Super Bowl LII Tacos - © Will Brinson via Twitter

Super Bowl Food Prices Just Plain Greedy

Following the well-established rule that people will pay ANYTHING for Food if they’re trapped in a stadium or arena with no option but to buy what’s there, Super Bowl vendors went absolutely nuts with their prices this past Sunday. It’s just naked, hand-wringing greed at it’s shameless worst…

Super Bowl Food Price Insanity -© sportshub.com‘Blue Moon BaconCheese Curds’ – basically Cheese Lump Fritter, at (US)$19.00 per serving.
Ridiculous, even if they did come in a souvenir ‘bucket’…

The average cost of a Super Bowl ticket for this past Sunday’s game was something like (US)$6,000.00 That’s just nuts. But the greedy moguls who own the sports teams and run the leagues will go to any lengths to test  the fans’ willingness to take out second mortgages just for the privilege of seeing a ‘Big Game’ in person. This in itself demonstrates how crazy sports fans are. But the prices the stadium and team owners charge their captive audiences are even nuttier.

Witness the following menu board prices at Super Bowl LII:

  • Blue Moon Bacon Cheese Curds (Cheese Fritters, 10-12 served in a souvenir ‘bucket’) – $19.00
  • “House Divided’ Cocktails – Green for the Eagles, Red for the Patriots (served in souvenir preserving jars) – $35.00
  • ‘South Philly’ Pulled Pork Sandwich – $18.00
  • Crispy Fried Potatoes – $9.00
  • Cole Slaw – $7.00
  • Macaroni Salad – $7.00
  • Domestic Beer (can) – $13.00
  • Imported Beer (can) $15.00
  • Beer (plastic cup, draft) – $11.00
  • Soda (plastic bottle) – $7.00
  • Water (20 oz. plastic bottle) – $6.00

Absolutely crazy!

That water was just plain old Aquafina bottled Water, which you can often get for $3.00-$4.00 a dozen at the grocery store.

Cole Slaw shouldn’t be more than $2.00 as an side dish at any restaurant. Macaroni Salad, ditto.

Beer? Last time I looked, you could still buy a dozen domestic beer for about $24.00, even here in Ontario, Canada, where the taxes are crazy. So, they were charging more than 6 times the regular price of Beer at the Super Bowl. More like 8 or 10 times, if you go by American supermarket prices. Ridiculous!

The rationale?

First, there’s that big, juicy captive audience.

Then, there’s the philosophy that, if you can afford $6,000.00 for a ticket, you should be able o throw away at least a couple of hundred bucks on food and drink during the game.

But that almost unbelievably greedy mantra is not espoused by all Team and Stadium owners. Some time back – prior to the start of this past season, we  looked at food a d beverage prices at a number of facilities where baseball, hockey and even football audiences were being treated to Fan-Friendly pricing…

‘Fan First’ pricing…

The Atlanta Stadium was a trail-blazer in affordable pro sports event food, introducing Fan First Pricing last year. A bottle of Soda for $2.00; $3.00 for a slice of Pizza; $5.00 for a Burger; $5.00 for a Beer!

Atlanta’s rationale?

Sports fans have less and less money to spend on sports and entertainment these days. Maybe they’ll out up with stratospheric prices for event tickets if the food and beverages are reasonably priced. Maybe they’ll be able to afford to bring the family. Sell more tickets, come that much closer to paying skyrocketing player salaries and still eke out a profit…

Other stadiums and arenas are poised to try Fan First Pricing. Good on them!

So… Take me out to the Ball Game – provided they’ve got $3.00 Hot Dogs and $5.00 Beer!

~ Maggie J.