2024 Seating Changes

[Consigliere]

Gonna be honest here... SU is a pro team for CNY. It's always been a locals fanbase. The students show up when it's fashionable to date. I hope Fran can change this. Let's not pretend though, that the students deserve any upgrades. I would say though, that they should get free tickets with their tuition.

Do you know what free tickets do? It enables 20,000 to reserve seats and block them out when only 4,000 actually show up. Ask how many tickets are requested and redeemed for spring football and basketball tip off events.

 

[Consigliere]

thats what makes it hard is they dont really have a way to keep people together who might well have groups sitting together for years.

Don’t they? Oh ye of little faith.

 

[rrlbees]

Its another of the unknowns.. You going to have 6 people all on zoom trying to pick seats at the same time. Then another person selects in the middle of your spot and you start over?

Will hundreds be selecting at once or a dozen? How long will the window be open? Will it even work well? We have had issues many times getting ticket selection things to work.

You should send all your questions to SU.

 

[Chip]

Lmao Wildhack sent my mother a passive-aggressive one-line email this morning

"Tell your son I'm getting a restraining order against him. Best, JW"

 

[upperdeck]

You should send all your questions to SU.

i have.. nothing.

 

[UpstateSM]

"Tell your son I'm getting a restraining order against him. Best, JW"

It didn't work for my ex and it won't work for him

(This is a joke)

 

[upperdeck]

Don’t they? Oh ye of little faith.

Good if they do. But maybe tell people that? on this board alone 5-10 people have already expressed a worry about it.

 

[Cusefan95]

Do you know what free tickets do? It enables 20,000 to reserve seats and block them out when only 4,000 actually show up. Ask how many tickets are requested and redeemed for spring football and basketball tip off events.

Yep. There’s lots of research that shows people value something based on what they paid for it (which matches what supply and demand graphs indicate as well). If you give away free tickets, it’s absolutely certain you will have a huge number of no-shows - because you effectively indicated the product has no intrinsic value by giving the tickets away.

Why don’t students get free tickets? Because multiple disciplines (like psychology & economics) have concluded it’s a terrible idea.

 

[Newhouser]

If you renew on February first you can take advantage of the payment plan that allows you to split the cost into 7 or 8 equal payments interest free. Yes, I know you don’t accrue priority points until you make the payment. You don’t HAVE to renew until May 1 to participate in seat selection. I strongly believe that if you get to seat selection and cannot find an acceptable outcome they will work with you to do essentially whatever is possible. Sounds like they will try to make seat selection a very individualized process with plenty of hand holding.

Based off SU ticket reps previous hand holding excellence?

 

[Consigliere]

Part of me is curious if other schools have records which go back more than 20 years. The other part doesn’t want to know because I expect the answer will be infuriating.

I suspect that Wildhack has had numerous conversations since he took this job go like this:
JW: “I need you to get me XYZ.”
Person A: “Yeah…we don’t have that.”
JW: “…are you serious?”
Person B: “Yep.”
JW: “Aw, sheet…”

That poor SOB couldn’t have possibly know what a dumpster fire he was willingly climbing into until it was too late.

Having records and having records that can be queried, indexed and sorted are two different things. And there is a cost associated with moving from one to the other. And based on my knowledge of IT consulting costs it ain’t cheap!

 

[Jcuse_44]

Do you know what free tickets do? It enables 20,000 to reserve seats and block them out when only 4,000 actually show up. Ask how many tickets are requested and redeemed for spring football and basketball tip off events.

Free seats should never be reserved. Walk up only. That makes it so the real fans get seats.

 

[Jcuse_44]

Yep. There’s lots of research that shows people value something based on what they paid for it (which matches what supply and demand graphs indicate as well). If you give away free tickets, it’s absolutely certain you will have a huge number of no-shows - because you effectively indicated the product has no intrinsic value by giving the tickets away.

Why don’t students get free tickets? Because multiple disciplines (like psychology & economics) have concluded it’s a terrible idea.

