Interesting article large vs small market teams

[anothersteelerfan]

Buffalo Bills fans sitting 20 rows up in midfield seats at Ralph Wilson Stadium will pay $70 a ticket this year.

When the Dallas Cowboys move into their new stadium in 2009, fans sitting in the same 50-yard-line location will pay $50,000 just for a license to buy the ticket and then $340 a game for the seat. The $50,000 buys a fan the right to own the seat for 30 years. And that’s not even the most expensive ticket in the house at Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones’ new Dallas stadium.

http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills ... 49452.html (http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/billsnfl/story/349452.html)

It really makes you wonder if the goal of some of the owners and possibly the league is to get to the point where the average fan can't afford to go to a game.

[motter1975]

I think the goal of any owner is to maximize his revenues and profits. As such, if the local market will bear it, it does not surprise me to see the ticket prices raised to the point that your average joe football fan flat out can't afford to go to the games. Not saying I like it, but as long as you have enough fans willing and able to pay the steep prices in a given market, owners will not lower prices just to make tickets more accessible to everyone. Other markets will not bear such high prices, and if the owners set ticket prices that high, they would no longer sell out games. It's a matter of maximizing profits.

As your basic normal joe average fan (well, I guess for me Jill average), though...I think it sucks! Alas, the only way that we, as fans, can effectively lower prices on tickets, NFL merchandise, etc. is to collectively refuse to purchase them. I don't know about you, but that's a step I'm NOT willing to take!

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

I hate to say it, but this article seems like it is the first in a series of explanations that the Bills will give over the next five years to cushion the blow when they move the team here to Toronto.