Masai Ujiri 'feels for the fans' as rebuilding Raptors raise ticket prices again

[JB7]

we put out crap product but pay gold for it - MLSE

Now attributable to two MLSE products

[Scase]

The business case isn't there and I personally feel the atmosphere is far too commercialized and corny these days which takes away from someone who use to just love the game.

Always been baffled by the people that excessively consume massively overpriced food in a box for 3 hours. Tho whenever we do attend with free tix it has become a great lesson to teach my kids about why some people have poor health and cant save money.

This is a bit of a limited world view IMO. If I go out to a game and eat a bunch of junk food and blow money on it, that doesn't mean I am unhealthy nor incapable of saving money.

People have cheat days, people splurge when they go out for entertainment etc. And others, that money doesn't even make a dent. I'm not here to tell you how to parent, but painting everyone with the same brush is a pretty bad lesson to teach.

I'm not here to tell you how to read but as I said 'some people'. Which is far from 'painting everyone' with the same brush.

My point is you have no clue who those "some people" are. Using random people at an event having a good time who might very likely be completely comfortable spending that money/being healthy, as an example of "some people" being unhealthy/incapable of saving is pretty ignorant. But you do you I guess.

[And1Skip]

The business case isn't there and I personally feel the atmosphere is far too commercialized and corny these days which takes away from someone who use to just love the game.

Always been baffled by the people that excessively consume massively overpriced food in a box for 3 hours. Tho whenever we do attend with free tix it has become a great lesson to teach my kids about why some people have poor health and cant save money.

I see a bit of both sides when I go to games, especially Raptors games (vs Leafs). Yes, there are those that splurge and that I know also splurged on buying their tickets from ticketmaster but I'm guessing they are just doing that because its their "night out" with no limits on spending perhaps for that 1 night. Then there are those like me, SSH, don't spend too much on food and don't drink alcohol as I'm with my kid. I remember my SSH neighbor, a SSH with 3 tickets with his wife and daughter - the wife asks the food concession guy how much is the Haagen Daaz and the guy said "$18" and she looks in disgust and does not buy. I looked at the husband and we both smile. I teach my kids too, like why pay $18 for that when we have that at home in our chest freezer when we bought the ice cream bar, 9 for $10 at Costco?

However, when I get taken out to a game in the Platinums with Suite access from one of the Big 4 firms, I make sure I milk them till every drop on the food pre-game/halftime, alcohol and of course the haagen daaz ice bars at the end. This season they took me and my team out to the Nets game late in the season. I actually loved that we were tanking because I did not care about the game 1 bit and just kept on eating and drinking, and talking "business" with the folks taking us out. Quite the difference when they've taken me out to playoffs games when I forget to order stuff because i"m so into the actual game. So ya, some of the excessive consuming of food/drink maybe because its one of those "corporate" seats.

[Pointgod]

This is capitalism. Whether or not the team did well there’s a demand for tickets so they’ll continue to raise prices.

[DelAbbot]

The business case isn't there and I personally feel the atmosphere is far too commercialized and corny these days which takes away from someone who use to just love the game.

Always been baffled by the people that excessively consume massively overpriced food in a box for 3 hours. Tho whenever we do attend with free tix it has become a great lesson to teach my kids about why some people have poor health and cant save money.

I see a bit of both sides when I go to games, especially Raptors games (vs Leafs). Yes, there are those that splurge and that I know also splurged on buying their tickets from ticketmaster but I'm guessing they are just doing that because its their "night out" with no limits on spending perhaps for that 1 night. Then there are those like me, SSH, don't spend too much on food and don't drink alcohol as I'm with my kid. I remember my SSH neighbor, a SSH with 3 tickets with his wife and daughter - the wife asks the food concession guy how much is the Haagen Daaz and the guy said "$18" and she looks in disgust and does not buy. I looked at the husband and we both smile. I teach my kids too, like why pay $18 for that when we have that at home in our chest freezer when we bought the ice cream bar, 9 for $10 at Costco?

However, when I get taken out to a game in the Platinums with Suite access from one of the Big 4 firms, I make sure I milk them till every drop on the food pre-game/halftime, alcohol and of course the haagen daaz ice bars at the end. This season they took me and my team out to the Nets game late in the season. I actually loved that we were tanking because I did not care about the game 1 bit and just kept on eating and drinking, and talking "business" with the folks taking us out. Quite the difference when they've taken me out to playoffs games when I forget to order stuff because i"m so into the actual game. So ya, some of the excessive consuming of food/drink maybe because its one of those "corporate" seats.

The key lesson is how did you explain to the kids why it's $18 at the game?

[JB7]

The business case isn't there and I personally feel the atmosphere is far too commercialized and corny these days which takes away from someone who use to just love the game.

Always been baffled by the people that excessively consume massively overpriced food in a box for 3 hours. Tho whenever we do attend with free tix it has become a great lesson to teach my kids about why some people have poor health and cant save money.

