Gopher Season Ticket Costs Going Way UP?

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Gopher024 said:
They're a year to late with this news for me. Just bought a new house and had kid number 2. See you later season tickets. What a shame, I really looked forward to bringing my family to games for years to come, but not at this cost. I have other higher priorities...
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I just bought a seat for the new kid this year. Only 3, but rules are rules. Wish I had snuck him in.
 

John Galt said:
If they would have decided to phase in 10-15% price increases per year, I don't think anyone would have blinked.
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For sure. I would much rather be bled out slowly than feel like they went straight for the jugular. Hell, they could have increased the ticket prices by 10% each year for the rest of my life and I probably would just keep paying.
 

John Galt said:
Given the outrage on this thread by the most loyal Gopher fans out there, I doubt this plan moves forward...
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Just received a text from another season ticket holder, who doesn't post here, and his group of four are now on the outs.
 

Some guy said:
Good for you. What did you do? Work? Grants?
When did you graduate?


Six figures is pretty ridiculous. I would be willing to guess most people leave with 30-50k in debt though.
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08. I worked. No scholarships, no grants.
 

Maximus said:
And then the marching band will march down university avenue and the PA guy will be fired.
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I think GH is a reasonable barometer for how fans feel about the program. If fans are this upset and threatening to not renew, I could see Norwood reconsidering...
 


They intend to sell the good seats to corporate contributors, and shove those willing to go to the cheap seats. I may hang in for one year, but I''ll never cough up a grand for the right to buy my seats in 2017.
 

Just got a text from a non-GHer dropping his two tix and another who is pretty sure they will too.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
They didn't force me to take them out. I was an out of state student who got an undergrad and two graduate degrees, and I knew what I was getting into. Doesn't change the fact that I don't have much wiggle room in my budget. As for the guy who suggested that I move from my current seats to the worst seats in the stadium to avoid the massive increase, I'm glad to know that I can get a worse product for the same price.

I don't resent the U for this decision. They looked at their research and numbers and made a business decision. I'll be doing the same with my personal budget and ticket options.
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Getting the grad degrees explains some of that. I thought you racked up six figs just on your bachelors.
 

leftyslefty said:
They intend to sell the good seats to corporate contributors, and shove those willing to go to the cheap seats. I may hang in for one year, but I''ll never cough up a grand for the right to buy my seats in 2017.
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Are they expecting an influx of corporate buyers though?! Those corporate buyers will be spending their football money at the new Vikes stadium.
 



leftyslefty said:
They intend to sell the good seats to corporate contributors, and shove those willing to go to the cheap seats. I may hang in for one year, but I''ll never cough up a grand for the right to buy my seats in 2017.
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Worked well with hockey. Totally killed the atmosphere at those games.
 


If the corporate types existed, they wouldn't wait for the increase to buy tickets.
 

Our group of 12 is out. We've had 8-14 tickets since 2001.
 




I think the U of M very much overplayed its hand with these dramatic price increases. Raising prices is not outrageous as a concept, but when the prices go up this quickly by such an amount, it begs unrest. It'll be interesting to see if the U of M backs down in some fashion due to the backlash. That said, they reseated Williams Arena and Mariucci Arena within the past couple of years and absorbed the attrition. So perhaps they figure it'll be alright as a net effect once the initial heat dies down. It still seems like too much, too fast. For the record, my seats in 233 are not impacted by this new plan, something for which I'm thankful while deeply sympathizing with those who have been impacted.
 


Looks like I'll be upgrading my seats next year! Piss and moan, piss and moan Gopherhole.
 

I like how they state " If you have specific questions about how today’s announcement impacts you and your seats, please email [email protected]." I emailed them to inform them how it impacts them (in relation to my seats), they can have them back...
 

Ruggers said:
Wow, lots of negativity on this board. How much do people spend on booze? eating out? tailgating supplies? I've seen some very reasonable replies on here too...bottom line, business is business and IF it's true that prices are lowest/lower in B1G and IF it's true they haven't raised the scholly seat prices, then what do people expect? you can't have your cake and eat it too. It's like bitching about the new Vikes stadium being built and some tax money used but if we hadn't built it, Vikes most likely would've left...bitch about the stadium, bitch about the Vikes leaving. I'm going to wait to see how many DON'T renew their tix and maybe, just maybe I'll upgrade my uppper level, chair back seats. I'll cut back on some of my excessive spending, find an alternative to tailgating in the high priced lots and see be able to watch my Gophers...it's about planning folks and budgeting-let's put our big boy pants on, take the skirts off and figure it out.
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Again, people aren't mad about the prices going up. They are mad about how much and how quickly they go up.

And maybe people do budget a lot already just so they can get the season tickets they do. Not everyone can just magically "figure it out" if they don't have the money.
 

I'm not one to request to have everything an athletic department does explained to me, but i would very much like to hear straight from them why they are doing this and for what purpose. If it's to raise more money for facilities, I'd like to hear it straight from there mouths.
 

