sticker shocked
I just got my invoice for my Bucs season ticket in the mail. They raised the price another $65.42! How on Earth can they justify that after a losing season of 4 and 12? So I went back a few years and looked at previous year’s ticket invoices for my seat, which is in the second level in the corner.
- 2000 $377.81 and after going 10-6, the price went up $56 (almost 15%) to
- 2001 $434.02 when the bucs won nine and lost seven. They picked up Jon Gruden, and the price went down to
- 2002 $432.90 and they went 12-4 and won the Super Bowl, which made the price go up another 13.35% to
- 2003 $490.70, and the Bucs had a losing record, 7-9, but my price went up 7.6% nonetheless to
- 2004 $528.00 and bucs had another losing season, coming on top only 5 times. Yet it cost me another $46.80 or an 8.86% increase for
- 2005 $574.80 and bucs got back to their winning ways at 11 and 5. But it cost me another $46.70 or 8.12% the following year
- 2006 $621.50 and you know they lost twelve, and only won FOUR games, which cost me an increase of 10.5% to
- 2007 $686.92. Who knows what the record will be this year.
The 2002 season is the year they went 12 and 4 on the way to winning the Superbowl, so with the price decrease, I got a great return on my “investment!” Granted it was only a $1.12 cheaper, which equates to about one seventh of a Big Buc Brew.
I was hoping to one day pickup a second seat, but at this rate I doubt it will be in the budget any time soon.
And yes, I will be paying for tickets this year like I always do. Like I have done seven out of eight years. The Glazers must be singing that song by the Geto Boys, you know the one, “Damn it feels good to be a gangsta”.
Tags: buccaneers, business, entertainment
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February 9th, 2007 at 8:51 am
I am letting my tickets lapse this season and I am buying Bulls tickets instead. I have never seen the Bucs play in RayJay on television and it has finally gotten to the point where I can not justify the costs.
So USF Bulls…here I come….I must admit it was nice to get the invoice and just throw it away.
February 9th, 2007 at 9:25 am
for that price, youd be better off to join a gym and improve your fitness rather than spectate and make billionaires (glazers) and spoiled millionaires (players) richer while they laugh all the way to the bank.
February 9th, 2007 at 9:31 am
So in the final days of the Roman Empire, they kept building bigger arenas and searching across the world for more exotic animals to be slaughtered before the masses.
Imagine if tv had been around then ?
February 9th, 2007 at 11:12 am
me and my wife stopped buying tickets this year after having them for about 6 years. it’s just not worth it, it doesn’t make sense to pay that much money.
you know, for the amount of money you pay for a season, you can buy an entire new entertainment system (flat panel, surround sound, cd, dvd player, etc), or if you’ve already got that you could buy a new couch, or new carpeting or OOORRR… YOU COULD SAVE THAT MONEY!!
February 9th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
You asked how they could justify raising the price again…
There is still a waiting list for season tickets, no? Several years long?
If there is any waiting list AT ALL, the price of tickets is too low. They are not getting maximum value from their product by maintaining a waiting list of people who want to spend money on tickets but can’t.
February 9th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Your economic analysis brings up a good point tim, but NFL teams should at least maintain some sense of courtesy to their fan base our of simple consideration for the loyalty that they have shown to their franchise.
To put it in perspective, I was able to get tix this year to see the GB Packers play the Lions at Lambeau Field this past December. I got my tix from a co-worker for face value ($65) and sat 11 rows up from the Packer’s bench on the 45 yard line (great seats).
Everyone knows that the Packer’s waiting list is longer than the average person’s life expectancy. If the owners of this team followed your logic, it is unlikely that most of their existing season ticket holders would be able to afford a single ticket, never mind an entire home season.
February 9th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
No, my logic would simply say that you sell your tickets at a price that guarantees a sellout for every game at the maximum price the firm can charge.
The same logic says that outfield tickets to Devil Ray games should be free for most games, or, to an extreme, they should actually pay people small amounts to attend the games. If the per capita amount spent on external items (i.e. concessions) matches the mean amount paid to a person to attend the game, you end up with the same revenue, with the intangible benefit of increased fan interest.
Put simply, if I’m likely to drink two $6 beers at a Rays game, but I’m not likely to attend unless I get paid $12 to go, it is in the firm’s interest to pay me that amount. (Yes, there are marginal costs per visitor of janitorial and water costs, but those are very marginal in the per capita.)
It’s reverse-auction economics, and its application to event ticketing is in its infancy. It’s also something I work on in my spare time.
February 9th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
“There is still a waiting list for season tickets, no? Several years long?”
Tim do you really believe that waiting list still exists? Have you actually seen this fabled list or are you going by the billboard that used to be near RayJay and is now inexplicably gone. Ask those people at One Buc to show you the list. Well go on!
February 9th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
I have friends who were on said list, until taking themselves off this past year. Now, it’s possible it’s disappeared at once but as long as games are being sold out, tickets are priced too low… economically.
February 10th, 2007 at 1:12 am
Just to give you a little more info on the Bucs and their “Waiting List” of 100,000. I have been contacted twice for tickets. The first time was for 2 club season tickets, which I can couldn’t even remotely afford due to the fact it would be two seats plus deposits. That was 3 years ago. Last season I was contacted again, but I was too late to get the tickets due to them sending me an e-mail to an old, hardly ever checked e-mail account. I asked why they did that instead of using the e-mail on my account and they didn’t have an answer. I said to them “all I want is a second ticket”. I have been on the list since I got my single ticket, which is 8 years ago. Season ticket? More like an option!
February 10th, 2007 at 2:00 am
Gar - coming from someone who is NOT a season ticket holder, it seems the calls to regular season ticket holders are for the club or otherwise more swanky seats. I am on the added-in-1999-doofus list, and I’ve never gotten a call. Just more perspective …
June 25th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
I knew someone that knew someone who had such tickets, but never used them….any takers?