Sports

[Hopein24]

Not complaining, just a question. Why on earth are tickets so expensive to Pro sports games? I understand that the Pro's make a lot of money but I cannot see how people can afford to go to some of these events. I read an article that said the average price of Super Bowl 2025 tickets was around 3000.00 and a beer was 17.00 I also understand that there are people who will pay the price because they are mega fans, but wow! What drives these kind of ticket prices?

[Kachina624]

@Hopein24.  For one thing, look at the ridiculous salaries pro athletes make.  They're obscene.

[spumoni99]

I think demand for the tickets has driven the price up.

[QVCkitty1]

It's not just the tickets, parking, concessions and sales of team merch are ridiculous. Team owners make a fortune,that is why they pay those huge salaries.

[kaydee50]

Greed??!!  What gets me is that Ticketmaster seems to have a monopoly on ticket sales and the fees per ticket to an event can add a substantial amount to the already inflated price.

[We rescue cats]

As long as the public will pay the prices will continue to rise. The company I worked for in the 70's had season tickets to the Steeler home games. DH and I went to a lot of games but when they hired Michael Vick I got rid of every piece of Steeler propoganda in our home and removed the Steeler insignia from our camper. I can no longer tolerate the NFL, Goodell and the lack of values.

[TheWanderingOne]

It's not just pro sports that are expensive. 

I have season tickets to college hockey. In order to be allowed the "privilege" of buying those tickets, I have to make a minimum donation per ticket to the university's athletic fund. It's tax deductible, but I still have to make that donation. Then there's the required "seat license" fee per ticket. And an additional donation to get a parking pass. 

All in, each season ticket costs about $1000. And that's on the low end for season tickets across the other top 10 college teams. 

[gardenman]

It's been decades since I last went to a major live sports event, but back then, on the back of the ticket was a breakdown of the fees. Much of the ticket price was in fees to the city. There were like ten things listed with not that much money going to the team.

There's a reason cities compete to get sporting teams and sporting events. They make a lot of money from them. 

If you go to the City of Philadelphia's tax page you'll find that businesses there have the following taxes they have to comply with. Amusement tax. Business income and receipt tax. Development impact tax. Hotel tax. Liquor tax. Mechanical amusement tax. Net profits tax. Outdoor advertising tax. Parking tax. Sales, use, and hotel occupancy tax. Philadelphia beverage tax. Tobacco and tobacco-related products tax. Use and occupancy tax. Valet parking tax. Vehicle rental tax. Wage tax. Income tax. Property tax. 

Not all of those apply to the sports teams, but a lot do. Take away the taxes and ticket prices would drop a lot as would concession prices.

In Philly, the amusement tax is 5% of the admission charge. The business and income receipt tax is 5.81%. The development impact tax is 1% of any construction or improvement costs. (Stadiums undergo constant renovation.) The net profits tax is 3.75% of any net profit. The outdoor advertising tax is 7% of the cost of the ad. (Stadiums are filled with ads.) The parking tax is 22.5% of the gross receipts. (Lots of cars park for the events.) The use and occupancy tax is 1.21%. The valet parking tax is 22.5% of the receipts. (Many stadiums now offer at least some valet parking.) The wage tax is 3.75%. And then there's income tax and property and real estate taxes also. And many sports leagues split the ticket revenue between the home and away teams.

People argue "The players are paid too much!" In most leagues, the TV contracts pay for most, if not all of the player's salaries. Much of the ticket price goes to the city in the various taxes and fees they charge. 

[rockygems123]

@Hopein24 

Baseball spring training tickets in Scottsdale were reasonable and so were the players.  On the field signing autographs smoozing with the crowd.

It has been a handful of years since we've been but ticket prices are greatly increased and supposedly the players don't interact much if at all with the fans.

Glad we went when we did.  Especially since my team won 3 World Series in 2010 2012 2014 that's when we were going. 

[Love my grandkids]

@Hopein24 As long as people are willing to pay those prices, they will continue to increase. Simple as that. And athletes making the salaries they are, someone (not me) has to foot the bill.