Philadelphia Family Ends 58 Years of Sixers Season Tickets as Live-Sports Costs Rise 123% Since 2000

Aaron Selkow's family has held Philadelphia 76ers season tickets since 1968. They will not hold them for a 59th season.

Selkow, 56, told CBS News he had been weighing the decision "forever." The price tag finally settled it. By 2026, each ticket to each game cost more than $600.

From $6.50 to $600

Aaron's father, Don Selkow, bought the first pair of season tickets in 1968. The seats sat only a few rows behind the visitors' bench at the Spectrum. The cost was $6.50 each.

Over those decades the family watched George McGinnis, Julius Erving, Charles Barkley and Allen Iverson.

"It's like watching the ballet," Don said. "They're right in front of us. We love the sport. We love each other. What could be better?"

Aaron grew up in those seats. "I went from being a baby sitting on my parents' lap to being next to my dad at games," he said. "Those seats are us."

A decision made on paper

Aaron said money was only part of it. "It just didn't make common sense," he said. The family has a daughter in college who is headed to graduate school, and they wanted to "do some fun things in our life."

The call was so hard that he did not phone his father. He wrote him a letter instead. The Philadelphia Inquirer later published it as an op-ed, and CBS News reports it resonated with sports fans across the region and around the country.

He said the same math is pushing fans away from other teams too. "It was Eagles tickets or it was New York Giants tickets or it was Detroit Pistons tickets," he said.

His read on the Sixers' pricing is blunt. "The Sixers want someone who will pay the price and that's their product," Aaron said.

The decision came a few months before LeBron James chose to join the 76ers.

The numbers behind the sticker shock

The cost of attending live sports has risen 123% since 2000, according to the Consumer Price Index. CBS News says inflation alone cannot account for that jump.

Aaron makes the same point in his own words. He said the rate of increase in ticket prices is "going faster than the rate of inflation."

The Sixers left the Spectrum for the arena across the street in 1996. The Spectrum was a modest 1960s building in the style of the Boston Garden, Chicago Stadium and Los Angeles' Great Western Forum. The new building, now called Xfinity Mobile Center, is a sprawling multi-level arena that slightly increased capacity but made the seats plusher with suites, clubs and restaurants. It completed a $400 million renovation last year.

The number of seats for fans may have gone up, but the number of seats for sale to the average fan has gone down, according to CBS News. The network says the trend is playing out across all major sports.

The CBS News Data Team analyzed all stadiums and arenas in America's biggest sports cities with professional teams in the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL. Its analysis found that new stadiums and arenas built since 2000 have lowered overall capacity by nearly 90,000 seats, while those venues have raised the percentage of seats reserved for clubs, boxes and suites.

Why owners say prices climb

Mike Vorkunov, a sports business writer for The Athletic and The New York Times, told CBS News that owners are trying to maximize revenues through premium seating and exclusive offerings. He pointed to rising costs for players, coaches, front offices, travel, scouting and technology.

He also said new owners, having paid billions for a franchise, are especially looking to cash in. "The entire sports ecosystem is that they're being incentivized to treat it like a business to try to make a profit every year," he said.

Vorkunov added that owners are increasingly recognizing the need to appeal to returning customers like the Selkows, who at one time might have been the bread-and-butter of the business.

What a bigger building bought

The change is easy to see in one family's seats. The Spectrum was a modest arena, and a pair of tickets a few rows behind the visitors' bench cost $6.50 apiece. The newer arena added suites, clubs and restaurants, and its renovation cost $400 million. Tickets now cost more than $600 a game.

A team is a private business and sets its own prices. No one is forced to buy. Fans like the Selkows are simply deciding the product is no longer worth what the team charges.

For a family that held its seats for 58 seasons, the answer arrived in an envelope instead of a phone call.