Replies to various posts...
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.
Go Gophers!!
This is such a ridiculous statement, it's breathtaking to think what kind of world Teague lives in where people nod along with this nonsense. Does noone he ever talks to actually have knowledge of the facts? The B1G revenue per team is scheduled to go from $27M this year to $45M in 2017-18. That is far in excess of the "operational costs" increase, not even diving into how much money they are wasting over there on increased administration spending. And several people have already pointed out that a 20% ticket hike last year is certainly "significant" to most of us, even though it isn't to "Slick Woody" Teague.
Last sold ticket is a terrible metric to use.
People seem to be arguing that all the tickets in TCF Bank Stadium somehow have equal value. This is simply not true. There are many people who would rather pay $100 to sit on the 50 yard line than $20 to sit in the upper deck corners.
It's also possible increased donations on some tickets would be treated like other luxury items and raising the prices actually increases demand. See here for a brief explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
I'm going to somewhat agree here. Last ticket sold isn't really accurate for how much the ticket is worth. Last ticket sold about a week out from the event would be more accurate. It would be what a fan like us is willing to pay for a guaranteed seat in enough time to guarantee arrival of ticket, etc. I haven't really looked into what that amount is as I haven't need tickets, but while I'd somewhat agree that lower deck non-donation chairbacks were probably somewhat underpriced, it sure as Hades wasn't by 3X.
On the 2nd point, it is possible demand would increase with increased price, but I highly doubt it. Tickets on StubHub will go up a little because ticketholders will be trying to match roughly what they paid, but demand isn't going to significantly go up until the product (wins) improves quite a bit.
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.
Spot on. Most of us kind of expected and thought that this day would come. We just didn't expect prices to go 2-3X in just 3-4 years after a season of no sellouts.
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.
This is very interesting. As that post notes, look at rows 10-17 of 210/211. Those people are actually having their donations go DOWN by $350/ticket from 2014 to 2015. Are those tickets even sold as season tickets? Does anybody sit by these tickets or have them who could say for sure? My guess is they're all single-game tickets and no-one is currently paying the license, otherwise why would the U forgo $350/ticket in 2015 and $200/ticket in 2016 (and not increase in 2017)?
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.
I guarantee attendance won't spike next year. I was expecting a modest bump from the exciting year this year - maybe sell out the bigger games. But now, they're going to have to find single-game buyers for thousands of seats of STH's who cancelled. Probably pretty close to the same attendance as last year.
