Greed in the Industry

[SuEsq]

So I attended the 50th anniversary of the British consulate being in America last week, and as part of the "goodie bag" and since it's Brit week in Los Angeles they threw in some tix for the soccor match last night. La Galaxy vs some NY team that has waay less credit but 10x's the talent.
Anyways, point being, we had six tickets valued at 300$. Parking was 20. Beer was $12/glass x's God knows how many we threw back, an 'effing soda was 4.50, diarreah inducing plastic food was no less than 8$/hot dog, and shitty ass Cambodian made jerseys were available for purchase for like your signature on a second mortgage.

So what ever happened to being able to take your family out on a good ol fashioned American family outting?
Why on earth does it costs so much to do anything anymore?
Disneyland is like a 200 day pp...baseball games, basketball, hockey..
This is getting out of hand. These players need to get back to the love of the sport.

[Dauntasa]

Industries exist to make profit. They are powered by greed and the blood and sweat of their workers, and they always have been. This is not a new development. And besides, you aren't even talking about an industry here. You're talking about sports, which is perhaps the most unnecessarily expensive thing ever devised by man.

[HappinessMan]

What did you expect? There is no good ol' American outing anymore. You're gonna pay for everything you do, get used to it.

[tunacake]

Good American is an oxymoron.

What pisses me off more than the prices of this stuff is people who buy them. Like those goddamn foam fingers and whatnot.

[SuEsq]

It's a national pastime. No, worldwide.
Every business should make profit, granted. But theres such excess in this field it's not even funny.
I know this isn't a shocking new develpment, rather a just something that got under my skin after watching David Beckham take like 20 shots at the goal and not make a single one and managing to play the game with his team like a bunch of amteaurs. I've seen better foot work from little league.
I'm used to going to the Man U games for like 20 quid and watching those guys rock the field.

I don't mind paying for things, I just like getting my moneys worth.

[HappinessMan]

So I attended the 50th anniversary of the British consulate being in America last week, and as part of the "goodie bag" and since it's Brit week in Los Angeles they threw in some tix for the soccor match last night. La Galaxy vs some NY team that has waay less credit but 10x's the talent.

There is no money's worth, they gave the tickets to you because they knew it would suck.

[SuEsq]

Speaking generally. I pay for things that are worth the money. Homes, cars, art, etc.
The game was fun, I had a good time, but would the night really be valued at +1,800$?NO.

And that must have been the reasoning behind the tickets.That must have been why. Not because it was brit week, not beacuse we're influential brits, but beacause we suck. And La Galaxy shelled out 275 mil for a brit cause they knew it would make the team suckier.
Point:there were people around me that actually paid for their tickets.

[HappinessMan]

Who gives a damn? Did you pay for it? You even said you had a good time. Stop whining.

[Ox]

You've not been to a Man U game in a while then... it's like £50 / $100 for a decent seat.

[Oofie]

Happy, the thread is about the price in general, not what SuEsq paid or whether she had a good time. Stop being a dick.

She's right, this shit has become ridiculously overpriced. Not that I care about soccer, but I had this plan to go to disneyland for my 21st next year until I realised I'd probably have to start saving now in order for it to work.

[HappinessMan]

All sports are expensive to see. Sports is corporate greed, yes, but the people who are behind the "Sports Industry" are geniuses for whoring it all out for money. Put yourself in the position of a stadium owner. You can get all the money you wanted out of people just because a product has a team's name on it. If we were up top in the industry, we'd do the same. But since we're not, we choose to a sports event go anyway. Kinda ironic.

[SuEsq]

I had that argument with my friend last night. He was complaining about the "cheese" they put on the nachos. "Why can't they put a decent, atleast believable cheese on this shit?!"
And I said put yourself in the shoes of the stadium owner..you want to make a 20,000$ profit off your cheese, or a 8,000$ profit.
He's so noble, he chose to make less. Hapinessman on the other hand would give you all cancer by cheese at the thought of putting that extra money in the bank that you lost count of counting 75 million dollars ago.

And I feel you Aoife, I wanna take some friends out to Disneyland, but I don't know if I can blow the estimated like million dollars it's gonna take to do it. Like Mr.Fuckin Disney doesn't have enough billions to his name or an abundance of people that want to go, he had to raise the price of tickets yet again. WTF.

