Oh, please. I have heard of conspicuous consumption this is absolutely incredible. People are paying a thousand dollars (the lot next door sold out at $500) to park their car for the game. And I see that the cheap seats are going for over $2500. Read about it here.
I’m all for free enterprise, but if someone were smart, they would set up a shuttle from the church that is a mile and a half away. Pay $82.50 to park, $50 for the shuttle, and forget the whole thing. Or, you could set up a system at the local shopping center. The organizer buys a lot of “stuff” at the center and gets a number of $75 receipts. Then sells the receipts for $125. Of course you could just walk from the church and save $900, but who wants to walk a mile.
I guess for many, a $1000 is the same as $10. At least on Super Bowl Sunday
JVH
3 Responses
John, we can speak firsthand to this as the parking spaces that sold for $990 were sold on ParkWhiz.com (see for yourself at http://www.parkwhiz.com/super-bowl-parking/). As you and I have discussed before and as I recently wrote for PT, ParkWhiz.com enables ANY parking asset owner to maximize their revenue by selling their space ahead of time (i.e. yield management). While not every space can and will sell for $900+, there are customers who are willing to pay a premium for ‘peace of mind’ and having the true ‘once in a lifetime’ experience. Some may scoff and others baffled (myself included) that someone might pay that much for a parking spot, but it’s capitalism at its finest.
As for the idea about setting up a shuttle from the church, as you can see from the link above, there are plenty of locations that already do that. But here’s the kicker. We work directly with the City of Arlington and ONLY licensed permitted locations are allowed to sell parking on our site. Anyone selling parking without a license will be hit with a heavy fine. And I mean heavy! (This guy got fined over $120,000 for illegal parking this past year near Cowboys Stadium http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/01/27/1926481/arlington-man-faces-more-than.html).
There are churches, restaurants, and other businesses listed on ParkWhiz, many of which are operated by large reputable parking operators. In addition to having the largest and widest selection of parking near Cowboys Stadium, we have over 350 parking facilities listed across 80+ major venues across the country. In other words, the only way folks like the one quoted in the story even has the ability to sell parking for $1000 in advance of the game is through the marketplace we’ve created online.
The 2 links got messed up in my comment above. Here they are again:
http://www.parkwhiz.com/super-bowl-parking/
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/01/27/1926481/arlington-man-faces-more-than.html
The City clamps down on the permits because they do not allow parking sales to be the primary “use”. But what if parking is the highest and best use? This looks like the city is taking the heat for the team. A quick look on google maps shows that the Stadium could have shared the parking with the Rangers. But I guess the “boys” didnt want to share the parking revenue, so let the city put the ordinance in and take all the blame. Look at Philadlephia where there are 4 stadiums that share the same lots, with an agreements between all the teams.
If I was this lot owner I would sell a can of soda at the entrance and the signs would say “Free Parking with $50 Soda Purchase”
Let the free market go, it will work itself out…..just like at the Yankees new stadium.