What team will have the most fans this Sunday ?

[ChuggaBeer]

12 hours ago, Superman said:

 

My estimate, close to half Steeler fans today. They were quiet most of the game because the Colts jumped out to a quick lead. But they kind of took over on the last couple of possessions. I have audio recordings of the 3rd and 15 play, and it sounds like a playoff game at Heinz Field. 

 

They all shut up pretty quickly as their final drive went bad. And to the credit of the Colts fans who were there, it got pretty loud in big situations most of the day. I'm pretty sure my voice will be gone tomorrow. It was kind of rough trying to make noise on 3rd and goal, then watching Justin Fields score TDs. 

 

I don't know what anyone could do to prevent the road team takeovers. I'm not even sure it's a regular problem, but it was noticeable the last two games. I guess the ultimate answer is to win more, but that's kind of shallow. Lots of teams struggle to compete, I don't notice them having to compete with hoards of visiting fans. 

Glad you were able to go to a game where we won.     On TV they showed all those damn towels.   Super happy they were shut up in the end 

[Superman]

1 hour ago, ChuggaBeer said:

Glad you were able to go to a game where we won.     On TV they showed all those damn towels.   Super happy they were shut up in the end 

 

I don't know how it looked on TV, but the towels were very prominent in person. 

 

It's my first time watching the Colts win in person. I saw them in Oakland in 2015, when Derek Carr broke his leg. That got interesting at the end, but that was the worst Andrew Luck season. Then I saw them vs the Chargers in 2019, the first game after Luck retired. Funchess got hurt, AV missed three kicks, Hooker had a nice pick in front of our end zone, and the game went into OT. But that was also a loss. Seeing them finish with the win yesterday was a blast. 

[Superman]

10 hours ago, GoColts8818 said:

I think it’s not a major problem Bears fans travel well to start with and the short drive to Indy when they are excited about their team and Colts fans weren’t after an 0-2 start explains that one and again Steelers fans travel well probably better than any other fan base in the league.  You always notice them no matter where they are playing.  Once the Colts get back to playing teams like the Jags, Titans, Dolphins, and Bills it will be back to normal.

 

Yeah I'm thinking these two opponents are the outliers. But it still doesn't sit right with me. I assume the team hates it also. 

 

I wonder how feasible it would be to do big ticket giveaways for home games vs these opponents. And how many tickets they'd have to control to change the dynamic. 

[Smonroe]

1 minute ago, Superman said:

 

Yeah I'm thinking these two opponents are the outliers. But it still doesn't sit right with me. I assume the team hates it also. 

 

I wonder how feasible it would be to do big ticket giveaways for home games vs these opponents. And how many tickets they'd have to control to change the dynamic. 

It’s impossible to tell who’s buying the tickets.  I always get mine from resellers.  Out of the four of us that go to a game together, I’m the only Colts fan.  We went last week and one of my guys was a long time bears fan.

 

But my favorite is when we see them play the Browns and my one friend wears his Ravens jersey.  I always point at him and tell the Browns fans - they stole your Super Bowl!  When they see his size, as well as my other buddies, they usually agree but don’t say much.  

[Superman]

3 minutes ago, Smonroe said:

It’s impossible to tell who’s buying the tickets.  I always get mine from resellers.  Out of the four of us that go to a game together, I’m the only Colts fan.  We went last week and one of my guys was a long time bears fan.

 

Yeah that's why I think it would need to be big giveaways, to locals. Schools, businesses, etc. And that probably comes with a major cost. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

19 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

I don't know how it looked on TV, but the towels were very prominent in person. 

 

It's my first time watching the Colts win in person. I saw them in Oakland in 2015, when Derek Carr broke his leg. That got interesting at the end, but that was the worst Andrew Luck season. Then I saw them vs the Chargers in 2019, the first game after Luck retired. Funchess got hurt, AV missed three kicks, Hooker had a nice pick in front of our end zone, and the game went into OT. But that was also a loss. Seeing them finish with the win yesterday was a blast. 

