Author Topic: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl  (Read 10323 times)

El Gringo

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Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« on: February 02, 2014, 10:40:12 AM »
$13 for a hotdog and $11 for a hot chocolate!!!!!?????

http://www.businessinsider.com/super-bowl-food-beer-expensive-2014-2

FuckRx

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2014, 10:59:30 AM »
you are shocked by that?
have you seen sideline ticket prices?
what about popcorn prices on a daily basis at movie theaters? per oz. I think popcorn wins in price comparison to that double digit hot dog.

El Gringo

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2014, 11:38:04 AM »
Haha, well actually, I have no idea how much those things cost because I never buy them. But they strike me as even more expensive than usual...

Capsu78

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2014, 11:55:23 AM »
First time I have seen a $12 bottle of beer at an event.
I am glad I got the desire to see these types of things in person out of my system when I was younger.  I couldn't afford it then either but managed to see a National Championship College football game (my team won!), a World Series clinched, numerous play off games in football and basketball and a dozen College Bowl games.
I actually kick myself for not going to the Superbowl the year my team was in it and it was close by... everyone said there would be no tickets to scalp- until I got the reports from those that went that you could buy a ticket at face value no problem a half an hour before the game.  Face value?  $50!   For the Super Bowl.   
Maybe I will live just long enough to see the price of a bottle of beer at a sporting event hit $50!

mbk

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2014, 06:08:02 PM »
I went to a ballgame with friends some time ago because of free tickets. The stadium was awful and the food was expensive and not even touchable.

strider3700

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2014, 07:18:19 PM »
I went to a hockey game in canada earlier this year.   $15 for the large beer.  I think it was $9 for the small.   I don't remember the exact sized but the large was a pint maybe a bit larger...    Oh and your choices were budwiser or budwieser...

GuitarStv

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2014, 06:36:30 AM »
For 15$ you would figure that they'd stock something better than that swill.

shadowmoss

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2014, 07:09:27 AM »
Friends treated me to a David Copperfield show in Las Vegas in December.  We couldn't bring in drinks of any kind, so I thought I'd be nice and pay for us to get bottled water.  A small (half size?) bottle of water x 3 was $18.  $6 for about 8 oz or so of bottled water...  The show was fun, though.

MgoSam

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #8 on: February 03, 2014, 07:12:47 AM »
Yeah I don't like going to games anymore. In addition to the prices it isn't enjoyable to be surrounded by loud and obnoxious people, especially those that seem eager for a fight. For me it is preferable to stay home and hang out with friends.

I love that it costs $12 for a beer at a Timberwolves game but $5 for a gin and tonic at the Ordway (for the MN Opera). Much more fun going to the Ordway imo.

KingCoin

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #9 on: February 03, 2014, 07:24:05 AM »
For 15$ you would figure that they'd stock something better than that swill.

Usually a single brewer will purchase rights to be the exclusive beer provider. There's clearly not a lot of free-market forces at work here.

I'm not sure who I'm more annoyed at, the monopolists who charge ridiculous prices, or the people who pay them and ruin it for everyone else.

LibrarIan

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #10 on: February 03, 2014, 12:27:56 PM »
Anybody who attends the Super Bowl.

ketchup

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #11 on: February 03, 2014, 12:36:53 PM »
The worst I've heard of this sort of thing was at Disney On Ice.  A coworker told me he took his kids and it was $10 for a lemonade.  Then he witnessed someone buying food for four kids (hot dogs, pizza, soda, etc) and the total was $110.  Worst I've seen was $13 for a beer at a concert once.

GuitarStv

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #12 on: February 03, 2014, 12:41:58 PM »
For 15$ you would figure that they'd stock something better than that swill.

Usually a single brewer will purchase rights to be the exclusive beer provider. There's clearly not a lot of free-market forces at work here.

I'm not sure who I'm more annoyed at, the monopolists who charge ridiculous prices, or the people who pay them and ruin it for everyone else.

Budweiser is owned by Anheuser-Busch though.  They could offer selection between more than 200 in-house brands of beer.  Just offering Bud is a tremendously dickish move.

strider3700

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #13 on: February 04, 2014, 02:02:29 PM »
it makes ordering quick.  Large or small.   Also they prefill a bunch during slow times to quickly hand out during the rush.   Even then the line ups were long.  They had new plastic cups that filled from the bottom then used a magnet to plug the hole.  Apparently it's quicker because you don't need to worry about foaming.  Anyway at the end of the night the metal bar in front of each row of seats would be covered with these little magnets.   

Elyse

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #14 on: February 04, 2014, 02:17:19 PM »
For 15$ you would figure that they'd stock something better than that swill.

Usually a single brewer will purchase rights to be the exclusive beer provider. There's clearly not a lot of free-market forces at work here.

I'm not sure who I'm more annoyed at, the monopolists who charge ridiculous prices, or the people who pay them and ruin it for everyone else.

Budweiser is owned by Anheuser-Busch though.  They could offer selection between more than 200 in-house brands of beer.  Just offering Bud is a tremendously dickish move.

