The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

This is related to the Central Florida thread just posted, where the Jags may black out 10 games this year.

I think that the NFL might be pricing themselves out of the market.  It's partially the cost, but it's also the opportunity cost and what you can get for much, much less.  At this point in my life, it's probably a more enjoyable experience to watch the game on TV.  Nothing's like being at the game in person, but after a ticket, gas, parking, and overpriced food, you're looking at about $150 bucks for a couple for 1 game.  It's out of control.

At home, you can enjoy the game, have a cookout and beer for about $25.

Not to mention that it doesn't eat up an hour and a half of travel time on both ends.

I question whether the NFL is making the correct long-term business decision.  Why don't they have less expensive seats, but make sure that they're all filled?  I think the least expensive seats in Dolphins stadium are over $50 bucks, for a single game ticket.  That's pretty ludicrous, if you ask me.

I ditched my tickets because of price increase, and although I'm going to a few games this year, I'm regretting the choice to do even that.  I don't really think it's worth what you get for it.

I agree that prices are out of hand. The whole NFL experience is overpriced (all the way to what is costs to manage these teams) which is why we will very likely have a lockout after next season.

The NFL is making the right business decision because as long as folks keep on selling out stadiums and buying a shit load of merchandise and food and paying for parking, the NFL will keep charging what it charges. This will only change once enough fans stop going to games...but they keep selling out every single game.

And if there's a market that just isn't supporting football (Jacksonville), the owner will (should) be smart enough to pick them up and move them to some city that will sell out (Los Angeles).

The NFL, as a whole, is generating a boat-load of revenue. The only question is the distribution of the cash. The CBA opted out of by the owners (which could lead to a lockout), was based on the assumption of easy and cheap refinancing of stadium debt. With the sub-prime crisis and subsequent general economic crisis, stadium debt is MUCH more expensive to finance. The deal already gave the players a huge amount of money, but since what they get is a percentage of the total REVENUE, the owners were left with no choice but to opt out; the revenue pie stayed the same (or even increased somewhat), but the expenses for the owners sky-rocketed.

Of course, different teams have different stadium deals and debts, so the effect on owners isn't exactly uniform across the league.

Considering that one of the few ways owners can make more money is by increasing stadium revenues, there's absolutely no question they are doing everything to maximize those. So, to answer Dave's question: No, "the NFL" (individual owners) aren't pricing themselves out of anything. They are maximizing revenues, even if that means selling fewer but more expensive seats / packages.

Dave, keep in mind how much of that is written from YOUR perspective.  A lot of what you wrote varies for a lot of people. 

For me the drive is 30 minutes to and from the stadium, not and hour and a half.  Lots of people live even closer.  And the dollar amount you mention is MINIMUM - lots of seats will cost you $100 just to walk in the door.

You don't have to buy food, they let you come in with a sealed bottle of beverage, and almost everyone tailgates in the lot beforehand, thus not needing to buy overpriced food inside.  Time aside, you and the misses could attend a Dolphins' game for under $80, if you wanted to.

The cheapest seats in Land Shark Stadium are $35, I think, but they're in the sky.  Like the last 10 rows of the upper deck end zone, or something.  Crappy seats but that's why they're cheap.

While I don't disagree that the price is outrageous, there's a reason teams offer $100 million contracts to guys like Albert Haynesworth.  Do you really fathom how much $100 million is?  You could buy season tickets in my section for 4771 people for every season until you're 90 years old.  Or if you wanted to splurge, that number becomes 2054 people in the lower bowl goal-line.  Until you're 90...

The real issue here is why do the players need to get paid so much money.  That's why tickets are expensive.  With "Franchise tags" and such contract clauses, the NFL is set up to ensure player salaries are constantly increasing.  That money has to come from somewhere...

Yes. ESPN.

Tickets are priced according to what people will PAY. It's capitalism 101.

Phishfan would have to pay $50 to go see his alma mater play CU (well, if paid "public" price, anyway). The game against Liberty is (understandably) cheaper, but he'd still have to fork over $45.

I couldn't agree more. A Few years ago the economy was doing much better. Money was not nearly as tight. Now , Everyone everywhere is offering bargains to get peoples buisness, except for the NFL. They are scaring people in my neck of the woods about laying off police officers, Furloghs and wage freezes. No way I'm going to a game this year unless I land a pair of tickets for free. And even then I'll shell out $100 before the day is over easy. :-\

The NFL will start lowering prices when stadiums stop selling out.

It really is that simple.

Maybe their should be a public option where we pay an extra percentage of income to taxes, and in return receive at tickets to at least 5 games a year, paid for by the gov't.

Why do you have to bring politics into every thread? 

It's just meant to be a joke. Sorry sorry.

Actually, I don't think it's that simple.  Because the players are unionized, if the NFL sells less tickets and makes less money, the players will still demand their current salaries and then we have problems like lockouts and strikes and such. 

So what you're saying is that the NFL won't optimize stadium profits, because they have a fixed cost in a different area?

That makes absolutely no sense.

The individual owners will try to earn as much as they can from their stadiums. If lower prices and more people result in a bigger profit, then that's what they'll do. If not... don't hold your breath.

It's not like I'm surprised that the costs are high, but I think it's a model for problems later.  From a business perspective, you make as much money as you can.  However, I don't think that good for the NFL as a whole.

I want to throw merchandising into this discussion as well. T-shirts, sweat shirts and other apparel is ridiculous.

You have a point there.  I remember when NFL jerseys used to cost like $30 to $40 and they used to be made by Nike, Addidas, Reebok, and all sports marketing brands.  Then all of a sudden, they switched to Reebok only and jacked up the price to $65 per jersey in 2002.... now they're going for upwards of $80

I find that if you're not buying brand new official apparel, that there are plenty of reasonable options.  You just have to be patient and look online or at places like Ross, or wait until it's offseason.  If you order from the catalog, the prices are insane.

I prefer to watch sports on T.V.  I prefer to listen to my music on my I-Pod, If the dolphins score a touchdown I don't feel the need to touch a random stranger.  I used to go to games to get drunk but now I would go to hang with friends anyway.  The only sport I would prefer to go to the venue would be something like boxing although I've never been. 

The problem with the high prices is that there are plenty of people willing to pay them.

Not anywhere near as much as before.

If they weren't making enough money as they thought they should, they would lower their prices.

In someway the actual cost haven't gone up as much as the profit on the secondary market has shrunk.

These aren't actually numbers...

But I vaguely remember as a kid there would often be rock concerts where the face value on the price would be $5 but you couldn't buy a ticket for under $60 dollars from a scalper.  So one artist raised the price to $50 on his next concert and said screw the scalpers. 

It is false to say that the NFL sets the price for a superbowl ticket.  The secondary market does.  By raising the prices the NFL simply gets a higher % of the actually selling cost.