LabattBlue Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 I guess when you have a waiting list of 50,000 people and the team popularity is at an all-time high, you can pretty much do whatever you want..... FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The Super Bowl champion New England Patriots are raising ticket prices for the majority of seats next season, The Boston Globe reported Friday. The price hike will be the first since the team moved into Gillette Stadium in 2002. According to the newpaper, increases include: # The popular $99 sideline seats climb to $125 each. The 100- and 200-level corner/end zone seats will rise to $89, 300-level sideline seats will increase to $75, and the 300-level corner/end zone seats, which had been $49, will be $59. # Club and suite prices will remain fixed. Buyers signed 10-year contracts, with the first and last year paid in advance, at the time of purchase. # Season ticket renewal invoices will be sent out next week. Tickets not renewed will be available to fans on a waiting list of more than 50,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevestojan Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 Tickets not renewed will be available to fans on a waiting list of more than 50,000. 246116[/snapback] "The Greater Boston metropolitan area, including nearby cities like Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, and Quincy has about 5.7 million residents." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston,_Massachusetts Buffalo's population is about 43 people last i checked. I think we do pretty good for ourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drnykterstein Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 "The Greater Boston metropolitan area, including nearby cities like Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, and Quincy has about 5.7 million residents." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston,_Massachusetts Buffalo's population is about 43 people last i checked. I think we do pretty good for ourselves. 246118[/snapback] Yep, we have about 1/5 the population of the boston area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevestojan Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 Yep, we have about 1/5 the population of the boston area. 246121[/snapback] My point was simply that having a waiting list of 50,000 people seems impresive until you look at the numbers. We sold out 7 of 8 last year, correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted February 19, 2005 Author Share Posted February 19, 2005 My point was simply that having a waiting list of 50,000 people seems impresive until you look at the numbers. We sold out 7 of 8 last year, correct? 246126[/snapback] I wasn't posting this as a shot at Buffalo fans. Just a perfect example of supply and demand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 I live in Boston. The Pats have about 10,000 less seats than the Ralph. They also have about 4 million more people to draw from. The stadium is actually closer to Providence than Boston. It's analogous to the Bills playing in Batavia. The Pats can draw from Boston's 4+million (counting the suburbs, Cambridge etc), Providence, Worcester, Hartford, all of New Hampshire, Southern Maine, and the rest of Eastern CT. All to fill 65K seats. Shrink the Ralph to about 20K seats and it would be a comparable situation. The Bills do quite well for a city and stadium its size and for a city with a depressed economy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevestojan Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 I live in Boston. The Pats have about 10,000 less seats than the Ralph. They also have about 4 million more people to draw from. The stadium is actually closer to Providence than Boston. It's analogous to the Bills playing in Batavia. The Pats can draw from Boston's 4+million (counting the suburbs, Cambridge etc), Providence, Worcester, Hartford, all of New Hampshire, Southern Maine, and the rest of Eastern CT. All to fill 65K seats. Shrink the Ralph to about 20K seats and it would be a comparable situation. The Bills do quite well for a city and stadium its size and for a city with a depressed economy. 246129[/snapback] We just love being the underdogs, don't we? :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 I guess when you have a waiting list of 50,000 people and the team popularity is at an all-time high, you can pretty much do whatever you want.....FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The Super Bowl champion New England Patriots are raising ticket prices for the majority of seats next season, The Boston Globe reported Friday. The price hike will be the first since the team moved into Gillette Stadium in 2002. According to the newpaper, increases include: # The popular $99 sideline seats climb to $125 each. The 100- and 200-level corner/end zone seats will rise to $89, 300-level sideline seats will increase to $75, and the 300-level corner/end zone seats, which had been $49, will be $59. # Club and suite prices will remain fixed. Buyers signed 10-year contracts, with the first and last year paid in advance, at the time of purchase. # Season ticket renewal invoices will be sent out next week. Tickets not renewed will be available to fans on a waiting list of more than 50,000. 246116[/snapback] You forgot to mention the "VIP" parking spot...just $1,500 a season. Anyone who complains about what the Bills charge for anything is out of their mind. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevestojan Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 You forgot to mention the "VIP" parking spot...just $1,500 a season. Anyone who complains about what the Bills charge for anything is out of their mind. PTR 246132[/snapback] you're kidding about that VIP parking, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCBoston Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 you're kidding about that VIP parking, right? 246134[/snapback] No, he's not. And for day-of-game parking, it's $35 per car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Coli Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 No, he's not. And for day-of-game parking, it's $35 per car. 246155[/snapback] The Pats "fans" in this town are complete morons for letting this happen, and they deserve the reaming they get. Bob Kraft is a shrewd, shrew businessman who totally abuses these people. He attempted to move the team to Hartford if the area didn't build him a new stadium, then hosed Hartford when he couldn't strongarm the Mass legislature for the money. Of course, now the same people who he was trying to dupe out of money to build the stadium worship him for not moving the team. They'll pay whatever him and his son want them to pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkady Renko Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 The Pats "fans" in this town are complete morons for letting this happen, and they deserve the reaming they get. Bob Kraft is a shrewd, shrew businessman who totally abuses these people. He attempted to move the team to Hartford if the area didn't build him a new stadium, then hosed Hartford when he couldn't strongarm the Mass legislature for the money. Of course, now the same people who he was trying to dupe out of money to build the stadium worship him for not moving the team. They'll pay whatever him and his son want them to pay. 246158[/snapback] I thought he ended up building the stadium with his own money. I assume, though, that there was some level of tax breaks or land given to him in place of outright funding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Coli Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 I thought he ended up building the stadium with his own money. I assume, though, that there was some level of tax breaks or land given to him in place of outright funding. 