But not everyone knows that.  So they are building the Budweiser brand.

But I do agree, one type of beer and it is Budweiser?  Eeeck.

joer1212

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #15 on: February 07, 2014, 01:44:54 AM »
The problem is the idiots that keep buying this overpriced crap. This emboldens the vendors to keep pushing the envelope with higher prices.
Ever see a mischievous kid test you to see how much he can get away with? He may start off by doing something mildly annoying to you. If you tolerate him, he'll keep stepping it up to see how far he can go without being punished.
This is exactly what these crooks have been doing at sporting events. Every time someone buys their items, it is a vote that their prices are not unreasonable. So they keep raising the prices. And people keep buying. That's how we've gotten to the point where a $12 beer is considered normal at these events.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2014, 01:51:44 AM by joer1212 »

dragoncar

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #16 on: February 07, 2014, 02:10:34 AM »
For 15$ you would figure that they'd stock something better than that swill.

Usually a single brewer will purchase rights to be the exclusive beer provider. There's clearly not a lot of free-market forces at work here.

I'm not sure who I'm more annoyed at, the monopolists who charge ridiculous prices, or the people who pay them and ruin it for everyone else.

Uh... that's exactly the free market at work.  You probably paid less for the tickets because the "single brewer" purchased rights to be the exclusive beer provider.  What do you want, communist beer?

GuitarStv

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #17 on: February 07, 2014, 06:11:15 AM »
For 15$ you would figure that they'd stock something better than that swill.

Usually a single brewer will purchase rights to be the exclusive beer provider. There's clearly not a lot of free-market forces at work here.

I'm not sure who I'm more annoyed at, the monopolists who charge ridiculous prices, or the people who pay them and ruin it for everyone else.

Uh... that's exactly the free market at work.  You probably paid less for the tickets because the "single brewer" purchased rights to be the exclusive beer provider.  What do you want, communist beer?

I've tried some, it's better than bud.




EDIT - I see that since China privatized Tsingtao it's now part owned by Anheuser-Busch.  lol.

grantmeaname

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #18 on: February 07, 2014, 06:30:42 AM »
And if you buy it in the US you're getting bud light with too much hops, brewed in St. Louis and not China. I assume Canada is the same way.

C. K.

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #19 on: February 07, 2014, 06:53:23 AM »
For 15$ you would figure that they'd stock something better than that swill.
Then they'd have to raise the price to $30.

KingCoin

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #20 on: February 07, 2014, 09:02:56 AM »
Uh... that's exactly the free market at work.  You probably paid less for the tickets because the "single brewer" purchased rights to be the exclusive beer provider.  What do you want, communist beer?

Yes. Wholistically speaking, that's the free market at work. What I was implying is that the concessionaires aren't independent economic agents competing in a free-market environment. They're a monopoly (at least within the confines of a certain place and time). Since the sports team itself is something of a franchised monopoly, it's doubtful that licensing agreements are subsidizing the ticket prices. Monopolies suck the maximum amount of blood from the conumer.

grantmeaname

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #21 on: February 07, 2014, 11:19:44 AM »
You can make that argument for anything. Kroger has a monopoly on meat sales inside Kroger! So? There are other entertainment events where you can buy Miller.

KingCoin

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #22 on: February 08, 2014, 02:11:40 PM »
You can make that argument for anything. Kroger has a monopoly on meat sales inside Kroger! So? There are other entertainment events where you can buy Miller.

Sure, but usually a city will have only one NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB team, as opposed to tens or hundreds of largely fungible grocery stores. I doubt that many men are going to start abandoning the NFL for the WNBA due to beer pricing concerns. There's a reason Kroger doesn't charge $10 for a single hot dog while the Giants do, and it's not because they're more charitable.  Anyway, we're well into hair splitting territory here.

grantmeaname

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #23 on: February 08, 2014, 02:41:01 PM »
I don't think so. My point is that the process by which AB came to a "monopoly" in one location was fully competitive, and so seeing a monopoly requires serious myopia.

marty998

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #24 on: February 08, 2014, 05:18:06 PM »
I don't think so. My point is that the process by which AB came to a "monopoly" in one location was fully competitive, and so seeing a monopoly requires serious myopia.

A competitive market requires more than one supplier. If you are the only supplier at an event, it's a monopoly market regardless of if you have competitively bid for that right or not.

Agree with KingCoin. The consumer is the loser when this happens, especially when you are prevented from exercising choice and bringing your own food and drink.

At our major sporting events people are bagged searched for drinks. You cannot even take in a plain bottle of tap water, but there are a number of ways of sneaking in what you want.

Don't get me started on cinemas.

grantmeaname

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #25 on: February 08, 2014, 05:43:33 PM »
A competitive market requires more than one supplier. If you are the only supplier at an event, it's a monopoly market regardless of if you have competitively bid for that right or not.
So the inside of a grocery store is a monopoly and the government should bust up the monopoly Costco has on purchases made inside of Costco?

