Pre-Season

The NFL just entered the first full week of pre-season football, and the sports media world is happy once again.

Football is the most popular sport in America by far; a regular season game between two random teams gets better TV ratings than the finals of any other sport in the country.  Only soccer seems more loved worldwide.  Because of this passion for football, throngs of Americans tune into sports radio to hear about the tiniest snippets of  information about their favorite teams.  Turn the channel to ESPN or the NFL Network, and I promise you will see a story about any prominent player and how his relationship status is affecting his play within 15 minutes.

Pre-season is the primer.  The games are "meaningless," in the fact that wins and losses do not factor into any standings.  Starters never play a full game.  Some superstars might not play a single snap of football during the pre-season; the main fear from teams is the risk of injury during meaningless games.  The main point of pre-season football seems to be the evaluation of a handful of players that are on the borderline of making the team... but even the majority of these decisions are made primarily based on practice.

The real point of pre-season football, from a team and league perspective, is to make 4 extra games worth of  money.

You see, despite the fact these games mean nothing, and despite the fact that most starters don't play a full game (tonight for the Vikings, the starting offense played two snaps), the NFL charges full, regular season prices for the tickets.

Yep.  Less than half the product.  All the cash outlay.

For any fan that purchases single-game tickets, this isn't a big deal, but the NFL is smart.  The NFL realizes that pre-season tickets are harder to sell, so they tie these tickets to other, more popular tickets.  If you want to buy season tickets, you are forced to buy pre-season tickets with them.  Post-season tickets, though, are extra; they are not included in your season ticket package, and the often cost double (or more).  Also, some teams will tie pre-season tickets to popular single-game tickets during the regular season.  Do you want to see the Packers at Vikings during the regular season?  There are "single" game tickets available for purchase... but you have to buy at least one pre-season ticket as well.

There are three more weeks of games before they begin to count... unless you are counting the dollars flying out of your bank account.  Like the players getting into game shape, though, the fans have an opportunity to try out new cheers or bathroom line strategies.

I just wish I could do it at half price.