Shama: Big Dip in U Football Season Tickets; off about 19% from last year

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ITT: Expert ticket salesmen who no doubt would have kept TCF full by selling themselves tickets for prices they would like to pay.
 

The cost of the supply far exceeded the size of the demand.
Seeing folks easily getting game day tickets for far less than you paid made some feel that they were taken advantage of and not appreciated.
The venue is terrific, the product on the field needs improvement and the game day experience lags behind the competition.
 

olddoc said:
The cost of the supply far exceeded the size of the demand.
Seeing folks easily getting game day tickets for far less than you paid made some feel that they were taken advantage of and not appreciated.
The venue is terrific, the product on the field needs improvement and the game day experience lags behind the competition.
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That about sums it up in three simple sentences.
 

BleedGopher said:
per Shama:

As of yesterday the Gophers had sold 22,706 football season tickets, according to an email from an athletic department spokesman. Those are season tickets that don’t include student sales and the figure represents a major decline in season sales from last year’s final total.

The spokesman also reported that nonstudent season tickets last year totaled 27,885. With less than three weeks to the start of the Gophers season, the athletic department is off about 19 percent from last year’s final sales.

The last few years the public season ticket total is believed to be in the 27,000 to 30,000 range. If the Gophers didn’t sell any more tickets in 2016 they would be down 5,179 tickets from last year at TCF Bank Stadium (with a capacity of over 51,000). The department will expect to boost its total of 22,706 but time is growing tight.

A drop-off of 15 to 20 percent is a significant loss in ticket revenue. The decline has the attention of athletic department leaders who have reportedly cancelled a 2017 price increase. They may have done so not only because of push back from ticket buying customers but also because of media reports earlier this year the Big Ten Conference has negotiated a rich TV deal for its schools. The Gophers’ future TV revenue share reportedly will be over $44 million annually and that would make it easier to hold steady with ticket prices.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!
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No big games at home this year against Michigan, Ohio State or Wisconsin could be a factor. Penn State is also away. What home game besides Iowa is going to be a big draw for casual fans?
 

olddoc said:
The cost of the supply far exceeded the size of the demand.
Seeing folks easily getting game day tickets for far less than you paid made some feel that they were taken advantage of and not appreciated.
The venue is terrific, the product on the field needs improvement and the game day experience lags behind the competition.
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Are you a big Saint Paul Saints fan where entertainment is more important than winning?
I can agree with you that the prices were higher than the demand, but for me, the less canned music and attempt to artificially excite the crowd, the better. Just let the band rock and the cheerleaders roll.
 



bonin21 said:
The Saints win a lot of games...
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It wouldn't matter. Have you been to one of their games? People are more concerned with watching the tire races in between innings. One game was all I could take of the constant noise and racket from the announcers.
 

The Minnesota sports fan is a front-runner. Each sport or team has its own hard-core base, but beyond that base, overall attendance is determined by which team is perceived as being "hot," or "popular," or generating a lot of "buzz" in the market. The Gophers were starting to trend upwards with back-to-back 8-win seasons. But, last year's losing record meant they lost any momentum with the front-running fans. It will take something big to regain that momentum. For this season, they just need to hope that they can get hot and generate some single-game tix sales. Then, if those single-game ticket buyers have a good experience, maybe they can flip some of those into season-ticket buyers.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
The Minnesota sports fan is a front-runner. Each sport or team has its own hard-core base, but beyond that base, overall attendance is determined by which team is perceived as being "hot," or "popular," or generating a lot of "buzz" in the market.
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I don't think we're that different than most fan bases in that regard, but it is true nonetheless.
 



MennoSota said:
It wouldn't matter. Have you been to one of their games? People are more concerned with watching the tire races in between innings. One game was all I could take of the constant noise and racket from the announcers.
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I've been to about a dozen since CHS opened and I guarantee you that most fans are in to the games and want the Saints to win. Many know the roster as well as most Twins fans. Bonus...you can have a drink with, and buy a drink for, most of the players b/c they hit the LT bars after games.
 

PMWinSTP said:
I've been to about a dozen since CHS opened and I guarantee you that most fans are in to the games and want the Saints to win. Many know the roster as well as most Twins fans. Bonus...you can have a drink with, and buy a drink for, most of the players b/c they hit the LT bars after games.
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Has it changed since they moved to CHS?

At their old place it seemed like it was at least 3/4 empty by the 7th or 8th inning.
 

