I don’t know if it’s been mentioned before on this board but, about a month ago, Iowa announced its Men’s BB ticket pricing structure for this season - $25 for weekend B10 games; $20 for weekday B10 games; and $12 for all non-Conference games – quite a departure from the $31 per game charged for all BB games this season by the Gopher Athletic Department.
For comparison purposes, I also checked the Michigan State athletic site; I don’t think anyone would dispute the fact that MSU has the most successful BB program in the B10 (at least during the Izzo Era) and is a top 5 program nationally. Currently, season ticket holders for Spartans BB are paying $26 per game for Lower Chair/ Bench seats; $20 per game for Upper Chair seats; and $11 per game for Upper Bench seats.
So there are two different ticket pricing approaches for the two schools in my sample (I didn’t see any evidence of Priority Seating at either school but I can’t be certain – more on that later). Iowa bases its ticket prices on the attractiveness of the game (i.e. demand), whereas MSU bases its ticket prices on where your seats are in the arena. The one thing the two schools have in common is that their ticket prices are significantly cheaper than what is being charged by Minnesota. For example, an Iowa season ticket holder pays 24% less to attend a weekend B10 game (55% less for a B10 weekday game and 158% less for a NC game) than we pay to see a team called Utah Valley (anyone ever heard of these guys before they popped up on our schedule?) .
Feeling ripped off? I suspect that the ticket prices we are paying for Gopher BB are the highest in the B10 and among the highest in the country – if one of the outstanding analysts on this board wants to be extra ambitious, perhaps you could prove/ disprove this theory with some solid data – any takers? (Selection Sunday?). The Gopher Athletic Dept has been gouging us season ticket holders for years and I, for one, am fed up. Most of us loyal Gopher fans stayed with the team during the lean Monson years, where mediocrity was king and highlights were rare; the Athletic Dept has turned its back on our loyalty and continued to treat us with disdain with its “anything for a buck” attitude (Priority Seating; continued high prices) and lousy home NC schedules (FoT – please don’t take this comment as an opportunity to beat the dead horse on the schedule issue – you’re wrong – none of the teams on our home NC schedule will finish in the top 100 in the RPI rankings).
Let’s look at a specific instance of price gouging from last season. Who could forget the Basketball “Classic” the Gophers hosted featuring an anonymous collection of pathetic have-nots (Georgia State, Bowling Green and Concordia) – this had to be one of the worst tournament fields hosted by a BCS school in NCAA history. The typical format for these 4-team tourneys is host vs creampuff on the first day while the other 2 teams (usually at least semi-decent) play each other for the right to meet the host in the championship game. The Gophers decided to tweak the format a bit and make it a round robin – why, you ask? That way the Athletic Dept could extract an additional $30 from its abused, unwitting customers – let’s charge the poor saps for 3 admissions instead of 2! I suppose an alternate explanation could be that they couldn’t figure out which of the 3 opponents would fill the role of “creampuff “since they all would qualify.
There’s a self-perpetuating aspect to the abysmal non-Conference schedules we’ve had to endure lately. Scheduling a quality opponent almost always entails a return engagement at their place. To do this, the Athletic Dept would have to sacrifice gate receipts for 14,000 tickets priced at $31 each, a significant chunk of change. If you compare this situation with that existing at Iowa you will note a big difference. Iowa currently plays in-State rival, Iowa State, each year – this season the game is at Ames.
Therefore Iowa had to forgo a NC game to accommodate this rivalry primarily because it was something their fan base desired (imagine that). But it only cost the Hawkeyes gate receipts from a full house at $12 per ticket, a much smaller economic sacrifice than what the Gophers would have to make to schedule a home/ home with a good opponent. Furthermore, because the Iowa State matchup is such a popular draw, Iowa could conceivably charge B10 prices for that game next year (don’t know if they plan to do that or not). So they really wouldn’t be sacrificing anything over a 2-year period. The only reason Minnesota would have to schedule a quality NC opponent at home is that it would be something their loyal fan base wanted – based on recent history, I wouldn’t hold my breath on that occurrence. Because of the economic disincentive, partially due to our current ticket pricing structure, I predict that we will continue to be stuck with the dregs of D1 BB on our home NC schedule with no BCS school matchups except for those dictated by the ongoing agreement between the B10 and ACC. In order to beef up our NCAA resume, we’ll continue to seek out quality RPI opponents in neutral site tournaments. Prove me wrong, Tubby!! Pleeeeease.
