News & Notes XLII: Consolidation Season

[LakeLivin]

I don’t know about other providers but NHL center ice is free right now on Xfinity

Also free right now on DISH. Except, of course Canes games are blacked out for me, so . . .

 

[Negan4Coach]

On a restaurant message board somewhere:

"I can't believe Tom Dundo is running a promotion where everyone who only paid for an appetizer can get moved up to an entree. What about all the folks who actually paid for an entree? How do they feel about this? He's clearly just looking to move the restaurant to Houston."

"Executive Chef Lumbrazo shouldn't have to collaborate with any other chefs about his menu. What's this about a Borg? Did you hear that Dundo said he'd only spend money on in restaurant ingredients and the restaurant-goer experience because thousands of qualified chefs would line up to take this job?"

"I heard Tom Dundo got started with subprime steaks. Do we really want that kind of person in the restaurant industry?"

You laugh, but I'll bet the next time you eat there the bill hands you your ass like it was a high interest car loan

 

[CanesUltimate11]

But who is on first?

Now you've got it.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

You laugh, but I'll bet the next time you eat there the bill hands you your ass like it was a high interest car loan

I’m confident there won’t be a next time I eat there.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

lol retirement, that's quite the dream these days with inflation being 2-5x any wage increase. Hell my 401k only this year surpassed its value from 3 years ago...and I've been dumping money into it that whole time (so still a net loss)

Hang in there. I get that looking at it short term can be frustrating.

I know you know this, but with the 401K. It's not a net loss until you take money out, so there will be ups and downs along the way. When the dow dropped almost 50% from ~$13,500 to ~$7000 back in 2009 during the housing crisis, my 401K took a HUGE hit, way worse than the last couple of years. It was very worrisome and it was hard not to look at it as a loss. A friend reminded me that with the market down, it was now a GOOD time to keep putting money into the 401K and other investments, because we are buying investments at a low period and it will eventually come back. Same goes for the past couple of years, even if "on paper", it looks worse short term. I know it's hard to look at it that way short term when you are in the middle of it. I thought the same way back in 2009.

Inflation will fluctuate. We had a long run of very low inflation from 2009 housing crisis until 2020 Covid. Obviously Covid, supply chain, etc.. caused a huge spike in 2021 and 2022, but it's been coming down and it will average out over time. We shouldn't count on very low inflation any more than we should count on very high inflation when planning for retirement.

 

[A Star is Burns]

You laugh, but I'll bet the next time you eat there the bill hands you your ass like it was a high interest car loan

The next time I eat there would be the first time. Since I'm an out-of-towner, I just grab arena food the few times a year I come down.

 

[raynman]

The next time I eat there would be the first time. Since I'm an out-of-towner, I just grab arena food the few times a year I come down.

I went to my first game in years (also an out-of-tower) last month and I got my ass handed to me when I saw the food prices at the arena haha. At least the Storm Brew was cheap

 

[Svechhammer]

I went to my first game in years (also an out-of-tower) last month and I got my ass handed to me when I saw the food prices at the arena haha. At least the Storm Brew was cheap

There is nothing anymore that is cheap about attending a Canes game. All the concessions are overpriced, all of them, and its to the point where the beer and liquor prices are on par with what you'd see at an NFL game. What's probably the most inexcusable fee is that it now costs $40 to park when it was $15 as recently as 2018.

 

[A Star is Burns]

I went to my first game in years (also an out-of-tower) last month and I got my ass handed to me when I saw the food prices at the arena haha. At least the Storm Brew was cheap

No doubt it isn't cheap. But most of the time it's just me when I come down, so I only end up spending $20-25 on food and a soda. It helps that I don't drink alcohol, I guess. I usually try to stay at a hotel close enough to walk to the game so I can save on the crazy parking rates too.

 

[hblueridgegal]

^^it helps keep tailgating alive and well…kinda surprised they haven’t figured out a fee for it yet.