MgoSam

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #26 on: February 09, 2014, 12:42:19 AM »
If you're going to go with the free market concept bear in mind that stadiums are financed largely by public money. Wouldn't that by itself negate part of any free-market argument.

MgoSam

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #27 on: February 09, 2014, 12:45:50 AM »
Also, I would like to take this opportunity to share the badassity of not consuming alcohol. This is, of course, a personal choice but it is absolutely amazing the savings when going out to various events.

ginastarke

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #28 on: February 09, 2014, 04:03:19 AM »
I don't drink, but I almost paid $7? for cup of tea at a concert until I saw it was Stash. For $7 that had better be great tea or i can wait until I'm home, thanks.

grantmeaname

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #29 on: February 09, 2014, 06:30:11 AM »
Wouldn't that by itself negate part of any free-market argument.
Not necessarily. There are all sorts of public goods. The fact that we live in a society in which we all consume the benefits of having armed forces, environmental regulations, and police does not negate the field of macroeconomics. It might "negate" the argument that we live in a perfectly competitive laissez-faire implementation of capitalism, but nobody argued that.

GuitarStv

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #30 on: February 10, 2014, 09:25:57 AM »
A competitive market requires more than one supplier. If you are the only supplier at an event, it's a monopoly market regardless of if you have competitively bid for that right or not.
So the inside of a grocery store is a monopoly and the government should bust up the monopoly Costco has on purchases made inside of Costco?

If my tax dollar was spent building said Costco . . . I'd argue that yeah . . . that monopoly should be busted up.

grantmeaname

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #31 on: February 10, 2014, 09:29:34 AM »
Businesses other than professional sports contracts use public funding and public goods. Nobody's suggested anything unique about the stadium that makes it any different yet. Costco consumers use roads and police just like stadium visitors.

KingCoin

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #32 on: February 10, 2014, 09:47:55 AM »
So the inside of a grocery store is a monopoly and the government should bust up the monopoly Costco has on purchases made inside of Costco?

Broadly speaking you're right. The Giants put up their collective entertainment offerings (which include both the game itself and concessions) up against the entertainment offerings of competitors, just as a grocery store puts up its collective offerings against those of other grocery stores. The Giants risk losing patrons who value consuming reasonably priced beer to competing venues. The slight but significant difference is that there's an active, competitive environment for grocery stores, while NFL teams usually have a local monopoly. This monopoly is reinforced by government funding for these franchised teams. Yes, people could decide to go bowling instead of going to the Giants game, but that's not exactly like switching Costco for BJ's. Additionally, the services of the stadium are essentially bundled, while the offerings of a grocery are not. I can buy cheap meat at Costco and cheap produce at Fairway, but I can't buy a Giant's ticket and a beer for the game at my choice of vendors. They limit where you can buy beer for the game in order to enforce their own monopoly. 

In a any event, the fact that a Bud Light sells for $12 (a beer that sells for $1 at a corner bodega down the street) is pretty much de facto evidence that there's not a competitive market for beer within the stadium.

Russ

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #33 on: February 10, 2014, 09:54:54 AM »
Yes, people could decide to go bowling instead of going to the Giants game, but that's not exactly like switching Costco for BJ's.

No, but you could go to a high school, college, or semi-pro game instead. It's not like the NFL is the only provider of football.

GuitarStv

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #34 on: February 10, 2014, 10:01:08 AM »
Next you'll be suggesting that we watch women's sports.

KingCoin

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #35 on: February 10, 2014, 10:14:42 AM »
Yes, people could decide to go bowling instead of going to the Giants game, but that's not exactly like switching Costco for BJ's.

No, but you could go to a high school, college, or semi-pro game instead. It's not like the NFL is the only provider of football.

True. Though the large majority of high schools and Div 1 colleges don't allow alcohol in their stadiums (you have to tail-gate, which is a nice alternative).

MgoSam

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #36 on: February 10, 2014, 11:56:33 AM »
Are stadiums considered public goods like roads, schools, and court systems?

I don't have much of an issue with the fact that people are charging a boatload for alcohol. If people value this that much they will spend money for it, if not then they will go without. For me this just makes it easier to avoid going to such events. That said, I have heard of concerts that shut off the water in the bathroom because they want to make it so that if you need water you have to buy bottled. If this happens, I would question the legality and morality of doing so (haven't heard of this happening in many years so might be an urban legend).

grantmeaname

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #37 on: February 10, 2014, 12:12:19 PM »
That said, I have heard of concerts that shut off the water in the bathroom because they want to make it so that if you need water you have to buy bottled. If this happens, I would question the legality and morality of doing so (haven't heard of this happening in many years so might be an urban legend).
I don't know how it works around you but that's certainly illegal here.

infogoon

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Re: Anybody who purchases any of these at the Superbowl
« Reply #38 on: February 11, 2014, 09:12:48 AM »
I went to a hockey game in canada earlier this year.   $15 for the large beer.  I think it was $9 for the small.   I don't remember the exact sized but the large was a pint maybe a bit larger...    Oh and your choices were budwiser or budwieser...

I took my son to an AHL game this weekend, and beers were $9.50.