Super Bowl Sentiment - Inflation And The High-End Consumer
ConvergEx's annual analysis of Super Bowl economics shows that, when the time and place is right, prices can soar like a Hail Mary pass to clinch the playoffs. Yes, the face value for tickets is unchanged in the last year - $800 to $1,200. But the street price for a ticket to the big game will set you back at least $2,000, and the average ticket is running closer to $4,000. The good news, sort of, is that there has been no inflation for the “Cheapest” seats since last year, when they were also two grand. And that is despite a smaller stadium this time around (68,000 versus +80,000). A signal about the stagnating confidence of the high end consumer? Perhaps. But anyone wanting to attend had better be ready to pony up for hotels, airfare and rental cars that run 3-10x the usual prices for this time of year. In Indianapolis. The good news – next year’s game is in New Orleans. So even if street prices don’t pick up this week, we’re pretty sure next year will set new records.
Via Nic Colas, ConvergEx Group: All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight
What percent of football fans would take a free ticket to the Super Bowl this Sunday? You’d think it would be close to 100%, but you’d be off by about 90%. The real answer is 10%. That surprising fact comes courtesy of the Indianapolis Star, which reported that only 246 of the 3,200 people who were accidently shut out of last year Super Bowl and got replacement tickets actually decided to cash them in for this year. The rest either took the cash offered by the league ($5,000) or are clearly hoping that their team (Green Bay or Pittsburgh) makes it back to the big game in a future year.
The Super Bowl is, of course, the most important game of the year in America’s most popular sport. But it is also a useful economics lab that allows us to study both the confidence of high end consumers as well as the pricing of resources that are temporarily scarce. The “Big Game” occurs every year at the same time, give or take a week, so any given year’s data is roughly comparable to other periods. And, of course, the content is the same.
Let’s start with the price of a ticket to the game, because to get into Super Bowl #1 would have cost you all of $12. That was in Los Angeles in 1967. And the best seat in the house. From there stated ticket prices went to $50 in 1984, $100 in 1988 and $500 in 2003. Now, the prices printed on the ticket for the Indianapolis game this Sunday are between $800 and $1,200. As the accompanying chart shows, this is an inflation rate of around 8,900% for the period, versus 687% for the Consumer Price Index.
We all know, however, that very few people pay the sticker price. No – if you want to go to the game, you’d better find a large crowbar for your wallet. The cheapest seats we found online run about $2,000 currently. The average is closer to $4,000, although prices appear to be softening a few hundred dollars in recent days.
We’ve kept track of “street prices” for Super Bowl tickets the last three years running, thinking of this as an indicator of high-end consumer confidence. Not every fan can go to the game with the prices noted above, after all. As the economy recovered in early 2011 from the same period in 2010, the market for Super Bowl tickers strengthened right along with stocks or gold bullion. The scalper’s price for a 2010 Super Bowl ticket - $1,300. In 2011, this jumped to $2,000, a 50% increase.
In 2012, however, there has been no further advance in the market price of a Super Bowl ticket. Yes, this measures only the price to physically get into the stadium - the rock bottom cheapest seat. This is puzzling, because by all rights it should have advanced this year. Here’s the logic:
- This year features two teams from major media markets – New York and Boston, versus the smaller demographic footprints of last year’s game.
- The price of a 30 second ad during the game is at a new record – some $4 million. And many advertisers will plunk down for “Long form” ads that go 45 seconds or even a minute, according to press accounts. Lastly, all the ad spots for the actual game are sold out.
- Lucas Oil Stadium has about 30,000 fewer seats than last year’s venue in Dallas. That alone should have popped street prices to new highs, but it clearly hasn’t.
So what gives? Well, it could be the amazing prices for seemingly every ancillary support service required to actually attend the game. Consider the following:
- Enterprise car rental is charging $84/day for a small car this weekend. Two weeks from now (presumably a more normal reflection of supply and demand), this drops to $29/day. If you are in the market for a car this weekend, by the way, our work shows that Enterprise has the best deal at the moment.
