier than the match moved all concessions on-site in 2013.)
The menu has advanced barely over the a long time. The rooster salad wrap grew to become a brioche sandwich in 2021; a savory tomato pie made its debut in 2025. This 12 months, the brand new Masters Sweet Bar ($2.25) is changing peanuts, whereas the value of blueberry muffins and cheese straws has gone up 50 cents since final 12 months.
How the Masters makes its cash
One coveted garden gnome prices $59.50, virtually as a lot as your entire meals menu added collectively.
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Andrew Redington/Getty Photos
The concession offers stand in sharp distinction to the value of tickets, which is steep and climbing larger.
Getting tickets is notoriously tough. The Masters holds a lottery practically a 12 months prematurely, which is the one means to purchase official tickets. There’s additionally a wait listing for a “patron badge” — however there’s solely a restricted quantity in circulation, and the listing is so lengthy it hasn’t taken new purposes since a quick window in 2000.
This 12 months, practice-round tickets went for $125 and $150, particular person match rounds price $160 and four-day match badges had been $525. That is up from $450 within the final three years.
Resale tickets are strictly prohibited by the golf membership, however do are inclined to flow into on secondary platforms, not occasionally with five-digit worth tags. As of Thursday, for instance, single-round tickets for the ultimate three days of competitors had been out there on StubHub beginning at over $6,000, whereas a last-minute four-day grounds badge price over $20,000.
And for many who do snag a ticket, taking dwelling a memento might be dear too.
The most popular piece of merchandise this 12 months is a khaki-clad, umbrella-holding garden gnome that prices $59.50 — up $10 from final 12 months.
The value hike hasn’t stopped spectators from lining as much as purchase one (which is the restrict per buyer) of the roughly 1,000 believed to be made out there every day, as sports activities enterprise publication Entrance Workplace Sports activities experiences.
That is the tenth anniversary of the primary Masters gnome memento. They’re dressed in another way annually — alternately sporting a Christmas sweater or clutching a Georgia peach ice cream sandwich — and officers have not confirmed or denied rumors this is likely to be their final 12 months on the cabinets.
Whereas official income information is scarce, Forbes put that quantity at $141 million in 2022. Most of that — $69 million — got here from merchandise, adopted by badges, worldwide TV rights and simply $8 million in concessions. That is numerous cheese sandwiches.
How a lot different basic concessions will price you
Honey Deuce cocktails, a staple on the U.S. Open, price $23 (memento cup included) in 2025.
Monica Schipper/Getty Photos
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Monica Schipper/Getty Photos
The Masters is not the one U.S.-based sporting occasion with a signature snack.
The U.S. Open, the tennis match held yearly in New York Metropolis, is thought for its “Honey Deuce,” a vodka-raspberry lemonade that bought (in a commemorative cup) for $23 final 12 months. The Kentucky Derby’s hallmark mint julep, in a memento cup, went for $22 — after climbing steadily from 75 cents in 1940.
And ballparks across the nation just lately unveiled increasingly-zany concessions choices for the brand new baseball season.
For an additional $8, you may get your tenders or nachos served in a ferry boat (Seattle Mariners). There’s additionally a $39 “Lobstah poutine” (Boston Pink Sox), a $26 two-foot-long quesadilla in a customized carrying case (Miami Marlins) and a Ninth-inning rally wearable nacho sombrero (Texas Rangers) for $40.
