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Wright Thompson penned this interesting article for ESPN about the costs of attending New York Yankees games titled, ‘Seats of Gold.’
Quick related story. When I heard Van Morrison was coming to Montreal last month, I immediately looked into getting a couple of tickets. Alas, economics came up from behind me and throttled my hopes. The asking price was way too high for my taste. I can’t remember but it was in the neighborhood of $300 for two well-seated tickets. By the time taxes (and the rip off service charge of $25) were factored in, it was closer to $360. It’s easy to conclude, “no one would pay for that!” But that’s a self-centered thing to say. The market has all kinds of buyers and sellers and someone was going to pay for those tickets – and they did as the show sold out. It’s the same in sports. People will pay for something they want to see. However, as the article points out, the economy as a whole can impact the bottom line.
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It’s a world wide problem. NBA anyone? As Mr. Rob Hughes writes:
Not just soccer. Tennis appears defensive in confronting top stars alleged to have thrown matches. Horse racing has eternal problems with fixes. And Formula One motor racing makes a cosy plea bargain to allow a driver to drive on after deliberately crashing his car in Singapore.