- Despite the fact that New York is closer to Indianapolis than Boston, it is actually more expensive to fly out of NYC. This weekend, roundtrip airfare is running $910 from the Big Apple and $650 from Beantown. But in two weeks time, these fares drop to $282 from NYC and $349 from Boston. As an aside, one of our senior partners who sits on one of our trading desks is going to the game. He is driving. With three other friends. From New Jersey. If you see a fellow walking along the side of Route 80 wearing a ConvergEx fleece this weekend, please offer him a ride.
- Affordable hotels/motels aren’t so budget friendly this weekend. Super 8s and Quality Inns that are usually $74 for the weekend are running $350. And something called America’s Best Value Inn was offering a room for $950/weekend. Normally, the rate would be less than $100.
I think it is probably a stretch to extrapolate that flat street prices are indicative of a turn for the worse when it comes to the high end consumer. It may well be that buyers are holding out to see if prices soften in the coming days. And if they don’t, then Super Bowl XLVI will set records for street prices, just as they have in prior years. And if they don’t, it may be more telling that the venue and the price gouging for basic services and accommodations are beginning to offset the appeal of attending the game.
One thing I know – next year it won’t be a problem to set a new street price for the Super Bowl, regardless of whatever the economy may bring. It is in New Orleans.
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honestly, from my experience at courtside seats, sports are usually better on an hdtv than in person
agreed. too many things/persons obstruct the view and you don't get to pause or rewind if you miss a play.
Fools and their money are easily parted.
I'd probably not buy a ticket, book a room and eat the crappy food in order to see a Superbowl, but I might take a free trip to do so*.
Maybe. All in all, it's still a big pain in the ass for a game that typically ends up sucking and a half time show that should embarass all of the human race.
*p.s. - a ton of the priceflation in Superbowl tickets (and the necessary hospitality/food prices surrounding the venue) has emanated from businesses catering to their big book customers/clients, since the Superbowl is the #1 Circus in Bread & Circus Amerika circa-2012, and has been for some time. The Superbowl is very unique here, and extrapolating general trends based on prices of tickets, hotel rooms or restaurant food near game day is pointless.
What a bunch of greedy fucking bastards TBTB are.
I mean, the circuses in Rome were free!
And the ruling elite even tossed complimentary loaves of unleavened bread into the clamoring filthy hands of the massed spectators.
Given the condition of the toilets at the few stadiums that I have ever visited (during concerts, not sporting events), one has to wonder what the sanitary facilities might have been like at the Flavian Amphitheater.
Superbowl XLVI: Come for the overpriced beer, salmonella nachos, venereal disease fluid stained bedsheets, pandhandlers, pick-pockets, TSA-like groping and attitude, and take the bedbugs back home.
49ers vs Ravens ??
The only way I'd spend $4,000 at the phuckin' StuporBowl is if I was getting a box-seat-lap-dance from 10 consecutive runway models and 3 to go for the hotel room.
Whenever I see the cost of wasting money like this, I immediately price it in lap dances. 4000 / 20 = 200 lap dances. 200 l.d.s X 5 min = close to 17 hours of l.d.s. If you are going to waste your money, which would you prefer? If you aren't going to waste it, you could get 2 oz of gold and some silver or a super sass, para ord p14 45acp, and a rem tac 870, or you could buy a ton of food, or you could buy a really nice home gym from rogue. People need to get their priorities straight.
But as someone else said, this is for schmoozing big clients. The only people I know that go to Super Bowls are trying to land big clients.
Well this time it's Madonna at the half time show - that could be an exception to the rule
Yes, she heard that there would be all of ten guys in the crowd that haven´t screwed here yet so she agreed to appear free of charge.
Being right near the glass at a hockey game is awesome and I can see how courtside would be fun if you're into basketball but sitting in a football stadium -even the "good" seats- with 80,000 other "fans" is like being in an outdoor jail.
I went to an NBA gave with sticker price tickets for $95 (I paid nothing). Everyone in our party agreed there was no way it was worth that price. Stay at home. Drink beer at a normal price and enjoy on TV.
honestly, from my experience at courtside seats, sports are usually better on an hdtv than in person
Not if you're EVA LONGORIA
Football games are much better on TV. You realize how little action there is when they are all standing around waiting for the commercial break to be over. Most of the fun going to a football game is the tailgating.
there is some truth to that... unless you have a corporate box...
Last game I went to was the Broncos/Falcons SuperBowl in Miami. You couldn't pay me to go to a game now. The StupidBowl is a false flag event waiting to happen.
