Take note, South Philly: this is what happens when a few bad actors spoil all the fun.
After a run of 27 years, the Philadelphia Phillies are discontinuing their popular Dollar Dog Night promotion, the team said Thursday in a release, in part over unruly fan behavior, and replacing it with a buy-one-get-one-free deal. This comes after an April 2023 game against the Miami Marlins when several fans flung the franks in a food fight that resulted in multiple ejections, per the Philadelphia Inquirer. There was another Dollar Dog Night game at Citizens Bank Park last April, against the Mariners, that resulted in a brief delay when fans tossed the hot dogs onto the field.
Now, on the days of the revised promotion, both of which will be in April, fans may buy one hot dog at concession stands at the regular price of $5 and take the second for free. There will also be a limit of four hot dogs purchased − with the chance to take away eight total − per transaction.
‘This modification to the previous Hatfield Phillies Franks Dollar Dog Nights is based on the organization’s ongoing commitment to provide a positive experience for all fans in attendance,’ the Phillies said in their news release.
The BOGO Nights games will take place April 2 (against the Cincinnati Reds) and April 16 (Colorado Rockies).
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‘Look, we’re very proud of this promotion,’ Phillies senior vice president of ticket operations and projects John Weber told the Inquirer. ‘It’s been talked about. It’s been great for 27 years. But it was just time for a change. We’ve been discussing a change for the last couple years. The unfortunate incidents last year of the throwing of the hot dogs plus the feedback from our fans postgame survey, the fans told us that it was time for a change.’
Weber added that last season’s food fight ‘was kind of the tipping point’ that prompted the retirement of the Dollar Dogs Night promotion.
‘The fan experience was just not what we want it to be,’ Weber continued. ‘Our goal as an organization is to always provide a first-class fan experience to all of our fans. We didn’t meet those goals for those three Dollar Dog Days, for sure. We set out to come up with a solution and hopefully this works for everyone.’
Weber also told the Inquirer that the team would increase security personnel and staffing to handle unruly fans and mitigate long concession lines.
Dollar Dog Nights was introduced in 1997, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, to generate revenue for a Phillies team that lost 94 games that season.