Gopher Season Ticket Costs Going Way UP?

[BBQ Platypus]

All I hear is nitpicking. Hate em when they spend on Mauer and hate em when they let Torii and Morneau go. How'd that Santana contract work out? 140 mil for 3 productive years? We totally should have jumped on that. You can't honestly tell me you would have held on to Liriano and Morneau. They found success in a new organization. It happens.

I won't say mistakes have not been made. I would argue most of them have been in the trade market and not the free agent market. The Garza/Delmon Young trade being one of the most obvious. And I would place the majority of that blame squarely on Bill Smith.

We lost 99 games in 2011 with a high payroll when our farm system was essentially bone dry. We've continued to lose because of our farm system, and spending an extra 20 million on free agents isn't going to make them contenders. There is no reason to spend an extra 20 million in free agency to go from 95 losses to 88 losses.

Funny how you're probably the most patient guy when it comes to Gopher success, but the Twins have a string of bad years because Bill Smith traded all the young talent and all hell breaks lose because payroll payroll payroll.

But hey, the Gophers care about their fans more than the Twins so that's great news! They certainly care about the wrestling and baseball fans, I'll give you that.

I'm a huge baseball fan and a Twins fan, but the Twins front office is not worth defending in any sense. They are not a model organization, except perhaps in the sense of being a cautionary tale. They have a losing record in the years since their last World Series, even including their window of "success" picking on what was then the weakest division in baseball. And yet they insist on, pride themselves on, "organizational stability." Nobody is fired, and hires come from within the organization. Even Bill Smith was merely demoted, and his tenure was historically dire. Ryan's no better -a cheap-ass Pohlad rubber stamp. The fact is that teams with a payroll of more than $100 million made the playoffs 47% of the time this year, compared to 20% of the time for teams that did not. Payroll matters. And even if the young position players in the farm system become as good as hoped - by no means a guarantee - they are going to need major investment in the pitching staff if they want to be competitive. It's not like payroll savings roll over into the next year. You don't get to spend $20 million more next year if you spend $20 million less this year. That unspent money is going nowhere. Much like the money the taxpayers paid for their beautiful new stadium, which has played host to four years of historically futile baseball.

The game of baseball has passed Ryan by - he not only doesn't spend money, he clearly doesn't have his finger on the pulse of scouting and analytics. In a time when defense and OBP are more important than ever, he makes what is very obviously going to be his only "major" move of free agency on a slow corner outfielder who will turn 40 this year. I certainly hope that Molitor continues his tendency to favor defensive shifts based on spray charts. It's the only sign I've seen from this team that it might, possibly be the 21st century.

The solution isn't to extort your most loyal fans as Norwood is about to, of course. The problem with the Pohlad's cheapness and Norwood's naked greed is that they both send the wrong message to fans.

 

[CP Gopher]

The Twins gave an injury-plagued slap-hitter with no leadership skills a $23 million/year contract. This is among a list of personnel mistakes that has to be 50 pages long at this point. How anyone labels them a "model organization" is hard to comprehend.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

The Twins gave an injury-plagued slap-hitter with no leadership skills a $23 million/year contract. This is among a list of personnel mistakes that has to be 50 pages long at this point. How anyone labels them a "model organization" is hard to comprehend.

History doesn't lie.

 

[BBQ Platypus]

The Twins gave an injury-plagued slap-hitter with no leadership skills a $23 million/year contract. This is among a list of personnel mistakes that has to be 50 pages long at this point. How anyone labels them a "model organization" is hard to comprehend.

Mauer isn't the problem with the Twins. Giving that much money to a catcher who could consistently provide .400 OBP seasons and was, to that point, one of the most durable catchers in baseball (check the plate appearance numbers up through 2010 - it's true), was one of the few moves the Twins made during that time period that could be justified. If it weren't for injuries (including the 2011 one that he aggravated by rushing back), he'd have been more than worth it from the catcher position and nearly worth it at first. You can talk hindsight if you want, but the process was sound even if the results weren't as hoped, and even then, those results aren't quite as bad as they seem. Most of his career numbers are still better than Puckett's at the same point, and his post-injury return numbers from 2014 were reasonably acceptable (if not up to his contract), particularly when you bear in mind that OBP is all-important.