[Ox]

The point is to make more money. That's what business does. Even the ones that pretend to be ethical / consciencious / whatever, they all just want to make money. Even when they have lots they want more. People are willing to pay it, so they'll keep charging it.

[CnGy]

You guys don't realize how close most business are to completely collapsing 24/7. Those prices are that high not because they're greedy, but because they suck at their job.

[Cocktapus]

Good American is an oxymoron.

I sure love ignorance in its most basic, randomly hateful form.

But honestly, nobody who is making money off these ventures stands to gain anything by charging less. If people are hungry, they will buy food, whether its costs five dollars or thirty. There is the occasional business that will charge less, but only when they think they will make more money by advertising that they sell for less.

[Kwanza]

Supply and demand. If they people will pay, why not charge them more? Sure, you can complain all you want, but as long as people keep giving them money they're going to keep milking the economy.

It's never going to change.

[SuEsq]

That's why we need Quadros in action. He desperately wants to be the voice of reason, and stand for the little people. Lets just hope that when he joins office that the first bill he tries to pass signature on, is one about lowered costs for entertainment.

[jewishjosh]

Supply and demand. If they people will pay, why not charge them more? Sure, you can complain all you want, but as long as people keep giving them money they're going to keep milking the economy.

It's never going to change.

By this logic, I'm surprised that they don't raise prices even more. Tickets for hockey games here go for about $100 a seat on average, but they could probably raise it to $150 and still sell out 18000 seats nightly because demand is so high in a hockey-rabid city. Even without the high demand, most of the seats are bought by corporate season ticket holders who give tickets to their employees as perks. They couldn't care less what the prices are, especially the prices of food and souvenirs.

[Dauntasa]

If they raise the prices again, that's an invitation for someone to set up a cheaper version of their thing and steal all their profits.

[SuEsq]

So basically I need to invest in a stadium. Or buy a team. Or make Disneyland.
Sounds feasable.

[Cocktapus]

Or you could just quit bitching. It's less of an investment.

[Mr. Crow]

I went to a Miami Heat basketball game. Only one thing sticks out in my mind:

"Noooowwww, let's take a break for Hooters Pachinko!"

[Gratisgulasch]

Or you could just quit bitching. It's less of an investment.

The smell of "time out" is in the air...

What's your problem, Cocktapus? Things getting more expensive is a topic which can be "bitched" about as it affects us all at the moment. Pasta rose by 40% this year. Crazy, eh?

But while I'm typing I kinda get your minimalistically formulated point. Bitchin' is futile in this case. As Kwanza said, demand and supply: As long as enough people are willing to pay for it the prices can be risen to any level.

@Mr. Crow: Excuse my ignorance, but what's "Hooters Pachinko"?

[HappinessMan]

Hapinessman on the other hand would give you all cancer by cheese at the thought of putting that extra money in the bank that you lost count of counting 75 million dollars ago.

Quadros and I are gonna go into business. So I can poison your nachos. Nobody is telling you "you have to own a stadium lol or you'll be poor." Just as Kwanza said, supply and demand. People demand merchandise, so they can raise the price to make more profits. If people started boycotting sports, which will totally happen, then prices drop. America is about making money, and everyone who owns a business takes every measure to make sure they stay in the black. You think they care that their nacho cheese sucks?

[SuEsq]

You seem to be too angry or clouded to understand, so I'll just let you marinate in that. You can charge excessive amount of money for crap cheese, whilst I put some love and thought into my aged cheddars. I will take respect/honor over a cheap dollar any day.

Ill pay the price for a good bottle of port, but don't charge me the same for some crap zin. I'm all about making that dollar, and I do a good job at it, but at the end of the day I'm proud of what I do, what I make, and the well being of the customer.

It wouldn't be so bad if they allowed you to take your own food and drink to the game, but this isn't just about the concessions. It's every aspect of going to these events.

[HappinessMan]

You seem to be too angry or clouded to understand, so I'll just let you marinate in that. You can charge excessive amount of money for crap cheese, whilst I put some love and thought into my aged cheddars. I will take respect/honor over a cheap dollar any day.

