That thud you just heard was the sound of thousands of people falling off the Indianapolis Colts bandwagon.
Yes, the argument of how soft—or hard core--this converted football town is, has begun anew. A 3-4 start to what was thought
to be a promising season in a new stadium has sent more than a few ticket holders to the secondary market looking to recoup
a few—hundred—bucks.
Unfortunately, the slow start coupled with a super slow economy has dried up demand for those once coveted Colts tickets. $75 tickets for this Sunday night’s Colts-Patriots games sold on eBay earlier this season for $450 each. I should mention that was before Patriots quarterback Tom Brady went down for the season with a knee injury. Similar tickets are now on sale for $110. I emphasize on sale, because they haven’t sold yet.
“We’re looking at the prospect of taking face value, maybe 10 percent above,” one ticket broker told me this week. “A month ago, who would have thought it would come to this?”
There’s an abundance of Colts tickets available on-line in the $40 range, in some cases at face value. Tickets for less desirable games such as the Houston Texans Nov. 16 are likely to slide below face value, especially if the Colts losing record persists, local ticket brokers said.
Let’s not start bashing fair-weather fans just yet. This could be part of a national trend that has more to do with the recent economic swoon than Colts fans’ true blue streak. eBay’s Stub Hub division reported a “significant slowdown” in the third quarter of this year, and officials for national ticket broker Ace Ticket reported that in some cases they had to drop the prices for tickets to Major League Baseball league championship and World Series games below face value.
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Besides, if I had an item I could sell for a rate of return better than many other things available right now, I probably would sell them. We will never be Green Bay or Chicago but I think we do pretty darn good for our size. To have two professional teams in state of the art stadiums, 3 world class races in the premeire motorsports facility, and a minor league baseball team/stadium to die for - I think we are pretty lucky.
Does that make me a bandwagon fan?
I wear the same (lucky) shirt to every game, stand and scream on every defensive third down, am always there until the end, and always remain upbeat about the season -- even when we play horribly and get stomped. I never miss an away game on TV, and always wear the shirt.
So I guess I'm a bandwagon fan because I'm not renewing.
So IBJ, maybe not everyone is a bandwagon fan because the demand is down. Maybe people are finally realizing that the Colts (and other NFL teams) have financially pushed them over the edge. Maybe we're tired of ticket prices raising 10% per year, along with everything else. And maybe LOS isn't quite the majestic wonder that it looks like from South St. once you're in there. I know that for me, something big was lost when the RCA dome went away --- man, I miss that place.
So-- Mr. IBJ, before you call us all bandwagon fans, you should consider the real world and it's impact on fans decision making when they are writing out those $2000 checks for 8 (real) games. Especially, when we can watch the game in perfect HD at home and still yell, scream, and support our colts --- for free.