NFL Fails to Sell-Out Playoff Games – Economy the Possible Problem? – Sticker Shock over Obama Care Premiums and No Retirement for Baby Boomers

Yahoo Sports is reportingthat NFL playoff games are presently not sold out for this season – the ticket prices at $300 plus are now selling at just over $100 – what a deal! If one were to take the average middle class football fan, who has 2 children, plus food and concessions, parking and the gas to get to the stadium – even reduced pricing makes that “treat” impossible in today’s economy.

An article from The Week.com, on the hidden costs of Obama Care highlights the higher premiums that are hitting the middle class – hard –

In Alabama, premiums have doubled for some middle-class families, like that of Courtney Long, a stay-at-home mother of four. She told WHNT News, "It's devastating. I started crying."

"I mean, we have worked so hard to get out of credit card debt, get ahead on the car loan, transfer our mortgage to a 15- from a 30-year mortgage… and for what?”

That’s one of many examples nationwide.(The Week). Simply put there simply is no money available in most households for “entertainment”, especially when that entertainment is priced at the same rate as the new health insurance premiums. – unaffordable.

To further the misery – The AP article on Blue Collar American’s suggests that they will never, repeat never, retire. Rather work until they drop dead. This is given the cost of living, the higher insurance premiums, which just were added as an extra burden to a weak economy, and one makes the decision whether to eat or retire, or in the case of many of today’s struggling families, to take in a ball game.

To suggest that the economy is on the mend is fine, but it is not on the mend for the majority of working American’s who are seriously feeling the pinch. When one wishes to go to the ball-park, even a minor league game, with a two person family – the price appears reasonable enough - $50 for the evening (tickets, concessions, parking), however, that’s a chunk of change for anyone who’s on fix income, which includes just about everyone today.

Given the fact that there are few companies hiring, and that the only boom going is in Wall Street (which does help some retirees who have healthy portfolios or 401K’s, it does not help those millions of middle class American’s who are living paycheck to paycheck – buying groceries, and paying the bills, rather than having anything “extra” to sock away.

Therefore, for those who are in the sports business, it is for those “elites” or the haves, rather than those middle American’s who used to fill the stadiums – Now even those “elites” are finding themselves “pinched” – and making decisions as to whether to pay the mortgage or go to the ball game.

Fortunately, most American’s have cable – so far.