Cheap tickets cost Bills

By Anthony Bialy  |   Thursday, January 22, 2009  |  Comments( 91 )

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Buffalo Bills fans would pay more if they could. The announcement that the team’s ticket prices will remain unchanged for 2009 is bad good news: Of course nobody likes coughing up more cash for anything, but it’s no fun paying the same price for a grocery item and discovering later that the package has curiously shrunk. Fans want a good value, but they’d prefer a better team; right now, they’re not getting that for $51.24 per seat.

Other teams, and their fans, accept financial reality. Compare the AFC East’s George Costanza to the Remington Steele that is the New England Patriots, whose average ticket sold for over $117 last season, enough to make spending cash tight from Monday to Saturday. But Lombardi Trophies aren’t cheap; they’re worth a bit more than the seven pounds of sterling silver that makes up the actual award.

And Patriots fans stop thinking about the expense upon entering the venue, as they get to watch their team play well enough to, usually, win. It’s like seeing KISS live: Attendees leave thinking how great it was to hear “Strutter” and see Gene Simmons discharge blood orally in person, not about how much it cost to do so.

Plus, gouging isn’t even necessary. The average price to get into an NFL stadium on game day last year was $72.20; is there a Bills fan who wouldn’t pay 20 bucks extra per game for even a slight bit more success? Who wouldn’t pay more if it helped end the team’s playoff drought?

The problem is that the cheap prices so aren’t worth it. Buffalo’s home record since 2000 is 35-36, not counting the Toronto fiasco; it’s been affordable to watch the Bills fail to win half their games at Ralph Wilson Stadium for nine playoff-free years. The bargain wasn’t justified.

Charging more would help, as this team could naturally bolster its talent through higher ticket revenues. Even without resorting to splurging on washed-up free agents, more money might conceivably fortify this team. For example, it’s great that wideout Lee Evans was re-signed last season, but will they ever pay for another quarter-decent receiver to help him?

They must find the mystery player first: The Bills need to be willing to pay more for not only talent but talent evaluators able to reliably move shrewdly at the draft and in free agency. Higher prices mean Wilson might actually shell out for a true general manager, because he obviously can’t afford one at present.

Despite the fact that we’re in the midst of a depression where most Americans are unemployed, homeless, and so desperate that they’ll stand in soup lines or shop at Aldi, entertainment still must bring a good return for the cost. A higher price is actually a better deal if it means, say, the team one pays to see wins more than half the time.

Prices can only get so low before quality deteriorates: Guinness is never going to be as affordable as Milwaukee’s Best, and Buffalo is slumming it with its false economy. You get what you pay for, and with the Bills this decade, you haven’t gotten much even at the Baltic Avenue prices.
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CommentsComments: 91  |  Sign Up  View all comments
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No.1
flda-dennis		10:28 AM
01/22/2009
Cheap tickets!! doesnt matter. I dont think the fans will support antother year of Dickie--poo. I look for season tickets to fall...
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No.2
ba bye		11:04 AM
01/22/2009
I think Ralph is looking for just one more year of, "OK, the Bills can't really stink this badly again...", from the saps who buy...
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No.3
Goose		11:13 AM
01/22/2009
Two things; it is hard to raise ticket prices when the team crashed and burned and something is telling me this will be used as...
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