In 鈥楰-shaped鈥� economy, football fans鈥� experiences vary 鈥� based on what they can pay
Buffalo Bills fans watching the Super Bowl this weekend will be nursing a familiar gripe. For the seventh straight season, the Bills made the playoffs, this time only to go out to the Denver Broncos.
Looking ahead to next season, however, a different concern looms for many: the team鈥檚 new . With a heated, grass field and roof canopy, the luxury facility will offer with exclusive access to restaurants and viewing areas. It will also have 10,000 fewer regular-priced seats than the old stadium.
Some die-hard fans have already been that have 聽over the past year.
Why We Wrote This
Pricey offerings aimed at the wealthy 鈥� letting them cut lines, watch events from private boxes, and travel in comfort 鈥� now make up a growing share of consumer spending, as regular Americans cut back. Some say there鈥檚 a social cost to living in such a bifurcated economy.
鈥淎 lot of people can鈥檛 afford it,鈥� says Chuck Sonntag, a lifelong Bills fan who sells spots in his yard for parking on game days. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure I鈥檓 going to see any games. I might be outpriced.鈥�
To build a new stadium with fewer seats might sound illogical. But for sports franchises seeking to maximize revenue, : Wealthy fans are willing to pay more 鈥� sometimes far more 鈥� for better seats and premium experiences. And it鈥檚 their spending, not that of the numerically larger middle and working classes, that is
Simply put, the era of the general admission ticket might be over.
From and to and , companies are increasingly focused on providing premium products and services priced far beyond the reach of most Americans. These services allow wealthy consumers , , , and . Upper-income Americans鈥� rapacious spending is often depicted as the upward-rising prong of a K, in what鈥檚 commonly referred to as 鈥渢he K-shaped economy.鈥� The declining prong represents everyone else, including many who have been forced in recent years to cut back on non-essentials they receive.
The top 10% of households by income 鈥� those who earn $275,000 or more per year 鈥� , up from 39% before the pandemic, according to Moody鈥檚 Analytics. These households typically own property and stocks, and their incomes have continued to outpace inflation. They spend more on goods and services but . Lower-income households, by contrast, have more credit card debt than they did before the pandemic, which has further pinched their spending power. As put it: 鈥淩ich Americans had a Good 2025. Everyone Else Fell Behind.鈥�
is just one of many indicators of a K-shaped economy, says Peter Atwater, an economist at the College of William & Mary who studies consumer confidence. He rues the decline of leisure services aimed at a broad mass market 鈥� the general admission ticket 鈥� and says there鈥檚 a social cost to living in such a bifurcated economy. 鈥淭he common experience no longer exists, both in terms of what we do, but also in what we purchase.鈥�
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e discovering is that the middle tier in America no longer exists,鈥� he adds. 鈥淭here is a worker class and an ownership class.鈥�
Smaller middle class, more millionaires
Concerns over affordability are reflected in voters鈥� negative perceptions of the U.S. economy and their own prospects for upward mobility. , two-thirds of voters said a middle-class lifestyle was now out of reach for most people. Most agreed that it was easier a generation ago to afford that lifestyle.
The U.S. middle class today is 鈥� roughly half of households today are considered middle class, down from 61% in 1971, according to Pew Research Center. But middle-class Americans remain . And more people have actually moved up the income ladder than fallen down it. , according to one analysis of census data. Meanwhile, the United States is home to more millionaires than any other country, with nearly of them.
These are the big spenders that professional sports teams love to court, says Victor Matheson, a professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross. In the past, game-day tickets were sold at face value, whether teams were doing well or not. Now, teams use data to pinpoint how much they can charge for seats, adjust prices and products in real time, and find fans willing to pay.
The best seats in the house don鈥檛 come cheap. Using data from ticket broker StubHub, Professor Matheson has calculated that two floor seats at the Boston Celtics鈥� arena cost the same as an entire section of bleacher seats. (That upper tier, though, is eating 鈥渁 lot more in concessions,鈥� he notes.)
