Final Count on New Season Ticket Sales

[Nick44]

Student tickets being free = less show rate.

There's no incentive for students to get to the game because there is no financial responsibility attached. It's been tried before. It's failed before.

And you know what else is embarrassing? When the rest of the Dome isn't filled when the team runs out of the tunnel. That's a little more than the 3 sections held for students. Good thing we won't have that problem this season.

Agree with all of this. You know what’s interesting, give a college kid a free ticket, he shows up an hour late. Make that kid pay for the ticket, but offer him free beer upon entry, they are seated in time for the national anthem. I think I have solved the dilemma. ;-)

 

[bnoro]

Agree with all of this. You know what’s interesting, give a college kid a free ticket, he shows up an hour late. Make that kid pay for the ticket, but offer him free beer upon entry, they are seated in time for the national anthem. I think I have solved the dilemma. ;-)

Less than 25% of the student population is 21. Not sure your idea would help.

 

[OrangeMojo]

Less than 25% of the student population is 21. Not sure your idea would help.

pretty sure the winky thing at the end meant it wasn't a serious suggestion.

 

[dollarbill44]

Student tickets being free = less show rate.

There's no incentive for students to get to the game because there is no financial responsibility attached. It's been tried before. It's failed before.

And you know what else is embarrassing? When the rest of the Dome isn't filled when the team runs out of the tunnel. That's a little more than the 3 sections held for students. Good thing we won't have that problem this season.

There are ways to combat that as well. My oldest went to U of Montana. Football tix were free for up to the first 2,000 students, but they had to go to the ticket office on Tuesday morning of game week to claim their spot. If they failed to show for the game, they lost their privilege (it was all tracked on their ID cards). They also had the option of buying their season tix and avoid all of that, which also gave them a ticket for their rival, Montana St, which was always a sell out and not part of the free package. It also let the university put the unclaimed tix up for sale mid week.
Btw, they draw pretty well and their student section is pretty full and rowdy at game time.

I too am disgusted with the amount of fans who don't care to be in their seats for the teams coming out, or for the first quarter for that matter.

 

[JeffCuse]

Please note- my post above wasnt a complaint about student attendance. I just was saying I wish the seats were more scattered around the dome.

 

[ImperialOrange]

Good riddance has proven time again to be a failed policy when it comes to ticket sales.

You know that reminds, we've got a bunch players that need official nicknames and I'm quasi out board of retirement to assist...

 

[Cheriehoop]

Give the student seats up. They don't show up to games. If you don't think concessions would bring in plenty of money you are crazy.

Many of those concessions are run by non profits. The University charges them for expenses like the food, drinks, snacks, supplies etc that are used and any profit or loss is the non profits.

 

[Scooch]

Please note- my post above wasnt a complaint about student attendance. I just was saying I wish the seats were more scattered around the dome.

There is nothing better than a packed, energetic student section. The rest of the crowd feeds off their intensity. Spreading students out isn't a good idea.

 

[Scooch]

FWIW, student attendance is a nation-wide challenge. And it's kind of funny that as colleges see their priorities grow ever more out-of-whack, pouring tens of millions of dollars into facilities in this ever-escalating arms race, the students at these colleges are placing less of an emphasis on sports. Not funny "ha ha", more like funny "hmmmmm".

 

[upperdeck]

its not just the students showing up late.. it happens in every sport.. at he Giants game last week in the 200 level half the people came after the 4-5 inning watched a few then left.

 

[UpstateSM]

Give the student seats up. They don't show up to games. If you don't think concessions would bring in plenty of money you are crazy.

