There is price gouging, and there is price gouging. What is happening at the NBA Finals is absolutely the latter. And that’s the best way I can explain it.
Check out this picture from @DJFolk who passed this along from Game 1 between the Cavaliers and the Warriors, and put a pillow on the floor to soften the blow from your jaw hitting it:
Food prices at the oracle #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/CrevUaGaCD
— DJ Folk (@DJFolk) June 5, 2015
You read that right. A hot dog and a souvenir beer is $25.50. And Oakland doesn’t go by a different currency that has to be converted on Google. That’s American dollars, just like the rest of America. Now that’s almost double what those dishes cost usually at the Oracle, and if you read the food reviews on Yelp the regular season prices were barely worth the trouble … let alone what you’re paying if you were there tonight.
Considering the fans already paid close to $700 for the cheapest Game 1 seats on Ticketmaster, you would think a gouging on the price of chicken fingers wouldn’t be necessary. But I guess they felt it so. Note to Game 2 ticket holders: Eat before you get there.
(Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)