Its a terrible idea if they get to reserve the seats. If you can get in free, but are expected to show up and its general admission, so first come first serve, then its a fantastic idea. It puts value on being there ON TIME.

 

[Consigliere]

Based off SU ticket reps previous hand holding excellence?

Having had multiple discussions with members of the Athletic Department and Legends and knowledge of the hiring and training going on, I stand by my statement.

 

[upperdeck]

There must be some way of handling this though? I mean how do all these other lots use digital passes?

I would pay money to see SU get some cars out of the fine lot, but they took the path of least resistance and combined the 2 lots into West. The non-Fine lot always has some space, but I would rather pay more to be guaranteed the Fine Lot honestly.

Depends on the place.. But many force lots to be empty.. SU doesnt. Some only sell X% of the lot for special events because they know there will be some spill over.

Fine/West probably does that in some way?

Mt Olympus and the womens building do not do it that way.

Manley used to be a mix.

 

[UpstateSM]

Yep. There’s lots of research that shows people value something based on what they paid for it (which matches what supply and demand graphs indicate as well). If you give away free tickets, it’s absolutely certain you will have a huge number of no-shows - because you effectively indicated the product has no intrinsic value by giving the tickets away.

Why don’t students get free tickets? Because multiple disciplines (like psychology & economics) have concluded it’s a terrible idea.

My undergrad did and I believe still does give students free tickets to every athletic event. It helps get people there a bit but winning is the only thing that gets and keeps asses in seats.

When I was there students got a free buffet lunch when they walked in from the tailgate right next to the stadium. That helped get kids there for the first half but beyond that it was all dependent on if UMass was being competitive or not.

 

[Cheriehoop]

You have an app on your smartphone. It displays your parking pass with a code. The attendant reads it with a scanner. Those without smartphones can get paper passes with scanable codes.

I Would think needing an attendant for each parking lot plus holding up traffic etc would end up being an issue though.

 

[upperdeck]

I Would think needing an attendant for each parking lot plus holding up traffic etc would end up being ann issue though.

You could use gates and phones and QR codes. Lots of ways to do it.
Wait until someone hacks into SU using the QR codes and see what chaos that brings.

 

[Cusefan95]

Its a terrible idea if they get to reserve the seats. If you can get in free, but are expected to show up and its general admission, so first come first serve, then its a fantastic idea. It puts value on being there ON TIME.

It’s still an awful idea. Let’s say you have a couple students who come to every game, getting there plenty early. Team has a good year, they know demand will be high for the last game - they go extra early but still get turned away because students who attended zero games all year showed up even earlier. How is that good over the long run? Will those two students say the next year “I’m not going to a garbage Colgate game since I can’t be sure I’ll get into the premium games”?

For a one-time event, your idea works. For something with multiple events like a sports season, its objectively terrible and a fantastic way to build absolutely no long term loyalty from your students and recent graduates.

The only way this kinda works is if they still “pay”, but not in cash. St Johns gives (or at least used to) points for any games a student attended - soccer, field hockey, volleyball, etc - “points”. The students with the most points got first shot at a seat for basketball games at MSG. The biggest difference between Syracuse and St Johns is there’s built in scarcity at MSG - it’d be insane for us to turn students away from non-sellouts (and setting a flexible cap on seats in the student section for each game would be a logistical nightmare). So I think that, even if SU went this route - it’s still incredibly stupid.

 

[whobut03]

This is one of the most Central NY threads ever. Change is inevitable. CNYers hate it for whatever reason.

 

[Jcuse_44]

It’s still an awful idea. Let’s say you have a couple students who come to every game, getting there plenty early. Team has a good year, they know demand will be high for the last game - they go extra early but still get turned away because students who attended zero games all year showed up even earlier. How is that good over the long run? Will those two students say the next year “I’m not going to a garbage Colgate game since I can’t be sure I’ll get into the premium games”?