 

[raynman]

There is nothing anymore that is cheap about attending a Canes game. All the concessions are overpriced, all of them, and it’s to the point where the beer and liquor prices are on par with what you'd see at an NFL game. What's probably the most inexcusable fee is that it now costs $40 to park when it was $15 as recently as 2018.

Yeah I’m glad people here mentioned the app for parking. Kinda annoyed me that you couldn’t use cash in the arena.

 

[cptjeff]

The next time I eat there would be the first time. Since I'm an out-of-towner, I just grab arena food the few times a year I come down.

I mean, their barbecue is legitimately good wood smoked stuff (no idea about the quality of the other food, because legit wood smoked barbecue). It's gotten a lot more expensive over the years, but I just budget that and the beers as part of the price of the game. $18 each for each beer and for a sandwich and chips is a little aggravating, but I still pay it, so...

 

[The Faulker 27]

nvm already posted in gdt

 

[hblueridgegal]

So adorable.

 

[tarheelhockey]

So, this might already be known, but there are three Canes personalities for hire on Cameo now…

Jaccob Slavin - $115
Wade Minter - $50*
Zach Boychuk - $20

* proceeds to the Carolina Hurricanes Foundation

https://www.cameo.com/browse/athletes/hockey

Now, Jaccob and Wade deserve to be left alone unless someone’s interested in using the service unironically.

But I’m just saying. I’m very confident that Zach Boychuk would say some unhinged shit for $20. The only question is how to get the most bang for the buck.

 

[Negan4Coach]

There is nothing anymore that is cheap about attending a Canes game. All the concessions are overpriced, all of them, and its to the point where the beer and liquor prices are on par with what you'd see at an NFL game. What's probably the most inexcusable fee is that it now costs $40 to park when it was $15 as recently as 2018.

It is outrageous. That's why I was really digging my Ledge Lounge seats last year. Free chow, and a couple drinks every game. Plus you have a surface to actually put your food on to eat- I always hate trying to stuff food in my mouth while sitting in cramped seats with people shuffling past you.

And then they were like "if you want to keep these nice seats you have to buy a 22 game plan",those cheap bastards. I can't go to that many freaking games.

Between the usurious parking fees, the disgustingly high ticket prices, and the absolute shitshow getting out of that place after the game, I haven't gone to a single game yet this year, and I may not go to a regular season game at all, quite frankly.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Canes fans: We need new ownership who will put a good product on the ice so the team won't be relocated.
Also Canes fans: What do you mean we aren't a hockey market, we've just had a horrible team for 10 years. When we get good, the fans will come back.
Also Canes fans when discussing recent attendance, selling out of season tickets and our team spending to the cap: Take than northern elites, see we are a hockey market!
Canes fans now: Wow, look how expensive it's gotten.

Dundon is like any other billionaire sports owner. He'll raise prices, add fees as much as possible as long as fans keep showing up and paying them. He'll also work to bilk tax money out of local/state municipalities whenever he can.

 

[geehaad]

To be fair to us, they had this exact conversation on page 1 of the Caps-Canes GDT on the HFCaps board. It doesn't have anything to do with us getting used to the team having low prices because we sucked for so long.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

To be fair to us, they had this exact conversation on page 1 of the Caps-Canes GDT on the HFCaps board. It doesn't have anything to do with us getting used to the team having low prices because we sucked for so long.

You are right, it wasn't about us getting used to it, they charged what they could get away with even back then. If they could have gotten away with charging more back then, they would have. Even when Dundon took over, he had some insane low priced ticket deals to get people to come to games. I took advantage of one of those. I think it was something like 10 games for $99 or something like that.

 

[chaz4hockey]

Canes/PNC not on this list:

2024’s Most Expensive Arenas to Watch an NHL Game: A Quick Guide

Check your wallets and get ready to cheer for your favorite team. Find out the most expensive arenas to watch NHL games with this quick guide.

playtoday.co

and this:

 

[hblueridgegal]

Can't say I disagree.

