This is a bit like the movies - there is very little money in the actual admissions for the theater companies. The money is in the concessions. So, $5 for a 12-ounce Coke is par for the course.

The cities need the sports teams for status, revenue generated by wage and income taxes, concession taxes, and more. But they cannot afford to maintain them without a revenue stream. An $8 bottle of water is that stream. About a buck goes to the concession, the rest is one-or-another form of tax to the city. The "gate" is for perhaps 95 days per year for a dual-use stadium (baseball & football and maybe a few concerts). And only in the case of a _VERY_ successful team is that stadium ever full even half the time. Football-exclusive stadiums run perhaps 10 days per year *including* special events. Maybe 20 days in a good year. But they are there all year.

If you buy only chicken from KFC or Hamburgers from McDonald's, they lose money. But that $1.29 soft drink costs them about $0.05 - the most expensive part being the cup, second, the straw. That medium fries costs about $0.15.. And so forth.

Consider the issue, today, of going to a sports event. Between parking, queuing, and getting out afterward it is an ordeal, a little like flying steerage. Up near our summer house is an old-fashioned track (Numidia Raceway) where good fun may still be had. And good-old-boys (and gals) still be found.. But that is in Pennsyltucky, PA, not downtown major city.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA