00:00Obviously, World Cup is coming up here soon, and we've been detailing some of the big stories when it comes
00:06to World Cup being hosted in North America, specifically with a lot of it in America, and obviously Houston being
00:12one of the host cities.
00:13And the ticket prices have been absurd.
00:16They have been trending downwards a little bit.
00:17Because they were so absurd, though.
00:18They were absurd for a lot of different reasons.
00:21Did you see the stories about some people?
00:23Because you know that FIFA, in distributing them, they had people buy different sections or tiers.
00:28It was like Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, Tier 4.
00:31There were some people that bought Tier 2 tickets that are still in the upper decks of stadiums.
00:36And it's like, how the hell did this happen?
00:38FIFA is just an immensely corrupt organization being shady in the way they happen.
00:43But getting these tickets has been really tough.
00:45But come to find out, over the weekend, we got reporting about an entirely different event, including your Houston Texans,
00:52when they're going to face off against the Jaguars in London.
00:55And apparently, even the tickets for that game is not selling particularly well.
01:00At least it's selling beyond, or rather below, what the expectations would have been, the projections would be for this
01:05game at this point.
01:07And it kind of brings into question the idea of being able to watch games in person at all, and
01:13what effect that could have on sports fans.
01:14Yeah, I think, not to be too dramatic here or anything, but...
01:20Sports are dying!
01:21I know, sports...
01:22They're not going to lose!
01:23The last thing sports are doing is dying.
01:26Okay, all right, my bad.
01:27But then I heard Josh, and this is obviously NBA Finals, New York City, it's going to be more expensive.
01:34Nevertheless, what are we talking, $7,000, $8,000 just to get in?
01:37Yeah, cheap ticket.
01:39To sit all the way up there with Willis Reed and them?
01:42Just to get in.
01:43And it got me thinking about pricing people out, and I remember very distinctly, I'm sure you guys do too,
01:51the very first NFL game I went to as a kid.
01:54And I was a teenager, but still, as a kid.
01:56The very first MLB game I ever went to.
01:59By the way, the very first NFL game was Oilers against Rams.
02:03It was the famous Earl Campbell, you know, de-cleaning and caving in the chest of Isaiah Robertson.
02:10Started pretty well, huh?
02:11Dang, that was your first game?
02:12That was my very first one.
02:13And it's still making highlights.
02:15My first game was a preseason game.
02:17And my first MLB game was Larry Durker pitching for the Houston Astros against the Montreal Expos.
02:26All right, now you're just flexing.
02:27Man, I see where we're going here.
02:29My very first NBA game, which was an ABA game, it was the San Antonio Spurs against the San Diego
02:35Conquistadors.
02:37And I remember my very first hockey game, but I was already an adult because I was traveling.
02:41But we all remember, I bet you guys can, in your mind's eye, immediately remember the first NFL game, MLB
02:47game, NBA game I ever went to.
02:49Honestly, you can even go any further.
02:50The first professional sports game I went to was not more than, what, a thousand feet away from where we
02:55are at the Compact Center.
02:57It was Houston Comets, Minnesota Lynx.
03:00It was like the first, I mean, this is something that is vivid for sports fans.
03:04But I think the question that then comes up, because I think what you're establishing is right.
03:09Like being in the vicinity, being in the arena.
03:11It matters.
03:12Feeling the emotion, feeling the energy of the place matters.
03:15How much is the question?
03:17Because, like, I think that we are in a space, and we have been for maybe a decade or two,
03:21where the idea of being able to actually see your favorite team in person is no longer a foregone conclusion.
03:28And it's not maybe quote-unquote necessary for fandom.
03:31Figgy, before we go on, I bet you you remember yours.
03:34Yeah, so my first NFL game was a preseason game.
03:38It was, actually, I think it was the first game when the Browns came back.
03:42I guess it was 99 or somewhere around there where they played the Eagles.
03:49So that was, like, the first game, preseason game.
03:53Cavaliers, it was Cavs versus Magic.
03:56And I want to say Tracy McGrady was playing during that time.
04:00And the Cavs was ass.
04:01But, yeah, you were – Tracy McGrady was fine.
04:04What did you care?
04:05Exactly.
04:06Tracy was in the building.
04:07I think everybody in that building was like, yeah, the Cavs ass, but you got this dude named Tracy McGrady.
04:12Yeah.
04:12And then Guardians, I didn't go to a game until I was grown.
04:16Mm-hmm.
04:17Well, here's my point, guys.
04:18And I know our listeners are going to have something to say about this.
04:21Are we losing – are we in danger of losing a generation of fans?
04:25Because we can all, in our minds, I immediately call those things to mind.
04:30And kids these days – I was looking up some numbers even.
04:34It's dropped dramatically the number of, quote, families that go to any game.
04:39Yeah.
04:39Much less a playoff game, but just any game.
04:41And this expands wider because I hadn't thought about this, but on the YouTube page,
04:44Adam is mentioning that it extends as far as WWE for them.
04:47Two years ago, could be at a center, sit lower bowl for roughly $150.
04:52Last time he came, ticket was upwards of $300.
04:54Like, it's doubled there.
04:56And so, like, the experiences that I think crystallize fandom – like, I don't think
05:00that they generate fandom, but I think they help crystallize fandom.
05:03They're not as accessible.
05:05However, I do think that the TV product has gotten so good that, like, fandom can be sustained
05:11there.
05:11The question I have, though, is now with the way that TV is going, is that now where we
05:18lose the generation?
05:20Because it's so hard to get games, so hard to get access there as well, where, hey, man,
05:27am I actually watching this game or am I just going to, like, get some highlight on TikTok
05:31or whatever?
05:31And does that pull me further away from building the relationship?
05:34Because it's not about my team won.