Some kids initially consider schools, like Syracuse, as potential destinations solely based on what they know and have seen of their football and/or basketball teams. Whether they go to every game or are infrequent visitors taking away “student ticket” options is not the way to go. Especially when they’re paying tuition just as everyone who came before them did

 

[gocraz4dasu]

WVU has free tickets for their students and they have a pretty strong student attendance; WVU had the 25th highest attendance average in 2018. I believe Maryland, South Carolina (17th highest avg.), Vanderbilt, Clemson (14th highest avg.), Miami (22nd highest avg.), Stanford, and Northwestern also use free student ticket systems. Some of those schools have great attendance, others not so much. Northwestern saw the largest jump in their attendance average in the entire FBS last year, at an increase of 8,020, and Purdue was 10th here. Cuse was actually 11th with a 3,114 increase in our average attendance. The Pac-12 conference as a whole saw a decrease in their average attendance of 3,159, which is wild, the SEC's decrease was 1,080. Games that were located at a neutral site saw a decrease of 2,979. James Madison University has a free ticket system and they are third in average FCS attendance (Montana is second highest). But overall, FBS, FCS, Division II, ad Division III all saw their average attendance decrease. FCS attendance actually dropped 4.5%.

I feel like much of attendance is based almost entirely on how good the team is, outside of the traditional powerhouse exceptions like Nebraska r Texas A&M, but most schools are having trouble getting students and casual fans into their games on time and for the whole game. Hell, Alabama fans/alumni complain regularly how their students bail at half-time and those students pay $125 for season tickets ($20 for SEC opponents). As a side note, outside of LSU they have a pretty lackluster how schedule this year considering how good Bama should be this year (New Mexico State, Southern Miss, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Arkansas, LSU, and Western Carolina). Cuse getting 8,000+ new season ticket holders is impressive and I'm ecstatic for it and I think we will notice improvements in student attedance, but I don't think all the student attendance issues will be resolved. They will still likely show up late and leave early except for the Clemson games (unless it happens to be a blow-out).

The truth of the matter is that the actual football game itself is timed to be optimized on tv and that comes at a significant cost for in-game experience watching it. Students, like everyone else, are turning more and more to watching the games on tv. It's a shame but football games aren't cheap to attend and require essentially a whole day be dedicated to attending one now. The average college football game in 2016 averaged 3 hours and 24 minutes, which is 23 minutes longer than they were on average in 1996. FBS games were actually 16 minutes longer than the NFL game average that year (2016). Schools have to differentiate their in-game experience and market the game experience as superior to what fans would get if they stayed home to watch the game. That's getting harder to do. Tailgating is what I believe has saved a lot of the attendance averages of many middling teams. It makes attending the games an event where people feel like they miss out on. It's one of my worries with Syracuse because tailgating seems more difficult here, but it isn't like Central/Western NY doesn't have a tailgating culture. The Bills have a unique and wild tailgating scene. I'm hoping our newfound success can build a new generation of fans who have largely ignored attending live SU games because of our past two decades of mediocrity.

 

[JeffCuse]

There is nothing better than a packed, energetic student section. The rest of the crowd feeds off their intensity. Spreading students out isn't a good idea.

I do believe we have been to different games of late in recent years lol...

Seriously though, If we get back to the 90s era of student passion, all for it. Maybe we will be there THIS year. But if we have 45K in that building this season and the student section is still lagging, its a problem. That empty section can have the converse effect of dragging morale DOWN

we will see. hopefully that section is an asset moving forward

 

[Scooch]

I do believe we have been to different games of late in recent years lol...

Seriously though, If we get back to the 90s era of student passion, all for it. Maybe we will be there THIS year. But if we have 45K in that building this season and the student section is still lagging, its a problem. That empty section can have the converse effect of dragging morale DOWN

we will see. hopefully that section is an asset moving forward

I don't think there's any reason to believe that student attendance will be uniquely different than non-student attendance. Is it really likely that there will be a full Dome for Clemson, and a half-empty student section?

Overall, I just don't think this is an issue worth worrying about too much. The program has a lot of momentum behind it, and I suspect the students will turn out. If we crash and burn, the Dome is going to be a gloomy place in November, and it won't just be the students.

