Dr Love said:
They're going to have to. Attendance will drop so severly they'll have no choice.
Ed Snider has already said he's going to drop prices.
Ed Snider said he's going to drop prices but he did not say he was going to drop prices permanently. Of course they're going to drop prices to win fans back. Teams will probably offer coupons like "Buy one hot dog, get a medium soda free" and things like that as well. But like others have said, the prices of concessions, parking, other merchandise will rise to try to offset the loss in ticket revenue. Especially if the way revenues are defined in the new CBA and the players get a portion of the concessions and parking money. Prices for those items will go up if the the players are going to get a portion of those revenues. If you havn't been to the arena in a year odds are you're not going to notice the price of hot dogs went up from $3.25 to $3.50 or $3.75. Not to mention there are people that don't buy food at games. But now they have these coupons and instead of paying $6 for the hot dog and soda, its only $3.50. People might be more willing to spend $3.50 than the $6 they wouldn't spend. If you didn't buy any food at games before you gave them no money but now because people have the coupon and they think its a bargain, they're now buying food.
Plus say the Flyers were selling out at an average ticket price of $45. They know that's what the market can bear. So to win fans back they lower prices to an average ticket price of $35. Well then the next year they raise prices to $37. Fans keep coming, the next year tickets are $40 and so on and in 4 or 5 years from now prices will be back to exactly where they were before the lockout. But now you're paying higher prices for concessions and parking. It's wishful thinking to believe that the lockout is going to cause a permanent drop in ticket prices.