Ill pay the price for a good bottle of port, but don't charge me the same for some crap zin. I'm all about making that dollar, and I do a good job at it, but at the end of the day I'm proud of what I do, what I make, and the well being of the customer.

It wouldn't be so bad if they allowed you to take your own food and drink to the game, but this isn't just about the concessions. It's every aspect of going to these events.

:fmita: Okay I'll go open a stadium and sell some cheese. Naw, its just fun messin' with ya. To get back on topic, I actually agree; its pure greed not allowing you to take your own food and drink into a game. Its an obvious answer.

[Casalen]

Everything is greed to some extent, that's how capitalism works. People will offer better quality at lower prices if the amount of sales go up enough to cover the expense. That's juts how business works, and although you say you'll be 'ethical' about it, I doubt it. You need to run a business, remember? Where do you draw the line? At what point are you being ethical with how much you're taking? Are you going to make it free? Take no profit? Take enough to live comfortably? Will you be more comfortable than others? It's not quite so clearcut as big business = bad.

That said, I agree that rising prices and the influence of industry in a lot of areas causes problems. But entertainment? That's the least of it. Food has become an industry and political tool, something people need to survive. Same for water. You're spoiled rant about a game you didn't have to pay to go to doesn't come close to competing with that.

[tunacake]

I sure love ignorance in its most basic, randomly hateful form.

That wasn't serious. I like Americans.


Some good points there, Casalen. With regards to drawing the line between ethics and greed, I don't think you can really measure that. It lies within the intentions of the people on top. If they truly hold quality over profit, that's good ethics; if not, it isn't (it isn't as black and white as this, of course). The former is pretty uncommon nowadays, but I like to think there's some good out there, even in the business world.

[jewishjosh]

The problem with measuring the quality of something like a sports team is that it's determined by the team's success. You can't charge based on the team's success anymore. In the old days, the teams with the best players would make the most money, which they would invest in the best players, etc, growing into a dynasty. Nowadays, with salary caps and a more equal playing field, cellar dwellers in strong markets like the Toronto Maple Leafs can miss the playoffs three years in a row and raise their ticket prices. They won't just drop their ticket prices because their players are a disgrace, even if that's what the ethics of economics dictate.

Food and souvenirs, however, have no excuse for obscene prices. It wouldn't kill them (or maybe it might, we haven't seen their budgets) to give us twice the burger for half the price, which I could get in a restaurant five minutes away from the stadium/theme park. I think the reason they get away with such high concession prices is because you've paid so much for the tickets already that everything else is like spare change in comparison, and with all that money invested in the tickets already you might as well buy a few too many overpriced beers and have a damn good time.

[Kenneh]

It's what fuels the economy.

[Mr. Crow]

As Calvin Coolidge once put it, "The business of America... is business."

[spaj]

Food and souvenirs, however, have no excuse for obscene prices. It wouldn't kill them (or maybe it might, we haven't seen their budgets) to give us twice the burger for half the price, which I could get in a restaurant five minutes away from the stadium/theme park. I think the reason they get away with such high concession prices is because you've paid so much for the tickets already that everything else is like spare change in comparison, and with all that money invested in the tickets already you might as well buy a few too many overpriced beers and have a damn good time.
Almost right, but it's pretty much because there's no other substitute to those products when you're sitting in a stadium. The closest and most available beverage is that beer-selling dude walking around the stadium, and you're going to want to stay in the stadium and keep your seat; even if it means paying almost double the cost.

SuEsq, commercialising an industry is inevitable in today's market; maximisation of profit tends to be the primary goal of a lot of agencies and firms and only a select few are truly doing it for the good of society. It sucks!

[BlackHood]

Thats why there are some good niche-market places opening up, at least here in England. People like Waitrose who make their profit from selling good quality food at high prices. Its not outrageous prices, but the food is so much better.

Unfortunately at sports events its the stadium's operators who have a monopoly, and basic economics states that any monopolly results in higher prices. Its a case of Suck it up, or Stay away.

Its not nice, but the only alternative is communism, which we all know American's hate!

[Cristo]

Standards of living are rising.

GDPs all over the world are rising which means we're earning more money, so we have more money to spend, so we're more willing to spend more money and therefore companies are able to hike prices up even further.