And FWIW, I went to the Louisville game last year, and the student section was pretty full (in the 100s) and into the game.

 

[OttoMets]

Less than 25% of the student population is 21. Not sure your idea would help.

OK, now I'm splitting hairs, but I don't think this is accurate.

~0% of freshman +
~0% of sophomores +
>0% of juniors +
100% of seniors
______________________

>25%

 

[FrancoPizza]

OK, now I'm splitting hairs, but I don't think this is accurate.

~0% of freshman +
~0% of sophomores +
>0% of juniors +
100% of seniors
______________________

>25%

I'll split your hair a bit further. I would wager class size decreases as you go from underclassmen to upperclassmen by virtue of the dropout rate so it may very well be significantly under 25%. Then again I'm sure there are quite a few underclass that have fake IDs.

 

[OttoMets]

I'll split your hair a bit further. I would wager class size decreases as you go from underclassmen to upperclassmen by virtue of the dropout rate so it may very well be significantly under 25%.

Yeah, you're probably right. If true, that might keep the number of 21+s under 25%. (But I'm guessing that the number of 21-year-old juniors is sufficiently bigger than the number of 20-year-old seniors to push it safely over 25%.)

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

Speaking of attendance isn't it kind of pathetic and a joke that Clemson couldn't sell out for us?

I know attendance is dropping nationwide but we are so insanely obsessive about it on this forum and really love to crap on our own fans.

Im watching last years game RN and the upper corners have hundreds of empty seats. What is their excuse? Can't be opponent we beat them the year before. Can't be their team. Sunshine's first college start should be a huge deal. What gives?

 

[JeremyCuse]

Arguing over student attendance in today's day and age is pointless. Students will show up in decent to good numbers when the following conditions are met A. The team is winning B. It's a big nationally televised game C. It's the "cool" thing to do. Even A eventually loses its luster, see Alabama. SU had some decent student showings last year and some bad ones but that is pretty much the norm across the country.

Keep in mind SU football to most of the current students has been a dreg for most of their upbringing. Of the on campus student body at best 10% or so are diehard SU fans, most are there because they are attending SU and their friends are there. That number might be slightly higher for bball but you get the point.

Student attendance is a lot like the casual fan attending. When the team is winning and it becomes the hot or in thing to do interest picks up and people want to be a part of it. SU's new season ticket sales didn't go up by 8K because SU is finally overhauling the Dome or lookiong into FINALLY changing up the concession options or because Bnoro and OttoMets are going to have a 45 min pre game talk about recruiting and the 81 grid, it went up because SU won 10 games, b&tch slapped FSU and is a team that appears to be on the rise and was ranked for the first time in 18 freeking years. Even with all of that there will still be games where the attendance ebbs and flows especially the student section. Even if SU is 3-1 after playing Clemson to the wire in week 3 and beating WMU the following weekthere is a really good chance the Student section will be way down if its 75 degrees and Sunny in of the last nice weekends of the summer/fall. I remember SU beat or played somebody a couple years ago at home and there was bout 500+ students partying less then a mile away that made the internet/paper. When you can pull out your smart phone and get a picture that looks like your watching on Kaisers 70 inch TV in the Trump rec room your going to have some games where students do something else because thats the big thing that weekend.

 

[Trueblue25]

Speaking of attendance isn't it kind of pathetic and a joke that Clemson couldn't sell out for us?

I know attendance is dropping nationwide but we are so insanely obsessive about it on this forum and really love to crap on our own fans.

Im watching last years game RN and the upper corners have hundreds of empty seats. What is their excuse? Can't be opponent we beat them the year before. Can't be their team. Sunshine's first college start should be a huge deal. What gives?

Leafs, lawns

 

[gmoney44]

Speaking of attendance isn't it kind of pathetic and a joke that Clemson couldn't sell out for us?

I know attendance is dropping nationwide but we are so insanely obsessive about it on this forum and really love to crap on our own fans.

