Kansas City Chiefs: Parking Fee Not A Big Deal
By Ben Almquist
First, let’s talk about this increase in price. In 2015 it cost you $30 to pay at the gate for parking. This year it will cost $40. Now, for an individual that seems like a lot. Before you get upset though, ask yourself this: When is the last time you went to a game by yourself? Truth is, most people go in groups of 2-4 people for a game. So you actually went from paying $7.50-$15/person to $10-$20/per person depending on your car load. Not really that bad.
On top of that, you still have the prepay option through the box office or Ticketmaster. That only runs you $30, which is just a $3 increase from 2015. Be forewarned though. Ticketmaster will charge you a $4.25 fee. Understand though, that is Ticketmaster…not the Kansas City Chiefs. Be sure to channel your anger appropriately.
“What we really want to stress is get your parking in advance. If you do that, it makes the process better for everybody, and it helps eliminate a lot of those issues.” ~ Kansas City Chiefs Team President Mark Donovan on parking price increase
Ok, sure, the price increase really isn’t that big when you break it down, but why do it at all? Well, according to Mark Donovan, it is to help the parking situation that has been so terrible for years. How do increased prices help? By getting you to pay for the cheaper pre-gameday passes.
Donovan explained to reporters: “What we really want to stress is get your parking in advance. If you do that, it makes the process better for everybody, and it helps eliminate a lot of those issues.” The Chiefs backed his up with data showing people who prepaid for their passes last year got through the gate twice as fast as those paying on gameday.
That means the more people who buy the cheaper passes, the faster you get in to park. There really is no downside to that. Not to mention that even with the increase to gameday parking, the Chiefs are still on the cheaper end of NFL stadium experiences…the 4th cheapest overall to be exact. So the “money grab” narrative should probably take a backseat.
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