Wow. Good news! The Jets are making some seats in the new stadium cheaper!

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The New York Jets will open ticket sales for the National Football League team’s new stadium to the general public Nov. 1, while cutting prices on some premium seats by as much as 50 percent. [Full article below] http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=aYBzzKhKE5LE

The mezzanine club seats, which are about 7,000 of 80,000 seats in the new stadium, are reduced between 20 percent and 50 percent! Just $195 from $400! While the most-expensive seats will drop to $395 from $500! Superb!

I mean, I was fine paying FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS for ONE ENTIRE FOOTBALL GAME, about 4 hours of entertainment (from a team who makes the playoffs sometimes but has NEVER been a true contender but for 2 times in FORTY YEARS), but to only have to pay TWO HUNDRED? Boy, that's awesome. With the three hundred dollars I'm saving per game, I can afford the $50 dollar meals I'll be picking up for me and my dad: about $18 bucks for 2 beers, $10 for a couple stadium dawgs, and $8 or so (I don't recall the actual price, it may be more) for a couple pretzels to go with it, and then a couple souvenir ice creams served in a mini Jets helmet for $16 bucks, and we're at $52 bucks. And that's just for two people. But hey, we can swing it now!

I'm being sarcastic of course, but I must raise the question, WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON WITH THE EXPENSIVE PRICE OF SPORTS IN AMERICA???

Was everyone awarded a couple million in bail-out money and mine got lost in the mail? I guess not, or they wouldn't be lowering the prices, but still, have we not crossed some STRANGE line when human beings are parting with $200+ dollars to watch ONE football game??? I mean, they are just playing FOOTBALL, right? They're not ending war, curing cancer or settling on Mars, are they? Cause I'd pay $500 to be present at any of those events.

Baseball is the same madness, and heck, even Broadway shows here in New York City are $100+ to see a 2 1/2 hour show. How on earth are these institutions supposed to last when only millionaires can go? Are there that many well-off enough people in this land? And is every shred of entertainment in our culture just for them when it used to be accessible to all? What are people smoking these days? (money I guess)

When does this end or break apart and become impossible to support?

I have to believe that the Jets AND Giants, as the Mets and Yankees (I've talked to fans, especially Met fans) are losing HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of die-hard fans that used to come see them play. We've met many Jet fan tailgaters who are done after this year. Especially since the article above mentions the Personal Seating Licenses (PSL's) have NOT gone down. $5,000, $10,000, $15,000 or $30,000 PER TICKET.

Will the new stadium be entirely populated by the guy from the Monopoly board game? Eating caviar while sipping champagne with their pinkies raised?

I guess with millionaires on the field playing for billionaire owners it's only fair that millionaires come watch them, while the peasantry that kept the team in business the last 40 years watch from home and remember when we could afford to be there and let them hear us scream.

This is an issue that will be with us all season. This unique time in Jets history. 40 years since a Superbowl (1969-2009), their last year before having their FIRST stadium built with them in mind, instead of one built for another organization. And so many unable to afford tailgating every home game like they have for 15, 20 years.

Talk about curses. There may be a bigger one floating around in all this than any of us would like to face, regarding American/corporate culture at large, and one I don't think I can dispel with a candle and a moonlight chant...

Mark J. Williamson