1974: Padres Tickets for Less Than $5, and Is the NBA Coming to San Diego?

Here's what was happening in Spring Valley the week of March 21, 1974.

Tickets for the Padres baseball season went on sale this week in San Diego in 1974. The tickets ranged in price from $2.50 to a whopping $4. Single-game tickets were priced at $4 for field box seats or press level box seats, plaza box seats cost $3.50, and reserved seats in the loge area cost $2.50. The Padres' 1974 season opened on April 9 against the Houston Astros.

The Annual Lemon Grove Chamber of Commerce Installation Banquet took place with Chargers defensive end Pete Lazetich as special guest. The 6-3, 245-pound player was a key asset to the team according to the Chargers’ then-coach Tommy Prothro. Lemon Grove residents could meet the famous player for free if they had tickets to the banquet; otherwise they had to pay up to an astounding $8.50 to see him play at San Diego Stadium a few months later.

An extra penny was added to the state sales tax for the third time in 1974. The 1 percent increase launched the sales tax all the way up to 6 percent and was slated to bring in $50 million each month to the state of California. The sales and use tax contributed over $2.1 billion to the California State General Fund for the 1972-73 fiscal year.

John Mabee, president of Big Bear Markets, and Bob Payne, chairman and CEO of Continental Restaurants, headed up a group that tried to bring an NBA team to San Diego.

Mabee had a lease agreement with Peter Graham for the use of the Sports Arena, but the agreement was only valid if an NBA franchise was obtained.

Mabee and Payne, among others, thought they were very close to brining a team to San Diego when another competitor, Irving Levin, stepped in. Levin wanted to bring the team to San Diego on his own and take over Mabee’s lease agreement with the Sports Arena.

An NBA league meeting was slated to take place later in the month in Los Angeles, but no one knew if the league owners would reach a decision by that time.