Is the U elitist and geared toward the rich? Are Gopher tickets expensive or cheap?

[GopherVotary]

Highwayman is a friend of mine and is a good dude, he is informed.

He seems to be quite good at making stuff up and making it sound like facts.

 

[Gopher in Dixie]

"Cater to the rich"? You've got to be joking. Do you have any idea the costs involved for decent season tickets to ACC or SEC team?The U of M pales in comparison as to PSL costs, donations required, etc.

 

[Gopher in Dixie]

These are the two programs I am most familiar with:

Georgia Tech $350.00 per ticket for season tickets, then a Tech fund donation of $225.00 per ticket. This would be for seats on the lower level at the 15 yard line.

At UGA in order to just be able to get new season tickets you have to have a minimum of 1507 "priority points" for each new season ticket you wanted to buy. As I understand it, priority points are equal to $ donated to the Athletic Dept. So you had to have to have donated that amount in prior years cumulative just to be able to purchase a season ticket. That's down from $10,061 in 2008and has dropped substantially each year.

 

[SMU GOPHS FAN]

All I know is the Purple priced me out of tickets about six years ago for very similar seats to what I have for the Gophers. What I currently pay for the Gophers is what I paid in 1998 for my first season with the Purple. In other words, I think the Gophers are very reasonable.

 

[Gopher07]

A comparison before last year of the costs associated with each program for the absolute cheapest season tickets: http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1094191

Not perfect, as it says "What's important to note is that it's conceivable but not necessarily likely to get season tickets this inexpensive at some schools." We're 8th in the conference, and I'm guessing Illinois should be higher (a quick search on their website has the only available tickets at $320)

 

[STPGopher]

This is true. Paying for parking is optional. There are so many other options if going cheap is your objective.

Yes, This!

While I agree that things have increased at a bad time economically, I've found a way to make it work. I went from GLC gold and parking at the MetroDump to ditching my car on University, then taking the bus or walking to the McNamara Ctr., going to an on campus restaurant, or crashing a tailgate, etc.. To me, it's fun to make the journey to the stadium. Walking by and mingling with Gopher fans prior to kick off gets me fired up for the game.

 

[Mustang Mountain Man]

A little off topic, but how do you do this? I don't have cable and I investigated this in years past. If you are abroad the B10 will let you stream, but not if you are stateside. ATDHE is really your only other option as far as I have found. I would gladly pay a few bucks for an internet stream instead of having to go to the bar/find a pirated stream.

See GoldZone at Gophersports.com. The schedule is not out for football yet. Most games will be live. Full fall season coverage of games for $40.

 

[GoAUpher]

There are two arguments here in my mind.
Is the U elitist, no way, it's a cheap ticket, very easy to get, very affordable gameday if you are looking to go to a game cheaply.
That said, I would hope top contributors and boxholders, rich alums are taken care of in every way possible to add money to the program, our contributions are way down as is, no need to make Maturi's job any harder for him, he's in over his head as is.

However to me the more important part is who the gameday experience and atmosphere is catered towards. It is without a doubt and cannot be argued with that our gameday atmosphere has been completely messed up by catering to an older crowd, which by default often is the richer crowd.

The U from day 1 of the new stadium has sacrificed potentially growing the fanbase by making the experience appeal to students/young alums/young casual fans.

Instead it has vomited out a bland, quiet, and distanced gameday.
Tailgate lots sit half empty, partying students are seen as an undesirable entity, and quite a few fans sit on their hands during the games,arrive late /leave early, and nobody says anything.

Make it a party, drop the tailgate lot prices until every spot is full, get a spot for students to congregate and party near the stadium, and watch the droves of wild and loud young people slowly become gopher fans, who then grow and become wild and loud rich gopher fans, and make donations to support the future of the program.

What part about this plan is not right on?
How does Maturi/ the U NOT get this?

This ^^^^

We are one of the lowest ranked schools in $$$ of donations to the school's athletic department funds. That can be due to a variety of factors, but many years in the Dome and mediocre outcomes in football certainly didn't help. The U has to build the atmosphere and experience at TCF from the ground up. That's how you get students and casual fans to be passionate. And today's student is tomorrow's donor.

