Frank: Did you catch me onTV the other night?
Artie: How'd you get on TV?
Frank: It was a cameo role.I had a courtside seat when the Bucks beat New Orleans.
Artie: And how the hell didyou score that?
Frank: My friend Michele,whom you know from Brewer games, won two tickets in a raffle. We were justbehind the north basket.
Artie: Geez, what do thosetickets go for?
Frank: The next night at mybeloved Paddy's Pub I asked for guesses. They ranged from $90 to $180.
Artie: And the winner is...?
Frank: Here's the ticket.
Artie: F-F-FOUR HUNDRED ANDSIX? American dollars?
Frank: So it says. If youbuy for the whole season, maybe there's a discount.
Artie: What, like all theway down to $375, maybe?
Frank: The $406 can't be thehighest price; mid-court seats on the floor must be higher, although the Bucks'Web site doesn't list courtside prices. They're probably below what JackNicholson or Spike Lee pays, anyway.
Artie: But still, it'sgetting to the point where only NBA players can afford to attend NBA games. JoeSchmo will have to win the Megabucks to get in.
Frank: I have some historicalperspective. During the Bucks' first season, 1968-69, I was a freshman at Marquette. The nightbefore I flew back to New York for Christmas,the Arena hosted an old-fashioned NBA double-header—Chicagovs. Baltimore and the Bucks vs. Seattle.
Artie: And the winners?
Frank: The Bullets, 125-102,and the Bucks, 100-92. I did have to look up the scores. Anyway, I bought myticket the day of the game, and I was in the first row behind the southbasket—separated by a walkway, but as close as you could get then.
Artie: And the price thatnight was...
Frank: Microfilm confirmedmy memory. That first season the Bucks had three prices: Five twenty-five, fourtwenty-five and three twenty-five.
Artie: Those numbers haddecimal points, ain'a?
Frank: Indeed. Maybe it wasseven or eight bucks for the double-header, but that seat went for $5.25 for asingle game.
Artie: To be fair, which Ihate, you've gotta consider inflation over 42 years.
Frank: I checked theConsumer Price Index figures. In December 1968 the CPI stood at 34.8; inDecember 2009 it was 214.5. That's a bit over a six-fold increase. So a $5.25ticket was the equivalent of $32 now.
Artie: Which would put youupstairs at the Bradley Center.
Frank: Again, to be fair,I'm not comparing the $5.25 then to the $406 now, because I was only a few feetfrom the court last week. But a comparable seat today, in the first row of the"end zone," goes for $100 on a single-game basis, according to theBucks' Web site. That's a 19-fold increase over $5.25, or three times what theprice would be going strictly by inflation.
Artie: I daresay the averagefan isn't making 19 times what folks made in ’68.
Frank: But NBA players sureare. I couldn't find precise stats on NBA salaries in the late ’60s. On theplayers' union site there's a statement that in 1976 the average salary was"approaching $200,000." I figure that in December ’68 it was under$100,000.
Artie: Well under, I'd say.
Frank: Census Bureau datashow the median U.S.household income in 1968 was $8,600. If the median NBA salary—half the playersabove, half below—was, say, $40,000, it would have been roughly five timeshigher. Today the median U.S.income is in the $50,000 range, but the median NBA salary is more than $3million, or 60 times higher. Not thatthe NBA has the only ridiculous salaries in sports. But why should pro athletesbe immune from tough economic times?
Artie: Any league that either thinks it can have $406 and higher tickets, or has to have them, is way out of touch with reality. Yet David Sternsays the NBA will lose $400 million this season. Maybe those prices aren't highenough!
Frank: Here's more context.The Packers just raised ticket prices an average of $9, to a range of $67 to$83. The Brewers' top price is $100, with the cheapest seats in the first tiergoing for $40. The Bucks' lower-level prices—the ones they list, anyway—go from$50 to $130 for single games.
Artie: And upstairs?
Frank: For the Bucks, thehigher seats go for $10 to $36. At Miller Park, the fourth tierranges from $6 to $21. Now, I'm sure the Bucks say the huge courtside priceslet them hold the line upstairs...
Artie: You mean the seatsthat are mostly empty at many games.
Frank: Including the Hornetsgame. Plus, we always hear the TV announcers hawking discount packages forcertain games. But doesn't all that discounting say something about theoriginal pricing structure?
Artie: The Bucks arefighting technology. With all the big-screen and high-definition TVs now,unless you're pretty dang close you can see the game a lot better sitting athome or in a bar.
Frank: Speaking of therecession, one wonders who's buying the courtside seats on a season basis.
Artie: Gotta be companies.Hundreds of dollars times 41 home games is a fast break or two beyond the doughof even most lawyers and doctors—I hope.
Frank: Whoever's sittingcourtside, they're seeing a great show. Talk about high def! I hadn't been thatclose since I covered some games for the Journalin the early ’90s. Everything is so amazingly fast; end-to-end in like threeseconds. The dribbling and driving are so hard, and then they stop in a flash,give the tiniest little wrist flick, and swish. It really is fantastic!
Artie: For those who canafford to get close. Hey, does the $406 ticket come with any amenities?
Frank: It gets you into the Palermo's Courtside Club,under the west stands. Kind of a Vegas lounge, low lighting and long curvingbar, lots of tables. The usual arena food, plus a nice buffet line—casseroles,hand-carved meat—and lots of dessert selections.
Artie: So you loaded up?
Frank: Hardly. I asked awaitress, "Is anything here free?" She smiled and said,"No." The beer prices aren't any higher, but yikes, not even a bag ofpopcorn or a bottle of water for $406? They do hand you a program and some gamenotes. Oh, and the men's room offers an array of grooming products, includinghairspray—hairspray!
Artie: What, no tanningbooth?
Frank: During the game therewas one more freebie—but it was really a dilemma.
Artie: How so?
Frank: Some of the Energee!dancers parked themselves right in front of us. Now, I try not to objectifywomen and I'm old enough to be their grandfather, but I'm still a guy. And during the timeouts, the niceyoung ladies in go-go boots and skimpy outfits were doing their wiggling about4 feet away. Where does one look, especially when one's eyes are at, um,midriff level?
Artie: A gentleman wouldexcuse himself and cool his heels in the concourse until the burlesque show wasover. Well, you'll never have that problem again, unless Michele wins anotherraffle. But hey, in 20 years we'll look back fondly on a $406 ticket like itwas 30-cent gasoline.
Frank: Most courtside seatswere filled last week, but not all. Here's an idea for the Bucks: At halftime,find a family or two in the upper deck and bring them down to the unfilledseats.
Artie: And give ’em a shotat the dessert cart.