05:36I mean, sometimes – in fact, I remember one of my favorite players with the Rockets when
05:39I was growing up was Moochie Norris, for what reason, right?
05:42Like, just love the name, love the hair, like, all right, this is cool.
05:45And those are the types of things that you don't get just pulling up highlights and clips
05:48that, you know, not being able to watch the full experience of the game on TV or even
05:53being able to feel, in addition, the experience of, oh, the in-game entertainment and the camaraderie
05:59of people and being able to walk through the concourse.
06:01Those things you lose more and more as you find more space between the actual events
06:06and, you know, the people that, in theory, you want taking part in it.
06:11I think it's a combination.
06:12I think we can all safely say we became fans because of TV and, back in the day, magazines
06:17or whatever, right?
06:18But I think you put it right.
06:20It crystallized when you got into that building for the first time.
06:24It creates memories.
06:25Exactly.
06:26It gives you that memory.
06:27Yeah, I'm not so sure there are a number that might not be sitting here, but I'm not so
06:30sure I'd be sitting here if it wasn't, like, in those buildings and you're like, I got
06:34to be a part of this somehow.
06:35Yeah.
06:35You know, I got to be a part of this somehow.
06:36Same thing with TV and, like, my parents, if they had streaming services back then, we
06:42wouldn't have any, none.
06:44Whatever's over the air is what I'd watch.
06:45Yeah.
06:46That's it.
06:47And so it was like you'd miss so much.
06:49You'd miss so much.
06:50Yeah.
06:50The average NFL ticket price, not even 10 years ago, was $70 to get in.
06:57Right now, it's averaging $205.
06:59And you know what's funny?
07:00Yeah.
07:00Because we can say this in just, like, those dollars.
07:02It gets scarier when you also do, like, when you're able to do the inflationary conversion
07:08of this.
07:09Because, like, you say it's $70, but how much was $70 to the average family there then
07:13compared to, like, what we're dealing with now?
07:15Yeah.
07:16And then also, like, as you mentioned, this is the additional part of it that brings it
07:19to now.
07:20It's not just any game getting in the building.
07:22Because you mentioned, right, Figgy, that your first football game is a preseason game.
07:25I think there's a lot of families for whom that's the way it goes because it's the way
07:28you can get in the building.
07:29But there's a difference in watching a preseason game and the number of people who will be like,
07:33I was there for this big moment where I was there for a Knicks finals game.
07:40How many kids, how many families will be able to say that because it is literally five digits
07:45to get into the building?
07:47So, answer the question.
07:48Are we in danger?
07:49Are we in danger?
07:49I think so.
07:50The combination.
07:52Like, in danger or what?
07:53Losing a generation of fans the way to be able to do the things that we've been able
07:57to do and stay involved lifelong.
08:00Now, are we talking about a certain type of fan?
08:03Because I feel like.
08:04I think a whole generation.
08:04Because I thought about that, too.
08:06And it seemed like on, so maybe if you want to count social media and stuff like that,
08:13it just seemed like it's a bunch of people that are fans of a team that's not even from
08:18that city that never even been to a game.
08:22And, you know, I want to break up the whole content creating and stuff like that.
08:26People that just follow the team.
08:27Hell, I met a bunch of Texans fans that never even lived in Houston.
08:32And so I'm just kind of wondering, is that the new type of fans?
08:36Yeah.
08:37That's a good point, right?
08:38Like, is that you can find, I guess, quote, unquote, your community in a lot of different
08:42places because of the ways in which the Internet has shortened the distances from all these
08:47places.
08:48I just wonder also, and maybe we're not in danger of losing a generation.
08:52We're in danger of all of this shifting up in a way that is unintelligible to those
08:56of us that grew up of a certain time.
08:57And I don't know if that's inherently a bad thing, but I don't know if it's a good thing
09:01per se.
09:02I think, and losing a generation seems pretty dramatic, but I think it's affecting a generation
09:07because not only can they find sports on social media, but they find everything.
09:12So they, you know, their attention might be going elsewhere, whereas, you know, maybe
09:17it would be more focused on sports.
09:19Yeah, I will say, I will say once our generation, because I feel like we're the generation that
09:25actually went to games and stuff like that.
09:27I think once we kind of phase out, I am curious how other people going to look at this.
09:32If they really going to try to pay all this money to go to, to see a game or just
09:36watch
09:37it on Amazon Prime and jump on stream or jump on spaces on Twitter to talk about it.
09:43Well, I actually thought of this yesterday, you know, when we were with my, my, my oldest
09:49daughter, granddaughter is going on four.
09:52And I thought to myself, you know, I should take her to an Astros game, you know, or her
09:57dad should, you know, because that's clearly the relationship you want that, you know, that
10:00memory you want.
10:01And then we were talking, I'm like, not yet.
10:04It's too expensive.
10:04You know, you know, you know what I mean?
10:06And so I'm curious how many double income households with two or three kids, how often
10:12have you taken, has it been a non-starter until maybe it's something very, very special, a
10:17birthday or something?
10:18How many times have you taken your kids just to catch a game?
10:21I bet you it's not very many.
10:22Sometimes it's hard for like me, like me and my wife want to go to a game sometimes.
10:27And then I'll be like, man, these tickets ain't worth that.
10:29And then you start thinking about traffic and parking and, and by that time you didn't
10:33spent a lot of money before you stepped in the building.
10:35Yeah.
10:36And I mean, here's the thesis statement right here from the 2A1.
10:38I wish I could take my kids to a game.
10:40I make decent money.
10:41I just flat out can't afford it.
10:42That's it.
10:43Yeah.
10:43Lots of those.
10:44Yeah.
10:45And it's not just tickets, by the way.
10:47It's not just, no, you paying for food, parking, all that type of stuff.
10:51Mm-hmm.
Comments