We are living in the worst economy since The Great Depression. Despite what happened on Wall Street yesterday (a 379 point gain on the Dow), unemployment is at its highest level since the early 1980's. Consumer spending is down. Home foreclosures are every day occurrences.
As a result, people are cutting back. There are fewer Saturday nights out on the town. Vacations are scaled back (if there are any vacations at all). People who have been victims of this economy are trying to make ends meet. Those who haven't been are acting as if they have been, in order to save for that rainy day.
Chances are you know someone who has been impacted by the events of the last year or so. If you don't, well you do now. I was a victim of this recession. I was laid off from my radio job nearly five months ago.
That means I've had to make some adjustments in my life. One of those adjustments is going to be not using my 'spending money' on baseball games this coming season. My wife and I weren't season ticket holders, but we got to Miller Park about ten times each year (we paid for the tickets, unusual for us media types). As of now, there won't be any trips to the ballpark in our future.
I imagine I'm not the only one who will be making that kind of adjustment. In fact, just go to the Bradley Center any night the Bucks are in action. There are plenty of seats available. Part of it is that the team is struggling, but the bigger reason the BC isn't filled is because of the economy. People just don't have the money to go to the games anymore.
It seems as if some of the franchises in big league sports are starting to understand what their respective fan bases are facing. It didn't get the headlines that it probably deserved, but the Houston Rockets announced that 98 percent of their tickets would be sold at reduced prices for the 2009-2010 season. The two percent unaffected by this are the most expensive seats in the house.
The Rockets aren't alone in trying to help their fans. The Minnesota Timberwolves have decided to reduce season ticket prices as well. But, the T-Wolves have taken it a step further. Actually, two steps further. The team is offering their fans the option of paying in installments, and offering full refunds to season ticket holders who lose their jobs during the 2009 calendar year. Now, that's what I call customer service.
I hope we see more pro teams offer this kind of deal to their fans. You would think that's coming, considering the economy. But then again, I'm also not surprised more teams haven't taken the plunge. After all, lowering ticket prices isn't usually good for the bottom line. Especially when that bottom line keeps getting bigger and bigger every year.
You see, player salaries haven't really gone down during this recession. For instance, the Yankees spent nearly a half-billion dollars on CC Sabathia A.J. Burnett, and Mark Teixeira. The Redskins gave Albert Haynesworth a $100M contract. Those teams have to make that money up somehow. Normally, it's ticket prices (and the annual increases in those prices) that help offset the cost of big contracts.
Players aren't going to give teams discounts because of the economic situation today (ahem, Manny Ramirez). Actually, that isn't true. There is one. Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner.
Warner just signed his two-year deal with the club worth $23M. But, earlier this week, he re-iterated his desire to give the team $2M to help them resolve their contract dispute with Anquan Boldin.
What a novel concept. A player giving money back to his team in order to pay someone else with the ultimate goal being winning a championship. Rod Tidwell of 'Jerry Maguire' fame would surely have a big problem with that.
So you have Kurt Warner giving money back, and two NBA teams lowering ticket prices. In a day and age where teams and athletes are usually just out to get theirs, Warner, the Rockets, and the T-Wolves get it.
As a fan, you hope they become the rule, and not the exception.
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