Tuesday, January 08, 2002
Bengals tickets aren't worth it
You are an average Bengals season-ticket holder who has a spouse, children and a mortgage. You'd like to add a deck to your house, maybe start a college fund. One kid needs braces. Another wants to go to basketball camp. The kitchen looks like 1950. A little wiggle room at the end of the month would be good. You could get that. If you gave up the tickets.
Two tickets, $50 apiece. Lower level, 10-yard line, 20 rows up. That's $100 a game, times 10 games. Another $20 to park, $30 more to eat and drink. That's $1,500 a year, plus the one-time PSL payment. It won't be getting cheaper. Tickets never do.
You could use that $1,500. In the real world, it's still a lot of
money. What do you do?
Promises, promises
The Bengals had a half-empty season. Or was it half full? They promise better days. They always promise better days. Mike Brown depends on fans with big hearts and small memories.
“The distance between where we need to get and where we are is definitely narrowed,” coach Dick LeBeau said Monday. The Bengals always say that, too.
The Bengals ended the year on a 2-7 roll and judged the season a success. They must have: No coaches were fired, no changes are contemplated. The two-game winning streak to end the year convinced management that things are swell. Management always thinks things are swell.
What about you? The car needs tires, the private school tuition just went up. Leak? Roof? What?
Not enough money, too much month. For 11 years, the Bengals have taken your money — and your trust and loyalty — and dropped it from their penthouse roof.
You could use that $1,500. “What's different now?” I asked LeBeau. Given the history here, why should fans expect next year to be drastically better than the last 11, which have been unfortunate?
History repeats
The Bengals won their last three in '96, then started '97 1-7. They won their last three in '97, then went 3-13 in '98. Two wins over two disinterested teams the past two weeks: What does that mean?
Tickets or braces?
Dick? Or deck?
Forever, the Bengals party line has been, “We know we've fallen short, we have to do better, we're-on-the-right-track, oneortwoplayersaway.”
Meanwhile, your pipes just froze and your basement flooded. The puppy ruined the new rug. Whaddaya mean you need $500 for a laptop computer?
“Mike (Brown) and I discuss daily getting to our common goal, which is championship football,” said LeBeau. That's news to everyone else. Generally, Brown says he'd like to be “competitive.”
Competitive means hope. Hope sells tickets. Hope doesn't produce championships. Championships cost money. Worse, they create expectations
It's your money they're playing with. Your $50,000 a year, before taxes. That's pocket change to the Brown family, which is rich thanks to you. But it's real money to you, real choices, real things you forego to watch football that's consistently unsatisfying. The lack of change or vision suggests management doesn't care about you. Unless your check bounces.
If the Bengals truly wanted to win, wouldn't they have done it once in the last 11 years? Everyone else has.
E-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/daugherty.
Bengals Stories
Reds sign Rijo, Hamilton
Web site tracks ballpark
UC climbs to No. 10 in AP poll
Charlotte gunner strikes gold in inner city
Jackson sparks Xavier off the bench
Speedway fans buy tickets, hope for Winston Cup
Local skater bides his time
Smith leaves UK to enter NFL draft
Sports events this week
HIGH SCHOOL PAGE
Moeller object of recruiting inquiry
Moeller seeks stadium site
Landmark hires football coach
Cincinnati boys basketball polls
Cincinnati girls basketball polls
Ohio AP boys basketball polls
Cincinnati girls basketball roundup
Ohio boys basketball scores
Ohio girls basketball scores
N.Ky. basketball polls
N.Ky. girls basketball roundup
Kentucky AP boys basketball poll
Kentucky AP girls basketball poll
Kentucky boys basketball scores
Kentucky girls basketball scores
Indiana boys basketball scores
Indiana girls basketball scores
• Return to Bengals front page...
DAUGHERTY: Bengals tickets aren't worth it