246166[/snapback] He did end up building it with his own money. The thing is, he tried to use the threat of moving the team to get a new stadium. When that blew up in his face, he ended up looking like a "man-of-the-people" because he DIDN'T move the team. He had absolutely zero intention of moving that team to freaking Hartford, Conn. Plus, I doubt the league would have let him move into G'ints and Jets territory. I'll concede him one thing...he's got a great PR staff. The people around here worship him. Like JCBoston said, these people will pay $35/car to park. They swallow YEARLY seat price increases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Coli Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 I assume, though, that there was some level of tax breaks or land given to him in place of outright funding. 246166[/snapback] He was given the land next to the original stadium. It was a trailer park if I recall correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCBoston Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 He was given the land next to the original stadium. It was a trailer park if I recall correctly. 246210[/snapback] Kraft is a shrewd businessman. Back when Victor Kiam was moving in to buy the team from the Sullivans (who were in bankruptcy), Kraft bought the old stadium and surrounding land. Cheap. Kiam then went belly up himself, and sold the team to James Orthwein, who was planning on moving the team to his hometown of St. Louis. Kraft put together a deal to buy the team, kicked out some partners after a while, and ended up with the whole ball of string. As posted earlier, he put the screws to Massachusetts to the tune of $170 _million_ in infrastructure, roads, utilities and demolition. He spent $380 milllion of his own money to build the current stadium, on land which used to be the parking lot for the old stadium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarthur31 Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 ROFL! When you team keeps winning SB, you should be shot to death if you don't raise ticket prices! When my Bills start winning them, it would be foolish not to take advantage of the situation. You're not a smart businessperson if you don't! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Coli Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 ROFL! When you team keeps winning SB, you should be shot to death if you don't raise ticket prices! When my Bills start winning them, it would be foolish not to take advantage of the situation. You're not a smart businessperson if you don't! 246237[/snapback] Actually, a smart businessman would raise concessions, but keep the seat prices the same. When people B word about parking and the price of beer, you can always say you never raised the price of the ticket. If you already have a ticket, then you have to pay whatever the price is for parking and beverages. Get them in the door, then bend them over after they have already paid for the season tickets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammered a Lot Posted February 20, 2005 Share Posted February 20, 2005 No, he's not. And for day-of-game parking, it's $35 per car. Oh Uncle Ralph did you heard that!!! Some other teams that raised ticket prices this year Bills, Broncos, Packers, Ravens, Rams, Saints Redskins hold the line 4th year in a row with a ticket waiting list over 100,000 (they do have a new ticket package for $7,500) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogbyte Posted February 20, 2005 Share Posted February 20, 2005 Look just because we do not like the Pats does not mean we have to say a lot of untruths about Bob Kraft the owner. First he did not strong-arm the government to try to build a stadium for him. He was approached by the former governor and the pols to leave Foxboro and build in south Boston. But the folks in south Boston did not want the deal unless half of the town was on the payroll. Finally Bob Kraft called it quits with this idea and tried to do something else. This fiasco cost him 4 million dollars in wasted money. He looked at RI but decied That it was not doable. He wanted to build in Foxboro but wanted the road system improved so he tried to get that MA pols to do 77 million for infrastructure improvements. They said no to anything unless the got all type of linkage fees. He said that the project was not feasible with their demands. He was then approached by the Governor of Conn the build a stadium in Hartford. As part of his revitalization project. The Governor promised him one hell of a deal, one which many owners could not believe that Bob Kraft walked away from to stay in Foxboro. But the Krafts did not think that the stadium in Hartford could be done in the time period because of the State’s having to take about a third of the property by eminent domain. The power company vowed to take this to the supreme court. Also Ralph Nader had raised 60K signatures to fight against this proposal. The NFL did not want him to move out of the Boston area and neither did TV. The legislature finally decided it would do the infrastructure if the Pats would pay it out of special fees over a twenty-year period. So over twenty years the state would get it’s money back. Bob Kraft also paid the state of Conn the 3 million dollars it had spent on its proposal and study costs. Bob Kraft then spent 380 million of his own money to build the stadium with a low cost loan from the NFL. Kraft could of gotten a quick 70 million to sell the stadium/ deal to the St. Louis buyers who would of moved the team. But he wanted to keep the team and bought in from JO. Bob Kraft is a shrewd business man and has been the driving force as head of the NFL TV committee to get the new TV contracts that has made the team owners a lot of money. He has fielded a 3 time SB winner and if he has to raise prices to pay for this success then so be it. If the people are willing to pay it then the Pats will be successful. We can dislike the Pats for many reason but lets not distort the facts to make the Krafts look bad. They saved the team, built a new stadium, and won 3 SBs. Also I do not remember RW building the Ralph with his money. Also when RW goes and we have a new BILLS owner who pays 500 to 600 mil for the team, I bet you will see a lot of season ticket prices going up. And if we do not pay them how long will the new owners keep the team here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kasper13 Posted February 20, 2005 Share Posted February 20, 2005 Nobody can get angry when the Bills raise their ticket prices by a couple bucks when you see the Patriots prices not to mention all of the other teams with their PSL's and $50 parking and whatever else. Bills are in the bottom of the league when it comes to ticket prices. I am even less angry. Mine went down to $25 a game. That's $34 cheaper than the Pats cheapest ticket. People better start to realize how good we have it when it comes to the Bills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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