We live for sports. There is a certain thrill associated with them that brings us to them like a magnet. No matter what sport it is, we find ourselves glued to the television or Internet for the latest news, scores and highlights.

For those who find themselves caught up in this obsession, it is known that there is nothing quite like attending a live sporting event. In an instant, a moment shared with fans in an arena could turn into a memory that will last a lifetime.

For the average fan, however, attending live sporting events has become increasingly difficult. Rising ticket prices, due to the costs of new stadiums, skyrocketing player salaries and a whole host of other reasons (including good-old fashioned greed) have worked to drive the middle-class fan, the demographic which helped elevate sports into their current state, away from arenas nationwide and, arguably, worldwide.

In ushering in the age of big buck tickets for an afternoon out at a ball game, the spirit of sports has been called into question. Professional sports leagues, it seems, have become nothing more than businesses that, in recent years, have failed to fulfill financial considerations to the fan bases which forged them.

In an effort to get the dedicated, middle-class fan back to the stadium, the question must be asked: should professional sports leagues be forced to set a cap on their ticket prices? Or should they be allowed to charge whatever demand for a ticket dictates?

To begin, it’s understood that we live in a capitalist society; in the end, the overall success of a business is measured by its profit margin. To that extent, professional sports leagues have done well for themselves; they have earned significant wealth through vigorous marketing, merchandising, ticket sales and the acquisition of major media contracts.

Exorbitant ticket prices, however, combined with hidden costs, such as the outrageous price of concessions ($10 beers in Yankee Stadium seem excessive), have made attending a sports outing almost unaffordable for anyone with an average salary.

In a sense, it feels as if the professional sports leagues have turned their backs on the middle class fans which supported them for so long.

Does this mean that the solution to this situation is a cap on ticket prices? Some tend to think so. While these sentiments may be shared by others around the nation as fans, including myself, the continued existence and growing success of these leagues demonstrates the lack of necessity for any sort of cap.

From an economic standpoint, the professional leagues continue to generate wealth from ticket sales; despite the rising prices of a ticket, we still show up.

Showing up to sporting events seems to be something that is engrained into the human fiber; no matter the cost, people will still turn out, and the stands will still fill up. And while it may not be completely ethical, one cannot help but be amazed at these leagues’ exploitation of the die-hard fans they worked so hard to generate.

In the terms dictated by the capitalist society these businesses function in, they have done nothing wrong.

But isn’t that the point? Sports, the root of more than one life lesson and the ultimate diversion from reality, have devolved into nothing more than a business.

What happened to the games that our fathers used to play and love? And what happened to the simple love of a game? In the words of Herman Edwards, players don’t “play to win the game” anymore; they play for the multi-million dollar contract that is going to financially secure them for the foreseeable future.

Sports have transcended being a past-time or a hobby, and have morphed into a grossly over-paid and over-glorified profession on all levels, beginning with team ownership, working its way to the players and trickling right on down to the fan, who ultimately funds the whole operation. The model has been put in place and is unchangeable, but that doesn’t make it right.

So what’s needed? Should I sit here and call for a cap on ticket prices? Maybe. I honestly couldn’t tell you the outcome of doing such a thing, though. It would probably cripple an industry which I’ve grown to love. And what would I do if I couldn’t watch the Jets? I

t’s a sentiment they’ve worked hard to build, and, at least in myself, have achieved. And that’s what they banked on.

The price may be wrong, but they seemed to have calculated the last 20 years just right. Cap or no cap, prices will continue to soar. And that, in the words of Phil Collins, is “just the way it is.”

To contact The Ionian’s Ryan Karpusiewicz, e-mail him at [email protected].