The front office will not disclose numbers, but they haven’t sold all their season ticket seats. In a perfect world (for the front office) a new stadium will drive fan interest and all seats get sold. With high demand, they can push for PSLs.

During the Vick days I bought a seat with a friend that had a block of seats, but I was on the waiting list until Vick went to jail. Magically the next off season my number was called. I think this is now the 5th or 6th year with my seats. There is nothing blue collar about mine; they are already pricey enough! Just look up section 231 (Gate C) – just to the side of where the Falcons run out of the tunnel in the Mezzanine section. Great seats. Expensive seats. Multiple by 5 and you will understand why PSLs scare me half to death!

I’m in it for the Falcons and the family experience. If I have to cut back 1-3 seats because of increases in prices, PSLs, etc due to a new stadium, I would have to pass because I couldn’t take the whole family.

We make a great day of it tailgating – grilling, drinking cold ones (me and my wife, not the boys), playing tailgating ring toss games, throwing a football, the whole tailgate experience. And of course winning games makes it all the better.

Enjoying it while I can still afford it!

Never mind that one reason NFL is so successful is revenue sharing, especially the lucrative TV contract.

Owners will claim competitive need even tho there is a hard cap — none of the luxury tax foolishness in the NBA and MLB.

Plus with higher ticket prices and luxury boxes revenues, gate revenues should increase before PSLs.

Gradually as new stadiums are put up, the demographics of the fans go up the scale. And some would say they’re not as passionate as the more traditional blue collar fans.

One of the loudest stadiums in the league is in KC. Would the atmosphere be the same if they put up a new stadium and drew more well-heeled fans? Same question about Packers and Steelers.

Out here a lot of the “49ers Faithful” fans have been priced out of the new stadium they’re building. Fans who’ve had tickets since the 50s (or some have had tickets for several generations in the same family) may drop them. They attended through a lot of lean years. Will the new holders continue if the team becomes bad again?

I have to mention that the NeoGeo Pocket Color is one of my all-time favorite handheld systems. Too bad it never received the love it deserved. I had to import almost every game because it was damn near impossible to find anything in the U.S.

Memories …

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/08/classic-neo-geo-console-returning-as-200-licensed-portable/

Odd that it has HDMI but it doesn’t seem to have upgraded hardware so it might still be low resolution on your TV.

Similar deals have also been ran in the past. Even if Sony drops the price of the Vita, I think all bundles should include a memory card; the Madden bundle does not, but at least you get a free game. Not sure what the upcoming Assassins Creed bundle will include.

re memory cards – Agree with you, mostly. The reality is that every Sony system has always had proprietary memory cards. Sony will claim it was for piracy, but I’m sure there are huge margins to be made. As I have written many times, at this point Sony needs to start packing in a memory card just to help get consumers past the psychological hurdle of having to pony up extra money.

re hardware – I don’t think system are ever made with short term profits in mind. The goal is to push software; license fees are the mint.

I have written about this several times, and I am convinced that it will help. Maybe not make the Vita move like hotcakes, but at least get it going forward. If Sony isn’t going to cut the base price of the system, they need to add in a 4GB memory card, include a full game (physical or downloadable), and a PSN voucher for a $15 game. I really think that would make a huge difference.

I think Sony is waiting to see what happens at Christmas, but if they don’t attempt to market the Vita, they are going to be in a serious hole.

Sony didn’t help themselves with things like the proprietary memory cards. I’m sure that alienated some people.

There are some interesting ideas in the Vita but you wonder if it made it difficult for them to cut costs. Sure people thought you were getting a lot of value when Sony first announced the price. But now, there are or will be phones with faster chips, while the multicore design of the Vita SOC may make it difficult to cut prices. The back touch pad may also be an additional cost item that may end up not being widely used.

Yet Sony may have to find a way to cut prices, at least $50 if not more. With just about every passing month, a compelling device comes out, not to necessarily outperform the Vita but basically to attract potential Vita buyers away.

Nintendo cut prices drastically and sales improved a bit but they are said not to be making much if any money on the hardware. They have better software, especially in Japan, to keep a following.

But if they can’t make money on hardware, why bother with hardware?

Not sure COD will make it this year, but that one would also drive sales.

Never been a huge Assassin’s Creed fan, but the franchise is popular enough to move the dial, unless people just are going to go for the Vita due to the cost of the system. Of course there is a bundle to help things out for fans that want to jump into the Vita for as little as possible.

The cost of the games doesn’t bother me. Uncharted was $49 and COD will be $49, but most of the other titles start at $39. Much like any other system, you just wait for deals to pick up something at a lower price. Heck, I’m tempted to get Mortal Kombat from GameStop for $9.99 …

Final two points that we have debated before. First, I think there is a completely different target audience between the casual fans that expect a $0.99 game for their iPhone and those that are willing to pay $39.99 for Assassin’s Creed. Second, Sony really has to go with bundles if they are not willing to lower the price. Add in a 4GB memory card to all systems along with a game + a voucher for a $15 PSN game would go a long way to helping anyone sitting on the fence.