Make Pro ball games family affordable.

Given the obvious breakdown of family values in our society, i think it is time for the professional leagues to make taking your family to a pro game affordable again. Gone are the days when the entire family could enjoy a fun day at the ball games. It now requires a weeks pay to attend one. Society sits on their butts at home watching TV, playing video games, etc. They could be bonding at a good ball game. Unfortunately that has become prohibitive due to the expense of it.

The big leagues enjoy non-profit status without passing that along to society. Instead they make huge profits and the more money they make the higher their salaries go. I believe it is time for them to stop and think about what a great impact they could make on families and society in general instead of how much money they can pocket. To build a new stadium they raise taxes or create a new tax. Players make millions of dollars a year. Players get huge amounts of money to endorse a product. They might only get to play for 5 years but the reality is that they make more in those 5 years than 99% of the population could hope to make in 4 lifetimes. If they squander it on 200k dollar cars and 10 million dollar homes that is their own undoing.

America needs something to get their families off their butts and out into the fun part of the world we live in. A place to bond as a family without having to save up for a year to do so. The entire pro league system needs a reality check. Those employed by a non-profit organization do not deserve 20 million dollars a year, nor do they need it. Society needs a break from the television set. If i were a player i could be quite happy with 500k a year or even less. Point being, they are non-profit making huge amounts of profits with no thought of giving to society. I am not against profit. I am against non-profits making billions a year and giving nothing back to society.

As with any product, the market determines the price. Supply/Demand. If a team can fill an arena at $50 a head, why would they sell tickets for $15?

Want family-friendly prices? Go to your nearest Triple-A baseball game.

reply to post by AwakeinNM


That's great advice, and what we do instead of supporting the "pro's."

Frankly -- professional sports isn't for me, any more than 250K sports cars are "for me," and I see no reason to support them financially / spiritually or emotionally.

reply to post by AwakeinNM


Quite simply, to benefit society as all non-profit organizations should. Non-profits should be held to a higher standard by virtue of said non-profit status. Instead they just pocket the profits which are increasingly becoming rediculously high.

Originally posted by jimmiec
reply to post by AwakeinNM

 

Quite simply, to benefit society as all non-profit organizations should. Non-profits should be held to a higher standard by virtue of said non-profit status. Instead they just pocket the profits which are increasingly becoming rediculously high.

edit on 26-12-2012 by jimmiec because: (no reason given)

To benefit society.

Where have I heard that before....

Originally posted by jimmiec


Point being, they are non-profit making huge amounts of profits with no thought of giving to society. I am not against profit. I am against non-profits making billions a year and giving nothing back to society.

Professional sports franchises aren't non profits. They have boards of directors and stockholders; that's called a corporation.

Professional sports stadiums are financed by tax dollars and that's criminal because the local economy usually doesn't see any kind of return. However the mayor and city council usually get healthy kickbacks from various entities from the contractors to the vendors selling hotdogs and tshirts.

news.illinois.edu...


Let the franchises finance their own stadiums. Professional sports is a racket!!

reply to post by olaru12


They are most definitely non-profit.

The NFL raked in $9 billion in revenue last year and has more than $1 billion in assets, and according to Coburn’s report, it paid eight executives a total of $51.5 million in 2010, including $11.6 million to commissioner Roger Goodell. PGA commissioner Tim Finchem made $5.2 million in 2010; NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made $4.3 million and will reportedly earn nearly $8 million this year.

The leagues, in their non-profit filings, claim to be promotion vehicles for their sports (the NHL’s mission, for instance, is “to perpetuate professional hockey in the US and Canada.”). These statements have little justification, Coburn wrote, as “major professional sports leagues are hardly in the business of simply promoting the hockey, football, or golf industry. They are in fact businesses — designed to make money.”

thinkprogress.org...

blogs.ajc.com...

reply to post by jimmiec


Be that as it may, it has nothing to do with ticket prices. If 70,000 people are willing to pay the ticket price printed on the ticket and fill the stadium, then that is the price the ticket should be.

reply to post by AwakeinNM


So 70,000 people budgeted to attend a game. They might have saved up for a year to do that. What about the millions of other families that can't afford it? Why must they be left out? They could build bigger stadiums and take smaller bites and still make money. The reality is that as non-profit organizations they should not make a profit at all and all profits go into their individual pockets instead of into society where non-profit profits should go.

The NFL is not a non-profit. Neither is the NBA. So I'm not sure what sports you're talking about.

The Tampa Bay Bucs are worried about blackouts every game, the Jacksonville Jaguars can barely give tickets away, you'll never hear someone say "Boy, I wish I could go to that Charlotte Bobcats game" unless a major market team is coming to play them, etc. So there definitely are cheap options. If you live in a major market area you just have to wait until people aren't willing to pay the prices they pay willingly, and sometimes decades in advance.

We don't need to force people to do things "for the greater good" and you don't need a sports game to spend quality time with your family. I love American Football, but if I'm interested in family time, sports don't play a part unless we're the ones playing them. Try taking your family on a hike or something, maybe go play kickball at a local park, etc.

reply to post by forgetmenot


Google it or click on the link i provided please. The NFL is non-profit.

