FanPost

The NFL has to do better in Europe

This post will most likely only concern a tiny minority of Jets fans. It is about the opportunity those of us who live over the pond have to travel to London a couple of times a year to watch live football.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a deal with Wembley until 2016, so one of the games will involve what is probably the most inept team in the NFL. I often wish for the Jags to move to London, become the Kensington Jaguars, and provide me, a selfish Jets fan, with a local semi-pro team I could actually get to see play and perhaps even organically grow into cheering for.

All of this however, is a distant dream for a distant future. What we have this year as Euro Jets fans is one entertaining matchup between the Dolphins and the Raiders in September. Unless of course you want to watch the blandest team in the NFL play one of the most puzzlingly underperforming franchises in October in the block-busting battle between the Falcons and the Lions. Following that, there are the Kensington Jaguars, who will play either a great Dallas team and get blown out, or play a crappy Dallas team and get blown out in a somewhat less entertaining fashion.

Rather predictably, I will be happily wearing my #91 jersey to the Phins-Raiders game, getting drunk and sneaking out for a smoke in one of the many staircases. Fair enough, right? No. Not at 270 dollars for a decent but not quite good seat in Section 247. Not OK for having every single section but the corner ones reserved for Sapphire/Platinum/Unobtanium package deals at 500 dollars or more. Last year, a similarly priced ticket gave you the following view from 205. The difference, aside from a slightly better view in the latter? Two tickets for the price of one, with enough cash left over to sustain one's inebriation throughout the game. This year, 205 is Sapphire category.

Is this a fair market price? Am I totally out of touch with just how expensive it is to go to a football game nowadays? Is it a European phenomenon? A couple of years ago, I took my mom to the Met with free champagne and fine company in a beautiful setting for less money and center stage view from the balcony. And heck, the spectacle was as good as I imagine the battle of two middling teams will be.

So what gives? Am I just a cheap old bastard, or are these insane VIP package deals getting way out of hand?

This is a FanPost written by a registered member of this site. The views expressed here are those of the author alone and not those of anybody affiliated with Gang Green Nation or SB Nation.