Maturi said U is meeting about improving student section at football games

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Per Sid's column:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/g...cyaiUjc8LDyiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Student no-shows
Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi is disappointed about the number of students who bought season tickets to Gophers football last year and didn't attend the games. He said the problem has to be addressed.

"It's not uncommon at schools, but we've got to find the right balance in determining how many we sell," Maturi said. "Do we allow them to resell tickets to the general public? We were pretty strict on not allowing anyone in but a student on that ticket, because obviously they're significantly less in price and we didn't want anybody in the general public taking advantage of that opportunity, so we have to assess that.

"That's one of the things that we're meeting on, because they create the atmosphere -- along with our bands and our spirit squad, our students are the ones that create collegiate athletics in our highly visible sports. We're proud of the traditions that we have and we need to make sure that we have the energy in TCF Bank Stadium that's going to support our football program."

Go Gophers!!
 

I hope public floggings are on the table.
 

uhm, maybe put a better product on the field and students will want to come. ever think of that joel-y?
 


I'm hope they are talking about other ideas than simply allowing students to resell their tickets. My brother had student tickets and towards the end of the year he was getting tons of his friends into games with other peoples tickets. So they obviously eased up on that policy last year but it didn't seem to do much for overall student section attendance.
 





And sell standing room only tickets!!!! Tell them they can move into open areas of the student section to sit in open seats after the first quarter... ( I know you can't control it, but who really cares... the chance of sitting will sell some standing only tickets. IMHO of course)
 



new alumni

Make recent graduates eligible for student tickets. no more than one or two years out of school.

this would allow those just starting out in the world to develope a continuing fan base and to ease the cost which usually is for new grads.
 

Rog said:
Make recent graduates eligible for student tickets. no more than one or two years out of school.

this would allow those just starting out in the world to develope a continuing fan base and to ease the cost which usually is for new grads.
Click to expand...

Bingo! And give them some GopherPoints for this (not full amount, but some to get them started).

Do not let up one bit on the checking of student ID's!!!! This will lead to more pigeyes and beckys in the stadium!!

Discounts on concessions for students. Better giveaways (gold stocking caps were a huge hit---no more inflatable fingers!!).

Little things like making the band audible during games, having them march down university ave. Discounts for parking (tailgating), all would help immensely. Also, early start times really kill the atmosphere for students, but that is more of a TV issue.
 

With the University of Minnesota having 40,000+ students making the student section smaller I don't think makes sense....we should be able to pack out the Stadium.

Here is what I would do-
1. Raise the tickets to ~ $105 (currently I believe it is $70?)- This will hopefully make those students who actually want to see games think twice about buying tickets. For those who argue $70 is a lot for a college kid please spare me your argument. Kids spend $70 in one month just one their cell phone.....or sometimes for drinks on the weekend.
2. Oversell the Student ticket area. Sell 12,000 seats for the 10,000 current capacity. This will make students show up ontime for the game to ensure they get a seat. For those who are unable to get into the game...they are eligible for a refund.
3. I am stealing Rog's idea to sell tickets to U grads no more then 2 years out of school. This will help keep them involved into the team...and hopefully as time drives on help the stadium push to expand to 80,000 seats.
4. Game times change. Being in the central time zone kills us on this when we are on ESPN. If we are on the Big Ten Network there should be a way where we have to be on at 11am. Being on an ESPN contract unless you are a night game of the featured game we will always be stuck with 11am start times.
5. Better product on the field. With a better product that will put kids in seats, being a feature game on ABC (hence an afternoon game), and help the U increase revenue.


Go Gophers!
 

"4. Game times change. Being in the central time zone kills us on this when we are on ESPN. If we are on the Big Ten Network there should be a way where we have to be on at 11am. Being on an ESPN contract unless you are a night game of the featured game we will always be stuck with 11am start times."

Good idea but doesn't ABC pays a lot of money to get an exclusive window for the 2:30 game? They might be able to waive that on occasion, but it's doubtful they'd want to split that window with the Big Ten Network. They already do that in the morning and at night.
 