 

[Lempo]

Can't say I disagree.

This was *exactly* the complaint about one of the IIHF Worlds that was held in Finland a number of years back (in mid-2010's I think) when the Finnish Ice-Hockey Association price-gouged so hard that the audience was mainly consisting of upper upper middle class folks on some corporate-paid tickets, so the usual carnival atmosphere was completely missing when there folks were being served shrimps inside the arena while for the passionate fans there were some freebie* attractions in the general area outside.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Canes/PNC not on this list:

2024’s Most Expensive Arenas to Watch an NHL Game: A Quick Guide

Check your wallets and get ready to cheer for your favorite team. Find out the most expensive arenas to watch NHL games with this quick guide.

playtoday.co

and this:
View attachment 797280

It’s really, really important to take that kind of chart in context of local economy. Raleigh having higher priced anything than New York, LA, SF is ****ing bonkers. Relative to the economy, that Canes ticket costs A LOT more than that Kings ticket.

I look at that chart and see us being priced over 50% higher than Dallas, which is a similar-priced market with a similar arena, a similar-sized fanbase, and a team with similar recent success. Dallas also has $40 parking, but that’s in the context of a downtown arena with tons of cheap parking decks and public transit nearby. And the concessions are A LOT cheaper there. You can have bottomless popcorn for $7 and a bottomless soda for $10. Hot dogs are like $5-6. You can make it expensive if you want with prepared meals and alcohol, but you’re not hostage because there are options both inside and outside the arena.

In the bigger view, Dundon’s doing is systematically monopolizing the few existing food/parking options outside PNC, and becoming the developer for all future options. He’s eliminating any chance of downward pressure on prices, and the prices are already rising to reflect that. It’s all fair game in the bloodless capitalist sense, but it’s pretty clear the Canes will no longer be the sort of thing the average person can do instead of going to the movies. It’s going to get very exclusive very quickly, and it’s going to look awful when the team isn’t contending anymore.

 

[chaz4hockey]

It’s really, really important to take that kind of chart in context of local economy. Raleigh having higher priced anything than New York, LA, SF is ****ing bonkers. Relative to the economy, that Canes ticket costs A LOT more than that Kings ticket.

I look at that chart and see us being priced over 50% higher than Dallas, which is a similar-priced market with a similar arena, a similar-sized fanbase, and a team with similar recent success. Dallas also has $40 parking, but that’s in the context of a downtown arena with tons of cheap parking decks and public transit nearby. And the concessions are A LOT cheaper there. You can have bottomless popcorn for $7 and a bottomless soda for $10. Hot dogs are like $5-6. You can make it expensive if you want with prepared meals and alcohol, but you’re not hostage because there are options both inside and outside the arena.

In the bigger view, Dundon’s doing is systematically monopolizing the few existing food/parking options outside PNC, and becoming the developer for all future options. He’s eliminating any chance of downward pressure on prices, and the prices are already rising to reflect that. It’s all fair game in the bloodless capitalist sense, but it’s pretty clear the days of the Canes will no longer be the sort of thing the average person can do instead of going to the movies. It’s going to get very exclusive very quickly, and it’s going to look awful when the team isn’t contending anymore.

good points....his comeback would be despite revenue shortfalls versus big market teams, I'm spending to the cap (+ more LY) and need that near arena monopoly to survive/get a return on my investment. Not saying that is totally right but it's probably his story.

Unfortunately, it will squeeze out the fan that was loyal during the downturn (but also took advantage of very low prices to attend though)

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

The older I get, the more rational fair weather fandom I find. Sticking with the team through the down years isn’t inherently commendable. You do miss out on the experience of watching that rags to riches story, but I can’t fault fans for prioritizing their wallets. Winning is entertaining and thus provides more bang for the buck. Losing is not.

Likewise, an owner not spending in down years is logical behavior. My view on Karmanos has softened over time.