Expensive entertainment is the norm, but should it be?

Walking into TD Garden there was electric buzz in the air. Entering the building and getting press passes as a TiP reporter made me feel exclusive, and once we entered the arena everything got surreal. Our seats were in the press section where professional journalists and media people sit which was incredible. Seeing the Celtics players on the court warming up, and watching people start to fill the stadium and get to their seats was great to see. Watching the amazing game being played in front of us was so incredible to see and it was made even better when the Celtics pulled out an amazing win.

During my time there I noticed that throughout the arena, there were different vendors seemingly at every turn setting up and waiting for the customers to come. During the entire game there seemed to be a line of people at each stand.

Being at the TD Garden stadium was amazing, interesting, exciting, and most of all expensive.
Even with how much fun the game was, the cost of everything is the thing that people dislike the most. At games like this everyone knows that tickets alone are a lot of money, especially if you want good seats. The average cost of basketball game tickets is between eighty-four and ninety-four dollars. This doesn’t include parking which is not only hard to find on busy streets, but can also be very expensive. Once people get inside and see the game starting, and witness the intensity happening on the court, they think that all of it was worth it. Then when they get hungry or thirsty and go to get something to eat/drink they see the extremely high costs of everything on the menu.

Most vendors/small restaurants at these games charge so much more than necessary for things from cheeseburgers to bottled water. What was once a one or two-dollar can of soda at any convenience store, is now six dollars at the game. When two tenth graders, who attended the Celtics v. Utah Jazz game, were asked about their opinion on the cost of merchandise and food at the games, they responded by saying things were “too expensive” and that expenses were the part they liked the least about these games.

As much as people enjoy and love the games, the expenses of everything there can be a lot. Prices should be much more affordable so that more people can enjoy the games even more than they already do. When people come they are making sure that they are charging more than necessary because they know that people will have no choice but to accept the prices. There’s no denying that food at certain venues will inevitably be more expensive, but we should try to be as reasonable as possible. There is enough money generated at these arenas to have the money be reasonably priced.