Raising ticket prices so much is NOT a good idea. Do you pay tuition at the U? Did you pay mandatory stadium fees every semester? I can guarantee you tuition will go up another considerable amount just this year alone. And they have gone up every year for quite a while. I'm talking about thousands of dollars here.

If you raise ticket prices, overselling the student section will not be possible. Then, not only will the seats not be filled, they will not be sold!!

After the first year, there will be far fewer of the folks who bought tickets just because of the novelty of a new stadium. The real football fans will stay. Raising prices is not necessary to eliminate the folks who don't care enough to show up to every game.

And I don't know what kind of drunk you were/are in college, SirBill, but $70 a week on booze by any kind of average is quite a stretch.
 

MrGopher said:
And I don't know what kind of drunk you were/are in college, SirBill, but $70 a week on booze by any kind of average is quite a stretch.
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You've got to be joking.

I'm not a big drinker (and never have been), but I had tons of friends in college who spent every night at the bar and thought nothing of spending $20-30 a night on booze, easily. Even cutting it down to every other night brings it to $70 without much difficulty.

Just because it's not your experience, does not make it so.

(All this is beside the point that raising student ticket prices is a terrible idea. Apparently SirWilliam never took an economics class and doesn't understand that raising prices does not raise demand.)
 


dpodoll68 said:
You've got to be joking.

I'm not a big drinker (and never have been), but I had tons of friends in college who spent every night at the bar and thought nothing of spending $20-30 a night on booze, easily. Even cutting it down to every other night brings it to $70 without much difficulty.

Just because it's not your experience, does not make it so.

(All this is beside the point that raising student ticket prices is a terrible idea. Apparently SirWilliam never took an economics class and doesn't understand that raising prices does not raise demand.)
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$20-$30 a night at a bar ... rofl. I miss the midwest. If I go out in Boston I know I'm dropping at least $50. Sometimes a hundo.
 

MrGopher said:
And I don't know what kind of drunk you were/are in college, SirBill, but $70 a week on booze by any kind of average is quite a stretch.
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one case of beer=$20.
one night at a bar=$40(at least)
that's 60 right there. got out to the bar two nights and you're at 100.
 

For those of you who don't like the idea of raising student ticket prices...how about this option-

$70- students
$105- 1st year alums
$140- 2nd year alums

Alums would be getting one great discount instead of being put on a ticket waiting list...or buying single game tickets at $50/per game.

What do other Universities charge for their student sections and what are their capacities would be a starting point. I am quite certain that the U is not at the top of the Big Ten in terms of student ticket prices.
 

MrGopher said:
Bingo! And give them some GopherPoints for this (not full amount, but some to get them started).

Do not let up one bit on the checking of student ID's!!!! This will lead to more pigeyes and beckys in the stadium!!

Discounts on concessions for students. Better giveaways (gold stocking caps were a huge hit---no more inflatable fingers!!).

Little things like making the band audible during games, having them march down university ave. Discounts for parking (tailgating), all would help immensely. Also, early start times really kill the atmosphere for students, but that is more of a TV issue.
Click to expand...

Look out, you will be in trouble for bringing this up! The self righteous ones will be on you soon.
 

I don't think raising ticket prices is the answer. If schools like Florida can give their student tickets away for free to basetball and for like $5/game in football, why does Minnesota have to charge twice that? Florida makes students (who are getting a ticket worth hundreds for $5) show up each week to pick them up. If you fail to show up twice, your season ticket is cancelled.

So slash the ticket prices, but make them pay/pick up each game individually on Monday/Tuesday of that week's game. If they don't pick them up, they're free to be given away to another student or sold as a General Public ticket. Chances are if the student has no intention of showing up for the USD/Northern Illinois/Northwestern game, they won't bother to pick-up thier tickets. So don't give them to them in August and then be surprised when they don't show.
 

Gopher07 said:
$20-$30 a night at a bar ... rofl. I miss the midwest. If I go out in Boston I know I'm dropping at least $50. Sometimes a hundo.
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I was speaking in terms of when I was in college, which makes his statement even more ludicrous. And I also said easily, meaning that was probably a very conservative estimate. It is quite safe to say that, at present, the average modern college student who is inclined to go out to bars and such spends well upwards of $70/week on booze. Quite easily.
 

