Take me out to the...virtual reality headset?
Tickets for almost everything in Canada – from sporting events to concerts – have begun pricing out families. Does the future of affordable attendance mean strapping on a VR headset with the kids?
May 26, 2025
As you sit there recovering from the removal of the limbs you sold to take your family to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour last fall, you’ve had a lot of time to ask yourself some personal questions; first and foremost: why are tickets to everything in Canada seemingly so (bleeping) expensive?
The tour crashed Ticketmaster's website and saw ticket resale prices of up to $33,000 for a pair. No, you don’t have to wipe your glasses – that correctly reads $33,000. For TWO SEATS. While there are various suggestions on how to fix this broken system, of which the central issue appears to be scalping, it’s been a problem for a long time and doesn’t show signs of fully stopping anytime soon.
Spending half of a mortgage payment on family night
As Canadians, there’s a good chance your ideal family sports night out includes an NHL game. Great! Looking for the least-expensive NHL outing for a family of four in the country? That’s in Ottawa, with an average cost of $439 to attend a Senators game at the Canadian Tire Centre. For many, this is no small amount of cash, and it’s about 29% less expensive than the league average!
Across the border, the concerns are the same, and they have been for a while. The Wall Street Journal called 2023 “The Year of the $1,000 Concert Ticket.” One survey at the time even found that 46% of respondents would consider getting a second job to cover the cost of tickets! The fact this is a legitimate consideration for so many is slightly depressing but shows how strong the demand is to attend such big events.
“Families are feeling the pinch”, says Robert Lavigne, Chief Economist, OMERS (you met him before here). “Persistently elevated price levels since the pandemic, higher interest rates and now the threat of tariff turmoil are all weighing on the disposable incomes of Canadian households, as well as their perceptions of future prospects. In these tough times, people save by cutting back on discretionary spending.”
Let’s get virtual, virtual
But is there an alternative to moonlighting as a night-shift employee at the company you work for during the day? (People aren’t going to be fooled by that wig, you know.) Apple, Meta and other companies in the virtual reality (VR) headset business think there is. Yet they don’t seem to be making much progress (yet).
Apple Vision Pro, a headset that at first wowed industry followers but has since suffered reduced production amidst a slowdown in demand, received positive reviews for its ability to make watching a sporting event feel like being there. This includes an at-bat from a baseball game at Fenway Park and a scoring play from an NBA courtside “seat.” Said the reviewer, “I would genuinely consider buying a Vision Pro if the one and only thing it did was show entire sporting events like this.” The one problem? It costs $5,000. By my rough math, you could take the whole family to 11 live Senators games for that amount (and that’s just one headset, not four)! But will prices come down over time?
“As with most emerging technologies, early versions carry a premium, but innovation and scale tend to drive prices down; what feels like a luxury today often becomes accessible tomorrow,” says Tom Kerigan, Vice President of Enterprise Architecture at OMERS. In his role, Tom sets the organization’s technology vision, aligns IT strategy with business goals, and ensures we spend our members' money on technology solutions wisely.
Meta, having been in the VR headset game since its first reveal in 2017 (when it was known as Facebook – remember that?), is already seeing the winds move in this direction. The company unveiled the Meta Quest Pro for $1,400 in 2024, then discontinued it, citing weak sales and market shifts towards more affordable VR solutions. With that said, its lower-cost versions still boast the Xtadium app (really cool video here), designed to bring you as close to the action as possible from your couch. designed to bring you as close to the action as possible from your couch.
It’s clear the technology is there, even if, for now, the demand isn’t. So how long until the two align?
"Emerging technologies may start with a slow burn, but once their value resonates, adoption accelerates,” adds Tom. “What once seemed futuristic quickly becomes part of everyday life.”
Even if this all comes to fruition over the next two, five or 10 years, the question is: will families really feel the same connection as they would standing and high fiving with thousands of others at a live event with their heroes just feet away, as they will sitting on couches with large lenses strapped to their foreheads? That’s a personal choice for many families, similar to choosing to spend a day out of the house enjoying the theatre experience with buttery popcorn in hand rather than streaming a different film at home.
One thing is certain: for those planning to use it regularly, the cost per event will never be as expensive as it would be live. The bonus? You never did have to sell those limbs to experience it.
The Relatable Economist is an ongoing written series focused on how the economy, geopolitics, markets and more are impacting our day-to-day lives, discussing topics that matter to you, even if just to share with your friends at your next get-together or in the stands at your child’s or grandchild’s soccer game. Have a topic you want to learn more about? Write to us at therelatableeconomist@omers.com.