Shama: Season ticket sales down 18%, student season ticket sales down 23%

[BleedGopher]

per Shama:

As of Tuesday, the Gophers had sold 22,807 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 significant decline in season sales from last year’s total of 27,885.

Student season sales have also declined from 8,495 last year to 6,467 in 2016. Both the student and non-student totals could increase slightly with a small number of additional buyers, but the Gophers are already two games into their seven-game home schedule.

The declines were expected because of at least three key factors. Many seats at TCF Bank Stadium have increased in cost because of built-in donation fees attached to ticket prices (also labeled and reported as “scholarship seating fees”). Then, too, the Gophers had a disappointing 6-7 record last year (2-6 in the Big Ten), and last October head coach Jerry Kill—the face of the program and athletic department—resigned because of health issues.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Walk up for student tickets must have been good for the first two games, they have done well.

Granted they tend to do well early.

 

[bigskyguy]

I had 8 tickets for 32 years. After scholarship fee, my effective rate was $90/ticket to sit on the 10 yard line. Can't fill the stadium with fans so let's gouge the few fans we have. Sorry didn't work. And no, I don't spend a dime on the Vikings and schedule wasn't a factor.

 

[theTurning]

This program is fantastic at shooting itself in the foot in innovative ways.

 

[Iceland12]

per Shama:

As of Tuesday, the Gophers had sold 22,807 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 significant decline in season sales from last year’s total of 27,885.

Student season sales have also declined from 8,495 last year to 6,467 in 2016. Both the student and non-student totals could increase slightly with a small number of additional buyers, but the Gophers are already two games into their seven-game home schedule.

The declines were expected because of at least three key factors. Many seats at TCF Bank Stadium have increased in cost because of built-in donation fees attached to ticket prices (also labeled and reported as “scholarship seating fees”). Then, too, the Gophers had a disappointing 6-7 record last year (2-6 in the Big Ten), and last October head coach Jerry Kill—the face of the program and athletic department—resigned because of health issues.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!

And last year we had Wisconsin on the schedule. With Sconnieland less than an hour away from TCF and the many Sconnies that are enrolled at the U, that may be the 1st or 2nd reason for a decline in Student Season Tickets. We've already discussed about how the loss of WI,NE,TCU and Michigan from the Home schedule didn't help encourage people to "dig deeper" to buy tickets.

 

[Spoofin]

Interesting. I'm curious what others think might have caused the downturn. Donation? Schedule? Results? Not sure it has been discussed on here yet and could be interesting.


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[everybody knows my name]

Interesting. I'm curious what others think might have caused the downturn. Donation? Schedule? Results? Not sure it has been discussed on here yet and could be interesting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No marquee opponent early in the season - we saw TCU in game 1 in 2015.
Coach Claeys, as smart and able as he is, is not a charismatic figure.
Prices went up while performance went down.

But I continue to believe that winning solves most of these problems.

 

[Iceland12]

Interesting. I'm curious what others think might have caused the downturn. Donation? Schedule? Results? Not sure it has been discussed on here yet and could be interesting. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

After the problems you've listed with sarcasm over the last couple of weeks, you might want to start using one of these.

Smilie List
Click a smilie to insert it into your message.
Generic Smilies

 

[MNfootballfan]

Not that I need a prize or be rewarded for having season tickets, but really what benefits do we get as season ticket holders? I had tickets with a good friend for the past ten years. This year he dropped his half of the tickets 100% due to the scholarship donation. Last week he gave me a call and said that the U called him and offered him free tickets to the Colorado State game.

They have screwed up so much and don't know how they can fix it. Now they are giving free tickets to former season ticket holders but the current season ticket holders have to watch their season tickets nearly double.

 

[ruppertflywheel]

Here's the the thing. The University sales and marketing department promotes the Gophers like they're the only show in town. From the President right on down to the Regent's they all have a stick up their ass thinking that as a flag ship University fans will eventually bow to their knees and pay for the donation program. This was their arrogant mindset after two 8-5 seasons.Well, they were wrong. If they had any brain matter they would lower the price of season tickets starting today and credit the current season ticket holders when they renew next year at the new lower price.Offer the students 4 dollar tickets. for the remaining home games.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Interesting. I'm curious what others think might have caused the downturn. Donation? Schedule? Results? Not sure it has been discussed on here yet and could be interesting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've had tickets for over 10,000 years and quit this year because donation and the ADs new accounting staff.

 

[El Amin Fan]

Interesting. I'm curious what others think might have caused the downturn. Donation? Schedule? Results? Not sure it has been discussed on here yet and could be interesting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Gophers dominance in football ended right around the time the Vikings arrived. That has to be a factor.

 

[Maverick]

For me it was a personal reason to drop my season tickets, (4) but had that not been there, the price gouging fees and the way they were introduced would have driven me away.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[olddoc]

There is more product then demand, the quality of the product is peceived as diminishing and is also becoming more expensive.

 

[gophernewbie]

Not that I need a prize or be rewarded for having season tickets, but really what benefits do we get as season ticket holders? I had tickets with a good friend for the past ten years. This year he dropped his half of the tickets 100% due to the scholarship donation. Last week he gave me a call and said that the U called him and offered him free tickets to the Colorado State game.

