If you haven’t been to a professional or major college sporting event in the past 3-4 years, hang onto your wallet. If you go, it will cost you a paycheck or two.
For those of you who have attended one of these contests, perhaps you are numb to the cost or figure it’s the price you have to pay. True. If you want to get a seat, you have to order a ticket somewhere, and it’s not like they are discounted, particularly if you seek seats for an end-of-the-season game that has greater appeal to the fans.
Last weekend, for example, my dad and I went to the Big 12 basketball semi-finals. That meant two games for the price of one. In actuality, it was two games for the price of two, and then some.
I used to think the price on the ticket was what you were supposed to pay. That is not the case any more. Instead, there are companies (and I don’t know how they do this; it would seem to be illegal) that buy up mass quantities of tickets, then jack the prices.
They get the lowdown somehow, know the exact time tickets will go on sale to the public, then buy up huge blocks. This eliminates your ability as the “little man” to purchase a few at face value.
Adding this “middle man” cost to the ticket price means they must make a profit. Have any of these ticket-purchasing companies provided you the consumer any value? Of course not. They just want the profit. And they make it because you have no choice.
Certainly, you can decide not to attend. That is what I do most of the time. For a special occasion though, like a father-son get together, you must buy tickets somewhere.
I saved our ticket stubs from the doubleheader. Before giving you the final price tag, you need background.
Close to two months ago, I contacted my dad to see if he was interested in going to the Big 12 semis in Kansas City. I figured the finals would be too expensive and the quarter finals would be too much for him to sit through. He agreed. I went online to look.
I wanted to sit in the lower level with a better view of the players, coaches and officials. Clicking on the Web site, seats remained available in multiple sections behind the baskets. This was okay.
“Hmmmm, $210.” Not bad, I thought, for two tickets. “That’s $105 apiece for two games.” Not a steal, but it seemed to me a reasonable rip off.
Drilling down, I added the tickets (or so I thought) to my basket, and went to pay electronically. Shockingly, rather than the price being for two, it was for one, so the real total was $420. Taken aback, I continued through the checkout, which included a $34 processing fee, so EACH individual ticket came to $244 ($210+$34). Lest you think it is only one company charging these insane prices, I checked two other ticket providers and found they varied not a bit (including the collusion on the processing charge). Boy, big surprise, eh?
Rejecting that option, we took seats five rows from the top of the stadium that turned out to be $182 apiece, or $91 per person per game. Slightly closer to something you could stomach.
When the tickets arrived via FedEx, face value was stamped on them: $60 per game or $120 for the doubleheader per ticket. We should have paid $240 total. You live and learn. You decide to go to a game or not. Sometimes it is worth it; most of the time it is not. The sporting event suffers because many of the real fans can’t make it. And that’s a sad statement about our profit-mongering society.
For those of you who have attended one of these contests, perhaps you are numb to the cost or figure it’s the price you have to pay. True. If you want to get a seat, you have to order a ticket somewhere, and it’s not like they are discounted, particularly if you seek seats for an end-of-the-season game that has greater appeal to the fans.
Last weekend, for example, my dad and I went to the Big 12 basketball semi-finals. That meant two games for the price of one. In actuality, it was two games for the price of two, and then some.
I used to think the price on the ticket was what you were supposed to pay. That is not the case any more. Instead, there are companies (and I don’t know how they do this; it would seem to be illegal) that buy up mass quantities of tickets, then jack the prices.
They get the lowdown somehow, know the exact time tickets will go on sale to the public, then buy up huge blocks. This eliminates your ability as the “little man” to purchase a few at face value.
Adding this “middle man” cost to the ticket price means they must make a profit. Have any of these ticket-purchasing companies provided you the consumer any value? Of course not. They just want the profit. And they make it because you have no choice.
Certainly, you can decide not to attend. That is what I do most of the time. For a special occasion though, like a father-son get together, you must buy tickets somewhere.
I saved our ticket stubs from the doubleheader. Before giving you the final price tag, you need background.
Close to two months ago, I contacted my dad to see if he was interested in going to the Big 12 semis in Kansas City. I figured the finals would be too expensive and the quarter finals would be too much for him to sit through. He agreed. I went online to look.
I wanted to sit in the lower level with a better view of the players, coaches and officials. Clicking on the Web site, seats remained available in multiple sections behind the baskets. This was okay.
“Hmmmm, $210.” Not bad, I thought, for two tickets. “That’s $105 apiece for two games.” Not a steal, but it seemed to me a reasonable rip off.
Drilling down, I added the tickets (or so I thought) to my basket, and went to pay electronically. Shockingly, rather than the price being for two, it was for one, so the real total was $420. Taken aback, I continued through the checkout, which included a $34 processing fee, so EACH individual ticket came to $244 ($210+$34). Lest you think it is only one company charging these insane prices, I checked two other ticket providers and found they varied not a bit (including the collusion on the processing charge). Boy, big surprise, eh?
Rejecting that option, we took seats five rows from the top of the stadium that turned out to be $182 apiece, or $91 per person per game. Slightly closer to something you could stomach.
When the tickets arrived via FedEx, face value was stamped on them: $60 per game or $120 for the doubleheader per ticket. We should have paid $240 total. You live and learn. You decide to go to a game or not. Sometimes it is worth it; most of the time it is not. The sporting event suffers because many of the real fans can’t make it. And that’s a sad statement about our profit-mongering society.