You Ain't Corporate? You Ain't Diddley.
Watching the Final Four tonight? You probably won't be in the stands, unless you work for a big company. This, according to USA Today. LINK. Excerpt:
"But as the Final Four has swelled into a mega-event on the order of pro football's Super Bowl, observers and even some officials say it's beginning to resemble the heavily corporate-hued Super Bowl in the stands. Tickets are among the hardest to get in American sports and some are going for more than $5,000 this week on the secondary market. If the grass-roots fan isn't getting crowded out, suggestions are that he's at least getting pushed from the prime seats.
"By one estimate, the corporate presence at the semifinals and Monday night title game approaches half of those in attendance.
"'The Super Bowl this year was probably about 60-40 corporate-to-fan,' says Robert Tuchman of TSE Sports and Entertainment, which plans corporate outings to such events. 'I would say (the Final Four) is probably more along the lines of 50-50. Maybe 45-55.' That, he says, is up from a 35%-40% corporate presence five years ago."
We'll be blunt: we hate corporate America. Yeah, yeah, we know: they provide many jobs and the products we love. Maybe we ought to be appreciative, but they're big, grabby, and bossy. And they throw their tax-deductible-expense weight around. And they keep getting bigger and more obnoxious. And there's mounting evidence that what's good for GM is not good for America, as corporate scandals rock the stock market, jobs are outsourced overseas, and the U.S. army prepares to defend foreign markets.
All right, let us take a deep breath. . . .
We know it's just Final Four basketball tickets. But we have a hunch it points to a bigger and systemic problem.
