BUFFALO, N.Y. — Fall is packed with things to do in upstate, from concerts and festivals to sports games. But with the cost of tickets, parking, food and everything in between adding up, how are people deciding what’s actually worth the money?
The price tag for a night out can go well beyond the ticket itself and as consumers face higher costs in just about every part of their lives, experts say people are not necessarily giving up entertainment, they are instead becoming more strategic about where they spend their money.
For the thousands of people who attended Borderland Festival 2026 in East Aurora earlier this month, it was all about finding something fun to do this fall. But is high inflation impacting how people have fun?
“Inflation, gas [and] groceries factor into where people can direct their funds,” said Borderland attendee Kelly Christie.
A ticket, food, drinks, maybe some merchandise, and suddenly, a day at a festival can become a much bigger investment than the price printed on the ticket.
“I think things have gotten really expensive,” said Stevie Gabler. “And you kind of have to decide where you want to put your money.”
That decision has become much more common since COVID-19, according to University at Buffalo consumer behavior expert Charles Lindsey.
“Especially live events, concerts, music festivals, sporting events — the cost of those events has really skyrocketed since COVID,” said Lindsey.
Lindsey said consumers are responding in two ways: choosing fewer live events and moving some entertainment spending to the couch.
“A lot of consumers are being more selective in terms of the live events that they do consume,” said Lindsey. “So we kind of have the in-person live event economy and we have the couch economy.”
But that doesn’t mean people are done paying for experiences. They’re just asking a tougher question: What’s more worth it?
“Even last night with the Bills home opener, I wanted to go,” said Jayden Balcarczyk. “But especially buying tickets to this, you pick and choose.”
For Balcarczyk and Gabler, Borderland offered one way to stretch those entertainment dollars, with three days of music and multiple artists for one festival purchase.
“For this being three days — granted, I love the Bills,” said Balcarczyk, “but stuff like this, I don’t really do as much. I go to sports games more than I do concerts. So I was like, let’s even it out.”
And as Balcarczyk pointed out, that same debate is playing out in sports. University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill sports ticketing researcher Nels Popp said the new Bills stadium creates another premium around the live experience, especially when fans factor in transportation and parking.
“They have a great team that people think has a shot at the Super Bowl, plus they’re in a brand new venue that everybody wants to see, plus they’ve created a great atmosphere there,” said Popp. “It creates demand that people want to see.”
Popp said that can make live sports feel less like an everyday expense and more like a luxury purchase.
“We just may see that happening more and more and less of everyone having accessibility to the live event,” Popp said.
It doesn’t mean New Yorkers are all staying home. Instead, Lindsey said they’re becoming more strategic, deciding which experiences get a spot in the budget.
“People are far more selective and strategic in terms of how they consume those live, in-person events,” said Lindsey, “being more budget-conscious, I think, than perhaps the average consumer of those live in-person events was 20 or 30 years ago.”
For Christie, who’s been going to Borderland for years, the value isn’t just measured in dollars.
“I think you get a great bang for your buck,” said Christie. “And there’s not a lot of events like Borderland where you could take your money and put it into a good investment of a three-day festival like that.”
While inflation continues to add to the cost of having fun, the biggest takeaway and question for New Yorkers isn’t necessarily whether they will spend their money, it’s what they’ll spend it on.
Experts said one of the biggest things consumers should remember this fall is that the ticket prices are only part of the equation. Parking, food, drinks and merchandise can quickly add to the final bill, so budgeting for the entire experience, not just admission, can help prevent that sticker shock.
Source: spectrumlocalnews.com
