From "The Real World"
"Ticket prices have increased, there is no doubt, and they continue to increase. Relative to incomes, relative to purchasing power and relative to other entertainment options, however, they have actually gotten cheaper."This isn't really the case. Let's take a gander at the Washington Capitals as an example. What does a lower bowl seat on the sides cost compared to the past (using the CPI to adjust)?
When the team started in 1974 such a seat was $8.
That's $29.53 in 2003 dollars.
The teams last full season at the USAir Arena(Capital Center) 1996-97 that class of seat ran $45.
That's $52.81 in 2003 dollars.
People were quite upset with the price hike that followed the move to the MCI Center raising the price from $45 to $60 in 1997.
That's $68.88 in 2003 dollars.
The cost of that same seat in 2003: $99.
If a father would like to bring his family of four to a game and sit in the lower bowl for a treat, it costs him more than three times what his father paid to do the same. Sports are pricing themselves for the classes, rather than the masses.
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Family of four [
Sparky
, 03-Oct-03, 03:55 AM, (1)
