Quit Your Bitching

Dateline Philadelphia........

The cost of parking for Eagles games at Lincoln Financial Field has been increased from $11 to $20 this season, starting with tonight's exhibition game against the Carolina Panthers.

I imagine there were many people that woke up in Delaware County today, bypassed all of the other sections of the paper to get to the Sports, read that little blurb, and immediately started to complain to their spouse/significant other how greedy the Eagles are. Probably even threw in an anti-Semitic comment just for good measure.

And to those people, I say, Shut Up. You should be grateful that you were only paying $11 up to this point. For whatever reason, the Eagles organization has been undercharging for parking for years. And do not be surprised if you see substantial increases in the following years? Why do you ask? Well you're in luck, because you have come to a parking expert.

It is simple supply and demand. The Eagles, according to the Inquirer, have approximately 22,000 parking spaces. If they did not charge anything for parking, I imagine the demand for parking would be well over 22,000 because people would drive down to the stadium to tailgate. I imagine that was still happening last year at $11 to park. Now that the rate is $20, the extra tailgaters will probably be removed, but fans attending the game will still park on site. And the Eagles will continue to increase the rate for parking until they observe that the supply of parking spaces is exceeding the demand at the rate that they are charging.

People need to stop thinking of the Eagles as their football team, and realize that they are a business. And the purpose of a business is to make money. Parking is a revenue stream that the Eagles have not maximized in the past, which was a mistake. If you don't want to pay the rate that they are charging, you have two options: Find another way to get to the game, or don't go. But don't bitch about the price of parking and then pay it. That is just pathetic.