Atlanta Sucks horribly as a Sports Town, here's another reason why....

Anyone that wants to come see thier team feel free to fly in tickets are CHEAP.

Speculating on sports tickets in a situation that dicey pretty much makes you an idiot.

New Falcons ticket buyers ready to sell
By Jeff Schultz | Wednesday, August 22, 2007, 08:14 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution



Jeff Schultz On July 6, the same day federal investigators were back in Surry County, Va., digging up Michael Vick’s little yard of horrors, ESPN erroneously reported the Falcons’ quarterback would not be indicted.

On July 7, Orlando Daniels of Acworth, facing a deadline and buoyed by the report, submitted his deposit for two club-level season tickets at $1,390.

Ten days later, Vick was indicted.

Ever feel like you just paid a premium for drilling rights, only to hit sand? Evidence is all over the Internet. Since Vick’s tenure with the team unofficially ended with news of a plea agreement, fans have flooded eBay, Craigslist and StubHub with their season tickets. The Web suddenly looks like a surf shop in Des Moines.

“Dude, there are people selling season tickets on the lower level, 50-yard line for below face value,” said Daniels, who had been on a waiting list for tickets for three years. “That’s unheard of in any market.”

Another fan, Josh Lewis of Greensboro, N.C., also came off the waiting list and immediately purchased two pairs of upper-level tickets for $1,400 in April. He planned to make the six-hour drive for home games, reasoning, “I’m getting married in September, and I figured a couple of wedding presents would cover it. About a week later is when all the dogfighting stuff started to come back. It kinda made me sick.”

Daniels is more than sick. He’s jumping head-first into the conspiracy pool. He believes it’s too big of a coincidence that the ESPN report coincided with his deadline to purchase tickets, and charged that the Falcons and owner Arthur Blank leaked the “news” to spur ticket sales. Nothing like a ticking Hail Mary to start the year.

“At the end of the day my gut instinct tells me that Blank, with millions of dollars at risk, had something to do with the [ESPN] story … or the [timing of the] indictment,” Daniels said. “I’m as upset as anybody about Mike. But I believe a bigger fraud has happened … people bought into a press story and made a financial commitment based on false or misleading information.”

In better times, conspiracy theories would be laughed off in Flowery Branch. Um, these ain’t better times.

Falcons executive vice president Kim Shreckengost said the charge is “absolutely not true.” She added: “We don’t control the media, and we certainly don’t control the government. We learned about the indictment at the same time everyone else did, and had no inside information about whether or not he would be indicted along the way. More importantly, we would never treat our fans that way.”

Now, I’m sure there are worse jobs today than trying to market the Falcons. But I can’t imagine too many exist outside of Washington or Baghdad. No Vick. An aging running back (Warrick Dunn) coming off back surgery. Little in the way of star quality. Or playoff hopes.

With Vick, the Falcons were a tough ticket. Now they’re a tough sell, at least emotionally. Yes, the games already are sold out. But empty seats seem inevitable.

“It’s going to be like it used to be, an empty dome with more visiting fans than Falcons fans,” said David Easley, a 10-year season-ticket holder. “It almost makes me want to go because I hate when that happens. But not for this much money.”

It’s a little late. Easley owns his four tickets at $890 a pop. His ad includes the words, “Make me an offer.”

He decided 10 years ago to purchase Falcons instead of Georgia tickets because of the proximity of the stadium and the available seats. “Now I regret it,” he said. “I bought Thrashers tickets last year for the first time, and it seems like they take better care of you with benefits. I’d rather keep my Thrasher tickets and go back to Georgia games.”

He said he “feels sorry for Blank,” but only to a point. “He can sell the team tomorrow, and he’ll have a good return on his investment. He’s not losing money.”

The Falcons say they haven’t been overrun with fans demanding refunds. But logic dictates most people know better. As Daniels said, “I didn’t want to waste my energy calling. I know it’s buyer beware.”

Another buyer, Ryan McDowell, was told this year he could purchase up to six tickets. He went for the max at $520 each.

“I had a friend who sold tickets to the Steelers game last year and made money,” McDowell said. “I thought I could make a profit and still keep two. That idea’s pretty much gone.”

I'll likely be down there for the Giants game in October. I'll have to start checking out ebay/stubhub.

Regarding the fan base...while there's plenty of other markets where this wouldn't affect demand for tickets, I'm sure Atlanta isn't the only market where demand would suffer.

Beastie Boys said it best.... "It takes a second to wreck it... takes time to build."

If they actually had managed to put back to back winning seasons ever, it might generate some local interest in a team other than the Dawgs... The blackout rule is a killer. So many people that come here are fans of different teams anyway, they buy the season tickets to see Vick and thier favorite team and sell the rest.

There are plenty of tickets on Stub Hub and Ebay going fairly cheap, but I bet you could almost walk to the parking lot (The Gulch) before the game and find plenty dirt cheap.

The end zone seats kind of suck. If you can get on the sides lower level is the most fun, but mezanine and the bottom part of the upper deck aren't bad, seats in the upper part of the upper deck are not fun to get to and not all that fun to sit in, especially in the endzone. It's worth it to pay a little more.

At least when my Cowboys are down, we still support the team by going to the games, bitching, and throwing our beer across the stands.

Electro: any sections/particular views I should avoid in the Georgia Dome? How's the sideline view from the upper deck?

it's very good from the sides it's the elevation (steep incline) that's a little crappy about the UD. Bring your walking shoes and make sure you go in from the upper gates (Falcons Landing across from Phillips and the Marta Station) rather than the bottom ones, which are near the parking lots. That will save you a few ramps.

But yeah the sides in the UD are a solid place to watch the game you can see the secondary and the plays developing very well, I just in general hate the upper endzones and corners as long as you're on the side you'll be able to see everything and have a good time.

This should help you a ton, they have taken pictures randomly from each section, it's pretty close to what you will see on these.

http://www.atlantafalcons.com/Venues/Th ... agram.aspx

thanks. I actually prefer the upper deck to the lower level at Giants Stadium for that very reason. I've been checking out stubhub/ebay/etc...hopefully people come down in their asking price as it gets closer to the game.