No wonder, then, that sports stadium designers are trying to maximize premium seating instead of adding seats in upper sections. By shrinking their seat capacity, the Buffalo Bills , from football to to ice hockey, in building stadiums that punch up the fan experience for those who are willing to pay top dollar.
鈥淚t used to be about getting in as many fans as possible, but not anymore,鈥� 鈥淸Teams] all know where their revenues sit. ... Why build seats that you don鈥檛 necessarily need?鈥�
The disposable incomes of the wealthy and the 鈥渆xtraordinarily wealthy鈥� in a K-shaped economy underpin this business model, says Professor Matheson. 鈥淲e are making stadiums smaller rather than bigger to sell fewer but more expensive seats.鈥�
For NFL clubs, there鈥檚 also an accounting incentive, says Scott Pitoniak, a veteran sports reporter in Rochester, New York, and . The NFL鈥檚 revenue-sharing model allows teams to keep the money they make from selling luxury seats in boxes. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 share that money with the visiting team,鈥� he says.
A passionate fan base
When the Bills announced their plans to build a new stadium in 2022, promised by Gov. Kathy Hochul, fans initially expressed relief that the team was staying in Buffalo. Its owners, Terry and Kim Pegula, who bought the team for $1.4 billion in 2015, after the original stadium lease expired.
But this relief turned to outrage when the Bills . Ticket holders were asked to purchase personal seat licenses (PSLs),聽essentially the right to buy future season tickets in the new stadium. Sales opened in 2024, with . Exclusive club seats were priced as high as $50,000 鈥� .
Despite predictions that most fans would balk at these prices and that seat licenses would go unsold, the Bills . In a statement, Chief Operating Officer Pete Guelli said the team 鈥渨as thrilled so many of our fans are coming with us.鈥�
Mr. Pitoniak speculates that the 鈥渟ticker shock鈥� experienced by fans when the PSLs first launched might have forced the team to lower some prices. At the same time, he says, some fans probably strained their budgets to get tickets. Bills fans 鈥渋nvest more deeply in this team鈥� than those living in cities such as Boston and New York with multiple sports franchises, and that makes them unusual, he says. 鈥淭hey are so passionate.鈥�
Still, stadiums geared to high rollers can sometimes lose their special sauce. When the New York Yankees moved into a new stadium in 2009, 鈥渢hey priced out a lot of the 鈥榖leacher creatures,鈥欌�� says Mr. Pitoniak. At regular season games, corporate-owned seats behind home plate often sat empty, and even when the stadium filled up for big games 鈥渋t didn鈥檛 rock the way the old place [did],鈥� he says. 鈥淭he danger [of fancy stadiums] is that you鈥檙e going to price out a certain percentage of your passionate fan base, your real meat-and-potato fan base.鈥�
Mr. Sonntag, the long-suffering Bills fan, isn鈥檛 a season-ticket holder. Growing up in Orchard Park, the Buffalo suburb where the team plays, he found other ways into the stadium. A wheelchair user, he would approach a back gate and slip a guard $5 to let him in.聽 Sometimes, his friends would sneak in behind him.
He later with money from a legal settlement. has brought hundreds of disadvantaged kids to watch games and join a tailgate party. But even before the stadium move, Mr. Sonntag was finding it harder to pay for tickets. 鈥淲e used to have 22 [season] tickets for the kids but we lost them because they got expensive,鈥� he says.
He hopes to bring a few kids to the new stadium, if game-day tickets are available. But for the most part, he鈥檚 resigned to watching the Bills on TV. At least the team isn鈥檛 moving and he can still sell parking, he says. 鈥淲hen I see that stadium going up, I know it鈥檚 going to be here the rest of my life.鈥�
Editor's note: A sentence in this article was updated Feb. 6, the date of initial publication, to more accurately characterize the number of fans priced out of season tickets in Buffalo's new stadium.