Steelers fans travel well and regarding Bears fans, a lot of people were Bears fans before we moved here. Awesome you had the LOS experience and we beat Pittsburgh of all teams. With Superman in the building, how could we lose 

[rockywoj]

I was at the Chargers Chiefs game yesterday.  Not an exaggeration, I’d say it was at least 66% Chiefs fans.  Was very strange seeing a home team’s fans so clearly outnumbered. Would hope such to never be the case in Indy.

[2006Coltsbestever]

Just now, rockywoj said:

I was at the Chargers Chiefs game yesterday.  Not an exaggeration, I’d say it was at least 66% Chiefs fans.  Was very strange seeing a home team’s fans so clearly outnumbered. 

since they moved from SD, they really don't have a homefield.

[2006Coltsbestever]

On TV it looked like it was 60/40 regarding Colts fans, Colts fans = 60%, 40 is still bad though for the opposing team. 

[rockywoj]

6 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

since they moved from SD, they really don't have a homefield.

It’s sad that they moved from San Diego.  I sure hope someday they move back.  I still can’t believe the residents of San Diego voted down a tourist tax increase, a tax that is paid by tourists, not locals, which would have funded the awesome downtown new stadium development that would have kept the team in San Diego long term.

 

I was at a game at the Murph.  It was by far the worst stadium I have ever been to for an NFL game.  The downtown development of a new stadium near the Padre’s stadium would have been fantastic! Mind boggling that the measure was defeated.

[2006Coltsbestever]

2 minutes ago, rockywoj said:

It’s sad that they moved from San Diego.  I sure hope someday they move back.  I still can’t believe the residents of San Diego voted down a tourist tax increase, a tax that is paid by tourists, not locals, which would have funded the awesome downtown new stadium development that would have kept the team in San Diego long term.

 

I was at a game at the Murph.  It was by far the worst stadium I have ever been to for an NFL game.  The downtown development of a new stadium near the Padre’s stadium would have been fantastic! Mind boggling that the measure was defeated.

The Philip Rivers days still haunt me, Peyton always struggled against them. Rivers was great but their D was swarming fast too.

[GoColts8818]

1 hour ago, rockywoj said:

I was at the Chargers Chiefs game yesterday.  Not an exaggeration, I’d say it was at least 66% Chiefs fans.  Was very strange seeing a home team’s fans so clearly outnumbered. Would hope such to never be the case in Indy.

Yeah bottom line is if the Raiders (maybe not as much since they went to Vegas) Packers, Cowboys, Chiefs, Steelers, or Bears you are going to have a lot of opposing fans in your building.  

[Superman]

On 9/30/2024 at 9:05 AM, rockywoj said:

I was at the Chargers Chiefs game yesterday.  Not an exaggeration, I’d say it was at least 66% Chiefs fans.  Was very strange seeing a home team’s fans so clearly outnumbered. Would hope such to never be the case in Indy.

 

At least with the Chargers, there's a reasonable explanation for why they don't get great home crowds. 

 

It's mind boggling that LOS would ever be close to 50% full with fans from a visiting team.

[coltsva]

I realize my situation is very uncommon, but thought I’d share anyway.

I sold my tickets to both Bears & Steelers games. 
Reason 1. I live 10 hours away so I only make 1 game a month (went opening day). If I lived within 3 hours of Indy I’d attend every game. 
Reason 2. Demand on the resale market is highest for the Bears and Steelers, so selling these games helped me recoup most of the money I was forced to pay for the two worthless preseason games. 
 

 

 

[jvan1973]

1 hour ago, Superman said:

 

At least with the Chargers, there's a reasonable explanation for why they don't get great home crowds. 

 

It's mind boggling that LOS would ever be close to 50% full with fans from a visiting team.

