Free Admission and Food on Saturday for SU Students

[OttoinGrotto]

I think they really just need to find a way to bury this in the student fund and make all the games free. If they keep doing a push like this then fewer and fewer kids going to buy tickets, they'll just wait until they're free. Especially if it's general admission.

Take the ideal # of student attendance for each sport, multiply it by the respective student season ticket price for each sport, and then divide that total amount over the total # of students. Which means the fee would be much less than the $300 max for a student to buy season tix to each sport if each sport is purchased separately.

I can't imagine the school is going to see less enrollment because a $100 fee was baked into their 5 figure tuition.

Nah, making stuff feel "free" is bad. Free signals zero value.

This is one of the things when I was at BYU that I felt they really got right. When students purchase their season football tix, they're also given an All-Sports pass which was like a secondary student ID for sports that gave them free admission to all of the other sporting events. That meant that even the non-rev sports drew good crowds - I can't tell you how many volleyball games I used to go to.

With how strong hoops is, a killer Football + Basketball + everything else pass for like $250 would be awesome for students.

 

[Chip]

Nah, making stuff feel "free" is bad. Free signals zero value.

If the students skip football and hoops games because they think a free ticket is zero value, then I think the problem is bigger than the payment structure.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

If the students skip football and hoops games because they think a free ticket is zero value, then I think the problem is bigger than the payment structure.

Not necessarily. It's just a dumb human psychology thing. Same reason why you have more luck finding homes for a litter of pups if you sell them each for $25 instead of giving them away for free.

 

[Full_Rebar]

Not necessarily. It's just a dumb human psychology thing. Same reason why you have more luck finding homes for a litter of pups if you sell them each for $25 instead of giving them away for free.

I agree with you. SU should offer more incentives for student season ticket holders- meet and greet with coaches, tours of facilities, a special hat/t-shirt, in-game contests, etc.

Make a rewards system with better swag for those who have seasons for both, use the Olympic sports as opportunities for students to get bonus points, which helps those teams draw. Giving tickets away helps the crowds now, but it's setting a bad precedent moving forward.

 

[phil77]

We need more students to attend. More students will equal better game atmosphere. The better atmosphere the better chance we get the casual fan to come back. All students should be free. First come first server for the student sections. Give them a free token or something for free meal and drink.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I agree with you. SU should offer more incentives for student season ticket holders- meet and greet with coaches, tours of facilities, a special hat/t-shirt, in-game contests, etc.

Make a rewards system with better swag for those who have seasons for both, use the Olympic sports as opportunities for students to get bonus points, which helps those teams draw. Giving tickets away helps the crowds now, but it's setting a bad precedent moving forward.

Yeah, BYU would give us an "official Game Day T-shirt" every year. Not surprisingly, a lot of students wore those to whatever sporting events they attended.

They also helped to keep the local thrift stores stocked, so there is that.

 

[Chip]

Not necessarily. It's just a dumb human psychology thing. Same reason why you have more luck finding homes for a litter of pups if you sell them each for $25 instead of giving them away for free.

I get it, for non-sports business related things. But I would have never included student attendance to football and basketball at a power conference school as part of that equation.

Tell them they paid for it in the activity fee if it helps. i.e. it's not free, you already paid for it, so you might as well attend and get your money's worth.

There has to be a model at other schools that works better than ours.

 

[longislandcuse]

If you're banking on the hopeful fact that this team is turning the corner then it's a great move. A good Syracuse Football team will be a hot ticket and people will pay to see them. I feel like we're truly building something now and this is just part of the building process, get people in the door.

That being said, it does zero good to give away tickets for people to watch a team that is supposedly "turning the corner" struggle against an FCS team or get their doors blown off before halftime against good teams. I really, really, hope this game tomorrow signifies that we are on the uptick officially.

 

[Millhouse]

Not necessarily. It's just a dumb human psychology thing. Same reason why you have more luck finding homes for a litter of pups if you sell them each for $25 instead of giving them away for free.

oh come on.

free can be bad sometimes if you think you're going to incur great costs later. i don't want a free puppy because i assume i'll have to pay to get it well.

that's not the case here. it's pretty easy for people to figure out what they're getting with a free football ticket

 

[Jasoncuse]

Nah, making stuff feel "free" is bad. Free signals zero value.