Originally posted by jimmiec
reply to post by AwakeinNM

 

So 70,000 people budgeted to attend a game. They might have saved up for a year to do that. What about the millions of other families that can't afford it? Why must they be left out? They could build bigger stadiums and take smaller bites and still make money. The reality is that as non-profit organizations they should not make a profit at all and all profits go into their individual pockets instead of into society where non-profit profits should go.

That's why games are televised, so that people who don't go to the game can watch it.

What do you want, exactly? You want the government to step in and make games "affordable" so YOU can go? How do you suppose the team will pay their bills that way? A government subsidy to bail out sports teams? So YOU can go to a game?

Let's say that happens. How fast do you think tickets would sell out? 5 minutes? Then you'd bitch about not being able to get tickets and demand some sort of lottery so that "everyone gets a fair shot" at getting tickets. Sound familiar?

Socialism doesn't work with anything, much less professional sports. Not trying to get political here, but it sounds like you want some kind of "level playing field" so that you can go to games that are out of your economic reach. I want to go to space, but I don't have $200,000. Guess what? I'm not going to space.

there are plenty of empty seats in stadiums around the usa...

This is the reason I don't go to the movies anymore.. When I do go there its great usuallly the place is empty lol but its like $18 per ticket... $15 for 1 popcorn and drink, $5 for a candy.... I am not wasting $50 to have 2hr of movie fun its not worth that much and yah we could spend less and just watch the movie but popcorn and stuff is part of the fun of going to the movies.. I remember not that long ago when Iwas a teenager it would be $20 for me to take a date to a movie and get a popcorn, 2 drinks and 2 candies which I think is reasonable.

Originally posted by dc4lifeskater
there are plenty of empty seats in stadiums around the usa...

This is the reason I don't go to the movies anymore.. When I do go there its great usuallly the place is empty lol but its like $18 per ticket... $15 for 1 popcorn and drink, $5 for a candy.... I am not wasting $50 to have 2hr of movie fun its not worth that much and yah we could spend less and just watch the movie but popcorn and stuff is part of the fun of going to the movies.. I remember not that long ago when Iwas a teenager it would be $20 for me to take a date to a movie and get a popcorn, 2 drinks and 2 candies which I think is reasonable.

If this is the case, then ticket prices ARE too high in that market. The club should restructure its price schedule accordingly.

The problem with messing with ticket prices midseason is that you p*ss off season ticket holders,which are a substantial enough part of your ticket revenue that you don't want to do that. If a trend emerges where ticket sales decrease over time, then prices should be incrementally decreased in the off-season. But then again, how can you predict attendance a year in advance?

I used to work closely with a local pro team, and a good friend was VP of sales. I learned a lot about this stuff from him, and believe me, it is not an exact science. It is a juggling act at best.

Originally posted by jimmiec
reply to post by forgetmenot

 

Google it or click on the link i provided please. The NFL is non-profit.

Yes, you're correct, the league is Non-profit. I should have taken a few extra minutes to check and clarify and spent a little less time being presumptuous, but each of my points still stand. The leagues may be non-profit, but the teams, besides the Packers, are not. The packers are owned by the Green Bay community, are the only non-profit american sports team, and they have the longest waiting list for season tickets in the NFL. So clearly it isn't about price barrier, it's time and space.

Also, it's not as simple as "just build bigger stadium. More often than not, when a team relocates it's because the city or community didn't want to build them a new stadium ( Here's looking at you, OKC ). So you aren't going to get people to build bigger stadiums "for the greater good" because believe it or not, a lot of people in this country don't give two craps about sports.

ps star for you

reply to post by forgetmenot


Thanks for the reply. I am sure that greed in these leagues is not all encompassing. Society really needs to get off the couch and bond with their families instead of texting each other. Family values in society are important and the loss of these values and lack of bonding to create these bonds has been lost to a great degree. I argue with people all the time about Mexicans. I like them, they don't. The reason i like them is because they cherish family the way America used to. We really need to stop and think about the unintended consequences of losing our family values.

We used to go see the Montgomery Biscuits (AA) baseball team all the time. My parents had season tickets. It was a blast to see Evan Longoria and other players that have now made the Major League level playing when no one had heard of them. My nephews have all their baseball cards and other collectibles. At one point we had a AAA team in Hawaii we saw all the time. We got to see Bonds, Henderson, and a bunch of others when they were kids. Great times and cheap.

reply to post by Zaphod58


They do make for great times and great memories to fall back on when times get tough.

reply to post by jimmiec


I have completely boycotted all pro games from my life due to their salaries and exactly what you have stated.

I will not watch them on TV or go to their games any longer!!!

We as a society have to stand together and if everyone did exactly what I have done it would force change whether they wanted it to change or not.

The truth is we are mighty when we join together.

Originally posted by knowledgedesired


The truth is we are mighty when we join together.

That is true, but America and Americans are becoming increasingly fragmented, fractured both politically and culturally. Some even on ATS calling for a civil war, states seceding from the union, etc.

Even in this thread; look at the snarky comments, derision, and outright rudeness.

Join together? Probably not in a national sense...

However, I too have boycotted all "sports for profit" and instead have decided to play with my friends in friendly competition. Darts and pool at the local beer joint; no TV just a jukebox and a constant open mic for the pickers and grinners.