The Grass Is Always Browner

When I make my first visit to a sports venue, I almost always find something to complain about.  If the traffic into our out of the stadium isn't a disaster, then the concessions are weak, the bathroom lines are long or the parking lot is flooded.  Every venue - even the awesome ones like AT&T Park, the RBC Center and Cowboys Stadium - have plenty of flaws.  What we don't step back and think about, though, is how much worse these entertainment experiences could be.  Last night I went to the Foo Fighters concert at Oracle Arena - the same arena that hosts the artists-formerly-known-as the Golden State Warriors.  While the venue was perfectly enjoyable when I was there for NBA basketball, the arena morphed into an over-priced, poorly-planned dump for the concert.

For those of you familiar with game theory, you've no doubt heard about how, during repeated interaction games, you're less likely to be screwed by your opponent.  Basically, when you know you'll be dealing with your opponent in the future, you're far less likely to push them around, even if you can, because you have an ongoing relationship to maintain.  For sporting events, the sales that happen between team / venue and fan are repeated interaction events - there are a lot of games out there, so the team has limited incentive to screw the fans if it expects them to come back later in the season.  For a concert, though, it's a one-shot deal.  The venue knows you're going to see your favorite band when they're in town no matter what (the Foo Fighters, my favorite, only come to Northern California once a year, and that's if they're on tour), so they're ready to take advantage of you however they can.

How does this manifest itself?  Well, whereas parking for a Warriors game is a quirky $18 (or at least it was last year), parking at the concert was a rather absurd $35.  While the concessions during the Warriors game were reasonably plentiful and moderately priced, concert-goers with general admission floor tickets had one meager stand selling hot dogs, pretzels and beers and no alternative option.  There was one men's room and one women's room available to the entire general admission population, which might have been adequate for the females but certainly not for a predominantly male crowd.  Had the red neon lights on the outside of the building not read "Oracle Arena," I would have doubted that it was the same place where I had enjoyed NBA basketball less than a year ago.  

The Foo Fighters were awesome (as usual).  The $35 for parking?  Not so much.

The NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL work hard to make sure that all of their venues meet at least a minimum set of standards that we, as fans, often take for granted.  Because these leagues and their teams receive feedback from their fans, they have an incentive to make the experience as positive as reasonably possible for their repeat customers.  Concerts, on the other hand, have no reason to do anything other than maximize profit.  The fact that, after all of those negatives, I still consider the Foo Fighters show to have been fantastic says everything you need to know - there's really nothing that these venues and concert promoters can do that will stop me from seeing Dave Grohl and Co. next time they're in my town.  So next time you're at one of the country's crappier arenas for a game (more on this next month when I make my triumphant return to Nassau Coliseum), be thankful that at least you're there for a league-backed sporting event.