The post of the day in my opinion

[OldRed]

The post of the day and possibly of the year.

by ScotchMIrish » 14 Feb 2026 09:28 am

Time for DeWitt III with him MBA from Harvard to step up. Unfortunately he seems to see the world from the perspective of someone who inherited money. The focus on replacing blue collar seats in Busch II with luxury suites in Busch III and the move toward forcing fans to pay to watch games indicate he doesn't understand blue collar fans who for 100 years were the backbone of the Cardinals.

[ramfandan]

That is not only DeWitt but happens throughout sports regarding seating.
Green Bay Packers ..had about 60,000 seats in their oval ..Always have been bench seats (so no seat back nor cupholders )..just long benches sitting shoulder to shoulder. 47 rows of them . Packers decided to expand their seating .
So above the perimteter , they added about 8 more rows behind a railing and put in seats with cupholders . Sold these as 'club seats' So charged $25 or more per seat and the location was even higher than row 47 of the bleachers. Behind that they build 3 rows of luxury boxes (enclosed behind glass) very pricey for those.. Had a buddy who was long time season ticket holder in endzone row 15 . In order to renew his season tix EVERYONE who was season ticket holder had to pay an addtion $1,000 to help fund the stadium epansion. He was ticked ..Said hey I have been 30 year season ticket holder , why should I have to pony up money for someone else to sit in a stadium seat with cupholder when I still sit on an aluminum bench with no cupholder for my beer . No way ... abut 95 % of fans did renew as they didn't want to lose their season tix but he was one of the few who did not.
Of course , the Packers have a multi thousand waiting list for season tix so they had no problem getting a new guy to take his seats.
So bottom line.. it's just not DeWitt .... Owners of all major sports screw the blue collar guys at stadiums. Nothing new there.

[mattmitchl44]

The focus on replacing blue collar seats in Busch II with luxury suites in Busch III....

We're now complaining about a stadium that was built 20 years ago?

When you say "Post of Year," was the year 2006?

[ecleme22]

Oh god…

[45s]

That is not only DeWitt but happens throughout sports regarding seating.
Green Bay Packers ..had about 60,000 seats in their oval ..Always have been bench seats (so no seat back nor cupholders )..just long benches sitting shoulder to shoulder. 47 rows of them . Packers decided to expand their seating .
So above the perimteter , they added about 8 more rows behind a railing and put in seats with cupholders . Sold these as 'club seats' So charged $25 or more per seat and the location was even higher than row 47 of the bleachers. Behind that they build 3 rows of luxury boxes (enclosed behind glass) very pricey for those.. Had a buddy who was long time season ticket holder in endzone row 15 . In order to renew his season tix EVERYONE who was season ticket holder had to pay an addtion $1,000 to help fund the stadium epansion. He was ticked ..Said hey I have been 30 year season ticket holder , why should I have to pony up money for someone else to sit in a stadium seat with cupholder when I still sit on an aluminum bench with no cupholder for my beer . No way ... abut 95 % of fans did renew as they didn't want to lose their season tix but he was one of the few who did not.
Of course , the Packers have a multi thousand waiting list for season tix so they had no problem getting a new guy to take his seats.
So bottom line.. it's just not DeWitt .... Owners of all major sports screw the blue collar guys at stadiums. Nothing new there.

Happens at colleges as well…

As season ticket holders for football, we had a surcharge to help build a basketball facility

[Mort Gage]

That is not only DeWitt but happens throughout sports regarding seating.
Green Bay Packers ..had about 60,000 seats in their oval ..Always have been bench seats (so no seat back nor cupholders )..just long benches sitting shoulder to shoulder. 47 rows of them . Packers decided to expand their seating .
So above the perimteter , they added about 8 more rows behind a railing and put in seats with cupholders . Sold these as 'club seats' So charged $25 or more per seat and the location was even higher than row 47 of the bleachers. Behind that they build 3 rows of luxury boxes (enclosed behind glass) very pricey for those.. Had a buddy who was long time season ticket holder in endzone row 15 . In order to renew his season tix EVERYONE who was season ticket holder had to pay an addtion $1,000 to help fund the stadium epansion. He was ticked ..Said hey I have been 30 year season ticket holder , why should I have to pony up money for someone else to sit in a stadium seat with cupholder when I still sit on an aluminum bench with no cupholder for my beer . No way ... abut 95 % of fans did renew as they didn't want to lose their season tix but he was one of the few who did not.
Of course , the Packers have a multi thousand waiting list for season tix so they had no problem getting a new guy to take his seats.
So bottom line.. it's just not DeWitt .... Owners of all major sports screw the blue collar guys at stadiums. Nothing new there.

The Packers are publicly owned, and shareholders get no equity stake or dividends, just voting rights and minor perks. So there is no archetypical moneybags owner sticking it to the working man. I'm sure the premium seat and box owners are paying just like Joe Sixpack in the bleachers. It beats hitting up taxpayers.

[RamFan08NY]

Post of the year? Wow. Talking about the bar being low.

[scoutyjones2]

Yawn

[OregonRedbird]

Whatever the year the reality is clear. From the White House to the Outhouse it's a transactional world. Maybe it's always only been about the money and the values and traditions we treasured and counted on were an illusion and far more fragile than we believed.

For billionaires with billion dollar toys, fretting over the P/L has always been laughable. The value of sports franchises grows and grows as respect for the fans that make it possible shrinks and vanishes. Not an indictment, just sayin'.

[rockondlouie]

"Time for DeWitt III with him MBA from Harvard to step up..."

