NASCAR ticket prices can be a source of contention

NASCAR racetracks are not government programs, they are not charities, they are not philanthropic organizations that give things away for free. Like every other entity in sports, these venues are businesses, first are foremost. If fans want to see Sprint Cup racing, the tracks have to make money. That doesn't make them evil, that doesn't make them greedy. That is unequivocal, absolute economic fact.

Yet a refrain heard over and over, especially in tight economic times like these, is that the tracks are charging too much for their product. Let's be very clear here -- we're referring to a leisure activity, something people do with their spare money in their spare time, and not a basic necessity like health insurance or electricity. NASCAR is a big-league sport, in many ways on a par with the NFL and Major League Baseball, and tickets to big-league sporting events aren't cheap. We're not talking about Saturday night local tracks here. Stadiums and racetracks are perfectly within their right to charge whatever the market will bear.

That said, a cursory examination of average ticket prices from several professional sports leagues does reveal NASCAR ducats to be rather high-end. According to the Web site of Atlanta Motor Speedway, which hosts the Sprint Cup tour on Sunday, adult tickets for that facility range from $39 to $115, and average out to about $91 apiece. For NASCAR tracks, that's not out of line. A cross-section of six facilities -- Talladega, Charlotte, Martinsville, Atlanta, Texas and Phoenix -- revealed an average price of $88.16. There are some bargains to be had, for sure, like $25 tickets at Phoenix and $39 seats at Lowe's Motor Speedway. But overall, it was difficult to find much for less than $50.

Fast facts

What	Pep Boys Auto 500
When	2:20 p.m. ET Sunday
TV	ABC, 1 p.m. ET
Radio	PRN (Sirius Ch. 128), 1:15 ET

• Track Page | Tickets | Travel

How does that measure up against tickets in other sports? It's hard to say, for more than one reason. Unlike baseball, football, basketball and hockey, NASCAR facilities host relatively few big events every year, and that scarcity drives up prices. If NFL teams played only two or three home games each season, those tickets would be much more expensive as a result. Another issue: Team Marketing Report, the Northbrook, Ill., research firm that calculates average ticket prices for the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball, doesn't do the same for NASCAR. So we'll have to consider our wholly unscientific six-track average mentioned above as a representative sample.

How does it compare? According to Team Marketing Report, the average NFL ticket price for 2008 is $72.20, up 7.9 percent from last season, ranging from a high of $117.84 (New England Patriots) to $51.24 (Buffalo Bills). The average NHL ticket this season is $49.66, with the Toronto Maple Leafs the most expensive at $76.15. The average NBA ticket from last year was $48.83, with the Los Angeles Lakers (no surprise) topping out at $89.24. Major League Baseball tickets rose 10 percent in price this past season, the average being $25.43, with the average Boston Red Sox ticket being the most expensive at $48.40. (Continued)