This year in particular has me worried...
No false flag risk at the StupidBowl; too many of the most likely perps attend.
Commodus; let the games fool the people
the heartbeat is the mob;
give them the superbowl and sitcoms;
they will whore out and love you for it.
Gladiator; strength and honor lol
Went to a Lakers home game, 6 in our family. It was the first Laker's game attended by everyone. It was surreal. We had 3 sets of 2 tickets each. The game started and continued into the first quarter, I swear to you, not exagerating one bit. We simultaneously started texting each other and texting the same thing at once...IDIOCRACY! The fans reactions was almost identical to the movie and I was waiting for the DILDOZER to come crashing through. The game had to have entertainment within the "entertainment" of the game. In other words, the game itself wasn't good enough to hold the idiots attention. There's 500 other things going on constantly stimulating your idiot cortex. First and last time for everyone. Much better to watch from home.
pretty cool fx short-term chart on this site http://www.armadamarkets.com/ have been looking at it for minutes already
i'd rather buy an ounce of gold.
Those people who care about the color of the jerseys of the people who get the ovaloid object into their rectangular area more often than the people with the other color jerseys are probably mostly not the sort to be concerned about what is real money and/or why one might want to seek protection against the loss in value of fiat.
Live a little! It's a game people! Who cares if some people like sports. That doesn't make them bad people.
REPRINT FROM THIS MORNING'S THREAD (for you 'bettors' out there)
John Parry is the head ref (with most of Walt Anderson's crew)... They're not particularly crooked... I'd be more afraid of Pete Morelli, Carl Cheffers, or Scott Green...
Though I will say that Parry & his crew were involved in more than their share of "backdoor covers" (teams COVERING point spreads that went in favor of the Vegas House Card)...
Particularly of note were:
- Baltimore vs. San Francisco (Thanksgiving Night)... Where, the PUBLIC was all over taking the 49ers & 4 points & Baltimore covered...
- New Orleans vs. San Francisco (wildcard playoff)... Where, the public was taking the Saints & laying points & the 49ers won outright...
The pattern would suggest that the PUBLIC DOG (in the Superbowl) will prevail... The Patriots are 3 point FAVORITES, but the Vegas House Card is stacked against a 60% public lean on the Giants (as well as 73% of the Money Line bet on the Giants)...
Vegas will get HAMMERED if the NY Giants win... So, expect the Patriots to win by 4 or more... My gift to you all...
---
That's just my VIEW (& I'll stick by it)... IF IT IS WRONG... I will HUMBLY suffer the 'paddlewheel' here next week (& probably for months thereafter)...
How much is a Super Bowl ticket in Yuan?
You wanna pay good YUAN for a seat in fucking LUKOIL STADIUM?
YGBFKM! :-)
Hmm.. maybe pro sports is a metaphor for politics..
No matter which side wins, everybody that is not really a part of the game loses time and money.
I never said it made them bad people. Although the mind does reel at the thought of all that energy being directed at more useful pursuits.
They watch sports for the same reason zombies eat brains... It takes away the pain of being dead.
Greenie for you as you make a great point.
Although I'm not sure how following sports is any different from following the markets/current affairs. We have no control over this stuff, yet often get emotionally attached. All we can really hope for is to have some fun and make $ along the way.
Insider info: take tails in the coin toss.
LowProfile, that was the first (and only) comment that I have read on ZeroHedge today that made me laugh out loud! Kudos!
It's worse than that ---- virtually every one of them is a mindless sheep who invests significant amount of personal time, energy, money and emotion into paying attention to a children's game played by grown men as if the outcome might have the slightest significance or impact on his or her life, and who thereby foster and promote a blind, unthinking collectivist mindset in which it's always "My team right or wrong".
In reality, this whole pathetic spectacle is nothing but mass insanity. Roman gladiators would recognize this crowd in a heartbeat --- all that's missing is the severed limbs and gore.
Come on AK!... It's not "ovaloid"...
It's a fucking "prolate spheroid"... Get your facts straight... :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exOxUAntx8I
It could be a prolapsed hemorrhoid for all I care --- and that word was from the prior post which I quoted anyway.
When it comes to professional sports, I pride myself on remaining as ignorant of all aspects of it as possible.