For a one-time event, your idea works. For something with multiple events like a sports season, its objectively terrible and a fantastic way to build absolutely no long term loyalty from your students and recent graduates.

The only way this kinda works is if they still “pay”, but not in cash. St Johns gives (or at least used to) points for any games a student attended - soccer, field hockey, volleyball, etc - “points”. The students with the most points got first shot at a seat for basketball games at MSG. The biggest difference between Syracuse and St Johns is there’s built in scarcity at MSG - it’d be insane for us to turn students away from non-sellouts (and setting a flexible cap on seats in the student section for each game would be a logistical nightmare). So I think that, even if SU went this route - it’s still incredibly stupid.

The points system is actually interesting. It would get them to attend more events. I guess i should have majored in psych and not sociology.

 

[rrlbees]

Wait until someone hacks into SU using the QR codes and see what chaos that brings.

Wonder why someone hasn’t done that with the game tickets.

 

[Jcuse_44]

This is one of the most Central NY threads ever. Change is inevitable. CNYers hate it for whatever reason.

Says someone clearly not from CNY. Change is good, but people are allowed to be concerned about something they are passionate about. Im sure once the dust settles everyone will be fine, but you have to appreciate that it's been our passion ( at least mine ) since birth. Try telling Green Bay Packers fans that their grandfathered seasons tickets are changing. It's not quite that drastic, but consider what is involved here for people who have made this their pastime and social event their entire lives.

 

[Cusefan95]

Having records and having records that can be queried, indexed and sorted are two different things. And there is a cost associated with moving from one to the other. And based on my knowledge of IT consulting costs it ain’t cheap!

Yeah…I posted my comment and then thought about the “Hershey ERP implementation disaster” from the ‘90s where data existed (kinda) but became inaccessible…it’s entirely possible the old data exists but got “lost” in an upgrade and the retrieval cost doesn’t justify going through the expense -even for this situation.

It’s entirely possible my dislike for ol’ Jake C colored my initial assumptions and might not actually be fair to him (or future administrations).

 

[0.2 YNdeeR]

Depends on the place.. But many force lots to be empty.. SU doesnt. Some only sell X% of the lot for special events because they know there will be some spill over.

Fine/West probably does that in some way?

Mt Olympus and the womens building do not do it that way.

Manley used to be a mix.

They definitely limit parking in the Fine Lot. Staff members park there as well as students living or studying in nearby grad/law buildings. I don't object to this. What I have a problem with is the lack of transparency and, specifically, the combined-lot West Stadium concept. Why not just sell x number of tickets to the Fine Lot separately and price them accordingly? "West stadium" is shady and coercive.

 

[Pyle]

Buddy I have no idea what you're even trying to "gotcha!" me on here. You're telling me your ex used to make layered and nuanced arguments that you didn't understand?

1. The students are getting put in a worse section for viewing, but a better section for getting into the building (never made sense back when I was a student to walk around the entire building to get to your seats), and they probably have plans on WHY they are putting the students there.

2. If that displaces people who pay $100, so be it, but the student seating is the first group to be seated, hence why they are prioritized.

3. People here used to complain that the students weren't actually in that corner in time for the players to run out anyways (I'm sure you were one of those as you always complain about the students), so now they move them away from there and it's a problem.

Students (and regular fans) leave when the game is out of reach, usually in a blowout either way. No one is leaving in a 20-17 game going into the 4th. It's just more obvious when it's the student section because they're massed together (and overflowing the section due to bench seating).

4. Maybe Fran and the AD have a plan on utilizing that student section in a cooler way than it was previously?

Layered and nuanced? You are saying it's both good and bad. You're not really arguing anything except proving you like to argue using strawman arguments with no actual basis(I'm sure you were one of those as you always complain about the students). Also you're right, they don't leave a 20-17 game at the start of the 4th. 1/2 of them already left at halftime. Cooler way? It's about money, endzone are cheap seats, sideline are premium. This wasn't about students or fans IMO.