Sports attendance up, hot dog spending down

By Ben Klayman

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A couple of times a year, David Holzhammer drives more than 200 miles from his home in Iowa City, Iowa, to see the Chicago Cubs play baseball. That is a luxury he is not giving up, despite high gas prices and other strains on his wallet.

But he is cutting back on hot dogs and beer at the relatively expensive concession stands at Wrigley Field. "I try to spend less at the game," said Holzhammer, 55. "I came up with three high-school boys and I had them eat outside the ballpark."

Even in an economic downturn, fans still go to sports games, and some leagues are setting attendance records, but such statistics hide a more complicated story on the effect of a weakening U.S. economy on sports.

In a Reuters/Zogby survey on June 12 to 14, almost 15 percent of those polled said they are attending fewer sporting events this year, and most of those people cited the weak economy as the reason. About 28 percent are spending less on food and souvenirs.

"The reality is people are going to spend less and be more careful about choosing what they spend it on," Rich Gotham, president of the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics, said in a telephone interview.

The results of the survey were borne out in numerous interviews at ballparks, arenas, golf courses and race tracks around the United States, where fans like Holzhammer said they were scaling back on what they spend.

Bob Carter, 66, has given up ticket packages for National Football League and Major League Baseball teams in Houston. "I'm retired. On a fixed income you can't do a whole lot, but I had to cut back," he said.

Carter was speaking on May 31 at a Houston Dynamo Major League Soccer game, where tickets on average are less expensive than the local football and baseball teams.

ON THE BRINK

Americans like Carter have every reason to be gloomy. Home prices extended their record slide in April, average prices at the gas pump top $4 a gallon, food prices are surging and former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has warned the U.S. economy is "on the brink" of recession.

John Thomas, a 32-year-old consultant from Los Angeles attending the recent U.S. Open golf event at Torrey Pines in San Diego, has also tightened his belt.

"With the gas prices, it eats into what I might spend on concessions because at that point then I might as well just eat at home, save my funds and drink in a bar after the game instead of enjoying $8 beers," Thomas said.

Gas prices and other rising expenses are hitting consumers everywhere. Almost six of every 10 polled in the Reuters/Zogby survey are considering changing how often they drive, 39 percent mulling changes to where they vacation and 31 percent reconsidering how often they eat out.

A June survey of new-car buyers by Kelley Blue Book found similar results as 27 percent have stopped attending sporting events altogether, while another 25 percent said they attend them less often.

Nevertheless, most sports are seeing record attendance, even though some analysts say teams could be handing out more complimentary tickets to keep numbers up.