Capitalism At Its Finest

The upcoming Superbowl in Dallas has been sold out. It has been sold out for a long time. Well over 100,000 tickets, officially ranging in price from $600 to $1,200 have been sold. Cowboys Stadium will be packed to the rafters. Standing room only tickets have been sold so that fans can stand in the aisles. Some seats proposed for the end zone had to be nixed due to concerns by the Fire Marshal.

Not content with a packed stadium, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is looking to sell still more tickets. Jones wants to make even more money off the game as well as boost his Texas sized ego by having the largest crowd to watch a game in the history of humanity. The largest crowd in NFL history was the 1980 Superbowl at the Rose Bowl where 103,985 people were in attendance. Cowboys Stadium only holds a little over 90,000.

Since the stadium is already filled, to boost revenue and increase attendance, the Cowboys are planning to sell tickets for fans, or customers as the case may be, to watch the game in the parking lot of Cowboys Stadium on big screen TVs. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the parking lot tickets would give fans "more opportunities to experience Superbowl Sunday." More precisely, it will give fans the opportunity to pay for the experience of watching TV on a January afternoon in a parking lot. The tickets are going fast. I would be surprised if Jones did not assume concession rights for the parking lot as well. If so, fans will have to leave their grills and coolers at home.

Evidently there are thousands of football fans willing to forgo a comfortable afternoon on the couch and pay good money to sit outdoors in a parking lot on a Winter afternoon. Such is the allure of the "Super Bowl Experience". Nothing says Super Bowl like a parking lot in Winter. If parking lot tickets for the Superbowl are a success, it is likely the idea will catch on. The day could come when people across the nation will pay to sit in parking lots for big events. I might finally be able to attend an Oscars ceremony.

Jerry Jones has been looking to make money ever since he bought the Dallas Cowboys. He has done a splendid job. Not only are the Cowboys making a fortune, through Jones' efforts the league is making record money as well. Selling parking lot tickets is capitalism at its finest. If someone ever builds a Capitalist Hall of Fame, Jerry Jones is a shoe in. He makes P.T. Barnum look like a piker.

One can only wonder where people are going to park.