Gopher Season Ticket Costs Going Way UP?

[Johnny Olson]

So, the same seat may cost the walk up buyer $50 at the box office while the Season Holder pays $120.
Someone please explain this to me?

 

[Gopher Warrior]

Maybe Kill will use some of his $2.5MM+ (with bonuses) he is earning in 2014 to help season ticket holders out?

 

[MNGoldenGophers1]

The sad thing is they say the costs are going up due to the cost of attendance for athletes. The U largely sets the cost of attendance. Maybe they could keep the cost of attendance in line if they were more responsible with their money. More and more learning is going online and yet the U keeps adding more and more buildings, just one example. Another option would be trimming the excessive layers of administration.

You'll never find those kinds of efficiencies to keep up with the arms race known as college football.

 

[Oregon Gopher]

You should think about buying Vikings, or Twins, or Wild, or Timberwolves tickets. That's over 100,000 seats times the number of games played. Those can always be had for..Oh, sorry. What's the commute to fight for Blazers tickets like anyway?

Yeah- Blazers certainly have a monopoly here- and could probably gouge folks more than they already do.

I hope people don't lose too much faith with the Gophs over this- certainly could have been broached and explained much better than it seems to have been done. Nevertheless- Norwood is correct in stating this is commonplace in major football strongholds. And it could be worse- we pay these prices at OSU and the football really sux!

Unfortunately what I think will happen is the donations to the General Scholarship Fund will drop so people can pay for their ticket donation.

 

[GopherGod]

You'll never find those kinds of efficiencies to keep up with the arms race known as college football.

They aren't saying the money is going to facilities though. Cost of attendance i take as tuition and room& board. The money for those costs go to the colleges. If it is for facilities, say that but that is not what they are saying

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

The U didn't force you to take such an absurd amount of loans. I went through the U and only had minimal loans with no help from Mom and Dad.

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.

 

[Oregon Gopher]

My guess is the new expense of providing all the food for all the athletes as well as a possible monthly allowance is partially driving this

 

[Iceland12]

Yeah- Blazers certainly have a monopoly here- and could probably gouge folks more than they already do.

I hope people don't lose too much faith with the Gophs over this- certainly could have been broached and explained much better than it seems to have been done. Nevertheless- Norwood is correct in stating this is commonplace in major college football strongholds. And it could be worse- we pay these prices at OSU and the football really sux!

Unfortunately what I think will happen is the donations to the General Scholarship Fund will drop so people can pay for their ticket donation.

But he's dead wrong if he thinks that the Twin Cities is a "major college football stronghold". It hasn't been for over 50 years now. If it was they'd have had those facilities built years ago. It's a pro football town and honestly, I think Teague saw what the Vikings are trying to do and thought that he could slide the license fees right in under them.

Oh, and you're dead right about the Scholarship Fund and sorry about those OSU prices. Oh and the team too.

 

[Maroon92]

wow--was this even expected. The timing of this is a complete disaster. I should be planning my trip to the bowl game but now I can't get past this bad taste in my mouth of these increases and already decided I will not renew after years going back to the Mason days.

I have 5 tickets-- 3 kids and my wife and I. I would feel the brunt of extra cost for each ticket-- I don't share them with other adults. There is no way I am paying those extra charges. This should have been the time to be selling season tickets to the excited casual fan and instead it comes off as greedy.

To my fellow section 237 row 27 people I have met since TCF opened--- including Forest Lake Gopher and his wife, the brothers from AV/Eagan and Craig the So. St Paul Golf coach Craig and his family. I will miss high fiving you all on touchdowns and the usual see you next game routine will be missed.

 

[Ruggers]

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.

 

[dlw4gophers]

Not going to read all of these post but I will bitch about it. I have four tickets in sec. 139. I now pay $250 extra per seat per year to sit there. In 2015 the extra will go up to $450, 2016 up to $600, and 2017 up to $750. I really enjoyed sitting there since the stadium opened, but I won't be there next year. They have priced me out of zones 1, 2 and 3. I will try to get 4 tickets in zone 4 next year and I hope I am able to do that. If not, I will be watching my favorite team on tv a lot. I know it is expensive to run a athletic department and that they feel they need to increase ticket prices to pay the bill. I get that, but average Joe will find it hard to come up with that kind on money to take his family of four to all of the games.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

wow--was this even expected. The timing of this is a complete disaster. I should be planning my trip to the bowl game but now I can't get past this bad taste in my mouth of these increases and already decided I will not renew after years going back to the Mason days.

I have 5 tickets-- 3 kids and my wife and I. I would feel the brunt of extra cost for each ticket-- I don't share them with other adults. There is no way I am paying those extra charges. This should have been the time to be selling season tickets to the excited casual fan and instead it comes off as greedy.