MennoSota said:
It wouldn't matter. Have you been to one of their games? People are more concerned with watching the tire races in between innings. One game was all I could take of the constant noise and racket from the announcers.
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Dear Lord, have you been to a Gopher football game? Have you been Energized, Case Red zoned, Old Dutch Wheel of Fortune, MN Corn Grower Famlied, Snickers fan of the game, etc?
 

saintpaulguy said:
Dear Lord, have you been to a Gopher football game? Have you been Energized, Case Red zoned, Old Dutch Wheel of Fortune, MN Corn Grower Famlied, Snickers fan of the game, etc?
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Yep, completely unnecessary.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
The Minnesota sports fan is a front-runner. Each sport or team has its own hard-core base, but beyond that base, overall attendance is determined by which team is perceived as being "hot," or "popular," or generating a lot of "buzz" in the market. The Gophers were starting to trend upwards with back-to-back 8-win seasons. But, last year's losing record meant they lost any momentum with the front-running fans. It will take something big to regain that momentum. For this season, they just need to hope that they can get hot and generate some single-game tix sales. Then, if those single-game ticket buyers have a good experience, maybe they can flip some of those into season-ticket buyers.
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You summed it up well. The Gophers got a huge buzz from that 2014 season. They beat Michigan and Nebraska in the same season which many thought would never happen in their lifetimes. They destroyed Iowa. They played respectably against Ohio State. The Gophers made a New Year's Day Bowl. Jerry Kill was the toast of the town. The 2015 season held optimism and had an attractive home slate with TCU coming in #2, plus Nebraska, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Then things went south. We had a disappointing season and Kill resigned. The good vibes were lost. So some people got off the bandwagon. Some of it was the team's performance and some of it may have rested on the commitment of seven Saturdays per fall being too much for some people especially since there isn't great resale value for most seats. I agree too that the expense of Vikings tickets led to some choices being made in favor the purple. I think the compulsory donations hurt a bit, but not as much as the other factors. The 2016 home schedule offers some opportunities for wins, but isn't one that's going to excite many casual fans. I'd like to see the 2016 season ticket marks compared not to just 2015, but to 2013 and 2014 too. Ultimately consistently winning is what will convert casual fans to diehards.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Has it changed since they moved to CHS?

At their old place it seemed like it was at least 3/4 empty by the 7th or 8th inning.
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CHS is one of the best non-MLB stadiums in the country, and the attendance is one of the highest non MLB in the country as well including AAA.

I would go to a Saints game over a Twins game 9 times out of 10. The Saints win games and the players are playing mostly for passion over money. The Twins are garbage and don't deserve anyone's money for what ownership is putting on the field.
 

Worry about the product. Win the B1G West division, beat Iowa and Wisconsin in the same year for the first time since....? This program hasn't done anything truly noteworthy in most of our lifetimes. There was an article on this site recently about Purdue having $5 tickets. Purdue has had four 6-2 conference season since Joe Tiller took over in 1997 (and an overall winning conference record during his tenure that ended in '08) and a trip to the Rose Bowl. Minnesota has zero 6-2 conference seasons and not a single coach with an overall winning conference record in many of our lifetimes. It's tough for Minnesota fans to be front runners when many of us have never actually experienced a top team. The team doesn't have to be great every year, but it needs to be great some years to make the other years worth it. When the "highs" are splitting the rivalry games and going 5-3 in conference play that's not going to be something many people are going to support long term.
 

EG#9 is right. If we were to live up to some of the lofty expectations of some of our fans this year that would more than likely solve the attendance problem for a while unless we completely slip. We have a pretty solid core of fans who've stuck with this team through a lot of lean years. We more than like she'd a lot of the scalpers who are probably focusing on the Vikings this year.
 

EG#9 said:
Worry about the product. Win the B1G West division, beat Iowa and Wisconsin in the same year for the first time since....? This program hasn't done anything truly noteworthy in most of our lifetimes. There was an article on this site recently about Purdue having $5 tickets. Purdue has had four 6-2 conference season since Joe Tiller took over in 1997 (and an overall winning conference record during his tenure that ended in '08) and a trip to the Rose Bowl. Minnesota has zero 6-2 conference seasons and not a single coach with an overall winning conference record in many of our lifetimes. It's tough for Minnesota fans to be front runners when many of us have never actually experienced a top team. The team doesn't have to be great every year, but it needs to be great some years to make the other years worth it. When the "highs" are splitting the rivalry games and going 5-3 in conference play that's not going to be something many people are going to support long term.
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Yep.
 

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