I feel like the grumpy old man with my most recent postings. First stadium rules and now my “not-so-nice” feelings about ticket prices.
And when I say ticket prices I am referring to ticket brokers. And when I say ticket brokers I am referring to Stub Hub.
We are beginning to see signs of the economy improving. True, you might have to look really hard for those signs but they are there. But regardless of the improving economy, money is still tight for most fans. And unfortunately the wallet shrinkage isn’t being accompanied with a decrease in the stresses of everyday life.
Stress remains high. We fans need our escape from home, from work, from kids, from significant others. Our answer has always been a trip to the stadium or ball park. A good tailgate followed by some baseball or football, followed by more tailgating.
Living in an area of a die-hard fan-base it is difficult to purchase football and baseball tickets directly from the teams. Tickets are sold-out and spots on season ticket waiting lists are often passed on in wills.
If a fan wants to see the local team they are most often forced to seek tickets from an outside ticket broker (sure there is always the option of an e-bay auction, but who has the time to monitor prices all-day only to be outbid with seconds remaining in the auction).
And when we visit these ticket broker sites the prices are ridiculously over-priced. It is difficult to find tickets that aren’t at least twice face value. I understand people wanting to make themselves a profit, but come on people stop with the greed.
The sky-high prices are killing the joy of going to a game live. If you do end up dishing out money for tickets, your at-the-stadium budget is depleted. Throw in parking costs and we are looking at non-existent beer funds (gotta keep the tailgate buzz going inside the stadium). And if you decide against forking over the money for the tickets, well that means no pre and post game tailgates!
This rant is probably pointless because of the whole supply and demand theory. But what an amazing thing it would be if there was a way to regulate the prices that ticket brokers charge!