00:00Anyway, so we've got a couple sporting events going on right now
00:06where ticket prices are at the core of it.
00:09For all the joy and how awesome it is for sports fans to watch the World Cup,
00:15how great these finals have been in terms of theater,
00:18despite the Spurs blowing a couple leads,
00:20it still led to one of the most talked about games in recent sports memory.
00:25What OGN and OB did, that sequence of chase down block to Superman, tip in,
00:31will go down to Nick's floor if they finally close this thing out, and it should.
00:34Amazing.
00:35But again, your get-in price, depends on where you ask, where you find it,
00:40$7,000 on-the-floor seats or $100-some-thousand dollars, maybe even more.
00:45And they're getting cheaper.
00:47And I'm not trying to pick on anybody, I'm just saying this is what's happened, okay?
00:53But remember, it wasn't that long ago that there was a big to-do,
00:57you guys probably remember some news about it,
00:59where, hey, Capital One Arena, those guys might vacate and go to Northern Virginia.
01:03They might do it.
01:04Everybody threw a fit.
01:05Everyone had a big hubbub.
01:06There was a big tizzy.
01:08There was a ballyhoo, some tomfoolery.
01:10And eventually a deal is settled, an accord is reached,
01:13and hundreds of millions of dollars go from the city to building renovations and the like.
01:22And I'm sure someone could show me a line item where it says,
01:25here's what we're doing to the 400,
01:27so you can actually lean forward without someone yelling at you.
01:30Here's what we're doing here to make it better for the regular folks.
01:33Yes.
01:34This HVAC thing, this is for the common man.
01:37I'm sure there's some.
01:39You know what a lot of it is?
01:41Luxury this, this sponsored lounge.
01:43100%.
01:44This, you know, this seat hovers.
01:47This one vibrates.
01:48This one is sponsored by this type of liqueur.
01:51This is the luxury experience.
01:53And you have to do that in pro sports now to keep up with the Joneses, right?
01:56That's the only way to make your money back.
01:58Not the only way, but it's one of the main ways to really capitalize
02:01and make money on your investment here,
02:04where it costs a lot to run one of these sports teams.
02:07I think I'm not crying foul, not crying sympathy,
02:09just simply saying this is the reality.
02:10You combine those three things.
02:12These are a couple of data points, right?
02:13Kind of right here happening right now.
02:16And it led me to wondering,
02:18I'm going to let you weigh in on this first, Tobes.
02:20We are at a crossroads, in my view,
02:23in terms of, is it worth it anymore?
02:28For a lot of people that made the decision, no, it's not.
02:31For some people, it still is to be there,
02:34to be there at that finals game is worth it.
02:36I mean, that's how you get the price jacked up that high.
02:38100%.
02:38That's how you, if you're from Bosnia-Herzegovina,
02:41you may not have a ton going on,
02:43but you're like, you know what?
02:44I'm going to be at that stadium to watch my team play.
02:46And that's a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
02:48I'm going to do it.
02:48You'll always have some kind of marketplace there.
02:52But for the regular folks,
02:55is it worth it anymore?
02:57We're kind of at that point, I think,
02:59where a lot of fans are starting to go,
03:01my couch is comfortable,
03:02my TV's already paid for,
03:04the cable plan, I'm getting Ken Boned on that,
03:07whatever, I've already paid that.
03:09I got my own snacks that don't charge me 17 bucks
03:12for a hot dog and a beer?
03:14I don't know, man.
03:15Yeah, and I think that's one of the reasons
03:16why I enjoy baseball so much,
03:18is because of the fact that there's so many home games
03:20that you can end up with pretty affordable games to go to.
03:24Now, obviously, we're privileged to cover the team,
03:25so it's not like we're paying to go every Nationals game,
03:27but average fans can still find on a weeknight
03:31There are plenty of cheap tickets.
03:32You know, a $15 to $20 ticket to go to a Nationals game,
03:34and that could be in the 400s,
03:37that also could be in left field on the 100 level.
03:39You can find tickets for Nationals games,
03:41as opposed to, if you want to go to a Caps game,
03:44especially if Ovi comes back this upcoming season,
03:47good luck spending less than, what, 80 to 100 bucks?
03:50I mean, people are going to want to be in the arena
03:52every time he takes the ice next year,
03:54if it's going to be his final season.
03:55If you want to go to a Wizards game,
03:57when they get A.J. DeBonsa or Darren Peterson,
03:59and they've got all the guys,
04:00and hopefully they're competing for a play-in spot
04:03or a play-off spot,
04:04I'm assuming their ticket prices are going to go up.
04:06And so it ends up in a spot where you do have to decide,
04:09because what's a better viewing experience?
04:12Sitting in the last row in the corner of Capital One Arena,
04:17or sitting at home watching the game of Monumental?
04:19There's no question what the answer is.
04:21It's sitting at home watching the game of Monumental.
04:24But there is still so much that goes into being in a game.
04:27The experience, I think all of our teams here in D.C.
04:30do a really good job of it.
04:31Even the commanders with a trash stadium
04:33do as much as they can with the game day experience.
04:36That even if you're sitting in the corner of a stadium
04:39where it's a tough view of the game,
04:41you still get to enjoy so much extra versus,
04:44hey, I got to see a little bit better view of the game
04:46because I was sitting at home on the couch.
04:48So there still is some,
04:49but I think at some point, too,
04:51you get there as a fan where you're like,
04:52well, if I'm not sitting in the 100s or 200s,
04:55I'm not willing to go sit in the arena for that game
04:59and paying for what you're going to have to pay
05:02to sit in the 100s or 200s
05:03then gets to a point where I don't know
05:05if it's worth paying for it.
05:06So it is an interesting dichotomy now
05:08where TV product is so good, Danny,
05:11nowadays for all sports
05:12that in a lot of cases,
05:15I didn't know that I would get here ever,
05:16and I don't know that I will for quite some time,
05:18but I don't blame people for...
Comments