To my fellow section 237 row 27 people I have met since TCF opened--- including Forest Lake Gopher and his wife, the brothers from AV/Eagan and Craig the So. St Paul Golf coach Craig and his family. I will miss high fiving you all on touchdowns and the usual see you next game routine will be missed.

Gotta strike while the iron is hot. Apparently the iron is hottest right after extending your losing streak against your biggest rival to 11 games by blowing a 17-3 lead.

 

[MNGoldenGophers1]

They aren't saying the money is going to facilities though. Cost of attendance i take as tuition and room& board. The money for those costs go to the colleges. If it is for facilities, say that but that is not what they are saying

Where did I say facilities? The NCAA is allowing schools to "pay for the full cost of tuition" and I'd say that is part of the arms race IMHO.

 

[josh087]

I have to imagine this is going to affect our bowl game attendance. This is likely to be our most prestigious bowl game in decades and we need to show up. They'd better make sure they put together some affordable travel packages.

 

[supadupafly]

Perhaps it is just me, but it does seem that the same group of people are doing 90% of the posting and replying in this thread. i.e. Hard to get a gauge if they are actually an accurate representation/cross-section of our current Gopher season ticket fan base and their perspective on the matter. OR they simply want to scream bloody hell the loudest for all to hear and are perhaps not an accurate representation/cross-section of the current season ticket fan base.

My guess is it is a bit of both, but more the latter than the former and other season ticket holder reactions (while probably not tickled pink about it) and future season ticket purchasing decisions will not be anywhere near as draconian as some of them are attempting (for various reasons, personal or otherwise) to make it out to be.

And I have a feeling I am probably right.

Go Gophers! Ski-U-Mah!

 

[oak_street1981]

If you don't think this is a bad idea, just look at this thread. This forum is where the most loyal and passionate Gopher fans come to congregate and talk about their favorite team, good or bad, this is where the die hards dwell. We've got oldsters, middle-aged grumpypants and current students who the world hasn't beaten down yet. The population here runs the gambit. The percentage to the current season ticket base (40k? Less?) that is shocked and seriously considering dropping tickets is going to be pretty significant. Sure, some will stick around no matter what the cost, but I think that more will choose to let their seats go than the administration realized. They didn't make this decision on a whim, but were any season ticket holders surveyed about the repercussions of what amounts to a pretty significant increase? I know we weren't.

middle-aged grumpypants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay that is really funny, and might be me.

I needed to read see something amusing as the reality of the end of my season ticket holding streak stars to sink in.

I am amazed about this as I ponder how I used to think after a recent job loss about keeping my season tickets when it looked like I might be moving to Chicago, Phoenix, Denver, Seattle or San Diego, with the intent of flying in at least 5 times year. Now I'll be 5 miles away watching on TV, just like I might have been doing in San Diego!

 

[Gopherdrummer]

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.

 

[Ole]

Where did I say facilities? The NCAA is allowing schools to "pay for the full cost of tuition" and I'd say that is part of the arms race IMHO.

Mine luckily will stay the same.
Who, and I'm being honest here, who the F is stupid enough to think the timing of this announcement, and the timing of this increase was a good idea?
You get the stadium full before you do this, AND you give fans a season of a full stadium before announcing it.
This is a terrible overplay by someone, it very we'll may kill gopher athletics when they realize how many tickets have been being bought and eaten by loyal fans who won't be willing to do that anymore.
It's just dumb, just stupid Maturi-esque crap that I thought we were done dealing with now that professionals were in charge.

 

[Iceland12]

Perhaps it is just me, but it does seem that the same group of people are doing 90% of the posting and replying in this thread. i.e. Hard to get a gauge if they are actually an accurate representation/cross-section of our current Gopher season ticket fan base and their perspective on the matter. OR they simply want to scream bloody hell the loudest for all to hear and are perhaps not an accurate representation/cross-section of the current season ticket fan base.

My guess is it is a bit of both, but more the latter than the former and other season ticket holder reactions (while probably not tickled pink about it) and future season ticket purchasing decisions will not be anywhere near as draconian as some of them are attempting (for various reasons, personal or otherwise) to make it out to be.

And I have a feeling I am probably right.

Go Gophers! Ski-U-Mah!

If you think that the majority of Minnesotans are going to go "oh, ho hum" about nearly a doubling of their present costs then you're feeling of being "probably right" is fantasy based. JMHO

 

[JoeDirt]

The U has used a marketing firm to help them make this decision.

This increase plan according to the marketing firm has been successful in the past.

Here's the catch: this isn't a college town. Not even close. Fans make significantly different buying decisions than fans do in college towns.

I hope for the U's sake that they've factored in this major difference in the equation and come up with a way to simulate its results before coming to the conclusion that these massive increases are the best option for the Twin Cities sports market.

