Sometimes I flip channels and I come across some soccer / football game in Honduras or maybe Mexico or something. The stadium looks big and filled to the brim with people.
How poor are the people going to these games?
Do they save up?
How much is a ticket? A beer at the game?
How do they afford it?
How well built is the stadium?
Damn… this may be a Game Room thread.
Well, I don’t know anything about current rates, but I can tell you that I did go to one game in the US eight years ago and the price made me freak out: it was the price of a season’s tickets in Barça’s Camp Nou (bought as “season’s tickets,” not individually; a single ticket for a HUGE game can cost more than season’s tickets, specially from scalpers). So, it may be “not that expensive in terms of MacDollars.”
I don’t know what the exact prices are in these countries, but you can be sure it’s not comparable to prices in the US or any other ‘rich’ country. Even between rich countries the prices can be quite different. I believe ticket prices for premier league matches on average are more than twice the price of bundesliga and La liga tickets.
There is always the possibility that the games are free. In India, until recently, you could just show up and watch a football game free. It was only for cricket matches that you had to buy tickets. In the last ten years or so, this has changed progressively, and new leagues have been formed to monetize viewership.
No alcohol is served at sports games in India, not even beer.
I haven’t been to a live game in many years, but I recall that even in the larger cricket stadiums, there were just a few stalls for food and non-alcoholic drinks. For the most part, vendors used to carry around their wares and sell it to you in your seats. Prices for these items were obviously inflated, usually selling at about 1.5 to 2 times the regular retail price.
Stadiums in poorer countries are also usually not as large, and don’t have real seats. They are usually just benches or concrete slabs.
Here’s a pic of one of the premier cricket stadiums in India. Seating capacity 20,000. Note the “seats” on the left of the pic. They’re basically just a continuous concrete platform, with each row stepped to be slightly higher than the row in front of it.
Ireland isn’t a poor nation but to give an example of ticket prices here.
Offical tickets for Irish internationals in Croke park (http://www.iiofpitt.org/UserFiles/File/Common%20Ground%20February%202007/Croker.jpg) which has a capacity of 80K+ are between ~$70 - $100 dollars
Tickets for the Liga Dominicana de Béisbol Invernal (the DR’s winter league baseball) are, thinks my wife, no more than $RD100, less than $US 4.00.
But she’ll confirm and I’ll report back.
Also, she points out, while the stadiums are not like US stadiums in terms of creature comforts, the quality of baseball played is absolutely on par with US teams.
Oh yes, MLB players who are worried about their career progression go to leagues like that to improve in the off season.
When I lived in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, tickets to football matches were less than $1.
In Peru, the “Tribunas Populares”, which are on either end of the field (so that you face the goal line) can be as little as 1 sol ($0.30) an usually run between 3 and 5 soles.
Even poor people need sun fun. However, even these prices are too much for the really destitute.