Ski U Master said:
Worked well with hockey. Totally killed the atmosphere at those games.
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That was my first thought. They're trading a few extra dollars for an atmosphere that is going to suck rocks.
 

Gopherdrummer said:
Anybody have Norwood's contact info? We can complain all we want here, but if you don't let your voice be heard directly it won't make a difference. This move is pretty unsettling given the number of retailers that have driven many customers away by raising prices when they weren't meeting demand.

I will probably keep my season tickets. But my group was hoping to move to what will now be donation seats and add a seat or two. We know of a few friends who were hoping to get season tickets this year. We will have to stay put and may never move. The fact that this comes after the most successful season since 2003, in which the U did not sell out a single home game, does not help.
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Contact AD Scrooge at: [email protected]
 

We have 12 season tickets for our family I have had season tickets since I was 12 years old started going in 1964
so that's 50 years of mostly bad football but have always supported the football program. I can no longer afford this. My dad started going in 1927 my grandfather started in 1900 at Northrup field. I guess for our family the history will end.
now retired I don't make enough money to continue. Think I will just stay home watch on TV and go to one or two games picking up a ticket off the street
 

Ski U Master said:
Worked well with hockey. Totally killed the atmosphere at those games.
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Hockey season tickets actually went down from 2012-13 to 2013-14, which was my first year buying them. They remained the same for 2014-15. I haven't been able to dig up the 2010-11 or 2011-12 prices. Needless to say, I'm fully expecting a similar plan to emerge for hockey.
 

Can someone (more technically savvy than me) start a poll to determine what percentage of GopherhHole season ticket holders are planning on not renewing or reducing their season tickets?

I do believe this site to be a good barometer of many of the most loyal and passionate Gopher fans. Perhaps the results could then be shared with Mr. Norwood.

Personally, I will be hard pressed to renew my 4 tickets at the future pricing announced.


Nevermind, I see that Stan is already on this.
 

If Teague has any sense, he'll come out with an announcement tomorrow morning that goes something like this:

Now that we have your attention, the U of M is rewarding all season ticket holders by freezing ticket prices next year and offering deep discounts on tickets for this year's bowl game. Tell all your friends and family.

Happy Holidays and Go Gophers!
 

afurry91 said:
I'm not one to request to have everything an athletic department does explained to me, but i would very much like to hear straight from them why they are doing this and for what purpose. If it's to raise more money for facilities, I'd like to hear it straight from there mouths.
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Their website actually spells it out. I get it. We want a competitive Athletic Department and they need to support all the costs related to put winning teams on the field. However, I challenge the Athletic Department to actually become innovative with figuring out how to manage operating costs while trying to grow revenue. They shouldn't just add costs (coaching salaries, training, equipment, etc.) and just push that cost to the fans.

My worry is with everyone here in that the games may begin to feel stale, and fans that want to be at the game will have no access to tickets because they can't afford to "play" in the market. Jerry wants a party. So throw a kegger, not a masquerade ball.

https://goldengopherfund.com/Online/scholarship-seating-adjustments#prettyPhoto
 

BHgrappler said:
Can someone (more technically savvy than me) start a poll to determine what percentage of GopherhHole season ticket holders are planning on not renewing or reducing their season tickets?

I do believe this site to be a good barometer of many of the most loyal and passionate Gopher fans. Perhaps the results could then be shared with Mr. Norwood.

Personally, I will be hard pressed to renew my 4 tickets at the future pricing announced.
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That poll already exists.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
This will lose more money than it makes.
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It's hard not to think this. How many season ticket holders can they lose and still break even on this? And is it worth embarrassing yourself with 15,000 empty seats every week?

Every time you think the U has people in charge who have a clue, they prove you wrong. Norwood is 0-2 in this area. The UNC fiasco will seem quaint by comparison. This is something you might be able to get away with after a Rose Bowl. Not after an 8-4 appearance in the Taxslayer.com Bowl.
 

My group (currently 3 groups of 2) had just decided this year to each add one ticket for next year, so we'd go from 6 to 9 seats. My buddy has two kids under 3 that come to every game, and I'll have a 9 month old at the start of next season. So we decided to up our tickets this year, and then add one more time when we're all done having kids, so all of us and our families can go to games. Now that appears that isn't going to happen. I think we'll stick with 6 tickets next year, but I think after that, we'll have to go down to 4 total and rotate who gets to go.

As the U has stated all along, 100% of the $190MM facilities project will be done by private donations. This money will not be going to facilities. We now have Big10 network money, and the athletics department is in the black. This makes no sense to me as to why they have to raise prices so dramatically so fast.

Mr. Teague better be careful- when ticket prices get outrageous, the fanbase is going to expect a lot more for their money. People who spend this kind of money are going to expect a winner every year (see Neb, Mich). Norwood has the current position of being able to look like a hero by fielding a winning team and keeping Kill around. But if they slip back into mediocrity (or worse), I would expect the fanbase to either get more vocal in their displeasure with the state of the team, or be much quicker to drop their tickets.
 

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