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Notes -
I think it's always important to keep in mind that the type of thinking that most posters here have is pretty rare in the gen pop.
Normie sports fan are a high percentage of the population (and I bet most of them know about Chalemet's Knicks habit, including a lot of women because of his lady) and theater kids are probably an order of magnitude more common than us.
This means the motivations behind attendance of high ticket price games involves quite the variety.
Same for the celebration - extraversion is uncommon here but very much a thing.
So is FOMO - my partner is smart and has a high level of educational and professional attainment, she also barely cares about sport at all - she still wanted to go to a local World Cup party last night "because everyone is doing it."
Some examples of people I know personally at the NBA finals or know about from anecdote and the news:
-Celebrities who go to most if not all home games.
-A guy who can't afford it but is taking his Dad who has been waiting for A Long Time and is on his last legs.
-A guy who can't afford it but is taking his kids because this is the thing that brings them together. '
-A NYC finance guy who got caught cheating and doesn't like basketball all that much but is taking his wife who doesn't like basketball at all because it's expensive and fuck him.
-A nerdy wealthy guy who bought a 30k gaming PC and a condo and has no idea what else to spend his money on and is trying out vices.
-Celebrities who have more money than they need and are just looking to spend (and some of them are theater kids looking to be in the moment).
-John Smith a boring upper middle class guy who is buying seats for 10k and just not doing an expensive vacation this year.
Yes some of the meaning comes exclusivity and costs, but it comes from other places too.
Also - interest in this NBA finals and World Cup are stupidly high, the former because MSG is a storied place in a high wealth town and hella small, the latter because like 6 billion people are passionate about football.
Yep. I paid 500$ for a group stage game. Nothing to do with status. World cup games in your city are a once in life time opportunity. You pay so you can remember the game.
The NY knicks winning a championship is a less than once in a lifetime opportunity. There are middle class fans who would sell their life savings for it. $20k for courtside seats is frankly under priced. It's pocket change for billionaires.
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