Quote:
Originally Posted by fuffalo
Admittedly my life is different than it was when I used to go to as many games as possible, but you would think I'm in the perfect demographic for the flames. Mid 30s dad who makes decent money (I'm no CP average, but I do ok).
I just can't bring myself to dropping hundreds of dollars on a 2.5 hour event. Let's say the three of us go, that's ~250 for seats, ~40 food, ~20 beer, ~10 parking, 320 dollars and it's a 50/50 chance that the game isn't fun. The closest I come to spending that amount on other forms of entertainment is a live show at the theater, but for that I have a pretty good idea it's going to be entertaining based on reviews.
I dunno. I'm stuck between believing my own argument and just thinking I'm becoming a grumpy old man.
|
I dont have kids. But I 100% think this is part of the problem of attendance declines. Families can't justify the costs, so they dont go. Kids don't get exposed and don't build emotional bonds with their teams. Then when these kids grow up and can afford tickets, they have no want for them because they have no emotional bond with the team.
If you go back, ticket inflation went crazy from the mid-1990s onward. If you're 8 years old in 1997, you're 28 today. In other words, they're at an age where they could be spending on tickets. But a lot of them aren't. I honestly think this is a problem, and its going to get worse the longer it goes because the league becomes more and more dependant on older fans and isn't making connections with newer ones.
It also explains the ####ty atmosphere. Lets face it - the fans in their 20s and 30s who get rowdy drive a huge part of the fan experience. If they don't want to attend or can't afford to attend, the experience suffers.