They have screwed up so much and don't know how they can fix it. Now they are giving free tickets to former season ticket holders but the current season ticket holders have to watch their season tickets nearly double.

This is my 3rd year with season tickets. I was emailed Gopher Fund survey a month ago. I filled it out (15 minutes) and was offered tickets to 1 of 4 events. I think 3 of them were volleyball games. The other 1 that I chose was 2 tix to the Colorado State game. They are bench seats but turned out be aisle seats atleast. We invited 2 people to come and have been pushing them to get season tickets the last few years.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

Dropped 4 tickets at the five yard line

I had 8 tickets for 32 years. After scholarship fee, my effective rate was $90/ticket to sit on the 10 yard line. Can't fill the stadium with fans so let's gouge the few fans we have. Sorry didn't work. And no, I don't spend a dime on the Vikings and schedule wasn't a factor.

Scholarship seating was the main factor because of the cost. Donation doesn't work for either of us as far as a tax incentive.
We were down to two guys splitting four seats at the end. Two in our group dropped out. We started in the Dome in 1996 in coach Masons first year. We had two drop 4 years ago before the scholarship seating was even announced.
The other guys kids play football. My brother became a season ticket holder for the Vikings, got tired of the Gophers losing in "fantastic" and only bad luck "Gophers ways" of losing and little to no contention for Big10 titles.

When it was two of us and we could pay the small increase last year it was do-able. Not this year, with the donation going up a lot, and with the not so great home schedule and one less game, combine with a lot of early kick offs and this gets to be a hard ticket to even give away.
Very difficult to get anyone to buy the tickets, even giving them away free wasn't working as a couple times we had empties.
We were die-hards and liked having season tickets, tried buying the bench seats in the corners and absolutely hated the seats. I went to the first couple games myself as I could find no takers even for the three seats as part of the 4 pack plan and ended up selling for 5 each at the game. Mention the words "Indiana State" was the opponent and the response was you cannot pay me to go to that game.
Last years 6-7 season seemed to dampen a lot of peoples enthusiasm for going to games, but not to beat a dead horse, the scholarship seating fee had the greatest impact at dropping seats.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Maybe I'm the only one interested...but from a business perspective what percent is ticket revenue up or down?

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Maybe I'm the only one interested...but from a business perspective what percent is ticket revenue up or down?

I doubt they count that until the games are in the books. Season ticket revenue presumably is down but that doesn't mean they don't make any money from those seats as someone may still buy them.

Not ideal, but can't calculate it until later.

 

[tikited]

Here's the the thing. The University sales and marketing department promotes the Gophers like they're the only show in town. From the President right on down to the Regent's they all have a stick up their ass thinking that as a flag ship University fans will eventually bow to their knees and pay for the donation program. This was their arrogant mindset after two 8-5 seasons.Well, they were wrong. If they had any brain matter they would lower the price of season tickets starting today and credit the current season ticket holders when they renew next year at the new lower price.Offer the students 4 dollar tickets. for the remaining home games.

I agree that the people in charge blew any momentum the program had in regard to fan support. Absolutely blew it. But...your idea will never, ever happen.

 

[PMWinSTP]

No marquee opponent early in the season - we saw TCU in game 1 in 2015.
Coach Claeys, as smart and able as he is, is not a charismatic figure.
Prices went up while performance went down.

But I continue to believe that winning solves most of these problems.

So you do know that was Spoofin's attempt at sarcasm, right?

 

[GopherVotary]

Looks like our downsized stadium should have downsized even more.

 

[everybody knows my name]

So you do know that was Spoofin's attempt at sarcasm, right?

I wasn't actually responding to anything Spoofin posted. I just lazily clicked on 'reply with quote.'

 

[mplsbadger]

I had tickets for ten years including four in 110 for five years. I dropped because I have a young son and it was getting hard to use the seats. Last week my wife had a class so I took my son to the game. Row 1 seats 1 & 2 in section 211 for $20 each. Great seats. Probably would be $90 as seasons. Wouldn't get them for Wisconsin, Iowa, or Nebraska however. The problem with the aggressive pricing is that now we're down to the people that 'need' to be at the game. The people that just 'want' to aren't there anymore.

 

[MNGoldenGophers1]

Not that I need a prize or be rewarded for having season tickets, but really what benefits do we get as season ticket holders? I had tickets with a good friend for the past ten years. This year he dropped his half of the tickets 100% due to the scholarship donation. Last week he gave me a call and said that the U called him and offered him free tickets to the Colorado State game.

They have screwed up so much and don't know how they can fix it. Now they are giving free tickets to former season ticket holders but the current season ticket holders have to watch their season tickets nearly double.

I was overly vocal about this "donation" CF from day one and for more than a year I was ridiculed by the few fools who thought it was a good idea. I even got called a liar about a conversation I had with a U ticket rep and was challenged to a $500 wager to prove my case. When I took the bet, this person pussied out. I even got a thread blocked and a nice note from the mods for trolling which is ironic given all the stupid posts I make but was actually being serious with my posts in this particular thread. I miss and haven't been called a troll in awhile so hopefully this post will renew some interest in doing so.