As for leadership skills, I highly doubt you've ever set foot inside that clubhouse, much less met the man. I always laugh at people who claim that they have a read on the personal character of an athlete they've never so much as come within 20 feet of. Even if you are somehow psychic, no amount of intangibles could save the roster that the Twins' management constructed around him. You can't gut your way past the worst pitching staff in baseball.

The Twins are a disaster that no team in any sport should aspire to, but place the blame where it belongs. This team should have the capacity - financial and otherwise - to compete even with Mauer's contract on the books. Listing Mauer as the first problem that comes to mind in effect absolves this organization of the myriad other, more significant mistakes that have led them to where they are now. It's the entire organizational philosophy that needs to change - you don't get this bad without years and years of consistently poor decision making. Frankly, signing Mauer is an outlier in terms of the kinds of decisions they've made.

 

[Maroon92]

if you decline your zone 1....you will be allowed to purchase open seats else where. you will not be allowed to decline zone 1 and opt for zone 2 that are currently held by owners.

would you do this in the regular renewal process like you do now with seat improvements. Once you select that option you are stuck with renewing-- so if I am in zone 3 now and want to go to a no donation seat but they are all full would I be stuck in zone 3 with no chance of cancelling? There seems to be issues with letting people keep there seats if others are trying to escape from the donation areas and there are none available, I am pretty sure no donation zones now are full of people who are very low in the gopher points yet they may benefit the most if they get to secure those seats first.

 

[Johnny Olson]

would you do this in the regular renewal process like you do now with seat improvements. Once you select that option you are stuck with renewing-- so if I am in zone 3 now and want to go to a no donation seat but they are all full would I be stuck in zone 3 with no chance of cancelling? There seems to be issues with letting people keep there seats if others are trying to escape from the donation areas and there are none available, I am pretty sure no donation zones now are full of people who are very low in the gopher points yet they may benefit the most if they get to secure those seats first.

Nobody should ever have their seats taken away!!

 

[Maroon92]

Nobody should ever have their seats taken away!!

You could also make the argument that no one should have extra fees imposed on them without losing priority to sit in a zone you want but cant because its full with people who have had season tickets for only a few years. I don' think it will come to that but is it fair for some who is higher up in Gopher Points will be sitting higher up in a no donation zone than a 1 years season ticket holder

 

[CP Gopher]

I'm

Mauer isn't the problem with the Twins. Giving that much money to a catcher who could consistently provide .400 OBP seasons and was, to that point, one of the most durable catchers in baseball (check the plate appearance numbers up through 2010 - it's true), was one of the few moves the Twins made during that time period that could be justified. If it weren't for injuries (including the 2011 one that he aggravated by rushing back), he'd have been more than worth it from the catcher position and nearly worth it at first. You can talk hindsight if you want, but the process was sound even if the results weren't as hoped, and even then, those results aren't quite as bad as they seem. Most of his career numbers are still better than Puckett's at the same point, and his post-injury return numbers from 2014 were reasonably acceptable (if not up to his contract), particularly when you bear in mind that OBP is all-important.

As for leadership skills, I highly doubt you've ever set foot inside that clubhouse, much less met the man. I always laugh at people who claim that they have a read on the personal character of an athlete they've never so much as come within 20 feet of. Even if you are somehow psychic, no amount of intangibles could save the roster that the Twins' management constructed around him. You can't gut your way past the worst pitching staff in baseball.

The Twins are a disaster that no team in any sport should aspire to, but place the blame where it belongs. This team should have the capacity - financial and otherwise - to compete even with Mauer's contract on the books. Listing Mauer as the first problem that comes to mind in effect absolves this organization of the myriad other, more significant mistakes that have led them to where they are now. It's the entire organizational philosophy that needs to change - you don't get this bad without years and years of consistently poor decision making. Frankly, signing Mauer is an outlier in terms of the kinds of decisions they've made.

Yeah, Mauer isn't a problem.
Every team should have a guy hitting third (when he does play) with a .280 average and four home runs making $23 million.
Leadership skills? C'mon. The guy doesn't talk. And he certainly doesn't lead by example.

 

[BBQ Platypus]

I'm

Yeah, Mauer isn't a problem.
Every team should have a guy hitting third (when he does play) with a .280 average and four home runs making $23 million.
Leadership skills? C'mon. The guy doesn't talk. And he certainly doesn't lead by example.

Not a major problem, no. A moderate disappointment, sure, but I'm not sure his bad year even cracks the top ten things most wrong with that team.