The U chose to subscribe to a "build it and they will come" strategy. And people did. For barely a full season. Then the mediocrity pushed many ticket holders back to apathy. We may have one of the most economical tickets but it is clear that fact still isn't enough for the casual fan. The U needs to make campus a destination on fall Saturdays. You cannot turn a metro school into a college town atmosphere. But you can definitely get your own version of it. If the U wants to keep the lot setup the way it is then they need to push the City to allow private lot owners to sell tailgating. Because it is about creating an atmosphere on campus. And tailgating is part of that.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

There are two arguments here in my mind.
Is the U elitist, no way, it's a cheap ticket, very easy to get, very affordable gameday if you are looking to go to a game cheaply.
That said, I would hope top contributors and boxholders, rich alums are taken care of in every way possible to add money to the program, our contributions are way down as is, no need to make Maturi's job any harder for him, he's in over his head as is.

However to me the more important part is who the gameday experience and atmosphere is catered towards. It is without a doubt and cannot be argued with that our gameday atmosphere has been completely messed up by catering to an older crowd, which by default often is the richer crowd.

The U from day 1 of the new stadium has sacrificed potentially growing the fanbase by making the experience appeal to students/young alums/young casual fans.

Instead it has vomited out a bland, quiet, and distanced gameday.
Tailgate lots sit half empty, partying students are seen as an undesirable entity, and quite a few fans sit on their hands during the games,arrive late /leave early, and nobody says anything.

Make it a party, drop the tailgate lot prices until every spot is full, get a spot for students to congregate and party near the stadium, and watch the droves of wild and loud young people slowly become gopher fans, who then grow and become wild and loud rich gopher fans, and make donations to support the future of the program.

What part about this plan is not right on?
How does Maturi/ the U NOT get this?

Ask him. Send him and email: [email protected]

 

[Ole]

Already been done several times, Maturi's "answer all emails" schtick is basically, "answer all emails with generic response that they are working on improvements(not seen in 2 years) and appreciate my support"

The guy is a clown, and if he's not to blame then someone else is a clown.

 

[eker0016]

See GoldZone at Gophersports.com. The schedule is not out for football yet. Most games will be live. Full fall season coverage of games for $40.

Thanks! I checked it out and it said that "live coverage of select games -- video and audio". I will follow up when they post the schedule, but do you know typically how many games are covered? I think I will be getting the membership if most/all games are covered by either audio or video.

 

[tikited]

Anyone who thinks going to a Gopher football game is too expensive must think going to a dollar movie is too expensive. This is pretty much as cheap as it gets folks. The U of M should never be confused with a program that knows what it is doing, but they aren't bending the public over a barrel. I get season tickets every year and feel the experience is worth every penny-minus all of the losses.

 

[highwayman]

Thanks! I checked it out and it said that "live coverage of select games -- video and audio". I will follow up when they post the schedule, but do you know typically how many games are covered? I think I will be getting the membership if most/all games are covered by either audio or video.

OK--rumor has it the service will be free starting in late August.

A local radio play by play guy who is not named Dave Lee mentioned it at the GLC Golf event.

Apparently, they can do better with adverstising on the site than memberships.

Let's hope he was correct....

 

[eker0016]

OK--rumor has it the service will be free starting in late August.

A local radio play by play guy who is not named Dave Lee mentioned it at the GLC Golf event.

Apparently, they can do better with adverstising on the site than memberships.

Let's hope he was correct....

Good tip! I will wait to sign up but I will watch it. I'm moving from Pasadena to St. Louis so although I'm closer to B10 country I still can't listen on the radio or go to games, sadly.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Mustang Mountain Man]

Checked with Gophesports.com

Thanks! I checked it out and it said that "live coverage of select games -- video and audio". I will follow up when they post the schedule, but do you know typically how many games are covered? I think I will be getting the membership if most/all games are covered by either audio or video.

All the football games will be covered by audio with this package. I contacted them today by email and they replied that none of the football games will be covered live with video as per contract with BTN. Wish more cable providers would allow streaming video of networks on ppv.

 

[eker0016]

Wish more cable providers would allow streaming video of networks on ppv.

I thoroughly agree. I only turn on my TV for Netflix, NFL football and Gophers football. I can't afford cable but I could afford pay per view streaming on the net.