It's Super Bowl Sunday in 2012, and for anyone lucky enough to have a spare $2,000, you may have been able to afford the lowest priced ticket for the game. Otherwise, you're likely sitting at home or in a bar watching the game with crystal clear reception on your high definition television...for free.
The price of tickets not only for today's game, but for nearly every major (read: successful) team in the NFL, are well beyond the reach of the American sports fan. This problem is not restricted to professional football, alone, with prices skyrocketing for NBA and MLB games, as well. In our greatly recessed economy with near record unemployment numbers, the average sports fan can scarce afford to go out for food to watch the games, much less purchase an overpriced ticket to the actual games.
To add insult to injury, the NFL blackout policy stating that games must be sold out within 72 hours of the scheduled game disproportionately effect fans living in the most economically distressed areas of the country. The San Diego Chargers had almost their entire 2010 season blacked out because fans could barely afford rent and food, much less overpriced tickets, and then were unable to watch the game as far north as Los Angeles.
Super Bowl tickets weren't always so outrageously priced; as recently as 2004, the cheapest tickets were around $200. However, the growing demand by owners, managers, coaches, and athletes for eight-digit salaries and compensation packages, in addition to the increased demands of broadcasters for contracts, have priced the American fan base out of their favorite sports.
There is, however, no foreseeable change on the way. Rather than seeing a decline in tickets prices, we will continue to see prices skyrocket. Fans will watch their favorite games at home, and not in the nosebleed section, while the luxury boxes will soon begin to overtake actual seating. And why shouldn't that be the case? For who loves sports more than the bourgeois?
Umm...everyone else.
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