The Super Bowl is coming to Houston, the week when the local hotels and other businesses that cater to tourists jack up their prices. The local football team is getting in on the act early, increasing ticket prices for the privilege of attending the team’s regular-season games.
The Texans have announced -- after 5:30 p.m. local time on a Friday -- a price hike of 5.9 percent for general-admission seats. The average cost will increase to $97.32 per ticket from $91.87 in 2015.
“NRG Stadium has earned its reputation as one of the best gameday experiences in the NFL and Texans fans are a major reason,” Texans Senior Vice President of Ticketing and Event Management John Schriever said in a press release. “Our fans give us a tremendous home field advantage, and this pricing structure will allow us to continue to remain competitive on the field and deliver an even more compelling fan experience.”
Whether the price of general-admission tickets increases or decreases has little to do with remaining competitive, but everything to do with maximizing profit. With 143 straight sellouts and a team that secured an unlikely playoff berth in 2015, the Texans believe that can set a higher price point while still moving all of the merchandise.
It would be nice to see someone explain it that way: “Businesses hope to make the most money they can, and we’ve decided that we can make more money by raising ticket prices, because we think that we’ll still sell all of the tickets at the higher price.”
The quality of the schedule for 2016 won’t help much; the Texans host the Bengals, Chiefs, Bears, Lions, and Chargers, along with the Colts, Jaguars, and Titans. The excitement of hosting the Super Bowl will, and the prospect of playing in the game will increase if the Texans can find a franchise quarterback.