Better get used to it...
From about Domitian thru Romulus Augustus... The ROMAN EMPIRE lived on & on (longer than what might have been normal)... & it wasn't on account of the economy or the political right or left wing hacks...
@Tyler
Why is 'New Orleans' in the thread tag?... Oh I get it... NEXT YEAR...
According to some here, there will not be a next year because sports are dead...
Another bubble that's ready to pop.
The Super Bowl is for the rich.
It's always been for the rich.
Your mothers sagging tits.
Tom Brady is a great quarterback.
New England will win.
The bailouts were for professional sports salaries too. All the banks and government motors are the ones slapping their names on stadiums and advertising during the games. And the NFL has taken the lead in the 'Support our troops and every rights-violating, empire-building, baby-killing thing they do' propagandist bullshit, although baseball's replacing 'Take me out to the ballgame' with 'God bless America' during the 7th inning stretch after 9-11 is maybe the climax of propagandist bullshit. Bunch of bailout queens playing the same games 12 year olds play.
Who's signing up Manning and for how much....we could do a quarterback CPI index?
Manning talk is ridiculous at this point... Nobody even knows if he's healthy or not...
We will know March 8th though...
Concert tickets used to have face value affordable prices too but that all changed about 15 years ago. First the Eagles "Hell Freezes Over" tour priced tickets at a then record breaking (I think) $100 then Madonna did similarly and the rest is history. I saw "The Producers" the week it opened in New York (circa 2001) and I think that was the first $100 theatre ticket.
But demand very much preceded the big price hikes. The principals involved (finally) figured out that they could be capturing the prices that were often later being "discovered" on the secondary market.
Not everyone can command big ticket prices of course but why watch your $35 tickets sell out in 20 minutes only to see them reappear on the street for $350?
They have a scarce good and supply is meeting demand.
A more interesting study would be one that attempted to quantify how many people these days are attending the Super Bowl (or whatever) on someone else's dime...and why.
The solution is to only sell tickets at the door.
In SF Bob Dylan had a show and it was first come first serve, $25, cash only.
Yeah well the average age at a Dylan show these days is about 54. If you tried that with Lady Gaga or (heavens to Betsy) Kanye West at least a dozen people would be killed.
Still okay compared to The Police revival tour starting at $280. And they wanted something in that range for Sade last year too.
Fuhgettaboutit.
I'd might pay such amounts if Pink Floyd toured once more, but otherwise...
Here, here! I was ready to fly to London and pay whatever for tickets to see that overly-brief reunion of Pink Floyd on July 4th 2005 and found out that the only way to get tix was to text a UK number and get in a lottery. I gave up in disgust.
Let the people believe in their pass-times. They will experience pain soon enough. Let them experience their conception of happiness as long as it can last. Because soon enough, their happiness will come to a disastrous end. They will eventually be required by the state to put their lives on the line in order to perpetuate the illusion. And when that time comes, there will be hate and discontent. At that moment, they will wish that they had paid more attention during their lives. At that moment, they will wonder what the fuck just happened.
And I'm just going to laugh my ass off.
What's more ... when I look at them and say "You should have known," people are going to call me a mother fucker. I will be hated as a person who saw what was coming. I will be hated as a person who supposedly did nothing to stop it. But let the record show that no one was listening when I was shouting at the top of my lungs.
Beautiful!
I despise and want no part of the shallow, lazy, sports and e-gadget obsessed culture that the USA has become. By refusing to follow the mindless herd, I have become a stranger in my own land.
"I'm a stranger in paradise...lost!"
Akak's song; like Lara's song.
Dr Zhivago sang the same sad, sad song. "Sitting on the dock of the BAy...watching the Bolsheviks rip away."
This is why people don't want to wake up. The illusion of pride is better than the reality.
You are delusional. The last thing TPTB can afford is to allow the peasants to see the charade. The minute they do, its game over. They will maintain the charade up until the moment their heads are severed. And they have diluted education to the point that there is little risk of this reaction.
Lighten up, asshole.
It's just a fuckin football game.
If you dont have a side, or a betting interest, dont watch
Obviously we need to subsidize the Super Bowl.
2012 is going to be a spend-a-roonie!!
You won't believe the prices on things!
