Flight: $500, Hotel: $250, Tickets: $450, being at the game: priceless. The MasterCard commercial changed the way sports fans express why they would pay colossal amounts for tickets to a game.
Sports fans pay such a phenomenal amount for tickets because they want to remember being at the game where their team was on the verge of doing something historic. Being able to say to friends, “Yeah, I was at that game” is like holding bragging rights forever, or until the next monumental event happens.
My best memory as a die-hard Marlins fan came when I attended game four of the 2003 World Series, and Alex Gonzalez hit the game-winning homerun in the bottom of the 12th inning against Jeff Weaver and the New York Yankees.
I can also say I was at the perfect game thrown by Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies on May 29 this past season. This can only be said by people who attended any of the 20 perfect games out of the 395,282 games in the league’s history.
Die-hard sports fans would pay an arm, leg and, for Chicago Cub fans, sell their souls, to be at a championship game, especially one that their team wins. In Florida, paying $114 for a Miami Heat regular season game is quite absurd, especially when these tickets only offer seat selections located in the nose bleed section in the American Airlines Arena. However, while the cost may be high, the reward is much greater, as you will have tickets to see possibly one of the greatest teams of all time in the NBA.
For those who are still curious about why sports fans pay so much to see a game, remember that to fans it is not a game or a sport, but rather a way of life.
