Two Grand? It Coulda Been Worse

Funny that this picture was taken at night, since there
won't be any Monday or Thursday night games hosted
by the Niners due to parking restrictions with the lots
shared by local Santa Clara businesses.

So the big news last week was that the 49ers announced their season ticket prices for the new stadium. And for all of the grumbling, bitching and moaning about the cost, I was actually surprised that $2,000 will get you an upper-deck sideline PSL in the new building.

Granted, my old seats would have cost me at least 10x as much, but for a couple grand, I could see a guy in my position buying in, especially at 95 bucks per seat per game (which is about 65 bucks less than what I paid per game during my final season as a ticketholder).

Of course, after a season of watching the Niners (and the rest of the NFL schedule) at home on a 60" HDTV with a fridge full of beverages and snacks while cherry-picking a couple of games per year to attend, it would be a very hard sell to get me back in the game. Even with the stadium being a 20 dollar cab ride away, which would allow us to conveniently tailgate at home until a half hour or so before kickoff, it would still be difficult to convince me to leave the comfort of my own couch while watching the conclusions to the early games.

I think that's going to be the problem the league faces as the TV gameday experience becomes more and more attractive than actually attending the event in person. For several decades, the NFL built itself as the top league in North American sports because it is such a great televised product. The main reason the league has succeeded over the past 50+ years will eventually result in less paying customers through the turnstiles.

Will this hurt the league? Probably not - the majority of their revenue is from the ridiculous television contracts they have negotiated with the various broadcast and cable networks. But at some point, I figure it has to affect the stadium experience (and demand) on gameday. For better or worse, I'm sure Robot Goodell will find a way to draw maximum profits out of that, too.