But think about it like this, a Disney ticket 10 years ago at (hypothetical number, I don't actually know what the price is) $100 is the same as a Disney ticket today $200 if we factor in inflation and do a little rounding up and rounding down and give or take a little.

Edit: Yeah Blackhood, or Marks and Sparks' quality range. Fuck that shit is good, I don't care if I paid nigh on £4 for a (large) bottle of lemonade, it was fucking excellent.

[GrapefruitMovin]

Standards of living are rising.

GDPs all over the world are rising which means we're earning more money, so we have more money to spend, so we're more willing to spend more money and therefore companies are able to hike prices up even further.

But think about it like this, a Disney ticket 10 years ago at (hypothetical number, I don't actually know what the price is) $100 is the same as a Disney ticket today $200 if we factor in inflation and do a little rounding up and rounding down and give or take a little.



Another way of looking at this is gas prices inflation people say the oil companies are raising the price of oil because they can but the actual inflation prices have remained the same if adjusted to todays inflation rates
http://www.inflationdata.com/inflation/images/charts/Oil/Gasoline_inflation_chart.htm

[Casalen]

No matter how you calculate it, they're still taking in record profits relative to everyone else in recent history. Inflation alone isn't enough; industries change based on a rather large amount of factors, especially one as tied in to infrastructure as oil. So, yes, they're doing it because they can no matter what those inflation numbers say. But it doesn't really matter. That's just how capitalism works. More on this post later.

[edit]

As far as oil is concerned, it shouldn't be a question of bitching about prices. Our current way of consuming won't last, and the only way to deal with it is to change lifestyles, not figure out the easiest ways to keep consuming more and hope some scientist figures out a way to save the world that won't make you have to be inconvenienced.

[Prankenberry]

I bought WWE No Way Out tickets in 2006 in Baltimore. The tickets for my son and I were 45 bucks each, and we each had a hotdog and got a t-shirt. That night cost us about $150 bucks all in all, but its an experience I will never forget.

However a few weeks later we went to an Indy show (Maryland Championship Wrestling) and the tickets, and a couple of autographs made the event cost us a total of $50 bucks, and we had ringside tickets.

Its not the amount you pay, its the fun you have while your there. Nobody says you have to have a bunch of beer and buy merchandise to have a good time. Though to sit through a hockey game or soccer match I have to have beer.

[thisiswhoiam]

The last stadium event I attended it was 5 dollars for pop and 4 dollars for a bottle of water. Shirts were 30-40 and posters were 10 dollars. Or if you didn't have that much money you could buy a guitar pick and two buttons for 10 dollars.

[Alcoholic]

I agree that all this inflation is ridiculous. My Dad used to work in pro baseball as a head athletic medical trainer, which got me in free to a LOT of Mets games. That was absolultely, ridiculously cool, but seeing what everyone else started paying in the early 90's blew me away, even then. Now, the vast majority of the games I went to were in the 80's - yes, including thr '86 World Series (badasssssss!), back when the prices were considerably more fair, both for the MLBPA and the fans.
Profit was made by the league and the players, and fans didn't have to spend 3 months in a sperm donation center to get a ticket. I'd hate to know how much we would have spent on tickets, esspecially throwing in the WS prices, at todays' adjustments.

The same goes for concerts, too. back in '05, I saw the Rolling Stones. For a little over $300. Expensive as hell, but well worth the show. Then, just a couple nights ago, my friend told me her dad (this made me jealous) saw Alice Cooper back in the 70's - for no more than fifteen fucking dollars!

[CCCP_Guy]

They do it because they can, they know that when you go to watch a game, you won't be able to cook your hot dogs, they know you wont want to lug your beer up there, and the list goes on. So they do it for you but charge you a shit load. If you want to save money bring the stuff yourself, except I don't think you want to cook hot dogs, and then when you get to the game they'll be cold. You can still bring your own drinks though.

[HappinessMan]

I'm disappointed, I wanted a pro-Communism rant from you CCCP boy.

[Infinity]

You are correct. They seem to love the money more than the game. It shows in their pussy lollygagging playing. However, we seem to always pay anyway, so who is really at fault?

By the way, you're hot.

[jewishjosh]

By the way, you're hot.

Do you stalk every user you see?