Steelers fans always show up big .  Even when Peyton was here they showed up big.   

[DougDew]

40 minutes ago, coltsva said:

I realize my situation is very uncommon, but thought I’d share anyway.

I sold my tickets to both Bears & Steelers games. 
Reason 1. I live 10 hours away so I only make 1 game a month (went opening day). If I lived within 3 hours of Indy I’d attend every game. 
Reason 2. Demand on the resale market is highest for the Bears and Steelers, so selling these games helped me recoup most of the money I was forced to pay for the two worthless preseason games. 
 

 

 

Its a very smart thing to sell your tickets to help pay for the other crap you're forced to buy, like maybe even gouged parking and snacks.  Less of the crap might mean more fans can afford to attend the real games.  

[jvan1973]

14 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Its a very smart thing to sell your tickets to help pay for the other crap you're forced to buy, like maybe even gouged parking and snacks.  Less of the crap might mean more fans can afford to attend the real games.  

When did you last attend a game?

[jvan1973]

58 minutes ago, coltsva said:

I realize my situation is very uncommon, but thought I’d share anyway.

I sold my tickets to both Bears & Steelers games. 
Reason 1. I live 10 hours away so I only make 1 game a month (went opening day). If I lived within 3 hours of Indy I’d attend every game. 
Reason 2. Demand on the resale market is highest for the Bears and Steelers, so selling these games helped me recoup most of the money I was forced to pay for the two worthless preseason games. 
 

 

 

You don't have to apologize for selling your tickets.   You paid for them,  what you do with them afterwards is up to you.   

[Superman]

1 hour ago, coltsva said:

I realize my situation is very uncommon, but thought I’d share anyway.

I sold my tickets to both Bears & Steelers games. 
Reason 1. I live 10 hours away so I only make 1 game a month (went opening day). If I lived within 3 hours of Indy I’d attend every game. 
Reason 2. Demand on the resale market is highest for the Bears and Steelers, so selling these games helped me recoup most of the money I was forced to pay for the two worthless preseason games. 
 

 

Thanks for sharing your situation, it's really insightful. Do you mind answering some questions? These are just out of curiosity for me, because the whole situation has me intrigued. 

 

How long have you had season tickets? Did you move since you got them, or were you already 10 hours away? Do you think you'd go to more than one game/month if the team was winning the division every year, or is that just out of the question because of the distance? 

 

When do you try to resell? Right away, or is there a sweet spot when you can get the most money? If there were a reasonable and painless way to resell to Colts fans, and you'd still get the same amount of return, would that matter to you? 

 

Have you picked out the other games you're going to this season? If the Colts are 2-10, would you go to fewer games at the end of the year than you would if they were 8-4?

 

If you don't feel like answering, that's fine also. Thanks either way.

[Superman]

11 minutes ago, jvan1973 said:

You don't have to apologize for selling your tickets.   You paid for them,  what you do with them afterwards is up to you.   

 

Most people I know who have season tickets to any team decide to sell at least some of them. One guy turned a profit on his Raiders tickets last year, but he sells to a specific group of friends who are mostly Raiders fans. 

[crazycolt1]

35 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Its a very smart thing to sell your tickets to help pay for the other crap you're forced to buy, like maybe even gouged parking and snacks.  Less of the crap might mean more fans can afford to attend the real games.  

NFL games are designed for the community. It is the community who paid for Lucas Oil and is continuing to pay. The community gets their money back through parking fees and food sales.

A free market says you do what is best for you.  

[jvan1973]

25 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

Most people I know who have season tickets to any team decide to sell at least some of them. One guy turned a profit on his Raiders tickets last year, but he sells to a specific group of friends who are mostly Raiders fans. 

