Four tickets, Yankees/Indians regular season game: $10,750

Of course, unleashing the invisible hand on the financial-services sector has an awful lot to do with why the economy's in the dumper and people can afford no longer to go to ballgames, but that doesn't seem to factor into the immutable physical laws of economics.

 

The bleachers look awful with the huge video screen and restaurant. From foul pole to foul pole it looks fine.

 

OK, I see what you are saying and agree -- supply and demand does work in this case as people who want to buy will still buy.

What I meant to say is that while a lot of people seem to be claiming that the walls are crashing down on sports as well because of the invisible hand, I just don't see that happening any time soon.

People seem to still find a way to pay for their tickets, even if it means not paying their rent for a few months,.

 

That, and the not so invisible hand's insistence on sticking its palm up.......

 

The Yankees will likely lead MLB in ticket, parking and concessions revenue and I'm sure, if necessary, they will adjust ticket prices to maximize those revenue streams. They may even do well on the field, too.

 

Fens is right. If the economy were in better shape, I believe that more tickets would have been sold and every game would be a sellout. The economy has forced the public to make value decisions with their money. Is it worth it to shell out for a game or to use that coin for something else?

And it's not a Yankee-only phenomenon. Plenty of NBA and NHL arenas have good seats that aren't filled. Look at the NCAA Tournament. There were plenty of empty seats at the venues for the first two rounds. I'm betting that we're going to see plenty of empty seats in MLB and NFL stadiums this summer and fall, as well.

 

Unfortunately, the guys who wander around with suitcases full of cash would probably get mugged before they ever found you.

 

See this is my point -- we keep hearing the doom and gloom about fans not being able to afford tickets -- but the numbers don't bear this out.....

NBA? Attendance is up.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=sbd.preview&articleID=128879

The NHL is up.

And even though most schools individually have seen a slight decrease in their attendance for basketball.... the NCAA Tournament seems to be fine....

""Signs are the NCAA tournament might weather the economic storm. Five of its eight first- and second-round sites, two of its four regional sites and Detroit's Ford Field — where 70,000 will watch the Final Four — are sold out pending the possible return of tickets by participating teams. That's "right in line with where we have typically been at this point in years past," the association's Ben Weesies. says.""

In other words -- people keep creating boogeymen that don't exist.

Sports have been immune to downturns and the truth is it makes really disgusting the "job cuts" the NFL and NBA have recently had.

 

Zag:

My pops has a saying: Figures don't lie, but liars figure.

Numbers can extrapolated to prove anything you want them to. Hell, if someone had the time or inclination, they could manipulate numbers to prove that I eat a T-bone off of Sarah Chalke's ass every night.

When I'm at home and I'm watching a game (NHL, NBA, what-the-hell-ever), my eyes see plenty of good seats that don't have asses in them. I think if you go team-by-team, you'll see that the large market teams still sell but the middle to small markets don't.

I'll take it one step further. Watch the upcoming NHL and NBA seasons. I'm betting that we're going to see a lot of seats that aren't filled on game nights.

 

The Angels have had 3+ million tickets sold the past six years. They had the best record in baseball last year.

This week, they were offering 'buy 3, get one free'.... for Opening Day.