[Official] Miami Grand Prix 2023: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 5 of 23

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Derwent

Try watching wrestling today, sometimes on ITV4 on an evening. Loads of hype build up and then highly scripted but the American audience seem to soak it up and think it's real. Sadly that the way Liberty and taking F1.

What a sad post.

Richard

[Derwent]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

What a sad post.

Richard

\Sad but true as I see it. The Yanks love a fairground.

[Adam43]

We're done on these simplistic tiresome generalizations, thanks.

Back to the good discussion please. /mod

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by E.B

Richard, this 1969 British GP Poster might interest you!

I believe 20/- or £1 for General admission, 5/- for under 16.
Grandstand prices shown.
Parking free.

Thanks. That would have been some extremely affordable fees for admission.

Richard

[Mike Harte]

As opposed to the parking fee at Silverstone 7 years ago, the very last time that I will attend a GP I would imagine, which was about £75 per vehicle, plus, of course, the eye watering price of the two day tickets that we had to pay.

[chillibowl]

a bit of a pet theory/rant of mine with no basis in fact other than my own personal/anecdotal observations

but it is something i notice here when going to NHL games. Hockey obviously being massive here, but one of the main differences to attending a live games now compared to when i was a kid 30-40 years ago is that as a function of increasing ticket prices there are far far fewer kids at games now days.

so much so that game day events dont really bother with any fan experience areas aimed specifically at kids anymore. far mar beer vendor stalls then kiosks selling sodas, popcorn, and candy.

and when you do see kids at games, its far more likely they are wearing the jersey of the visiting team because that presumably is who they are watching on TV because for them its not about the local team because the local team is not something they experience first hand anymore.

of course Silverstone sells out all the time so they probably think that means ticket prices can withstand upward pressure but what is the effect of that in the long run?

if you cant bring your kids to events, or its prohibitively expensive to do so (to bring a family of 4 to one Jets game can easily cost between CAN$700-1000 when you factor in tix, parking, concessions, and maybe a souvenir), it's surely only a matter of time before you get to a point where your audiences stops growing because you have ceased to replace the old (and naturally more affluent) fans with new younger ones (who are also contending with higher living and education costs).

of course, there are new ways to engage with the younger audiences (trough social media) and perhaps that will work but for me and my experience, the young ones in my family just dont have the same connection to sports as i did at their age...and from the point of view of the league they most certainly will be harder to monetize.

no doubt 'they' think the increasing prices are justified as a simple equation of supply and demand but that philosophy only works in the short term... but long term/future demand also has to be taken into account and higher ticket prices, specifically these 'luxury packages' where its adult only party suites, corporate season ticket packages, fueled by alcohol sales and a fun night out mentality does nothing to help grow the future audience.

back to my local hockey team, what used to be a regularly sold out venue for 40 plus games a year has now been turned into a partially filled venue (i'll say 2/3 full on average now and trending down) where our billionaire owner frequently complains publicly about how the locals dont support 'their' team anyone.

Its because its not affordable anymore. and its not covid or inflation because it was heading in this direction well before the pandemic right?

anyways, sorry not sorry for the rant!

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

but one of the main differences to attending a live games now compared to when i was a kid 30-40 years ago is that as a function of increasing ticket prices there are far far fewer kids at games now days.

I think there is something in your Hockey example. Another might be the cost of concert tickets. Especially those for big name bands.

My general opinion is that business (all of these are business.. F1, Pro-hockey, Music tours for big name acts) is very short sighted. It's all about the next quarter or fiscal year. So they focus on how much can they extract today even if it means sacrificing future earnings.

It would be interesting if F1 was taken private and by someone who didn't want to extract as much money from it as he/she could.

Richard