I get that.   But if you use stubhub or something similar,  you don't know the Fandom of those who are buying.   Unfortunately  colts fans for the most part are Fairweather fans.  It is what it is.   You bought them,  you can do whatever you want to with them

[Superman]

41 minutes ago, jvan1973 said:

I get that.   But if you use stubhub or something similar,  you don't know the Fandom of those who are buying.   Unfortunately  colts fans for the most part are Fairweather fans.  It is what it is.   You bought them,  you can do whatever you want to with them

 

Yeah that experience is not typical. He is part of a friend group that lives in SoCal, NorCal, Vegas, Detroit, Dallas... and they all have friends/family as well. It's probably more accurate to say that they're a collective who shares the cost of the season tickets, but he bought the PSL and pays upfront every year.

[DougDew]

1 hour ago, crazycolt1 said:

NFL games are designed for the community. It is the community who paid for Lucas Oil and is continuing to pay. The community gets their money back through parking fees and food sales.

A free market says you do what is best for you.  

Gouging or buying unwanted stuff in order to get the stuff you want is reflective of an un-free market.  Its called captive pricing, reflective of a limited market or a monopoly.

 

Its not a whole lot different than buying a car that groups option packages.  So in order to get the leather seats, you also have to buy the $350 floor mats.  Except car buyers don't have the captive customers sports teams do.  If they all do it, then there is a  collusionary element to it too, because it inhibits the ability to enjoy a different team.  The choice is to not buy at all, and that's not really a free market. 

 

The free market aspect of it was the guy selling two tickets to pay for that stuff.  He made a decision that unwound the effects of captive pricing on him.  Good for him.,

 

Don't lecture me on this stuff. 

[Superman]

3 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Gouging or buying unwanted stuff in order to get the stuff you want is reflective of an un-free market.  Its called captive pricing, reflective of a limited market or a monopoly.

 

Its not a whole lot different than buying a car that groups option packages.  So in order to get the leather seats, you also have to buy the $350 floor mats.  Except car buyers don't have the captive customers sports teams do.  If they all do it, then there is a  collusionary element to it too, because it inhibits the ability to enjoy a different team.  The choice is to not buy at all, and that's not really a free market. 

 

The free market aspect of it was the guy selling two tickets to pay for that stuff.  He made a decision that unwound the effects of captive pricing on him.  Good for him.,

 

Don't lecture me on this stuff. 

 

People who go to games are not forced to buy parking or concessions. I've gone to a game and not bought anything, and still had a good time.

 

Your point holds up better when talking about the preseason games.

[DougDew]

14 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

People who go to games are not forced to buy parking or concessions. I've gone to a game and not bought anything, and still had a good time.

 

Your point holds up better when talking about the preseason games.

It operates under a big umbrella of a free market, so there is also a choice to not to go at all.  Which is better than if a company had a monopoly on something like toilet paper, which you kind of have to buy.

 

My broader point says that folks might be selling some of their tickets to pay for the other stuff they buy when at games, and how it effects their total football budget.

 

Not getting into the weeds on this, but I never thought it was fair to blame solely the fans who sell their tickets.  Pricing for everything plays a part in how many Colts fans don't show up and how many visiting fans do.  Its not just fan "disloyalty"

[Superman]

11 minutes ago, DougDew said:

It operates under a big umbrella of a free market, so there is also a choice to not to go at all.  Which is better than if a company had a monopoly on something like toilet paper, which you kind of have to buy.

 

My broader point says that folks might be selling some of their tickets to pay for the other stuff they buy when at games, and how it effects their total football budget.

 

Not getting into the weeds on this, but I never thought it was fair to blame solely the fans who sell their tickets.  Pricing for everything plays a part in how many Colts fans don't show up and how many visiting fans do.  Its not just fan "disloyalty"

 

I was talking specifically about your captive pricing argument, which is a strategy that continues to infringe into the choices that people make, especially regarding entertainment. I just don't think it necessarily applies to parking and concessions.

 

The idea that some STHs are choosing to sell a portion of their tickets is pretty obvious. And I don't mean to blame anyone for it. It's obviously every person's choice.