On Tuesday, PFT wrote that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were reducing their tickets to $35 for adults and $17 for children in an effort to bring more fans to the stadium after having a blackout in every regular season game in 2010. Additionally, "tens of thousands" of season tickets could have as much as a 20% reduction in price. It makes sense sometimes, the whole supply and demand argument.
The Buccaneers aren't the only ones either. According to PFT the San Diego Chargers are lowering "ticket prices for nearly 10 percent of the seats at Qualcomm Stadium."
Specifically, 6,500 “View Level” end zone season tickets, which were priced at $63 per game in 2010, will now cost $54. The $9 drop reflects a reduction of roughly a 15 percent.
“We think lowering the price of these 6,500 season seats gives us the best chance to fill Qualcomm Stadium next year,” Chargers Executive Vice President A.G. Spanos said in a team-issued release. “A full, loud stadium gives us the strongest home-field advantage and allows the fans at home to enjoy the game as well.”
Paul Brown Stadium finished the season with an attendance of 482,917 in 2010, a 4.3% drop from 2009 attendance figures which ranked 27th in the NFL and 15th among AFC teams. Attendance has dropped at Paul Brown stadium dating back to 2006, losing 8.5% in attendance during a the five-year stretch in which the Bengals compiled a 33-46 record.
| Season | Attendance |
| 2010 | 482,917 |
| 2009 | 512,032 |
| 2008 | 516,663 |
| 2007 | 526,320 |
| 2006 | 527,870 |
With the growth of affordable high-end televisions, accessible bathrooms at home, no parking/traffic frustrations, low cost on things like beer and food, the experience watching games at home becomes more and more preferred. And then there's the fact the Bengals have only made the playoffs twice in the past 21 years with an owner that reached 200 losses faster than any NFL owner in NFL history. And then there's the fact that the economy has people holding onto their hard-earned money for more rewarding things, such as food and mortgage payments.
There's a multitude of reasons for fans not going to games. And Cincinnati is hardly the only NFL city experiencing such things.
Yet, it's on the Bengals to convince fans to head to the games and spend their money.