Anyway this offer to non-renewers is interesting and true. Someone I know who dropped their seasons tickets got the same offer for CSU tickets and a chance to talk with the AD but he declined. Although I didn't get offered anything for the two I kept, I'd rather they lower the prices so more people re-renew their season tickets and perhaps attract new fans.

But here is the silver lining. We got rid of an idiot, scumbag AD and have a new one who put a stop to this donation madness. More importantly, Coyle seems to be a very good all around AD and hopefully time proves this to be true. It's early but Claeys has us off to a 2-0 start and on track for what could be a magical season that hopefully includes winning an axe and pig. And we all should be proud of the teams excellent APR and thankful for Claeys' apparent zero tolerance for bad behavior. A breath of fresh air if you will.

Go Gophers!

 

[ruppertflywheel]

I agree that the people in charge blew any momentum the program had in regard to fan support. Absolutely blew it. But...your idea will never, ever happen.

You're right, they won't. If they went back to the original season ticket prices when the stadium opened they would get most of the 20% lost sales back, if not all. You can increase the price when you've a hot commodity. 5-7 record won't have people clambering for tickets.

 

[dpodoll68]

what benefits do we get as season ticket holders?

Season tickets.

 

[Schnauzer]

This donation hike had all the makings of being a disaster back when it was announced. The Gophers had just come off a very promising season, were headed to a New Year's Day bowl game, and Jerry Kill was as popular as a coach could be. It was a bad idea then. Of course what has transpired since then has made a bad decision look even worse. I too remember all the people openly saying this was a GOOD idea. I have personally talked to a LOT of people that have dropped tickets and of course have seen what has been written here as well. The number one reason for this? The donation prices. There isn't a close second. A distant second would be the less-attractive home schedule this year but that only makes the core decision easier, it isn't a main factor. Otherwise, we'd see season ticket sales spike up and fall back year after year depending on the schedule.

People buy season tickets because they either feel good about the team or they have a long time interest and simply do what they always do. This donation disaster caused a LOT of long time season ticket holders to finally give up their seats. Once they get into new Saturday routines, it is nearly impossible to get many of them back. And as other's have said, with a flood of cheap seats available, what benefit is there for season ticket holders? They pay MORE.

I took the survey too, and took the two free seats to the Colorado State game. We are now going to see a flood of cheap seats in an attempt to put bodies in the stadium and that will further alienate season ticket holders paying $70, $90, or more for their seats. This donation scheme created an awful downward cycle. Of course winning cures many things but it would have to be winning at a new level, beyond 8-4 now to grow the season ticket base. I just hope there is enough winning for non-season ticket holders to buy up more seats on a weekly basis.

I still can't believe Reusse wrote an article claiming the donation prices weren't the big factor in the drop. All he'd have to do is talk to nearly ANYONE that dropped seats to see that it was pretty much the only reason so many season ticket holders were lost.

 

[DRJ]

Here's the the thing. The University sales and marketing department promotes the Gophers like they're the only show in town. From the President right on down to the Regent's they all have a stick up their ass thinking that as a flag ship University fans will eventually bow to their knees and pay for the donation program. This was their arrogant mindset after two 8-5 seasons.Well, they were wrong. If they had any brain matter they would lower the price of season tickets starting today and credit the current season ticket holders when they renew next year at the new lower price.Offer the students 4 dollar tickets. for the remaining home games.

I gave up my two tickets this year as well. I have had season tickets on and off for about 20 years or so dating back to the late 70's. I lived away from Minnesota 10-12 years in the late 70's and 80's. The main three reasons I gave up my two tickets it that at 66 years old, I do not like to sit out in the cold in November. Another reason I gave them up is that I am getting tired of how much we pay these coaches in basketball and football. These are government jobs and for them to get paid these salaries which is 3-5 times more than the college president gets paid!! Finally, I am not interested in watching teams like Indiana State in person. By the way, the U of M did call me last week and I am getting two free tickets to the Colorado State game. I went to the Oregon State game and will go to at least two or three big ten games. My buddy and I buy tickets from the scalpers.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

I gave up my two tickets this year as well. I have had season tickets on and off for about 20 years or so dating back to the late 70's. I lived away from Minnesota 10-12 years in the late 70's and 80's. The main three reasons I gave up my two tickets it that at 66 years old, I do not like to sit out in the cold in November. Another reason I gave them up is that I am getting tired of how much we pay these coaches in basketball and football. These are government jobs and for them to get paid these salaries which is 3-5 times more than the college president gets paid!! Finally, I am not interested in watching teams like Indiana State in person. By the way, the U of M did call me last week and I am getting two free tickets to the Colorado State game. I went to the Oregon State game and will go to at least two or three big ten games. My buddy and I buy tickets from the scalpers.

I guess we could pay them what you consider is reasonable....

 

[MNGoldenGophers1]

Season tickets.

I see that you’re still busy arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.