1. Your unusual focus on the primitive counting stats make me despair of the notion that discussing baseball with you is anything like a productive endeavor. Home runs are pretty freakin' far from the be-all end-all stat, as any intelligent Reds fan has had to explain every time people wonder why Joey Votto doesn't crank out 40 a year. I won't pretend 2014 wasn't a bad year for the man, but he continues to draw walks, and reached base at an acceptable level, particularly post-injury. He continued to lead the team in OBP - and the team was actually above average offensively. (Which goes to show you how crateringly awful the pitching was).

2. Joe Mauer through age 31: .321 AVG, .403 OBP, .463 SLG, .866 OPS
Kirby Puckett through age 31: .320 AVG, .357 OBP, .466 SLG, .823 OPS

3a. Again, citation f***ing needed on the leadership question. Talking to reporters ranks about 1000th on the list of most important things a ballplayer does.

3b. Baseball is an aggregated individual sport masquerading as a true team sport. Smart tactics like defensive shifts and being taught to work counts will help you to a certain extent, but over the long run, a baseball team isn't going to differ much from the sum of its parts. Given the wealth of actual information we have, attributing success to a nebulous "leadership" trait based on in-clubhouse happenings to which you are not privy seems a rather lunkheaded way of going about things. And yet, it rears its ugly head every time some North Metro crap-for-brains wonders why old Joe won't gut his way through a concussion when he makes so much money, and then flatly asserts that this has something to do with Ricky Nolasco crapping his pants every time he takes the mound. (As an aside, I wonder if Derek Jeter would have been called anything except an elite-hitting shortstop with slightly suspect defense if he hadn't had the good fortune to spend his career surrounded by the stacked Yankees teams of the late-90s and late-aughts).

4. It seems that everybody wants to forget that 2010, 2012, and 2013 happened. Those were excellent offensive seasons. He's still productive when he's healthy. The one legitimate criticism - and it's not one that reaches his capacity as a ballplayer or a human or a gritmachine or whatever it is rubes like to imagine their ballplayers being - is that he's been hurt. People take that fact and try and turn it into a character issue, which is stupid.

5. Again, you judge a decision on the process, not the result. At the time, the Mauer signing was acclaimed and applauded as a big victory for a mid-market team. Any GM in the Twins' financial situation at the time would have re-signed him. Even if you think the decision turned out badly, you can't fault them for making it. You can fault them for almost everything else they've done in the last decade, but not that.

But we've gone off-topic.

 

[wait!what?]

you are correct

Nobody should ever have their seats taken away!!

come on down!

 

[BleedGopher]

Kaler chimes in, per a Q&A with the Daily:

The University of Minnesota’s athletics department announced last week that it would be increasing scholarship seating fees for the next three years, starting with the 2015 season. What type of feedback have you gotten on the new plan, and why did you see it necessary to raise ticket prices?

Well, it’s necessary because we compete with Big Ten schools who have larger stadiums and more robust budgets. …

We haven’t raised ticket prices at TCF [Bank Stadium] … since 2009 when it opened. … We laid out a three-year plan to move us into a more competitive position vis-à-vis our peers. … It’s also a scholarship seating premium, so it’s tax-deductible. …

We’ve gotten feedback from a couple hundred people. About 2-to-1 are disappointed. They don’t want to pay more. But a third of the people … are supportive of making a larger investment in Gopher football.

http://www.mndaily.com/news/metro-state/2014/12/08/kaler-talks-ticket-plan-budget-surplus

Go Gophers!!

 

[Gopher07]

That's just false. Ticket prices went up between 2013 and 2014

 

[theTurning]

More misinformation coming from the U.

 

[LesBolstad]

Try 8 to 1 on the disappointment side (per employee in AD dept.)

 

[GophersInIowa]

Kaler chimes in, per a Q&A with the Daily:

The University of Minnesota’s athletics department announced last week that it would be increasing scholarship seating fees for the next three years, starting with the 2015 season. What type of feedback have you gotten on the new plan, and why did you see it necessary to raise ticket prices?

