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Chris Wysocki
Caldwell, NJ
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." - Ronald Reagan
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Hey! I've moved to He's Pretty Fly For A Jersey Guy.
Please update your bookmarks. Thanks!
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Government steps in to prevent lower sports and entertainment ticket prices
There are two competing sports arenas in North Jersey. The old Izod Center at the Meadowlands is home to the hapless NJ Nets (at least until Bruce Ratner moves them to Brooklyn) and the new Pru Center in Newark is home to the NJ Devils hockey team. Both arenas compete for concerts and other entertainment events. For example, I recently took Sophie to see Miley Cyrus at the Pru Center and we had a great time.
Outgoing Governor Jon Corzine has now brokered a "deal" to end the competition between the two arenas. In this "deal" all sports would move to the Pru Center and all concerts and entertainment would be hosted at Izod Center. Why? Because the competition for events was driving down ticket prices!
New Jersey sports and music fans could soon have to pay a surcharge to see Devils and Nets games and concerts. A complex deal is being brokered to end a landlord-tenant dispute as well as a price war between the arenas at the Meadowlands and in Newark, according to multiple people involved in the negotiations.
The two arenas, the aging Izod Center at the Meadowlands and the Prudential Center in downtown Newark, have been undercutting each other to attract bands and other acts since the Prudential Center opened in 2007, state officials say.
Oh yeah, We can't have a price war! Competition and undercutting each other is bad for us! It might result in, gasp!, lower prices!
Government to the rescue!
To end the fight, Jerold L. Zaro, Gov. Jon S. Corzine's economics czar, has brokered a deal to move the Nets to the Prudential Center, cementing the privately run building as the dominant indoor sports venue in New Jersey. It would in turn cede many of its nonsports events — rock concerts and family shows like the Ice Capades — to the Izod Center, which would become an entertainment hub.
To avoid undercutting each other, the arenas would form a 50-50 venture, called Jersey Presents, that would schedule events and share revenue from them.
A new ticket surcharge of $1 for sports and $3 for other events would go into a fund that would be split between the arenas' owners using a complicated formula. The surcharge, which will look like a tax but is being called a user fee, may require legislation in Trenton.
So let me get this straight. We have 2 venues, each working to bring the best events to our area. They compete based on price, and presumably that means lower ticket prices for the fans.
Government bureaucrats see this as a bad thing. And their "solution" is to have both arenas collude to fix the prices — no more competition — and add a new surcharge to the mix! Everybody wins! Well, except of course, those of us who actually buy the tickets. We get hosed.
But don't worry your pretty little heads. The same government which dreams
up stupid shit like this will absolutely be able to reduce costs
while making your healthcare more efficient. Trust them!
Posted at 14:52 by Chris Wysocki
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