Anyone have a problem with the new ticket prices?

I'm kinda tired of hearing all the whining about the ticket prices for the Bobcats. You be able to get them cheaper in the parking lot. Here is the story;

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/basketball/nba/charlotte_bobcats/6423582.htm

 

if the NBA and Bobcats were completely self contained as a private enterprise I would encourage them to charge as much as possible for a ticket. However when the league holds cities hostage for new facilities paid for with public tax dollars because they only need them for luxury suites to pay players $$10 million a year, then I have a problem with these prices. The public is subsidizing these salaries. Here is a novel idea: build your own buildings, pay guys reasonable salaries, and then charge whatever the market brings. Jerry Richardson and Bruton Smith did it.

They can deny the use of property tax and say it is a hotel/rental car tax building this arena, but a large chunk of the 250 million to build the new arena is from the city giving away the old coliseum and convention center to the the big 3, and those are the public's buildings built with property taxes.

 

And without a major tenant the Coliseum was hemoraging money(the profits from the coliseum also paid for operating deficits at Ovens and Cricket Arena) So without an NBA team PROPERTY TAXES would have been raised/used to pay for upkeep and operating cost of the buildings.



NO I don't have a problem with the prices- They are $7 cheaper than the average NBA price. Of course I wish they were cheaper but, I wish everything was cheaper.

 

I love how the people who want to gripe over the city paying to build the arena seem to skim right over the fact that Johnson paid $300 million out of his own pocket to bring the team to town. Throw in the money he'll have to spend on players before he sees any return on his investment and he'll have shelled out at least $350 million.

If Johnson or someone like him didn't do that, we wouldn't have a team no matter how nice an arena we build.

I know you hate to hear it, but the city made an INVESTMENT by building an arena. Considering the $250 million spend on the arena has attracted someone who has INVESTED $300 million into Charlotte I think things have worked out well for the city.

As far as ticket prices go, Johnson is charging less than the league average, so what's the problem? Yes, the Hornets were among the cheapest tickets in the league, but that's only because George Shinn knew he couldn't charge more for tickets. Considering that the Hornets couldn't raise ticket prices their last two years here, everyone is comparing prices for the 2004-05 season to prices for the 1999-00 season. If anyone can show any team in any professional sports league that is charging the same amount that they were charging back then, or for that matter any form of entertainment that is charging the same price, then I'll begin to see your point about ticket prices being too high.

 

Sans an NBA team here, the city of CLT would have to use property taxes to cover the financial loss of the building each year (see Greensboro Coliseum). Then I'm sure the anti-tax/anti-arena crowd would bitch even more . .

 

skim right over the fact that Johnson paid $300 million out of his own pocket to bring the team to town. Throw in the money he'll have to spend on players before he sees any return on his investment and he'll have shelled out at least $350 million.

Imagine that ! I got a friend that just opened a bar and durn if the same thing didn't happen to him. First, he had to put 40,000 of his own money in his business and then he had to pay for the beer and liquor up front for his business before he will see any return on his money for his business too. Just don't seem right, does it?

 

I got a feeling the Bobcats are going to be a complete failure.

 

I guess you have to actually plan on buying tickets in order to be concerned about the prices. Therefore, I'm not.

 

Is he gonna charge more for alcohol than people charged 5 years ago? The tickets for a Charlotte NBA game will see the first increase in that time period.

If George would have ran his business right the tickets would already cost that much but, he couldn't charge anything higher or he would have lost the same fan support that stuck it out.

$7 dollars cheaper than the avg ticket and half the seats are $30 or less- just doesn't seem bad to me.