[45s]

Whatever the year the reality is clear. From the White House to the Outhouse it's a transactional world. Maybe it's always only been about the money and the values and traditions we treasured and counted on were an illusion and far more fragile than we believed.

For billionaires with billion dollar toys, fretting over the P/L has always been laughable. The value of sports franchises grows and grows as respect for the fans that make it possible shrinks and vanishes. Not an indictment, just sayin'.

Those are some solid observations….

However, many continue to let themself be taken advantage of..

tough to feel sorry for those folks

[ramfandan]

That is not only DeWitt but happens throughout sports regarding seating.
Green Bay Packers ..had about 60,000 seats in their oval ..Always have been bench seats (so no seat back nor cupholders )..just long benches sitting shoulder to shoulder. 47 rows of them . Packers decided to expand their seating .
So above the perimteter , they added about 8 more rows behind a railing and put in seats with cupholders . Sold these as 'club seats' So charged $25 or more per seat and the location was even higher than row 47 of the bleachers. Behind that they build 3 rows of luxury boxes (enclosed behind glass) very pricey for those.. Had a buddy who was long time season ticket holder in endzone row 15 . In order to renew his season tix EVERYONE who was season ticket holder had to pay an addtion $1,000 to help fund the stadium epansion. He was ticked ..Said hey I have been 30 year season ticket holder , why should I have to pony up money for someone else to sit in a stadium seat with cupholder when I still sit on an aluminum bench with no cupholder for my beer . No way ... abut 95 % of fans did renew as they didn't want to lose their season tix but he was one of the few who did not.
Of course , the Packers have a multi thousand waiting list for season tix so they had no problem getting a new guy to take his seats.
So bottom line.. it's just not DeWitt .... Owners of all major sports screw the blue collar guys at stadiums. Nothing new there.

The Packers are publicly owned, and shareholders get no equity stake or dividends, just voting rights and minor perks. So there is no archetypical moneybags owner sticking it to the working man. I'm sure the premium seat and box owners are paying just like Joe Sixpack in the bleachers. It beats hitting up taxpayers.

Actually Mort, the taxpayers were hit up too. In addition to the season tix holders ponying up the $$$ I mentioned , a 0.5 % tax was proposed for Brown County taxpayers. Even though the Packers are the only pro team around in Green Bay (and people are Packer nuts there ), the vote passed in a close vote of 53-47 % . So nearly half the residents were ticked about it . That tax generated slightly more than $300 M That was in 2003 .

[mattmitchl44]

Whatever the year the reality is clear. From the White House to the Outhouse it's a transactional world. Maybe it's always only been about the money and the values and traditions we treasured and counted on were an illusion and far more fragile than we believed.

For billionaires with billion dollar toys, fretting over the P/L has always been laughable. The value of sports franchises grows and grows as respect for the fans that make it possible shrinks and vanishes. Not an indictment, just sayin'.

I think it is a lot more true that some fans think billionaires SHOULD treat sports franchises as "billion dollar toys" that it is that most owners do actually think of them as such.

[Carp4Cy]

The post of the day and possibly of the year.

by ScotchMIrish » 14 Feb 2026 09:28 am

Time for DeWitt III with him MBA from Harvard to step up. Unfortunately he seems to see the world from the perspective of someone who inherited money. The focus on replacing blue collar seats in Busch II with luxury suites in Busch III and the move toward forcing fans to pay to watch games indicate he doesn't understand blue collar fans who for 100 years were the backbone of the Cardinals.

Busch 3 is not thr problem. It was fine for 15 years and it can be again. It’s the product on the field and the manager and the attitude of the ownership that the fans despise.

[Carp4Cy]

Whatever the year the reality is clear. From the White House to the Outhouse it's a transactional world. Maybe it's always only been about the money and the values and traditions we treasured and counted on were an illusion and far more fragile than we believed.

For billionaires with billion dollar toys, fretting over the P/L has always been laughable. The value of sports franchises grows and grows as respect for the fans that make it possible shrinks and vanishes. Not an indictment, just sayin'.

I think it is a lot more true that some fans think billionaires SHOULD treat sports franchises as "billion dollar toys" that it is that most owners do actually think of them as such.

I’m not a millionaire, but I work hard and I can afford tickets to go see games. I don’t like the price of beer, but I’ll buy one or two. What Will keep me from going more is these games aren’t fun.
A few years ago when we had Albert Pujols and Yadi and Goldie and NAdo and Wainwright, and the rest of them, I loved watching those teams and went as often as I could. We had
Star power
Fundamentals
Chemistry.
Love for the game.
Household names
Franchise players
And winning more than we lost.

As a fan that checks the boxes for me to enjoy going. We’ve lost most of that and have nit replace replaced it. When will we?

[bretto12]

If you'll only support a team full of Pujols and Yadis, and a team the wins 90 games a year. Then you are either a spoiled fan who jumps on the bandwagon when they win, but leaves the team if they need to rebuild or someone who does not understand the game.

The game has changed. Look at salaries 10 years ago. The large population team owners figured out that they could build their own TV system and use the population to outspend, all but 4 or 5 teams. In today's game, money buys championships and the truth is that the big market teams own the league. Stl no longer has the entire midwest as it's fan base. TV has replaced the radio broadcasts which made people in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Tennessee and others, Cardinal fans.

The Cardinals will never have a 300 million dollar payroll and the only thing that will balance the competition is a salary floor and a salary Cap. The players will still get their money. but it may be in Miami or Kansas City instead of NY or LA.