This is the title of my latest column for Huffington Post. The column addresses the belief that ticket prices in the NBA are high because players are paid so much. It also touches on the current labor dispute between the owners and the player’s union. Look for more on this subject in the future.
– DJ
Posted in: Basketball Stories
Wages of Wins Journal 
ilikeflowers
July 16, 2010
I imagine that the NBA uses the same methods to ‘lose’ money as the recording and movie industries do.
Alvy
July 16, 2010
Obama touched on this when he had his interview with Marv Albert, but then seemingly detracted and suggested it plagues the entire sports industry, something I don’t actually see.
OH, lol, you mentioned just that in your article.
robbieomalley
July 16, 2010
Bulls lose out on Redick, sign Ronnie Brewer.
http://www.prosportsdaily.com/comments/bulls-agree-to-deal-with-freeagent-guard-brewer-388440.html
The East is stacked.
Ben R.
July 16, 2010
I buy the theory that ticket prices are largely dictated by supply and demand. My only problem with the post is this–if players were paid less, the team organizations would be spending less money, so therefore it wouldn’t need to rake in the same revenue to balance out their accounts (except for teams already running deficits, who would probably use the decline in spending to negate the deficit, not to redirect the money somewhere else). If teams don’t need to make as much money as they now do if player salaries go down, wouldn’t they be able to lower ticket prices and still make the same amount of money that they are now? Of course, many organizations would keep prices the same, and the lower spending on player salaries would translate into more money for the owners of the team, not a price cut for fans. But still, wouldn’t it make sense that a lowering of player salaries would at least cause some franchises to lower ticket prices?
Maybe I’m missing something (I’m by no stretch of the mind an economist), but while ticket prices are largely set by supply and demand, it seems to me like they’re also influenced by the spending of the organization (the lower it is, the less money they need to bring in, e.g. by tickets.) Maybe this effect is negligible compared to the impact of supply/demand, but I can’t see how it would be completely non-existent.
bags fly free
July 16, 2010
i’d rather see redick on the bulls team but oh well, didnt brewer have decent WP numbers and last year with memphis it dropped big time?
Chicago Tim
July 16, 2010
Brewer was traded to Memphis part way through last year and only played five games for them before a hamstring injury.
Chicago Tim
July 16, 2010
Ben R. — Profits are affected by expenses, but the price charged is not. No business will pass up profit if the market will give it to them.
There may be some creative ways to allow dedicated fans to buy reasonably-priced seats. U2 reserves standing room on the floor for members of its fan club, for example. IIRC, English soccer clubs used to reserve standing room at lower prices in their stadiums, but that changed after deadly incidents with hooligans in the 1980s.
Frankly, I don’t think the NBA owners care about providing reasonably-priced seats. They are far more interested in luxury boxes. But if they did care, they could experiment with standing room or bleachers in some sections, so they could fit more people in at lower prices.
Ben R.
July 16, 2010
Chicago Tim–fair enough. I figured there was a good chance that was the reason, but that was never explicitly spelled out. Granted, now that I think about it I should’ve realized it since the best teams (which are usually the most profitable) charge more than anyone else (though that’s probably part of why they make more in the first place). Thanks.
arturogalletti
July 16, 2010
Rob,
In honor of the Brewer trade I updated the Free Agent Cheat sheet.
And I have a now post up on Free Agents (Click my name for details :-))
todd2
July 16, 2010
We just went through 2 years of game day walk-up $10 tickets in MIA—which is likely to change. I’d chalk prices up to supply and demand more than anything else.
some dude
July 16, 2010
I can confirm that LA vs Orlando finals tickets and LA vs Boston finals tickets were vastly different.
I believe the cheapest seats to games 6-7 for Boston in LA was $200 (not ebay, I mean from the source). Games 1-2 for LA vs Orlando last season had $35 seats and something like $75 seats. I think games 1-2 were $125 or so at best this year.
Alvy
July 16, 2010
chicago tim,
i’ve been in luxury boxes, they totally sucked. i was in a room full of d-list losers that didn’t give a shit about the game.
Ben R.,
I think D. Berri is largely talking about law of demand.
Italian Stallion
July 16, 2010
David,
In the past someone posted the lifetime record of Jordan and Magic.
Would it be possible to reproduce Bird’s also?
reservoirgod
July 17, 2010
Italian Stallion:
Here’s a table w/ Larry Bird’s WP:
http://www.wagesofwins.com/Boston77-09.html
Italian Stallion
July 17, 2010
reservoirgod
Thank you.
I guess there’s no breakdown by season?
reservoirgod
July 17, 2010
IS:
I believe there is one from a few yrs ago but you’d have to search for it. I just posted the first one I found using my phone.
marparker
July 17, 2010
I’m going to start banging a new drum. I’m looking at Nash, Stockton, Kidd and I’m starting to realize how much great basketball we missed out of Magic. How many teams could he have led to challenge Jordan first 3 peat Bulls? Could he have outdueled him in a series to pull off what we all take for granted would have never happened?
How come people stopped/never asked what if Magic never had to retire?
Italian Stallion
July 18, 2010
marparker,
I think we missed a lot of great basketball out of Bird also. I thought he peaked a little later than the average player and was going extremely well when his back gave out. IMO he was never the same.