I see a bit of both sides when I go to games, especially Raptors games (vs Leafs). Yes, there are those that splurge and that I know also splurged on buying their tickets from ticketmaster but I'm guessing they are just doing that because its their "night out" with no limits on spending perhaps for that 1 night. Then there are those like me, SSH, don't spend too much on food and don't drink alcohol as I'm with my kid. I remember my SSH neighbor, a SSH with 3 tickets with his wife and daughter - the wife asks the food concession guy how much is the Haagen Daaz and the guy said "$18" and she looks in disgust and does not buy. I looked at the husband and we both smile. I teach my kids too, like why pay $18 for that when we have that at home in our chest freezer when we bought the ice cream bar, 9 for $10 at Costco?

However, when I get taken out to a game in the Platinums with Suite access from one of the Big 4 firms, I make sure I milk them till every drop on the food pre-game/halftime, alcohol and of course the haagen daaz ice bars at the end. This season they took me and my team out to the Nets game late in the season. I actually loved that we were tanking because I did not care about the game 1 bit and just kept on eating and drinking, and talking "business" with the folks taking us out. Quite the difference when they've taken me out to playoffs games when I forget to order stuff because i"m so into the actual game. So ya, some of the excessive consuming of food/drink maybe because its one of those "corporate" seats.

The key lesson is how did you explain to the kids why it's $18 at the game?

Because Rogers/Bell are evil, and Costco isn't

[Duffman100]

Real easy, don't buy tickets.

About 6 years ago I deemed the ticket prices to be too high in relation to the product. I'd rather sit at home on my couch and drink reasonably priced beer while watching on a 70 inch TV.

Though, with kids now I want them to experience it at some point.

You gave them up SIX years ago? That's not quite the flex you seem to think it is.

2024 - 6 years = 2018. Raptors had just topped the Eastern Conference with the second best record in the league. And they swept the season series against the top Western Conference Rockets. Arguably, they were the best team in the league.

Yeah, yeah, then they were swept out of the second round. Which motivated them to trade for Kawhi. I'll never regret not having seasons tickets that year.

I gave up going to games. Not on the team

[2019nbachamps]

How much control do team presidents have over ticket prices in MLSE?

[DelAbbot]

How much control do team presidents have over ticket prices in MLSE?

100% it's key part of their job. They build the team and know the trajectory / position on the competitive cycle, and set the pricing accordingly (also according to market demand). Masai probably has a team of MBA's on this.

[mihaic]

Real easy, don't buy tickets.

About 6 years ago I deemed the ticket prices to be too high in relation to the product. I'd rather sit at home on my couch and drink reasonably priced beer while watching on a 70 inch TV.

Though, with kids now I want them to experience it at some point.

Get resale tickets the day of. I did this since the return from Covid, went to 10-15 games every season since.

I

[mrdressup]

No he doesn't, but he'll get props for saying it. This is all corporate executives is supposed to say to insinuate that corporations have emotions.

[Greg Foster Jr.]

I'm sad that Scottie was unsuccessful at lowering ticket prices.

Hahahahaha yes

[C_Money]

How much control do team presidents have over ticket prices in MLSE?

100% it's key part of their job. They build the team and know the trajectory / position on the competitive cycle, and set the pricing accordingly (also according to market demand). Masai probably has a team of MBA's on this.

He answered this question at the press conference. MLSE sets the ticket prices but they ask his input on it.

[Anticon]

Well, I "feel" for my bank account and sense of life priorities (two teens approaching university age). So I finally gave up my seasons tickets after ~15 years. The 30% increase in the last two seasons is 30% too much - especially for the product I'm getting.

The truth is, the current seasons ticket price for a particular seat is HIGHER than the resale price on Ticketmaster you can pay for that seat an hour or so before the game. So it's cheaper to do that every home game than buy seasons seats.

MLSE sees all of that data and has basically pushed it so the margin you once got on sales is mostly is gone. You can still make money on resale or at least break even but the value isn't there unless you just really want those seats for 41 games.

I wouldn't say the prices are lower than season tickets (at least from my experience) but it's close enough that it negates the case for seasons. With no real worries about needing to get in on playoff games or high stakes regular season games, the Ticketmaster portal is perfectly good for most people.

[2019nbachamps]

How much control do team presidents have over ticket prices in MLSE?

100% it's key part of their job. They build the team and know the trajectory / position on the competitive cycle, and set the pricing accordingly (also according to market demand). Masai probably has a team of MBA's on this.

He answered this question at the press conference. MLSE sets the ticket prices but they ask his input on it.

I just read the quote. He says it’s above him but he has input. I guess at end of day the FO is accountable to MLSE shareholders and have to make sure the numbers work.

