Fans of the Philadelphia Phillies, known just as much for their rowdiness as their togetherness, are rising up in protest against the franchise’s announcement this week that it was doing away with a popular “Dollar Dog Night” at select games.
A petition was launched Thursday to restore the promotional night, garnering nearly 10,000 signatures by Friday afternoon to demand that the team reinstate the 27-year tradition.
“The absence of Dollar Dog Night has left many fans like me feeling disconnected from the team we love so much,” wrote Christian McGovern, who added that the Phillies are “more than just a baseball team; they are an integral part of our city’s identity and culture.”
The Phillies tried to soften the blow by announcing the team would still have $5 BOGO hot dog nights, but that appears to have only ticked off fans even more.
The Phillies senior vice president of ticket operations and projects, John Weber, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that ending the $1 hot dog promo wasn’t about increasing profits, but was because fans had complained about how many of the cheap hot dogs were being thrown around the concourses, which were also clogged with fans waiting in line to buy dogs.
That’s likely an allusion to last season’s infamous food fight at a Phillies game in April, which the Inquirer reports McGovern himself was a part of. That game saw multiple fans ejected after dozens, if not hundreds, of hot dogs were thrown around the stadium— a few making it onto the field of play.
“It’s been great for 27 years,” Weber told the Inquirer. “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.”
McGovern thinks that reasoning is BS. Instead, he says Phillies fans will lose a beloved part of their history if the dollar dogs don’t return in 2024.
“Reinstating Dollar Dog Nights would not only bring joy back to many fans but could potentially boost attendance at games as well,” he said. “It’s time for us to bring back this cherished tradition that means so much to so many people in our community.”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that not all baseball fans are created equal, that Phillies fans are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of $1 GLIZZIES,” one supporter commented on the petition.
“Hot dogs are for the people, by the people. Give the people their hot dogs without capitalism infringing on their dog rights,” another supporter said.