Raising ticket prices is a dumb idea. Going to the game should not cost a student more than about $10 for the ticket, probably closer to $7 or $8 is about right. Also cut the ticket Nazi's, what a student does with their ticket is their own business. Wins will bring the students in. And why sell student tickets to recent alumni 2 years out? why not 3? why not 4? why not.....? where do you draw your line of who gets screwed? I've been going to games on student tickets since 2001
 

dpodoll68 said:
I was speaking in terms of when I was in college, which makes his statement even more ludicrous. And I also said easily, meaning that was probably a very conservative estimate. It is quite safe to say that, at present, the average modern college student who is inclined to go out to bars and such spends well upwards of $70/week on booze. Quite easily.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I know. I still miss the midwest. Everything is cheaper there when it comes to boozing. I gotta drop $15 for a pitcher of Bud Light here. Sucks.
 


bankonit said:
I've been going to games on student tickets since 2001
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And you have been out of school for how long? Maybe this is the exact reason the U needs to make changes to its student ticket policy.
 

howeda7 said:
I don't think raising ticket prices is the answer. If schools like Florida can give their student tickets away for free to basetball and for like $5/game in football, why does Minnesota have to charge twice that? Florida makes students (who are getting a ticket worth hundreds for $5) show up each week to pick them up. If you fail to show up twice, your season ticket is cancelled.

So slash the ticket prices, but make them pay/pick up each game individually on Monday/Tuesday of that week's game. If they don't pick them up, they're free to be given away to another student or sold as a General Public ticket. Chances are if the student has no intention of showing up for the USD/Northern Illinois/Northwestern game, they won't bother to pick-up thier tickets. So don't give them to them in August and then be surprised when they don't show.
Click to expand...

I think students won't like the whole pick up each week thing, but it sounds like the only solution. I think one of the big problems this past fall, were the students who bought tickets with the intent of scalping them. craiglist had tons of student tickets for sale each week. It was kind of disappointing.
 

Fair enough! :) I've been sufficiently called out on my underestimate of the average collegiate alcohol budget!

I guess I'm a bit more economical about my booze than most of the U. Maybe that's the problem though: if students are willing to blow that much on liquor every day, its no wonder they find no problem not attending each game they already paid for----especially if its early and they just blew near a hundred on booze the night before!! :)

I am ashamed that I underestimated you guys!! Not a lightweight among you!
If that's what we are paying over here, i cant imagine what those drunk skunks are paying east of the border!!
 

bankonit said:
Raising ticket prices is a dumb idea. Going to the game should not cost a student more than about $10 for the ticket, probably closer to $7 or $8 is about right. Also cut the ticket Nazi's, what a student does with their ticket is their own business. Wins will bring the students in. And why sell student tickets to recent alumni 2 years out? why not 3? why not 4? why not.....? where do you draw your line of who gets screwed? I've been going to games on student tickets since 2001
Click to expand...

A potential problem with student tickets that are too cheap is that students who have only marginal interest in football will get them if the cost is nominal. These students won't bother to show up.

And no, it is absolutely NOT true that "what a student does with their ticket is their own business". When you buy ANY ticket, there are terms that you have to agree to. I can't obtain an airplane ticket that was purchased with a child's discount, and expect to use that ticket to board an airplane, for example. A student ticket comes with a steep discount, and it comes with certain terms, one of those terms is that the ticket is for students only.

I don't see any honest way that allowing alumni to purchase student ticket "screws" anyone. That's like saying that if I give you one cookie instead of two that I am somehow screwing you - I didn't have to give you any at all.
 

gophmeister said:
I think students won't like the whole pick up each week thing, but it sounds like the only solution. I think one of the big problems this past fall, were the students who bought tickets with the intent of scalping them. craiglist had tons of student tickets for sale each week. It was kind of disappointing.
Click to expand...

I think that the students who weren't very interested in attending probably won't renew, leaving the tickets for the more interested. And those who bought tickets expecting to scalp them probably won't renew either.
 

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