Posted on 09/09/2018 12:40:15 PM PDT by Eddie01
As the NFL kicks off its regular season, some sports teams are experimenting with a secret ingredient to help reverse declining attendance: cheaper food.
Recently, the Detroit Lions announced concession discounts for the first hour after gates open at the stadium, with $5 beers and lower-priced meal combos available at certain stands throughout the rest of the game. Lions Team President Rod Wood explained in a statement that the team’s program aims to serve fans “without hurting the quality or speed of service.”
To be sure, concession sales are relatively inconsequential to an athletic team’s overall revenue, experts say. Still, cheaper prices can provide a sentiment boost; and for fans vacillating on whether to spend money on a game ticket, it can work as an added incentive.
With an increasing number of fans opting to watch in the comfort of their own homes, arenas are facing more competition than ever for getting fans through the door. The dynamic “speaks to the incredible amount of competition that exists for consumer share of mind and wallet,” said Columbia University sports management professor Scott Rosner.
In July, the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks announced plans to slice concession stand prices in half, becoming the first professional basketball team to offer what it called “fan-friendly” pricing.
The move comes as the team – which last season suffered the worst attendance record in professional basketball – awaits the completion of a $193 million renovation of State Farm Arena that management hopes will help excite the fan base and fill seats.
The Hawks are Atlanta’s third pro franchise to offer cheaper food stand prices, following moves a year earlier by the NFL’s Falcons and Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United, when they moved into the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Both teams topped fan satisfaction surveys that measure food and beverage experiences at sports venues. Meanwhile, Falcons data showed that average per-fan spending on concessions soared 16 percent over the 2016 season, with the trend continuing into last season.
Deep price cuts may cost stadiums needed revenue, but according to NYU sports management professor Wayne McDonell, it’s a relatively low-risk bet. When fans are saving on concessions, they may be more willing to spend elsewhere, like on merchandise or tickets to other games, he said.
“I think we saw that with the Falcons,” McDonell told CNBC recently, citing “the accessibility and affordability of food” as a way to help fans feel invested in the game.
Yeah, cuz I would go to a football stadium expecting high-quality, low-cost “food.”
Went to a Tacoma Rainiers game this summer, hot dogs were $8 each.
Free tickets
I imagine a large percentage of attendees are there solely because of company tickets and parking passes
Sports has priced many of its fans out of the market I wouldn’t dare pay these prices nowadays and haven’t for a long time. It’s much better to watch COLLEGE sports from the comfort and convenience (and COST) at home
Less and less (normal, productive) people are going to go to things like this. Just part and parcel of living in low trust, multicultural societies.
Well, there's still Occidental College, from which my screen name comes. Although they last beat USC in 1918, the Oxy Tigers still have a winning record over UCLA--that is, if you count the years when UCLA was called California Normal School of Los Angeles. However, in recent years, the Tigers have fallen on hard times. Last year, they cancelled the football season because they couldn't recruit enough players.
We always just bring our food and drinks to the game. No problem.
I NEVER eat or drink at games,movies,or theater.
If it was free I wouldn’t do it.
.
We can watch two games in one day for only ¥1500. We get a great deal here.
Bingo!
$2,500 can get you a great huge TV with surround sound. Another 1500 for theater or reclining seats, and you are set for 5-6years
Movie theaters should try this!
I have a big-screen TV, but I rarely use it. I watch almost everything on my laptop.
It’s easy:
Make “One felony AND one paternity suit” no-hire rule:
The problem will go away and fans will come back, eventually.
As long as there is tailgate partying and beer in the stadium, the cucks will continue to show up.
And drowns out any ability to think and enjoy the game.
Last baseball game I went to, about three years ago, they were playing different obnoxious clips at volume 11 between every pitch. I understand trying to get the crowd pumped up, but this was just stupid.
I went to a lot of games at Fenway Park in my younger days when I was growing up in Boston. I would say during the 1974-80 period I must have seen 200 games easy. Back then, you could afford a ticket on paper route money, hot dogs were still 75 cents and when they went to $1.25 one year, people howled!
Anyway, people focused on the game. I always bought a program and pencil and scored every pitch. Many others did the same. There was very little getting up once the game began. I remember when my father first started taking me, he told me to get what I needed before the first pitch because we weren't getting up again until the game was over!
I've gone just a few times over the past 10 years and once thing I notice is hardly anybody pays attention to the game and people are getting up constantly to get this or that at the concession and constantly texting on their phones. It seems that people can't go more than an hour without shoving things into their mouths and they can't go more than five minutes without burying themselves in their cell phones.
I’m gone and never coming back, NFL.
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