City Pages: The Minnesota Gophers cut ticket prices... while shooting themselves in the foot
So last week, the Athletic Department took a bold step to address its unwanted supply and retreating demand. It cut prices for basketball and hockey. Season tickets for hoops will now begin at $340. For hockey: $500.
By dropping season ticket prices, it could also drop single-game prices, hopefully winning back fans repelled by pro fees for middling collegiate fare.
But the university always seems to have a gun pointed at its foot. This moment was no different. It couldn't resist running a sleight of hand on its most loyal fans.
While official prices declined, “scholarship seating” fees – the university’s version of a seat license – rose correspondingly, meaning most season ticket holders won't see any savings at all.
Take, for example, a primo season seat for men’s hockey. Last year, it would have cost $700 per ticket, with a $300 mandatory gift. Total: $1,000
Next season that same seat will sell for $500, but with a $500 “scholarship seating” fee. Total: $1,000.
“Our ticket price went down by $300!!!” one commenter wrote. “Our per seat contribution went up by... $300. Thanks?”
The U had taken a page from the cable industry's manual on customer relations. New customers get tempting discounts, while existing ones are taken for everything they can get. At Minnesota’s greatest center of higher thought, they actually built a disincentive to customer loyalty. The new prices mean you can now pay considerably less at the door. And you can skip contests against stiffs that are scheduled only to pad records and home-game revenue.
The U, of course, is motivated by a dilemma. Unlike most schools, it sits within a major city, forced to compete against all manner of pro teams. It doesn’t have the luxury of a country locale where it’s the only game in town.
Nor does it have the prestige or athletic history to measure its donors by the tonnage. Yet it still must compete in the arms race of college sports, playing with an anchor roped to its foot.
http://www.citypages.com/news/the-m...ile-shooting-themselves-in-the-foot/508993991
Go Gophers!!