An interesting note on MSU BB: The Spartans are undergoing a seat reallocation process which will take effect in the 2010-11 season. It sounds very much like the process followed to allocate seats at TCF Bank Stadium (loyalty points, financial giving history, etc). Details are sketchy, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the prime seats required an annual priority donation similar to TCF Bank and priority seating at Williams Arena. It’ll be interesting to see how that all plays out – however, when the dust settles, I’d be willing to bet that the Gophers will maintain its number one ranking when it comes to high ticket prices.
Cynical Prediction: A number of you reported that you received information about an expansion of priority seating in your season ticket renewal applications – If I recall correctly, about 75% of the seats in Williams Arena would fall under the new plan and require an additional “donation”. Although the Athletic Dept labeled this mailing as a mistake, the mere fact that a draft plan exists does not bode well for us – they’re just waiting for the right time to lower the boom on us. An additional $250-$500 annual fee on top of already overpriced tickets would be outrageous IMO. Pro-rated over 18 games, a $250 fee would result in an increase of about $14 (or 45%) per ticket over current prices. How do you feel about forking over $45 to see the likes of Utah Valley? If the Gophers are as successful this season as most of us think they will be, the new priority seating plan could be implemented as early as next season (after the euphoria of a B10 title and an NCAA tourney run) and probably no later than the season after next.
Finally, I’m bracing myself for the inevitable comeback: “if you don’t like the price of the tickets, don’t buy them.” If that’s what you’re thinking, then you’re missing my point – the point being that the Gopher Athletic Dept is taking advantage of its customers and it’s high time someone called them on it. We all recognize that AD’s across the country face budget challenges, but Mr. Maturi needs to explain why his solution is to balance his budget on the backs of the U of M’s loyal fan base.
For comparison purposes, I also checked the Michigan State athletic site; I don’t think anyone would dispute the fact that MSU has the most successful BB program in the B10 (at least during the Izzo Era) and is a top 5 program nationally. Currently, season ticket holders for Spartans BB are paying $26 per game for Lower Chair/ Bench seats; $20 per game for Upper Chair seats; and $11 per game for Upper Bench seats.
So there are two different ticket pricing approaches for the two schools in my sample (I didn’t see any evidence of Priority Seating at either school but I can’t be certain – more on that later). Iowa bases its ticket prices on the attractiveness of the game (i.e. demand), whereas MSU bases its ticket prices on where your seats are in the arena. The one thing the two schools have in common is that their ticket prices are significantly cheaper than what is being charged by Minnesota. For example, an Iowa season ticket holder pays 24% less to attend a weekend B10 game (55% less for a B10 weekday game and 158% less for a NC game) than we pay to see a team called Utah Valley (anyone ever heard of these guys before they popped up on our schedule?) .
Feeling ripped off? I suspect that the ticket prices we are paying for Gopher BB are the highest in the B10 and among the highest in the country – if one of the outstanding analysts on this board wants to be extra ambitious, perhaps you could prove/ disprove this theory with some solid data – any takers? (Selection Sunday?). The Gopher Athletic Dept has been gouging us season ticket holders for years and I, for one, am fed up. Most of us loyal Gopher fans stayed with the team during the lean Monson years, where mediocrity was king and highlights were rare; the Athletic Dept has turned its back on our loyalty and continued to treat us with disdain with its “anything for a buck” attitude (Priority Seating; continued high prices) and lousy home NC schedules (FoT – please don’t take this comment as an opportunity to beat the dead horse on the schedule issue – you’re wrong – none of the teams on our home NC schedule will finish in the top 100 in the RPI rankings).
