Avarice: a strong desire to have or get money; greediness
In todays era of sports there is no doubt that money, more then ever drives most Major League Sports and this money also flows into the Football and Basketball Collegic arena. Fans of today era understands this and most fans, like myself, accepts it, we may not like it but we accept it. But where does the "enough is enough" threshold of money in sports end?
With the increasing avenues to watch sports, through television, Mobile Devices, etc.. the networks offer big money to Major League Sports and Collegic Sports to have exclusive rights to air specific sports and outside of network money the next biggest money grabber is suites aimed toward corporations. I don't fault any company or sport to capitalize gains and make a profit, but with all this big money from the network and suites, the owners and leagues greed comes in at the big games.
In 2015 the average ticket for a standard seat at a NFL Game is $85.83, but the average ticket for the 2016 Super Bowl is exceeding $4,000 for one ticket. I understand that the individual doesn't need to purchase these tickets and it is up to the market to accept or reject the pricing, but the greed of the NFL and other sports will start to deter the average fans. You hear from the NFL PA along with the other Major Sports that they market to the average fan and without the average fan we would not have a sport. If that is the case then, what average fan can afford a $4,000 Super Bowl ticket or a $600 World Series ticket? This is the case of, "thank you for paying for the band, but you can't dance."
The Avarice or greed of sports will be its own demise and the only way that we as fans, in the perfect world, can save this from happening is to have half empty stadiums at the biggest events of the year, Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, BCS College Football Championship game. Once the world sees empty stadiums the ego driven owners and presidents of the major universities will change there ways to save face, but they will say "the change is for the average fan". Well, here is one average fan saying I can see right through your Avarice!
Well Said!
ReplyDeleteIt's not just sports, it's everywhere in the entertainment industry. I used to go to concerts in the late 60's and early 70's at venues all over the Mid-South. Regardless of the band the tickets were $4, $5 and $6. You could go to the box office the day of the show and lay $6 down and still get decent floor seats. Now the top acts get anywhere from $300 to $600 retail for the same seats and good luck buying tickets on the day of the show. The scalpers buy them up the day they go on sale and sell them for anywhere from $1000 to $5000 for the first few rows. It's insane to pay this kind of cash to see the 70 year old Rolling Stones just because "this could be the last time". I get it that Paul McCartney is the last touring member of The Beatles and is still a talented musician that puts on a good show, but what chance does the "common man" have of seeing him unless they pay $500 for a seat that requires binoculars to even see the act? Supply and demand? I guess so, and as long as the affluent can afford it they will continue to charge these ridiculous prices. So it will be SB 50 soon and the wealthy will pay $100,000 for a pair of 50 yard line tickets or even more for a suite. They will not blink an eye at spending the same amount for a suite at The Four Seasons or similar 5 star Hotel for the week...and unless my provider loses coverage as they did last year I will be nestled in my home with some food and drinks. Last year I had to resort to watching the play by play animation via a PC on NFL.com because the local network affiliate lost their repeater due to a fire, so all I can hope for this year is to at least have TV coverage - and even that comes with a price - of nearly $200/month just so I can watch the same programming all month and after the first week search for alternatives on Netflix. You have to love capitalism....
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