Originally Posted by Brickyard:
Not really. Several truths to what you're finally dealing with:
Truths? According to what particular expert?
Originally Posted by Brickyard:
1. That nearly 20 year war some of you on here fully supported has led to a series that is propped up by one big cash cow.
Dang it all! Had they only adhered to the Gospel in those hallowed White Papers Indy tickets would be half the price at this point! LOL!!
Originally Posted by Brickyard:
2. To be quite honest, we've gotten off fairly lightly compared to other main events for top level sports.
A Kentucky Derby GA ticket is $70 pre sale and $80 at the gate. That's around $40 or so less than I pay to sit at the top of the turn 2 grandstand for one of the oldest and most prestigious auto races in the world....that's a freaking steal.
When you take their GA prices into account you can gather a bit what you'll be paying for grandstand. According to the Courier-Journal, you'll pay anywhere from $350 to $500 for the Oaks and Derby. That's $170-$250 per race day of Derby weekend. When you jump up to box seats that price jumps to $2,500 and above.
I just looked on the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament ticket exchange. Want a championship game ticket? Better have at least a $175 in your wallet.
I am not the least interested nor am I the slightest concerned with ticket prices of any other event but the ones I intend to attend. All those statistics merely prove people interested in other "sports" are willing to be taken advantage of, as well.
Originally Posted by Brickyard:
We all hate having to pay higher prices, but at the same time a business can't keep charging what it always has for many various reasons. The truth of the matter is the 500 for the most part is a fairly generous deal.
Raising ticket prices 45% in just over 12 months may be a generous deal in your little world, but it's gouging for no other reason but that they can in ours.
Originally Posted by Brickyard:
Something I'll add on race weekend costs, and I'm not posting this to be a jerk, but hopefully people will start thinking. There are 2 common themes I've long observed among the gripes, and unwillingness to accept reality and make the necessary changes to continue enjoying said event and poor prior planning.
Gripes? Reality? Poor prior planning? LOL!
There are two common themes in your posts. One is it's clearly apparent that you are a disgruntled former CART employee and two, it's becoming apparent that you've boned up on just enough marketing theories as to readily tell other folks how they should just keep ponying up more in discretionary funds to attend elective attractions and shut up and be happy about it or quit attending! That whole concept is part of every marketing course available in every college marketing department in the world.
Originally Posted by Brickyard:
While I fully respect the desire to sit in a certain place due to a long line of family members holding a certain seating area, at the same time if I really sit down and think about it, do I really need the seat if I'm paying that much? Would I love to sit in E stand and those decks above the turns? Absolutely. Am I going to pay those prices. Hell no and I'm certainly not going to allow that to keep from going, I'll find a cheaper option.
Does any ticket you purchase mandate that you camp at the track or stay at hotel five minutes down the road? Nope. What's wrong with finding a hotel or camp site and hour out? I've done that on many occasion and my wallet thanked me for it.
Sometimes the prices to these things are us making it higher than it need be.
The long line of family members passing down seats in a "certain seating area" you speak of in our instance doesn't exist. My Old Man, if he were still here, would literally laugh in my face and tell me how I've got more money than sense, and he'd be totally serious, and he was a huge racing enthusiast. LOL!
We happily, patiently and faithfully fulfilled our ticket obligation guidelines both monetary and procedural to the letter and we did all that without reservation or malice, that is until the huge short term increases. No one is forcing us to continue. Luckily, we're in position to pay the additional 45% Mr. Boles and his staff enacted upon us. Percentage-wise the huge increases were laid on the most desirable seats and that was positively done for obvious reasons. It took us 32 years to get our present seating location and we, along with most other folks, will grudgingly knuckle under and pay it. You go tacking a 45% short term increase onto a seat that isn't all that great to begin with and most folks will say to hell with it and watch it on television.
As I said, fortunately we have the monetary ability to cough up the money to attend, even over the long haul and probably will attend as long as we are physically able, and my wife and I are relatively young at this point. On the up side, every May we position our camper for 4 nights at the home of some good friends just 3 blocks from The Speedway and it costs us a fraction of what The Speedway gets for camping and we can set in my seats and eat our own food and drink a few of our own beers. That is a couple of the monetary aspects of the whole experience that we're grateful for.
What it all ultimately boils down to for us is whether the price has yet exceeded the total entertainment value. Obviously it hasn't..............yet. However, it did at Daytona. But once in a while a little venting is necessary.
Silver Crown Championship Dirt Cars properly driven on a one mile dirt track are classic poetry in motion. Using that analogy, Jack Hewitt is one of the greatest poets of all time.