'New elite: it's pricier to see West Ham's Paolo Di Canio than opera's Angela Gheorghiou.' Edin Hamzic reports that an afternoon at the football (soccer) costs more than a night at the opera: <P><BR> <A HREF="http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/02/11/stinwenws02018.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/02/11/stinwenws02018.html</A> <BR>

This is true here, too, Stuart. I am not a football fan (but I am a baseball fan) however, as I understand it, the cost for going to a football game is higher than going to the theater.<P>And last I checked, there is a box office downtown, San Diego, that if one buys the theater tickets on the day of the performance the tickets are heavily discounted - at least 50%. <P>It is also possible to park for the theaters here free of charge - but that is virtually impossible at the stadium. <P>The city is in the process of building a new stadium for baseball (we already have one that is shared for football and works just fine) but the city has run out of money. Anyway, in the new stadium it is planned to have LESS seats and the fear is that with less people, the tickets will cost even more for baseball and therefore fewer people will have access to seeing a live game.

Well, ballet tickets can be had for as little as $10, for standing room or rear balcony side at SFB. That's almost as cheap as going to the movies.

Of course football is more expensive! Where else do you get to see that many hooligans in one place? Mind you, they're not so entertaining if you're in spitting range.<p>[This message has been edited by Marie (edited February 12, 2001).]

And they grunt too much......<P>Interesting that the public doesn't mind paying these prices which are of course inflated by the contracts of most of the players. <P>It's what the market will bear I suppose.

. . .And add to that the fact that professional sports are for-profit ventures heavily subsidized by the government, at a level that the arts could only <I>dream</I> of.

I would wager that I could present a very respectable FULL SEASON for the salary of one (1) American footballer of average ability.<P>For that of any member of the top 5% in salaries, could probably "field" a company comparable to any in this country, save the top four or five.

And add to that the fact that the for profit sports teams - and most are highly profitable - are often threatening the cities to build them new stadiums, - or else they will leave........that is what is happening here.

In the world of soccer, Portuguese forward Luis Figo was recently traded by Catalan club Barcelona to Spanish club Real Madrid for something in the order of USD 45 million (Mind you this figure does not include the player's salary, signing-on bonus, and sponsorship deals).<P>I think that's enough to run a chamber-sized dance company for at least 30 years.<p>[This message has been edited by Azlan (edited February 13, 2001).]