Awesome, I wonder how much money they blew on a firm to tell the U to F-us?

 

[Zales04]

Awesome, I wonder how much money they blew on a firm to tell the U to F-us?

I would have done it for 1/10 of the cost and come up with a better solution.

 

[mplsbadger]

Boy, sure glad they refunded those 40 students who had to purchase BOTH football and basketball season tickets.

Awesome post.

 

[mplsbadger]

Am I naive or just not understanding something? The giant leaps are in the scholarship donations. All their material explaining the increase cites the cost to educate student-athletes, not how much facilities are going to cost. If the arugment is the need for new facilities, why isn't the increase in the ticket price, not the scholarship fund? And if the increase is in the scholarship fund, aren't they required by law to spend those funds on scholarships, not facilities? The result of this is going to be fewer season ticket holders. I can't imagine the marketing department couldn't figure that out.

Not sure if this is their plan, but they can probably still use scholarship funds on study areas and common areas in the center.

 

[Spoofin]

was in a Group of 18 for the first years. It dropped to 8 this year with the increase and will drop to 0 now. What a bummer. It just makes more sense to find a game or two we really want to go to and buy tix for that. Lose lose for everyone.

 

[cncmin]

500 dollars per seat on the average family of four in MN will equate to 3.3% of their income before taxes and before tickets.

To be the Devil's Advocate here...
They are not selling to the "average family of four in MN". They're selling to, mainly, better-paid U of Minnesota grads and wealthy business types.

First step, I would suggest, is if you can't afford the increases, move your seats to a cheaper section. Universities are gouging football fans across the nation. The problem here is that the U hasn't been a consistent winner, and I agree that they're probably overplaying their hand here. I live too far away to be a season ticket holder. But if I didn't, I'd probably pony up. The difference would be taken out of my donations to other parts of the U.

 

[oak_street1981]

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.

Plenty of people in the stadium were already paying extra for seats ($100, 250, 500, ect) so there is no way the Gopher tickets were at the bottom or near the bottom of the Big Ten. The seats at Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State, Michigan, Wisc. and Iowa are probably a lot more or a little more than TCF, but most of the rest are much cheaper than the current TCF tickets. (MSU might be the exception)

This increase is massive and will put TCF near the top in terms of cost to attend a game for the majority of the seats. Northwestern, Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois and Purdue tickets can be had by turning in the back of a grocery store receipt, almost.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

Plenty of people in the stadium were already paying extra for seats ($100, 250, 500, ect) so there is no way the Gopher tickets were at the bottom or near the bottom of the Big Ten. The seats at Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State, Michigan, Wisc. and Iowa are probably a lot more or a little more than TCF, but most of the rest are much cheaper than the current TCF tickets. (MSU might be the exception)

This increase is massive and will put TCF near the top in terms of cost to attend a game for the majority of the seats. Northwestern, Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois and Purdue tickets can be had by turning in the back of a grocery store receipt, almost.

At Michigan you get them by purchasing any 20 oz. Coca-Cola product.

 

[LesBolstad]

This increase is massive and will put TCF near the top in terms of cost to attend a game for the majority of the seats. Northwestern, Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois and Purdue tickets can be had by turning in the back of a grocery store receipt, almost.[/QUOTE]

Ha, you forgot Michigan. Weren't they giving away free Gopher tickets with a Coke purchase?

 

[supadupafly]

Plenty of people in the stadium were already paying extra for seats ($100, 250, 500, ect) so there is no way the Gopher tickets were at the bottom or near the bottom of the Big Ten. The seats at Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State, Michigan, Wisc. and Iowa are probably a lot more or a little more than TCF, but most of the rest are much cheaper than the current TCF tickets. (MSU might be the exception)

This increase is massive and will put TCF near the top in terms of cost to attend a game for the majority of the seats. Northwestern, Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois and Purdue tickets can be had by turning in the back of a grocery store receipt, almost.

Huh? So you are essentially saying you want to emulate/follow the paths of the latter group and not the former? Not me, and I would venture most other Gopher fans would not either. National success (and maintained success over the long term) in major college sports (football, basketball and even a niche sport like hockey) costs money my man. And that money can't, and never will, come entirely from giant private corporate donations like it seems so many would prefer they do. That reality and fans/alums/etc. having to pony up to some degree is also the case at all the former B1G schools you listed and even a couple of the latter.

Some of you don't seem to fully understand what you are preaching on this subject.

 

[Maroon92]

If you can't afford the expensive increases buy tickets in Zone 6 which are not increasing in price whatsoever...

If zone 6 could seat 20,000 people that would be great but I think only a few thousand seats are no extra fees-- the renewal process will be a nightmare