Bright side? Endless stuff to discuss on Facebook (my Facebook IPO prediction: just shy of $1 Trillion)
Long duck face poses.
Why anyone would want to shell out hundreds, least not thousands of dollars to watch a bunch of millionaires run around kicking and throwing a ball for an hour is beyond me.
I'd pay a hundred to see a great musician up close and personal, think your favorite band at the peak of their career, ie: Van Halen in 1982 or something (I'm not a Van Halen fan btw)
But to sit in the nosebleed seats for a grand, fug that.
I'd shell out several hundreds to watch a bunch of regular Joe's kicking and throwing Bernanke around for an hour though.
Here's my gold ounce!
2 weeks? Fuck off. No seriously, fuck off. Tard. oh thanks in advance....
Isn't the % of fans that would take a free ticket skewed? Should be % of fans that would take a free ticket or $5000. Willing to bet if you asked anyone if they would like a free ticket to the superbowl, they would say yes.
Hey folks, those prices are inflating faster than a John Madden play-by-play
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TigpIK8bxbE&feature=related
World record highs for SBUX today, just days after it warned.
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/kaavio.Webhost/charts/big.chart?nosetti...
The consumer cannot be stopped, come hell or high water.
The consumer cannot be stopped, come hell or high water...
The coke addicted MOMO TRADERS dipping into re-hypothecateable accounts cannot be stopped, come hell or high water...
There... FIXED IT
http://i43.tinypic.com/qqvdkj.jpg
Amen Robo.
I'm gona' turn $100,000 into $1,000,000 in 11 months.
Every trade documented.
http://tradeonfire.blogspot.com/
It starts tomorrow.
I sincerely hope you'll be able to buy a gallon of gas with it...
GOOD LUCK!
You and everybody else.
Do it in 10 months so you can buy everyone here a beer
Unfortunately... It may only be a Budweiser...
I'm giving everyone the oppourtunity to see it first hand.
I'm bookmarking this. It should be fun to watch.
Good luck Bob. Nice start. But is this million going to adjusted up for QE3?
10 months in your funds will get vaporized by,
<-------------------------------some asshole like this
.....riiiigghhtt....and the 70% of the people who believe in an afterlife will change their minds, Sofia Vergara will stop putting out restraining orders against me, Babawawa will REALLY retire, George Stepinalotashit will grow another 6 inches, baldness will be cured, my short TZAs will stop decaying, Dick Fuld and Joe Caassano will surrender to authorities to serve life terms, the South will start a Civil War and win it this time, life will be discovered in Washington D.C., Bill Clinton will confess, George W will admit that his IQ is identical to that of planaria, Sofia Vergara will finally return my phone calls and plead for one night with me playing, "Twister" naked under the covers.
I usually take a ride on the Harley on super bowl day. Nothing super about it for me. A bunch of hype and a bunch of over paid players.
Come to think of it, a "Super Bowl" is a pretty apt metaphor for current events
Super bowl is a secret stimulus for NYC pizza joints. Not to mention Tequila. And clubs in the Meatpacking district packed with chics doing Molly
PAPA JOHN'S is a 'presenting sponsor' this year...
Pizza is the most promising source of US employment
USA 2050 (GDP)
Every single solitary one of us are all driving around delivering pizzas to each other (in bombed out buildings from the alien invasion)...
KRUGMAN~OMICS
Every single solitary one of us are all driving around delivering pizzas to each other (in bombed out buildings from the CHINESE invasion)...
There, fixed it for you.
You just DOUBLED GDP...
I hereby nominate you for a Nobel Prize...
Just deliver each pizza to the door, then whip it into the woods, go back and tell them you lost it and need another one --- I just doubled GDP again!
And I want a solid-gold Nobel, too --- none of those chintzy plated ones.
Damn, that smarmy, ingratiating hillbilly Papa John's spokesman in their TV commercials with his weird head-bobbing mannerisms has got to be one of the most annoying characters I have ever seen on the tube.
2012 2012 2012 2012 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG7utjxtkJA
TO H E L L
with the
SUPER BOWL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Tyvmx61kI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r78CvQIOlH0&feature=related
When did Goldman start selling football tickets?
When did Goldman start selling football tickets?
.01618 milliseconds AFTER they put 'SuperBowl Tickets' on the published client BUY list...