http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cardinals/articles/1215cardinals15.html
Cards hike '06 season tickets
Most expensive seats will jump 56 percent
Craig Harris and Louie Villalobos
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 15, 2005 12:00 AM
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]After all the losing, the Arizona Cardinals finally are poised to score big.
Financially, that is.
The Cardinals, who have had just one winning season since coming to Arizona, will raise season ticket prices next year when they move to their new stadium in Glendale. http://q.azcentral.com/RealMedia/ad...issan300.gif/30633266636437653432623732623230
The most expensive seats will jump 56 percent, to $329.25, while the overall average season ticket price will increase 19.1 percent, to $59.04, the team told The Arizona Republic on Wednesday. The team for the first time also will sell season tickets for $14.25 a game.
All ticket prices will include a $4.25 facility-use fee, imposed by the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, to help finance the debt on the mostly publicly financed Cardinals Stadium. The fee will increase 25 cents each year. There is no such fee at Sun Devil Stadium, where the Cardinals have played for 18 years since arriving from St. Louis.
Prices for single-game tickets, concessions and parking have not been set.
Although the average season ticket price increase may seem steep for a chronically losing franchise, it's below what other National Football League teams have charged after moving into new venues, said Becky Wallace, executive editor of Chicago-based Team Marketing Report, which tracks ticket prices for all major sports teams.
In 2002, the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots raised their average season ticket price 59.5 percent when they moved into their new digs. That same year, the Detroit Lions, who finished the season with a losing record, raised season ticket prices 23.6 percent when they moved to Ford Field. In 2003, the Philadelphia Eagles increased prices 38 percent when they began playing at Lincoln Financial Field.
Wallace said teams raise prices because they need the money to pay down facility debt and for increased operating costs. She said more fans likely will pay the higher prices next year because they will want to see the new Cardinals Stadium.
Some fans agreed, but that didn't mean they were happy about the higher prices.
"They should not raise ticket prices until they put a playoff team on the field," said Lee Ranalli of Gilbert, a season ticket holder for the past decade who likely will renew.
Tim Shaughnessy of Phoenix has been attending Cardinals games for 13 years. He said he will keep going but will find an inventive way to offset the price hike: He thinks he will switch seat locations in order to avoid an increase.
With football being the most popular U.S. spectator sport, Wallace said, NFL teams could justify raising prices.
The move into Cardinals Stadium will let the franchise exit one of the league's most antiquated facilities - it was built in 1958 - and move into its most modern, high-tech one, with a retractable roof and playing field. The $430 million, 63,400-seat complex off Loop 101 and Maryland Avenue also will be air-conditioned.
Ron Minegar, vice president of sales and marketing for the Cardinals, said the team was careful not to increase prices too much, but he said fans told the team that they would be willing to pay more for choice seats. Although main sideline season tickets will increase 29.5 percent, to $79.25 a game, he said the team will have about 20 percent of its season ticket seats priced at either $14.25 or $29.25 each per game.
Minegar also said the average season ticket price next year is below the league average of $61 a game. The NFL declined to comment.
People who buy "club" season ticket seats at $204.25 or $329.25 each will be eligible to buy Super Bowl tickets in 2008, when the game is in Glendale, Minegar said.
Dennis Howard, a University of Oregon business professor who specializes in sports stadium financing, said teams are capitalizing on a "once in a generation" event with new facilities.
"It comes back to the novelty effect. You only get one opportunity at this," Howard said. "From the club's mind, they are providing fans with an enhanced product. The amenities are better, and hopefully the site lines are better."
But Howard said it's a mistake for the Cardinals, with their history of poor performance in Arizona, to ratchet up prices. He thinks the team should hold prices steady and build the fan base, among the worst in the NFL with roughly 30,000 season ticket holders. Many teams have twice that figure. The Patriots, for example, have more than 60,000 season ticket holders and a renewal rate of almost 100 percent.
"The Cardinals have to be very careful," Howard said. "If you have a product that isn't exciting, then folks will find it very tough to support."
Some season ticket holders are still simmering over being charged the same price for nine home games this year instead of 10. One game was moved to Mexico City.
Bill Malloy and Ray Vanderbeck, season ticket holders since the team arrived in the Valley, sued the Cardinals for breach of contract in September in Maricopa County Superior Court. They alleged the Cardinals implied there was no price increase when the per-game price increased almost 8 percent.
"It's just amazing to me," Vanderbeck said of the latest hike. "But they have a dedicated fan like me between a rock and a hard place. . . . I think they are gouging fans, but I still want to see NFL football."
The Cardinals this season are averaging 42,140 for home games, lowest in the 32-team NFL. New Orleans, which has been forced to play its "home" games outside the Louisiana Superdome because of Hurricane Katrina, has the second-lowest home average of 53,495. The Cardinals have had the league's worst home attendance since 2000.
The Cardinals have repeatedly said that they have not drawn well at Sun Devil Stadium because the facility does not have the amenities of newer NFL sites and that the open-air facility is too hot in the late summer and early fall.
Marc Ganis, a Chicago-based sports marketing expert, said the Cardinals should easily draw 55,000 fans next year.