Let’s look at a specific instance of price gouging from last season. Who could forget the Basketball “Classic” the Gophers hosted featuring an anonymous collection of pathetic have-nots (Georgia State, Bowling Green and Concordia) – this had to be one of the worst tournament fields hosted by a BCS school in NCAA history. The typical format for these 4-team tourneys is host vs creampuff on the first day while the other 2 teams (usually at least semi-decent) play each other for the right to meet the host in the championship game. The Gophers decided to tweak the format a bit and make it a round robin – why, you ask? That way the Athletic Dept could extract an additional $30 from its abused, unwitting customers – let’s charge the poor saps for 3 admissions instead of 2! I suppose an alternate explanation could be that they couldn’t figure out which of the 3 opponents would fill the role of “creampuff “since they all would qualify.
There’s a self-perpetuating aspect to the abysmal non-Conference schedules we’ve had to endure lately. Scheduling a quality opponent almost always entails a return engagement at their place. To do this, the Athletic Dept would have to sacrifice gate receipts for 14,000 tickets priced at $31 each, a significant chunk of change. If you compare this situation with that existing at Iowa you will note a big difference. Iowa currently plays in-State rival, Iowa State, each year – this season the game is at Ames.
Therefore Iowa had to forgo a NC game to accommodate this rivalry primarily because it was something their fan base desired (imagine that). But it only cost the Hawkeyes gate receipts from a full house at $12 per ticket, a much smaller economic sacrifice than what the Gophers would have to make to schedule a home/ home with a good opponent. Furthermore, because the Iowa State matchup is such a popular draw, Iowa could conceivably charge B10 prices for that game next year (don’t know if they plan to do that or not). So they really wouldn’t be sacrificing anything over a 2-year period. The only reason Minnesota would have to schedule a quality NC opponent at home is that it would be something their loyal fan base wanted – based on recent history, I wouldn’t hold my breath on that occurrence. Because of the economic disincentive, partially due to our current ticket pricing structure, I predict that we will continue to be stuck with the dregs of D1 BB on our home NC schedule with no BCS school matchups except for those dictated by the ongoing agreement between the B10 and ACC. In order to beef up our NCAA resume, we’ll continue to seek out quality RPI opponents in neutral site tournaments. Prove me wrong, Tubby!! Pleeeeease.
An interesting note on MSU BB: The Spartans are undergoing a seat reallocation process which will take effect in the 2010-11 season. It sounds very much like the process followed to allocate seats at TCF Bank Stadium (loyalty points, financial giving history, etc). Details are sketchy, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the prime seats required an annual priority donation similar to TCF Bank and priority seating at Williams Arena. It’ll be interesting to see how that all plays out – however, when the dust settles, I’d be willing to bet that the Gophers will maintain its number one ranking when it comes to high ticket prices.
Cynical Prediction: A number of you reported that you received information about an expansion of priority seating in your season ticket renewal applications – If I recall correctly, about 75% of the seats in Williams Arena would fall under the new plan and require an additional “donation”. Although the Athletic Dept labeled this mailing as a mistake, the mere fact that a draft plan exists does not bode well for us – they’re just waiting for the right time to lower the boom on us. An additional $250-$500 annual fee on top of already overpriced tickets would be outrageous IMO. Pro-rated over 18 games, a $250 fee would result in an increase of about $14 (or 45%) per ticket over current prices. How do you feel about forking over $45 to see the likes of Utah Valley? If the Gophers are as successful this season as most of us think they will be, the new priority seating plan could be implemented as early as next season (after the euphoria of a B10 title and an NCAA tourney run) and probably no later than the season after next.
Finally, I’m bracing myself for the inevitable comeback: “if you don’t like the price of the tickets, don’t buy them.” If that’s what you’re thinking, then you’re missing my point – the point being that the Gopher Athletic Dept is taking advantage of its customers and it’s high time someone called them on it. We all recognize that AD’s across the country face budget challenges, but Mr. Maturi needs to explain why his solution is to balance his budget on the backs of the U of M’s loyal fan base.
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