The National Football League crowned its 2014
champion Sunday in Super Bowl XLVIII at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
The “Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing,” the Daytona 500 takes place on Sunday,
February 23 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Attending any professional sporting event can
be an expensive proposition, but a comparison of the two shows that NASCAR fans
have little to grouse about when compared to their pigskin-loving cousins.
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| Don't drive, don't walk... |
At Sunday’s Super Bowl, fans were not allowed
to take cabs or limousines to the game, or walk to the stadium. Those who
wished to drive their personal cars could do so, but only after purchasing a $150
“car pass.” Thousands of fans spent $51 per person to ride NFL-approved shuttle
buses to the game, parking their personal vehicles at one of nine designated
pickup locations in the metropolitan New York-New Jersey area and traveling by
shuttle to the New Jersey Meadowlands and Met Life Stadium. There was also a
series of New Jersey Transit shuttle buses to ferry fans to and from Secaucus,
N.J.
Reviews for both bus services were less than
glowing, with reports of overcrowding and long delays.
By contrast, fans will arrive at this month’s
Daytona 500 in their personal vehicles, taxi cabs or buses as part of organized
tours. Many fans also choose to walk to the speedway from area hotels. Reserved
parking on speedway grounds ranges in price from $20 for preliminary events to
$45 for the Daytona 500 itself. A weeklong parking pass may be purchased for
$100.
Tailgating was strictly forbidden at Sunday’s
Super Bowl, unless patrons were willing to do their pre-game partying inside
their respective vehicles. In NASCAR, tailgating is not only allowed, it is a
way of life. Fans traditionally begin arriving for the Daytona 500 well before
dawn, assembling a veritable Tent City of awnings, lawn chairs and barbeque
grills in preparation for the Great American Race.
Why is there such a disparity between the two
sports?
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| Buy lunch, or bring your own... |
The National Football League initially cited
"logistical concerns" as justification for its strident Super Bowl travel
restrictions, despite the fact that MetLife Stadium has hosted NFL games for
both the New York Giants and New York Jets since the stadium opened in 2010. Prior
to that, those same two teams competed 20 times each season at Giants Stadium,
also located in the New Jersey Meadowlands. With a seating capacity of 82,500
fans, local officials are well-versed in moving large volumes of fans in and
out of Met Life Stadium, and were certainly capable of handling the traffic
generated by Sunday night’s Big Game.
After some initial criticism, the league did
an abrupt about-face last week, blaming "security concerns" for their
travel restrictions. Despite that assertion, no league spokesperson was ever
able to explain how security was heightened by charging fans $150 for the privilege
of driving their own cars.
Differences between Super Bowl XLVIII and the
Daytona 500 do not end at the stadium gates.
Sunday at Met Life Stadium, a bottle of
domestic beer set fans back a whopping $12, with a can of “premium beer” priced
at $14. At this month’s Daytona 500, the same can o’ suds will cost $8.
A 12-ounce soft drink went for $6 Sunday, at
least twice what it will cost at the Daytona 500. A cup of hot chocolate
(arguably a survival ration on a 30-degree day in New Jersey) was priced at $11,
while the same hot chocolate in a commemorative Super Bowl XLVIII logo mug set
fans back a cool $20.
Hungry? A cheesesteak sandwich at yesterday’s
game was priced at $16. A meatball sub, roast pork sandwich or foot-long hot
dog were each $13, while a sausage sandwich was yours for just 14 bucks. While a
rundown of concession stand pricing for this year’s Daytona 500 was not immediately
available, this writer, a veteran (if not always enthusiastic) consumer of
speedway fare -- cannot recall any food item at the World Center of Racing
priced at more than seven bucks.
If those prices still seem beyond reach, fear
not. NASCAR fans are allowed to bring their own food and drinks to the track.
Not a bad deal, especially when compared to the Cash Cow that was Super Bowl XLVIII.
One day America will wake up to the Grand Bargain NASCAR is, hopefully before we run out of oil. Well written Moody, too bad the national press won't print this.
ReplyDeleteWhile 100,000,000 less people will watch this race on television than the Super Bowl. Thus meaning it is far less popular, you failed to mention camping. Can you imagine hundreds of RV's surrounding the playing field! :-)
ReplyDeleteThink this could just highlight the disparity in both the locations and popularity of the two events?
ReplyDeleteI always refer to it as Eff you pricing, why? Because they can, same thing at concerts $50 T-shirts, $100 hoodies, $7.50 for the same bottle of water you can buy on the street for a $1.00. It's just a way to create revenue by further gouging the fan. At least for the Super Bowl it is not a typical fan, but local teams are almost as bad. Well, drop the almost, they are just as bad.
ReplyDeleteIf people would just refuse to pay these prices, guess what, they would drop like a rock. Just boycott the concessions.
ReplyDelete