Sports Nut: Plenty of Good Seats Still Available

Now playing: Slate V, a video-only site from the world's leading online magazine. Visit Slate V at www.slatev.com.
sports nut Plenty of Good Seats Still Available The collapse of the sports ticket bubble. By Neil deMause Posted Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011, at 10:06 AM ET A few months ago, it seemed like Major League Baseball was in the throes of a ticket apocalypse. Through the first two weeks of the season, six teams had set all-time single-game lows at their current homes. The surprising Cleveland Indians led the American League Central in the standings, but remained in the cellar at the turnstiles. The New York Yankees, whose ultrapricey new stadium has been beset by empty seats since it opened in 2009, hosted record-low crowds for four games in a row. It was as if fans, having quietly absorbed more than a decade of price hikes and the advent of $9 beers, had spontaneously decided to go on strike. Ticket sales have improved since--overall attendance is now roughly flat year over year. Even so, there's a good chance this will mark the fourth straight year that Major League Baseball has seen ticket sales slide after a record year in 2007. You can't blame it on steroids, either. NFL, NBA, and NHL attendance have likewise dipped over the last three years. To continue reading, click here. Neil deMause is co-author of the book Field of Schemes and runs the stadium-news site fieldofschemes.com. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Where the Romney Campaign's Mystery Money Is Coming From You Know the Economy Is Bad When Shoppers Can No Longer Afford To Go to Dollar Stores How Jeff Bezos Has Made Amazon a Powerhouse at Everything	Advertisement
Manage your newsletters subscription: Unsubscribe | Forward to a Friend | Advertising Information
Ideas on how to make something better? Send an e-mail to slatenewsletter@nl.slate.com. Copyright 2011 The Slate Group | Privacy Policy The Slate Group | c/o E-mail Customer Care | 1350 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 410 | Washington, D.C. 20036