Im watching last years game RN and the upper corners have hundreds of empty seats. What is their excuse? Can't be opponent we beat them the year before. Can't be their team. Sunshine's first college start should be a huge deal. What gives?

I don’t think SU gets the juices flowing for most Clemson fans. Maybe that will change a bit because two years in a row we gave them their best game. This is a team and fan base that is at the top of the mountain. It probably takes a Juggernaut of a program like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio st, Michigan, etc to really move the needle for them now.

 

[JeffCuse]

Arguing over student attendance in today's day and age is pointless. Students will show up in decent to good numbers when the following conditions are met A. The team is winning B. It's a big nationally televised game C. It's the "cool" thing to do. Even A eventually loses its luster, see Alabama. SU had some decent student showings last year and some bad ones but that is pretty much the norm across the country.

Keep in mind SU football to most of the current students has been a dreg for most of their upbringing. Of the on campus student body at best 10% or so are diehard SU fans, most are there because they are attending SU and their friends are there. That number might be slightly higher for bball but you get the point.

Student attendance is a lot like the casual fan attending. When the team is winning and it becomes the hot or in thing to do interest picks up and people want to be a part of it. SU's new season ticket sales didn't go up by 8K because SU is finally overhauling the Dome or lookiong into FINALLY changing up the concession options or because Bnoro and OttoMets are going to have a 45 min pre game talk about recruiting and the 81 grid, it went up because SU won 10 games, b&tch slapped FSU and is a team that appears to be on the rise and was ranked for the first time in 18 freeking years. Even with all of that there will still be games where the attendance ebbs and flows especially the student section. Even if SU is 3-1 after playing Clemson to the wire in week 3 and beating WMU the following weekthere is a really good chance the Student section will be way down if its 75 degrees and Sunny in of the last nice weekends of the summer/fall. I remember SU beat or played somebody a couple years ago at home and there was bout 500+ students partying less then a mile away that made the internet/paper. When you can pull out your smart phone and get a picture that looks like your watching on Kaisers 70 inch TV in the Trump rec room your going to have some games where students do something else because thats the big thing that weekend.

I’m honestly not complaining about whether they are coming. I’m saying it’s about messaging and perception. If we are in a down time, find a way to make the gray less obvious than three massive sections of gray metal at field level. Hopefully not an issue this year. But I’d like those sections more strategically placed during down cycles.

Hopefully that’s something they don’t have to worry about for a long while.

 

[JrodCuse]

OK, now I'm splitting hairs, but I don't think this is accurate.

~0% of freshman +
~0% of sophomores +
>0% of juniors +
100% of seniors
______________________

>25%

You’re also assuming every kid goes straight to college. Some were held back a year earlier in life, some travel for a year, some take a break before going to college. It’s not insane to see 21 yr old soph/juniors.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I’m honestly not complaining about whether they are coming. I’m saying it’s about messaging and perception. If we are in a down time, find a way to make the gray less obvious than three massive sections of gray metal at field level. Hopefully not an issue this year. But I’d like those sections more strategically placed during down cycles.

Hopefully that’s something they don’t have to worry about for a long while.

Agreed, was just talking in general not aimed at anyone person, definitely not a shot at you.

 

[NJCuse97]

Those times when the team is ready to come out of the tunnel all fired up and the student section right next to them is mostly empty is certainly cringe worthy.

I wonder how the 50% of concessions thing a half hour before the game has affected students getting there earlier?

How about if those seats aren’t filled by the time the team comes out of the tunnel, then they become first come/first served seating for everybody? Like, anyone in the Dome can move into those seats.

If students are too late, they can head to a student overflow section in the rafters.

Also, make student tickets free.

Yes to the last part.

Don’t believe for a second that if a student bought a seat in the student section expecting a certain seat, especially if it’s been improved by buying for more than one year, that they and their parents wouldn’t rightfully raise H3LL after paying $70,000 a year for that specific seat.