TOKYO (AP) – Baseball’s average ticket price increased by nearly 4 percent this year, and the Boston Red Sox charge the most for the seventh straight season.

The average price of a major league ticket is $19.82, the Chicago-based Team Marketing Report said Monday, a day before the major league season opener. That’s up 3.9 percent from last year’s revised average of $19.08.

Among the major sports, the NFL has the highest average ticket price of $50.02, according to TMI, followed by the NBA at $43.65 and the NHL at $41.56.

Boston, which plays in the smallest ballpark in the major leagues, has the highest baseball average at $40.77. That translates to an average 5.7 percent increase at Fenway Park, which holds about 34,000. About 200 seats are being added on the right-field roof, one year after seats were built atop the Green Monster in left.

The Chicago Cubs were second at $28.45, followed by Philadelphia at $26.08 and the New York Yankees at $24.86.

But while TMI said the Yankees had no change in their prices from last year, the team itself said in December that 31,00 seats had price increases and about 24,700 will remain the same. New York said last week that it already had sold 2.8 million tickets at an average of $41.25 – the remaining unsold seats are primarily in the upper deck at lower prices.

TMI’s Becky Vallett said the survey was based on figures provided by teams.

Philadelphia and San Diego, which open new ballparks, had the steepest increases. With the move to Citizens Bank Park from Veterans Stadium, the Phillies’ average increased 51.3 percent. The Padres are going from Qualcomm Stadium to PETCO Park and have increased their average 31.9 percent to $21.41.

Both ballparks are smaller than the previous homes of the teams, meaning there are fewer cheap seats, which results in a higher average.

The Cubs, Houston, Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Arizona, Minnesota and Kansas City also increased prices by 10 percent or more.

Montreal has the lowest average at $10.82 U.S., a figure that includes only Olympic Stadium, not San Juan’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium, where the Expos are scheduled to play 22 home games for the second straight season. Milwaukee is just above that at $10.88.h

Nine teams had a lower average price this year, led by Pittsburgh, which dropped its average 12.6 percent to $17.08. Florida did not increase prices, unusual for World Series winners, who have had an average rise of 8 percent in seasons following titles.

In 2003, the major league average wound up increasing 4.7 percent instead of the 2.8 percent originally announced by TMI, which at the start of that season calculated the average as $18.69.