Well, it’s necessary because we compete with Big Ten schools who have larger stadiums and more robust budgets. …

We haven’t raised ticket prices at TCF [Bank Stadium] … since 2009 when it opened. … We laid out a three-year plan to move us into a more competitive position vis-à-vis our peers. … It’s also a scholarship seating premium, so it’s tax-deductible. …

We’ve gotten feedback from a couple hundred people. About 2-to-1 are disappointed. They don’t want to pay more. But a third of the people … are supportive of making a larger investment in Gopher football.

http://www.mndaily.com/news/metro-state/2014/12/08/kaler-talks-ticket-plan-budget-surplus

Go Gophers!!

I think that is misleading as well. I'm guessing 90% of people are willing to pay more, just not double or triple what they are currently paying.

 

[Curseislifted33]

2:1 LOL

 

[MNVCGUY]

I think that is misleading as well. I'm guessing 90% of people are willing to pay more, just not double or triple what they are currently paying.

Agree. Price hikes are just part of reality and most people expect them whether they like them or not. The 2015 increase doesn't seem to bother people all that much it is the 2016 and especially the 2017 hikes that have people up in arms due to how large they are.

 

[MNVCGUY]

2:1 LOL

I am actually a little surprised he was willing to admit publicly that more people are disappointed then happy with the decision. Most of the time administrators try to avoid making comments like that. And yeah as for the 2:1 ratio that is pretty laughable, it is significantly higher then that.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

Kaler chimes in, per a Q&A with the Daily:

The University of Minnesota’s athletics department announced last week that it would be increasing scholarship seating fees for the next three years, starting with the 2015 season. What type of feedback have you gotten on the new plan, and why did you see it necessary to raise ticket prices?

Well, it’s necessary because we compete with Big Ten schools who have larger stadiums and more robust budgets. …

We haven’t raised ticket prices at TCF [Bank Stadium] … since 2009 when it opened. … We laid out a three-year plan to move us into a more competitive position vis-à-vis our peers. … It’s also a scholarship seating premium, so it’s tax-deductible. …

We’ve gotten feedback from a couple hundred people. About 2-to-1 are disappointed. They don’t want to pay more. But a third of the people … are supportive of making a larger investment in Gopher football.

http://www.mndaily.com/news/metro-state/2014/12/08/kaler-talks-ticket-plan-budget-surplus

Go Gophers!!

Regardless of thoughts on the plan, that is a flat out lie. If you want to gouge your ticket holders, fine, don't lie to their faces while you do it.

 

[GopherUST]

Not sure if this has been pointed out, but people in section 210 and 211 may actually have lower donations going forward. For example, say you sit in row 1 section 210 (50 yard line) your donation was $500 in 2014, but will be $450 in 2015. Or say you sit row 10 section 210 you paid a $500 donation in 2014 and will pay the same $500 in 2017 (lower in 2015/16)!! I know where I will try to move.

 

[Omega015]

Try 8 to 1 on the disappointment side (per employee in AD dept.)

As with most things in life, people aren't going to contact the University to express ambivalence.

 

[Iceland12]

2:1 LOL

Per my discussion that seems very light too. Come to think of it, maybe it isn't. The people who don't like it are people who have Season Tickets, the ones saying "Great idea" are the people who don't.

 

[BleedGopher]

Teague Q&A with the Daily:

The athletics department recently announced a new plan to increase scholarship seating. What was the motive for this plan?

Like I said when we announced it last week, I cannot see us in the coming years staying in the black without doing something like this because our costs have continued to go up. And really, since 2009, the only significant augmentation we’ve had in our budget has been primarily our Big Ten TV money.

We haven’t raised prices, except last year we raised the face value of tickets. We haven’t raised our scholarship seating amounts since we moved into TCF.

It was something we had to do to balance our budget, to be smart from a financial standpoint and continue to maintain an excellent department.

Could this plan be described as an attempt to keep up with the “arms race” in college athletics?

That’s more operational dollars. None of that [scholarship seating revenue] would be used to build buildings. It’s more for our day-to-day expenses that have gone up. Our medical expenses have gone up dramatically. Our equipment expenses have gone up a ton. Our travel has gone up, and we really haven’t done anything to help soften those blows. It’s just something we had to do.

And also, when you look at how we compare to our Big Ten brethren, we weren’t even in the same stratosphere as to what we were doing.

How have Gophers fans reacted to it thus far?

For the most part, it’s been more positive than negative. I mean, there are some that have sticker shock and don’t understand what we’re trying to do, and I expected that. But the further we’ve gotten away from the announcement, I think the more we’ve been able to talk to people on the phone, meet with people and tell people why we did it, and it’s been better.