The Raptors can get away with higher prices despite a crappier product. The team has a strong brand, an entire country behind them, a large city with a lot of middle class and wealthy people, plus a league with a lot of star players who draw fans even if the home team sucks. Plus Toronto is a very expensive city already, inflation is sticky, and the team is trying to make up for the lost revenue from the Tampa season. It’s a bad look on the team but they know it’s a storm they can weather.

I actually think they’ll have better luck selling tickets next season. Rather than convincing fans to come out and watch a mediocre product, the pitch will be come out and watch a rebuilding team with several young stars including a hometown boy and an All Star.

[2019nbachamps]

MLSE are definitely leeches though. Standing room only during the 2019 finals was $700. I believe at the time our tickets were the most expensive in NBA final history (which says a lot given teams like the Warriors, Heat and Lakers had recently been in the finals).

[And1Skip]

I see a bit of both sides when I go to games, especially Raptors games (vs Leafs). Yes, there are those that splurge and that I know also splurged on buying their tickets from ticketmaster but I'm guessing they are just doing that because its their "night out" with no limits on spending perhaps for that 1 night. Then there are those like me, SSH, don't spend too much on food and don't drink alcohol as I'm with my kid. I remember my SSH neighbor, a SSH with 3 tickets with his wife and daughter - the wife asks the food concession guy how much is the Haagen Daaz and the guy said "$18" and she looks in disgust and does not buy. I looked at the husband and we both smile. I teach my kids too, like why pay $18 for that when we have that at home in our chest freezer when we bought the ice cream bar, 9 for $10 at Costco?

However, when I get taken out to a game in the Platinums with Suite access from one of the Big 4 firms, I make sure I milk them till every drop on the food pre-game/halftime, alcohol and of course the haagen daaz ice bars at the end. This season they took me and my team out to the Nets game late in the season. I actually loved that we were tanking because I did not care about the game 1 bit and just kept on eating and drinking, and talking "business" with the folks taking us out. Quite the difference when they've taken me out to playoffs games when I forget to order stuff because i"m so into the actual game. So ya, some of the excessive consuming of food/drink maybe because its one of those "corporate" seats.

The key lesson is how did you explain to the kids why it's $18 at the game?

Because Rogers/Bell are evil, and Costco isn't

Yes because I work for a company where my bonuses are tied to how much we sell of our particular product to Costco so of course to me Costco isn’t. And I don’t have cable tv and my phone/data plan is paid by company. And yes my kids just sold a McDs pompoerri toy for $4 to an uncle so he knows full well why a ice cream bar is $18 at the game. And the point is not that MLSE is profiting too much that’s the lesson. The point is being smarter with money that’s all.

[hype_2004]

Supply and demand, you fools think MLSE cares about dirt poor "hardcore" fans who rarely go to games, never buy merchandise and bitch about the teams incompetence on the message boards . There are literally hundreds on the waiting lists and thousands of affluent casual fans, families and tourists that go to games and these people are the ones that spend money. Suits laugh at you fools and they will continue to raise prices to catch up to the demand.Toronto is a world class destination and it sucks for locals who barely make ends meet, barely can pay their rent, that work multiple minimum wage part time jobs to afford buying tickets let alone merchandise, it is what it is.

[hype_2004]

I was hoping tanking would result in lower prices not higher....but I guess that was just wishful thinking...can't expect that from a business owned by Rogers/Bell.

Toronto is tourist destination, there's no escaping that fact. Corporate knows there will always be people that will watch the team from all over the world when they're here, supply and demand.

[refshateRaps]

This is a bit of a limited world view IMO. If I go out to a game and eat a bunch of junk food and blow money on it, that doesn't mean I am unhealthy nor incapable of saving money.

People have cheat days, people splurge when they go out for entertainment etc. And others, that money doesn't even make a dent. I'm not here to tell you how to parent, but painting everyone with the same brush is a pretty bad lesson to teach.

I'm not here to tell you how to read but as I said 'some people'. Which is far from 'painting everyone' with the same brush.

My point is you have no clue who those "some people" are. Using random people at an event having a good time who might very likely be completely comfortable spending that money/being healthy, as an example of "some people" being unhealthy/incapable of saving is pretty ignorant. But you do you I guess.

'Your point' is an attempt to drag my actual point into your own baseless narrative far away from my point.

My main point is pretty simple in the arena is grossly ripping people off. So ya I teach my kids to use their heads and with money and navigate.

My second point is most of the food is junk and again I teach them to be healthy and not over consume like many at the games do, for various reasons. None of which changes anything.

And ya I certainly have a huge clue as to why people over consume and grossly over pay at the games, been to many over the years with friends, family and coworkers, like most here. Simply an aknowledgment some people do, so that's that. And even you agree, but are stuck on feeling you need to justify the reasons peeps do like I don't know or it actually changes my points? All good if you dont agree with them but making assumptions and exaggerations simply to drag into something else? That's ignorant!