Well, today I received my request from the Penguins to renew my season tickets in section 201. And boy is my ass sore! Per seat my tickets are going up from $49.50 to $53.50 each! That is an 8% increase!

Look, I know Mario and his crew live a life of champagne wishes and caviar dreams, but an eight freaking percent increase? Seriously? You know, I got a raise this year. It was 2.1%.

I do not know how much longer the Pens can keep these yearly astronomical and out of line with the rest of the nation price increases up. But at the rate things are going soon my pair of seats are going to be close to $10k.

Looks like as a season ticket holder I will be going to even fewer games next year. Maybe 10 at most. The rest will have to be sold just so I can do that and afford to see some games in the playoffs too.

Hey Mario, just a suggestion. You know, from the little people. Next time before you stick it to the season ticket holders how about a little warning and at least offer up some lube?

Its almost spring and while some brain dead fans in Pittsburgh are dreaming of Pirates baseball, and another losing season, anyone with a brain is excited about the new Arena Football League team in Pittsburgh; the Pittsburgh Power. And yes, I have season tickets.

Last night the Power kicked off their season to a crowd of 13,904 at Consol Energy Center. Many of these people, it appeared based on the lines at the ticket window, were walkups who decided to buy tickets the day of the game. I’d love to give you stats, but the AFL has not updated their site as of this morning.

The game was back and forth all night with both teams driving up and down the field on each other. The Power however made several key mistakes. They dropped interceptions, they were unable to sack Justin Allgood (Philly’s QB) several times when they had him dead to rights and they allowed the Soul to intercept a pass off the end walls late in the game.

But in the waning moments of regulation, with the Power trailing 52-49, and after a dropped touchdown pass that would have put the Power up, Paul Edinger, formerly of the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings tied the game up with a 35-yard field goal through the narrow AFL uprights.

The Power however self-destructed in OT. They were unable to get anything going and on fourth down an interception return for a touchdown capped the game. Bernard Morris, quarterback for the Power, watched as Philadelphia’s Mike Brown ran the ball in to end zone.

The crowd, which thinned out late as the Power were down, was loud and boisterous all night long cheering their new team on. Lots of people appear to be giving the Power a chance here in Pittsburgh. Which, considering the options (i.e. the Suckos who have a losing streak so long that if it were a person it would be old enough to legally have sex with) who can blame them?

Oh, but just one suggestion to the Power. It sounds really weird when the announcer comes on and talks about getting a “black Power” t-shirt. It would sound equally weird if he were to come across talking about a “white Power” t-shirt too. You guys might want to rethink that!

Last week, like thousands of other season ticket holders, I got my yearly invoice asking for my deposit on next year’s season tickets. Of course the most annoying thing is that they ask me for my deposit BEFORE they tell me what the price of tickets for my two seats in D-7 will be once the move to the new arena is complete. Still waiting for that info!

Last year for my two tickets I paid a deposit of $769.70. This year the deposit was $840. I am not sure if this is a harbinger of a ticket price increase or not. But the 9.1% increase would be inline, but high, with what we have recently seen. It would also mean that the total cost of my tickets will be over $4,000 this year if true.

Of course with a season ticket waiting list the Penguins certainly probably feel confident that they can raise prices. It is simply supply and demand after all.

What I don’t like is the Penguins asking me for money before telling me what the total bill will be. I think it is sort of underhanded if you really want my opinion.

14,000 Full Season Ticket equivalents … that is how many how many seats are basically already sold, once again, before the Penguins will take to the ice on October 2^nd to hoist their Stanley Cup banner. Same as last year. The Mellon Arena, the Igloo, holds 16,940 or 17,132 IF you count standing room only, etc.

With the Penguins reporting season ticket renewals at 98%, that means that for this upcoming season roughly only about 280 sets of tickets became available for those on the waiting list which has now grown to over 3,000. You do the math. If Full Season Ticket equivalents remain capped at 14,000 even after the new arena is operational and barring any lean years for the team where fans desert the team in droves, this puts the season ticket waiting list at almost 11 years (10.71 years to be exact) long if those sorts of numbers hold up.

Not bad for a team that a couple years ago was threatening to leave without a new facility. Not bad at all. Well, unless you are one of those fans without season tickets and having to buy them on Ticket Exchange or from season ticket holders for a premium that is.