Seats of Gold

ESPN’s Outside The Lines is an incredible source for sports stories that reveal the behind the scenes of modern day athletics. As with most things today, professional sports have become bloated with media coverage on anything but the actual game. OTL brings some important issues to the forefront, providing the average fan some type of balanced coverage.

Their recent post, Seats of Gold, got us thinking about the future of professional sports and their fans. The cliff note summary of that article is a day at the Yankee’s ballpark, sitting in the swanky Legends Suite. Where tickets cost up to 2 grand, the seating is protected from “riff-raff” (i.e. the other ticketholders), and you are chauffeured back and forth from the game in a limo. The author searches for the answer to how we got to this point, blaming client relations in Wall Street trading.  

He also muses how this will affect future fans. Since there was such a strong bond between the common fan and ballparks in the past, how will these steep prices affect future fan growth.

A recent poll discovered an unsettling trend emerging for the first time. American families whose household income is $75,000 or less now have zero dollars of discretionary income. According to Luker, that means about 75 percent of the country can never responsibly afford to go to a live professional sporting event. Franchises want them to be fans, to buy the gear and pull for their teams and watch the telecasts the leagues are paid billions for. But they don’t need them to come to their stadiums. There are, right now, plenty of rich people who love games. The prices reflect that. The reason sporting events cost so much now, Luker’s research shows, is because they are designed to be affordable only to those making $150,000 or more a year.

I can hear you asking what does this have to do with soccer. Well baseball isn’t the only sport with outrageous ticket prices. The average MLS ticket price was $22.47, the highest of the average being $32.50 for a Galaxy ticket, in 2008. With ticket prices way above movie prices in most places, which is the more convenient and affordable option for a family.

We’re struggling to the build the MLS in the US already, but staying competitive with other sport ticket pricing isn’t helping. It may be melodramatic to assume the next generation won’t inherit our love of sports, but the disparity may drive a wedge between economic classes.

Give us your thoughts by commenting below.

~Sam@bluesombrero.com    

Comments

[docguru]

Great article!Really makes me wonder about the future of all sports in America. I used to be a huge fan of the sport of baseball. AS a kid my family was able to afford to go to quite a few games per year. Now going to one MLB game per year is about all we can budget. Out of control MLB player salaries, player off field indiscretions and ever increasing ticket prices in the 1980's drove me away from the sport. Luckily, I soon found another sport 'Soccer' to take baseballs place. MLS soccer still seems affordable. Lets hope it stays that way.Forever.