No way. Maybe as an adult in the real world, there's a sense of that, but as a college student, FREE is great.

I can't tell you how many of my friends or kids on my floor either forgot to buy season tix, or were just too lazy to do it. They would have gone to the games, but just didn't get the tix. I imagine there's still some of that, maybe even more so since the football team isn't as good as 10+ years ago.

You're still going to get all the kids that have bought tix going to the games if they were free. With the free tix, you'll be able to grab more that either didn't want to pay for tix originally or just never got around to it. There's more than you think in that category.

I'd have to believe 'free' tix or the fee built in and everyone can go to games without buying specific tix would greatly increase attendance. Plus, maybe you hook more kids that you could have...

 

[OttoinGrotto]

it's pretty easy for people to figure out what they're getting with a free football ticket

Especially if it's crappy, not entertaining football, and you figure your time is better spent doing something else.

But if you sacrificed for that crappy, not entertaining football...

 

[rrlbees]

Not necessarily. It's just a dumb human psychology thing. Same reason why you have more luck finding homes for a litter of pups if you sell them each for $25 instead of giving them away for free.

So if SU opened the doors for a game next year and let everyone in free, there would be fewer people than we get now?

 

[Pat Kelly]

If you don't "think" you're actually paying for the tickets what's your incentive to go? Just saying

It's much more common to hear a student say "I don't have season tickets so I'm not gonna go" than "They aren't charging me for this therefore it has no value."

College students LOVE free stuff

 

[OttoinGrotto]

So if SU opened the doors for a game next year and let everyone in free, there would be fewer people than we get now?

How many do we draw for the scrimmages?

 

[SUFan44]

Yeah - but if just a few make a stink and speak out in the DO it would become a "thing."

Oh c'mon. No it wouldn't.

 

[Pat Kelly]

No way. Maybe as an adult in the real world, there's a sense of that, but as a college student, FREE is great.

I can't tell you how many of my friends or kids on my floor either forgot to buy season tix, or were just too lazy to do it. They would have gone to the games, but just didn't get the tix. I imagine there's still some of that, maybe even more so since the football team isn't as good as 10+ years ago.

You're still going to get all the kids that have bought tix going to the games if they were free. With the free tix, you'll be able to grab more that either didn't want to pay for tix originally or just never got around to it. There's more than you think in that category.

I'd have to believe 'free' tix or the fee built in and everyone can go to games without buying specific tix would greatly increase attendance. Plus, maybe you hook more kids that you could have...

100% true... I have a friend who goes to Clemson and they get football tickets for free, and that school doesn't have attendance issues

 

[SUFan44]

How many do we draw for the scrimmages?

Not the same. Don't be ridiculous.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I can't tell you how many of my friends or kids on my floor either forgot to buy season tix, or were just too lazy to do it. They would have gone to the games, but just didn't get the tix.

That's a fair point. College kids are not exactly reliable.

 

[rrlbees]

How many do we draw for the scrimmages?

Yea like a scrimmage is the same as an actual game.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Not the same. Don't be ridiculous.

It's the closest comparison point we have.

 

[Pat Kelly]

It's the closest comparison point we have.

Awful comparison... how about the Villanova game when they gave student tickets for free and the crowd was huge. I can't believe it's even a debate whether free student tickets would bring more students... really???

 

[SUFan44]

If you don't "think" you're actually paying for the tickets what's your incentive to go? Just saying

A lot more than would want to go if they had to pay - especially for a non-premium product (which, to be honest, is what we are dealing with). Men's basketball is a whole different ball of wax - they can charge whatever they want.

 

[llandz]

The real answer is all students who attend the football game get two extra points in any subject of their choice on their next exam. Reward for "school spirit" Think how many times you wished you had one or two points because that made all the difference in your final average.

 

[rrlbees]

It's the closest comparison point we have.

So using that logic, if we charged $50 per person for the spring game, people would see it as value and we could fill the Dome.

You need to get on the horn and call TGD with that idea.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Awful comparison... how about the Villanova game when they gave student tickets for free and the crowd was huge. I can't believe it's even a debate whether free student tickets would bring more students... really???

That's not what I've said in this thread at all.