The Buccaneers finally win, so now they increase ticket prices

For the second straight year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have increased their season ticket prices. Perhaps not coincidentally, this is also only the second time in eight years the Bucs have posted a winning season — and the last time they posted a winning season was back in 2010, when the financial crisis was still hitting hard and the Bucs were having a lot of trouble filling the stadium.

The Bucs increased their ticket prices last year as well, but this year’s increases seem larger at first glance.

Season ticket price increases are never popular, but one price increase in eight years doesn’t strike me as particularly egregious. Some of these numbers do, though. Via the Tampa Bay Times:

UPPER LEVEL: More than half the sections have price increases of $50, a hike of as much as 12 percent. Prices in 12 sections have stayed the same.

LOWER LEVEL: All prices have increased, with most season passes going up $50. Of 48 sections, 36 have price increases of $50 (a hike as low as 7 percent), 12 of $100 and two of $200, which is an increase of more than 20 percent.

A 20% increase is really hefty, while a seven percent increase seems a little more reasonable. Somewhat weirdly, the Tampa Bay Times reports that the prices for the most expensive seats have barely increased and in some cases actually gone down. Ahem.

We’ll see how these price increases impact this year’s attendance. The Bucs have done pretty well in terms of getting fans into the stadium the past two years, though getting slightly over 60,000 attendance still ranks them pretty low in the NFL hierarchy.