Earlier this week the Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced that they were lowering ticket prices, in some cases to as low as $35 for adults and $17 for youngsters. A day later, the San Diego Chargers followed suit, announcing that they too were lowering ticket prices for 6,500 seats by as much as 15%.
Dating back to 2006, the Bengals have seen a steady decrease in attendance, dropping to 482,917 for the season in 2010. That's an average 60,365 for a stadium that has a capacity of 65,535.
| Season | Attendance |
| 2010 | 482,917 |
| 2009 | 512,032 |
| 2008 | 516,663 |
| 2007 | 526,320 |
| 2006 | 527,870 |
For various reasons -- such as bad teams, economic struggles, increased luxury and technologies to watch at home -- we had thought that the Bengals would lower their ticket prices to enable people to come out and enjoy the games.
While they didn't really think lower prices was a good idea, apparently they decided that increasing prices wasn't a good idea either. The Bengals Mothership announced that ticket prices will not increase in 2011.
SEASON TICKET PRICES (per game)
» Zone EE (North End Zone, Club Level) ... $60
» Zone J (Corners, Canopy Level) ... $60
» Zones F, G, H (Sidelines, Canopy Level) ... $68
» Zones D, E (Corners / End Zone, Field Level) ... $72
» Zones A, B, C (Sidelines, Field Level) ... $80
» Zone CC (Convertible Club, Club Level) ... $80
One reason for the lack of a ticket increase -- other than people just not wanting to spend their money on a team that went 4-12 the season before -- is the home game opponents. After the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cincinnati Bengals will host the Indianapolis Colts, Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Houston Texans and San Francisco 49ers. Not really a hot bed of good teams.