Professional sports: Fun for the whole family, assuming the family is rich or just watching from home.
The surge in ticket prices for live sports has made it costlier for fans to go to games in recent years, and especially costly for fans with families. From 1999 to 2020, the price of tickets to sporting events has grown more than twice as fast as overall consumer prices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2023, the price for a family of four to go to a Major League Baseball game, buy food, a couple of souvenirs, and secure a parking spot went up to $266, not counting any travel costs to the game. For the National Football League, that jump brought the cost to $631. The National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association cost around $376.
The price surge has been a combination of things, including ticket services having “dynamic pricing” algorithms to boost prices faster in response to demand. Leagues are also content to leave seats in their arenas, stadiums, and ballparks empty rather than reduce prices as the tip-off, kick-off, or first pitch approaches. After all, you don’t want fans to think they can get cheaper prices when supply exceeds demand closer to game time. Better to just let those seats go fanless.
The quality of the product also doesn’t seem to matter. A family of four during the 2023-2024 NBA season would have to pay between $120 and $360 to watch a Detroit Pistons game from the upper bowl of the arena. The Pistons in that season went 14-68, their fifth straight year missing the playoffs and their second straight year changing head coaches. You can imagine those prices only went up last year, when the Pistons posted a 44-38 record and finally made it back to the playoffs.
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The high price of concessions alone can be enough to discourage families from attending. Nearly one-third of people say concession prices have “a lot” of impact on their decision to buy tickets. In 2022, a hot dog at a Los Angeles Rams game would cost you $9, with an additional $6 for a soda or $5 for a water. Chicken nuggets and tater tots for the children would cost you $18 each, before you add in the drinks. A chocolate chip cookie would cost you $8. Sort that out for you, a spouse, and two children, and then add in the cost of the tickets themselves, parking, and travel if you don’t live in Los Angeles, and you can see why families might be struggling to find a good night to go to the game.
The cost to parents is quantifiable, but the cost to children of missing out on a gameday experience may not be. If teams continue to let tickets and concessions price out the families raising their future fans, those future fans may move on to sports and other viewing experiences that are more affordable. For now, though, many families are left to only watch their favorite teams from their own homes, assuming they can find which of the seven streaming services has the game broadcast this week.