So do you think there’s been a realization about the plan and its motive?

I think so. There will be people that do not and will not understand what we’re trying to do, and that’s fine. We have a lot of people that buy season tickets. Our department did a great job explaining it and messaging it. I knew in my heart that it was something we had to do. It was not an option.

http://www.mndaily.com/sports/football/2014/12/09/teague-talks-bowl-game-revenue-kill

Go Gophers!!

 

[BleedGopher]

per the Daily: Fans irked by season ticket plan

Gophers season-ticket holder Doug Franzen, 59, who has had football tickets for 12 years, said he was upset with the price hike.

He said his payment will increase dramatically.

“My contribution increased by 80 percent on my seats for the first year,” Franzen said. “And it’ll be going up more into 2017.”

While he understands the reasoning for the pricing hike, Franzen said he thinks the season-ticket holders are somewhat cornered by the new scholarship seating prices.

“I’m concerned,” he said. “I knew in the back of my mind it was coming. … What’s frustrating is that some of us have been longtime supporters on an annual basis. I feel a little taken advantage of.”

http://www.mndaily.com/sports/football/2014/12/09/fans-irked-season-ticket-plan

Go Gophers!!

 

[wait!what?]

we'll miss you

enjoy ticketking.

 

[LakerFan]

What would be nice is, if we are having a bleeping gold out/maroon out/pink out that they take some of the $500 "donation" and send out matching tshirts to the STH's. I know that is returning a whopping $30 a year to the fans, but they can just raise the donation the next year another $30 to cover it. I've got enough game day towels now to make a quilt. Feel free to take next years towels and add a few arm holes and make it a tshirt.

I'm resigned now to the increases, tickets were way undervalued and can stand being doubled to fair market value. Just hopeful that it stays relatively constant there for a while.

 

[upnorthkid]

Teague Q&A with the Daily:

The athletics department recently announced a new plan to increase scholarship seating. What was the motive for this plan?

Like I said when we announced it last week, I cannot see us in the coming years staying in the black without doing something like this because our costs have continued to go up. And really, since 2009, the only significant augmentation we’ve had in our budget has been primarily our Big Ten TV money.

We haven’t raised prices, except last year we raised the face value of tickets. We haven’t raised our scholarship seating amounts since we moved into TCF.

It was something we had to do to balance our budget, to be smart from a financial standpoint and continue to maintain an excellent department.

Could this plan be described as an attempt to keep up with the “arms race” in college athletics?

That’s more operational dollars. None of that [scholarship seating revenue] would be used to build buildings. It’s more for our day-to-day expenses that have gone up. Our medical expenses have gone up dramatically. Our equipment expenses have gone up a ton. Our travel has gone up, and we really haven’t done anything to help soften those blows. It’s just something we had to do.

And also, when you look at how we compare to our Big Ten brethren, we weren’t even in the same stratosphere as to what we were doing.

How have Gophers fans reacted to it thus far?

For the most part, it’s been more positive than negative. I mean, there are some that have sticker shock and don’t understand what we’re trying to do, and I expected that. But the further we’ve gotten away from the announcement, I think the more we’ve been able to talk to people on the phone, meet with people and tell people why we did it, and it’s been better.

So do you think there’s been a realization about the plan and its motive?

I think so. There will be people that do not and will not understand what we’re trying to do, and that’s fine. We have a lot of people that buy season tickets. Our department did a great job explaining it and messaging it. I knew in my heart that it was something we had to do. It was not an option.

http://www.mndaily.com/sports/football/2014/12/09/teague-talks-bowl-game-revenue-kill

Go Gophers!!

I would love to see the U's monetary expenditure report. And just what they're spending that day to day money on

 

[Ski U Master]

tickets were way undervalued and can stand being doubled to fair market value.

Please explain why you think this with the excess supply of tickets last season, tickets were available for every game for well under face on the secondary market. If anything the tickets are overpriced for the market.

 

[saintpaulguy]

I want to punch him for "messaging". Who speaks this way?

 

[bemidjigopher]

Please explain why you think this with the excess supply of tickets last season, tickets were available for every game for well under face on the secondary market. If anything the tickets are overpriced for the market.

The same people who paid last year will pay this year. In fact I guarantee attendance spikes next year with who we got coming in next year and the raised expectations. Nebby travels scUM travels TCU will be top ten wisco will sell out why wouldn't they raise prices.