Price gouging for opening night tickets

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Originally Posted by santiclaws:2616236

The whole thing just leaves a real bad taste in my mouth. The team sucked for so many years and at the first hint of success, at a game that is a celebration for so many long-time fans, they are charging the max the market can bear. And this is happening at the first game after a lockout? Other teams are trying to win back their fans by lowering concession prices, lowering merchandise prices - and this in towns where hockey has been a hot ticket for years. The Kings? The Kings hold a press conference to announce a commercial joint venture with a corporate giant and jack ticket prices because they can. Talk about tone deaf.

Hockey is not just entertainment. Much of its allure is the tradition, the legend, the history. It is a tradition that is reverently passed down from generation to generation. It is more than just a game to a whole lot of people. It is holy to them. How many fathers would love to take their kids to the game for this special celebration? Family of four, at $150 a seat in the nosebleeds, plus parking, concessions.... How many of them will have no chance, not even a hope, of taking their family to this game at $700+ for one night? To introduce the kids to what is so dear to them? Kings had a chance to introduce new fans to the game in a very special way. It is an opportunity lost, never to return. They went for a few dollars, instead. Does Phil Anschutz really need the money?

This has nothing to do with supply/demand. This has everything to do with goodwill and understanding that the game has a delicate mystique, a mystique that is easily lost. The Kings had a chance to say to fans that the game means a lot to them, too - even if that was not very sincere. Fans would believe, because they want to believe. And all they had to do was not change anything. Instead, the Kings are reminding fans that they are nothing but wallets with feet. The very same fans who sold out game after game even though the team was not very good. Yeah, it is a business. But it is a business built on stories and legends. It likes to pretend it is special. This is a reminder that it is really not special at all. It is all about dollars and cents. No more, no less. In the long run, I think it is just plain bad business.

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We're getting a replica banner.

i'm shocked at how many of you expect kindness and respect from big business. especially a big business that is selling something this rare. whether it's mean, or disrespectful, or whatever you want to call it, they're going to charge as much as they think they can get away with and they know someone will pay. and it's sold out, right?

i'm guessing that at the moment the kings have an abundance of fans, and coming off the success of last season, the guys in charge aren't worried about who they're alienating. and i think they believe that once you settle down, most of you will get over having been wronged. because you were there when the team sucked and you love this team.

$155 for nosebleed seats? it's a tough pill to swallow but it's not surprising.

and, by the way, i'm not saying it doesn't suck.

Tickets are up to $210 a piece for the game now on Stubhub. Thank God the secondary market didn't get a hold of them.

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Originally Posted by rcc

i'm shocked at how many of you expect kindness and respect from big business. especially a big business that is selling something this rare. whether it's mean, or disrespectful, or whatever you want to call it, they're going to charge as much as they think they can get away with and they know someone will pay. and it's sold out, right?

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But I don't root for "big business". I root for a hockey team that, if it acts like a big business like, say, Exxon, Walmart, or Toyota...well, let's just say I don't have a rooting interest in any of those big businesses.

Like I said, if you treat me like an asset I'll treat you like a business...and eventually I won't be a "fan", I'll just be a customer who doesn't really "care" about the success or failure of your business. Hell, I can just take my business to your competitor 31.8 miles down I-5. After all, it's just business right? I don't "care" whether I get my gas from Exxon or Shell...or my jammies from Walmart or Target...or my car from Toyota or Mercedes...

Fandom doesn't work that way...and neither should sports team ownership...

Some much delusion in this thread. Teams aspire to win so they can make a profit. If you decide you are not gong to be a fan anymore they won't care one bit because someone else will replace you.

You think Laker tickets are cheap? You think they care who buys their tickets? "Real" fan or not its all about the bottom line.

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Originally Posted by FishMonger

5 times higher than the previous year is mid-range? I'd say it's more along the lines of "We have more people willing, so let's get as much as possible out of it while we can."

That's taking # 1 and #3 and curbkicking them.
Twice.

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Whether 5x the price of the previous year's ticket for the home opener (assuming that's accurate) is or isn't "mid-range" depends on what the actual market value is. From what I've seen, 300-level tickets are or may be going for much more than the $155 face value.

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Originally Posted by Deuce

Some much delusion in this thread. Teams aspire to win so they can make a profit. If you decide you are not gong to be a fan anymore they won't care one bit because someone else will replace you.

You think Laker tickets are cheap? You think they care who buys their tickets? "Real" fan or not its all about the bottom line.

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Is anyone arguing that it isn't about the bottom line? I think that people are merely saying that it's a shame that it is. Especially for this particular game. The second biggest game in franchise history right after they lock people out after they ALREADY raised ticket prices (before they were even going to the playoffs)...and they do this? Just dirty is all. I'm going to the game, I have season seats, and I still recognize it isn't the right thing to do.

All I know is that I really don't ever wanna hear people complaining about scalpers selling tickets for twice the face value any longer.

We won the Stanley Cup. I like the Stanley Cup. I can die happy now.

Once they suck again, and they will at some point, and the diehard deals and buy 3 get 4th free and groupon offers returns we shouldnt hear from the STHs complaining about how they got screwed for being a "real hardcore fan".
It is a business and part of running a successful business is great customer service and competitive prices.Right now AEG is treating the Kings like a commodity, adjusting the price based on demand. Once demand goes down the loyal dedicated customer(fans) that were priced out of the market will not return, then what? we become what you have in OC 1/2 full buildings and mediocre hockey.

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Originally Posted by Deuce

Some much delusion in this thread.

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Being a fan is being delusional. It is utterly irrational. It is absolutely absurd. The fact that I care about how a bunch of guys in skates who don't know me from a sack of wheat do in a game is ludicrous. I'm a grown man, for crying out loud. People on this board admitted to crying at Game Six. You think they were crying because they imagined the profits AEG would rake in as a result of winning the Cup? If someone told me I'm an idiot for caring, how could I not agree?

The fact is that sports teams are selling delusion. They're in cahoots with the fans, who are willing participants in being deluded. That the team cares about "the fans." That somehow the fans have some input. That by being present at a game they "participated." Since I've been a fan, the team has changed players, coaches, owners, building and uniforms. There is virtually no connection between team I started rooting for and the current team except for the name. That's it. When you get down to it, I'm a fan of a freaking name of a sports team. It's moronic, frankly. But the team and I pretend that I matter. That there's something in being a "loyal fan" besides income for the corporation who currently happens to own the name. We are both willing participants in the deception. Any time a sports team reminds me that rationally, I am an idiot for caring about them in any way, I get a little uncomfortable. I know he's there, but I don't want to see the man behind the curtain.

Again, from a business perspective I don't think it is a very wise decision. There is a reason tobacco companies used to sell cigarettes with cartoon characters. There's a reason the price of a six pack of Coke in the store does not come close to keeping up with inflation. You need future customers. When you prevent future customers from becoming current customers by pricing them out of your product, what's going to happen? The Kings were selling a lot of tickets long before they became any good. Eventually, not too many years from now, they'll suck again and all those people clamoring for tickets now will not want them anymore. They'll buy Lakers tickets or Clippers tickets or whatever the new hot thing happens to be then. If you haven't expanded your customer based and alienated your long-time customers by pricing them out of your product, you're not going to do so well.