A New Orleans newspaper recently reported that some football fans are skipping Saints games because parking near the Superdome is getting too pricey for their budgets. Some parking in the area goes for $55 on game days and season-pass-holders like Pete Morel say they’ve had to sell their tickets because parking makes the event too expensive.
“It’s better just to stay home and watch it when you can’t afford to pay the parking,” said Morel.
When you attend a concert or a one-time event and pay a high price for parking it doesn’t seem to cut so deeply. A recurring event like football games brings with it added costs that can’t be avoided and quite possibly, can’t be absorbed.
No doubt Mr. Morel could find a cheaper alternative, but venue-driven parking operators have to consider the cost threshold for their regular customers.
Read the article here.
3 Responses
Well, they should certainly consider whether their parking garage is full. If it is less than 85-90% full, then they should lower the cost. If it is full, they are not charging enough.
I would suggest that they could lower ticket prices if the stadium isn’t full. It’s really a different problem altogether. People have budgets for the entire event, and there is lots of $20.00 parking around the Superdome. There is even free parking not that far from the Superdome.
Also, if this guy can sell his tickets to someone else who can afford the parking, then it seems like a big win for the Superdome. All it did was displace a lower-spending person for a higher-spending person.
The only thing Venue-Driven (PRIVATE) parking operators have to consider is how many spaces they didn’t sell at the end of the event. You don’t get it.
While there is no doubt some people may actually stay away from an event because of the expense associated with parking, it is also true that they stay away because of the price of tickets and concessions. Parking is one of those expenses over which the consumer has control. They can reduce the cost by sharing a ride ($55 split between 4 riders is less than $14 each), they can elect to walk a couple of blocks (a totally foreign concept to many Americans) or they can ride a shuttle.
Unless the parking operator is some sort of idiot then it stands to reason that they charge a certain rate because it is one that makes sense for their operation and enough people are willing to pay it that there is no reason to lower the price. It’s the same reason that a beer costs as much as $8+ in the Stadium, a dried out hot pretzel costs $5 or $6 and a bottle of water is $4 or $5.
The cost of parking definitely plays into the overall cost of attending an event and “it” may be “part” of this persons decision, but to say “it” is “the” reason for no longer attending a specific event is disingenuous.