Why admission at Pro sports is so expensive

Working people are priced out of the market. However, attendance has declined since kneeling for the national anthem began. Working people do get a property tax increase in Indianapolis to pay for Lucas Oil Stadium for the Colts. Also there is a an additional sales tax at restaurants in Indianapolis and the surrounding counties to help pay for the stadium. Originally, Indianapolis wanted to tax the entire state of Indiana. Indianapolis has NBA and NFL as well as the absurd WNBA. The only affordable sports venue in Indianapolis is minor league baseball.

Beer is sold because alcoholics attend the games and food vendors make a profit on alcohol sales. Many people would not go if there was no alcohol.

Do sport franchises really help the local economy? People who never attend still get stuck with a tax bill. Bars and restaurants near the venues do well when there are games but those sort of places are not much patronized by the local population otherwise. There may be evidence that sports loses money for taxpayers. Indianapolis tried to revive their downtown with sports and a mall. The mall is a disaster populated by teenage gangs. The sports venues probably would have been more successful in a prosperous suburb. Certainly, it is dangerous to attend the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra downtown at night.

The tickets are being sold to the thousands of people who have lots of money. Lucas Oil (Colts) used to sell out.

 

Another sports venue that recently demanded a state subsidy is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was started by the rich 100 years ago. A couple of years ago the wanted to upgrade their washrooms to meet some federal guidelines. So they demanded state taxpayer money and the GOP caved immediately.

 

Depends where you go. When we lived up North, we went to Phillies games all the time and CB Park is not really all that expensive for what you get. Eagles, forget it. Unless your company sponsors the team in some way, you're not going.

On the other hand, we live in Florida now, and going to a Marlins game is just ridiculous. The only good part about it is that it's in the middle of a neighborhood and you can pay $10 to park in somebody's yard across the street from the stadium. But the concessions are crazy.

We went to a game earlier this year and, I kid you not, two beers were $28.

Last time we went to Talladega, they were honoring a friend of ours and his family invited us to sit in a luxury box with them, so all the food and drinks were free. Honestly can't remember what anything cost the times before that.

We go to a couple of Auburn games a year and it's not terribly expensive.

Incidentally, I should note that I am notoriously cheap and one of the reasons I enjoy living in this area is that there are so many free or very cheap things to do. Every city has an amphitheater and has free concerts. Tonight, we're going to see a Steely Dan tribute band. A couple of weeks ago, we saw a Billy Joel tribute act and an Eagles' tribute that I actually enjoyed more than the last Eagles' concert I went to. We usually just take our own cooler and picnic lunch to those. Also love going to Jai Alai, which is free and food and drinks aren't bad.

 

Baseball, basketball, and hockey at least have plenty of games in a season. Keeping a football stadium open for 8 regular season home games has to come with a price tag.

 

Pro baseball and basketball seem to be the most reasonable in costs. I usually eat beforehand - much better and much cheaper food.

I enjoy college football a lot more -- and the price to their games is usually a lot more reasonable.

 

The athletes are being paid outrageous salaries. The fans pay the price for that.

 

The fans also want to see their team win. And fielding a winning team ain't cheap.

 

And financing new stadiums is expensive, also.

 

Something that has never been proven is that sports teams pay for themselves by helping the economy. Indianapolis is on the hook for football, basketball, minor league baseball, and 500 Indy car racing stadiums or improvements.

The alcohol concessions cash in on alcoholics.

Professional sports were built by working class people but now are afforded only by the upper middle class. The rich attend in luxurious private suites. The NBA makes so much money in communist China that they support communist repression for Hong Kong.

 

Nobody asserts that. The claim is that if you build a new stadium the economy around the stadium will be boosted.

Baseball games are still attainable by people of normal means.

Here in Minneapolis they built Target Field for baseball by assessing a .0015% county sales tax. That is 3 cents on every $20. I estimated that I paid $1.20 a year for the past 12 years. I don't consider $1.20 per year to be burdensome.

Now, the financing arrangements for the new Vikings' stadium was a rip off.



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I think that it's worse here. Indianapolis property taxes were increased although a new constitutional cap of 1% of the home value was passed. Also, there is an additional sales tax on restaurant bills in Indianapolis and all surrounding counties. Indianapolis spent all this money on new sport facilities only to see massive white flight from Indianapolis. I myself have not been to any of the games or races in the last 7 years and then it was minor league baseball, which is reasonable.

 

I gave up pro sports long ago

We head over to the Trenton Thunder games, a minor league, double A baseball team for great show once in a while.

They entertain you well you’re not embarrassed to go with the family

Rob

 

Minor League is still professional.

We love going to see our SPHL hockey team, the Fayetteville Marksmen. I didn't get a chance to see any games of our Class A Adavanced baseball team, the Fayetteville Woodpeckers.

The minors are good, cheap fun. We make it up to see the Hurricanes in Raleigh at least once a year. There's definitely a difference, in price and skill.

 

The only pro sports I attend is drag racing.
I have no desire to support all those ungrateful, unpatriotic, spoiled children.

 

The only professional sport I enjoy anymore is the NFL, and football is actually ideally suited for television. Seeing a football game in person is highly overrated, in my opinion. It's more a case of proudly announcing to people later that you were there, it seems to me.

 

Check the math. 60k times 200 is 12 million, not 1.2. And teams usually charge the same for preseason as for regular games, so it's 10 times 12 mill for 120 million. However, the salary cap is currently quite a bit higher than that, so your point that attendance doesn't cover salaries is correct.

from #16:
We head over to the Trenton Thunder games, a minor league, double A baseball team for great show once in a while.

They entertain you well you’re not embarrassed to go with the family

I've only made one game, about 10 years ago, at Portland Sea Dogs (same league as the Thunder) and paid $7 for a seat less than 50 yards from 3rd base and had a great time. Bought no concessions other than a program/scorecard, so can't address whether price-gouging is rampant there.