"That's good for the Cardinals but below the average for the rest of the league," Ganis said.[/font]
Cards hike '06 season tickets
Most expensive seats will jump 56 percent
Craig Harris and Louie Villalobos
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 15, 2005 12:00 AM
[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]After all the losing, the Arizona Cardinals finally are poised to score big.
Financially, that is.
The Cardinals, who have had just one winning season since coming to Arizona, will raise season ticket prices next year when they move to their new stadium in Glendale. http://q.azcentral.com/RealMedia/ad...issan300.gif/30633266636437653432623732623230
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The most expensive seats will jump 56 percent, to $329.25, while the overall average season ticket price will increase 19.1 percent, to $59.04, the team told The Arizona Republic on Wednesday. The team for the first time also will sell season tickets for $14.25 a game.
All ticket prices will include a $4.25 facility-use fee, imposed by the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, to help finance the debt on the mostly publicly financed Cardinals Stadium. The fee will increase 25 cents each year. There is no such fee at Sun Devil Stadium, where the Cardinals have played for 18 years since arriving from St. Louis.
Prices for single-game tickets, concessions and parking have not been set.
Although the average season ticket price increase may seem steep for a chronically losing franchise, it's below what other National Football League teams have charged after moving into new venues, said Becky Wallace, executive editor of Chicago-based Team Marketing Report, which tracks ticket prices for all major sports teams.
In 2002, the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots raised their average season ticket price 59.5 percent when they moved into their new digs. That same year, the Detroit Lions, who finished the season with a losing record, raised season ticket prices 23.6 percent when they moved to Ford Field. In 2003, the Philadelphia Eagles increased prices 38 percent when they began playing at Lincoln Financial Field.
Wallace said teams raise prices because they need the money to pay down facility debt and for increased operating costs. She said more fans likely will pay the higher prices next year because they will want to see the new Cardinals Stadium.
Some fans agreed, but that didn't mean they were happy about the higher prices.
"They should not raise ticket prices until they put a playoff team on the field," said Lee Ranalli of Gilbert, a season ticket holder for the past decade who likely will renew.
Tim Shaughnessy of Phoenix has been attending Cardinals games for 13 years. He said he will keep going but will find an inventive way to offset the price hike: He thinks he will switch seat locations in order to avoid an increase.
With football being the most popular U.S. spectator sport, Wallace said, NFL teams could justify raising prices.
The move into Cardinals Stadium will let the franchise exit one of the league's most antiquated facilities - it was built in 1958 - and move into its most modern, high-tech one, with a retractable roof and playing field. The $430 million, 63,400-seat complex off Loop 101 and Maryland Avenue also will be air-conditioned.
Ron Minegar, vice president of sales and marketing for the Cardinals, said the team was careful not to increase prices too much, but he said fans told the team that they would be willing to pay more for choice seats. Although main sideline season tickets will increase 29.5 percent, to $79.25 a game, he said the team will have about 20 percent of its season ticket seats priced at either $14.25 or $29.25 each per game.
Minegar also said the average season ticket price next year is below the league average of $61 a game. The NFL declined to comment.
People who buy "club" season ticket seats at $204.25 or $329.25 each will be eligible to buy Super Bowl tickets in 2008, when the game is in Glendale, Minegar said.
Dennis Howard, a University of Oregon business professor who specializes in sports stadium financing, said teams are capitalizing on a "once in a generation" event with new facilities.
"It comes back to the novelty effect. You only get one opportunity at this," Howard said. "From the club's mind, they are providing fans with an enhanced product. The amenities are better, and hopefully the site lines are better."
But Howard said it's a mistake for the Cardinals, with their history of poor performance in Arizona, to ratchet up prices. He thinks the team should hold prices steady and build the fan base, among the worst in the NFL with roughly 30,000 season ticket holders. Many teams have twice that figure. The Patriots, for example, have more than 60,000 season ticket holders and a renewal rate of almost 100 percent.
"The Cardinals have to be very careful," Howard said. "If you have a product that isn't exciting, then folks will find it very tough to support."
Some season ticket holders are still simmering over being charged the same price for nine home games this year instead of 10. One game was moved to Mexico City.
Bill Malloy and Ray Vanderbeck, season ticket holders since the team arrived in the Valley, sued the Cardinals for breach of contract in September in Maricopa County Superior Court. They alleged the Cardinals implied there was no price increase when the per-game price increased almost 8 percent.
"It's just amazing to me," Vanderbeck said of the latest hike. "But they have a dedicated fan like me between a rock and a hard place. . . . I think they are gouging fans, but I still want to see NFL football."
The Cardinals this season are averaging 42,140 for home games, lowest in the 32-team NFL. New Orleans, which has been forced to play its "home" games outside the Louisiana Superdome because of Hurricane Katrina, has the second-lowest home average of 53,495. The Cardinals have had the league's worst home attendance since 2000.
The Cardinals have repeatedly said that they have not drawn well at Sun Devil Stadium because the facility does not have the amenities of newer NFL sites and that the open-air facility is too hot in the late summer and early fall.
Marc Ganis, a Chicago-based sports marketing expert, said the Cardinals should easily draw 55,000 fans next year.
"That's good for the Cardinals but below the average for the rest of the league," Ganis said.[/font]
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