So Does SU Lower Season Tix Prices?

[TexanMark]

I'm predicting SU goes with $85 Food Stamps with similar discounts across the board. They have to to appease the CNY'ers. The USC game prices are high...but SU didn't set them.

 

[OrangeAl]

I'm predicting SU goes with $85 Food Stamps with similar discounts across the board. They have to to appease the CNY'ers. The USC game prices are high...but SU didn't set them.

Yeah, got to assume they stay within the same price structure. This isn't an opportune time to raise the rent.

 

[bnoro]

I'm predicting SU goes with $85 Food Stamps with similar discounts across the board. They have to to appease the CNY'ers. The USC game prices are high...but SU didn't set them.

Don't call them Food Stamps, Rosconey thinks that you are disparaging the lower class.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

In theory you shouldn't charge as much for 5 games as you used to charge for 6-8 games.

Of course parking will probably get jacked up to $15.

 

[Orangetradition44]

My guess... No. $100 for 5 games.

I'm predicting SU goes with $85 Food Stamps with similar discounts across the board. They have to to appease the CNY'ers. The USC game prices are high...but SU didn't set them.

 

[rrlbees]

they should be reduced a lot. went for 6 dome games including usc to 5 games. uconn, lville, pitt, northwestern and stonybrook is horrible. parking should also be reduced due to fewer games.

 

[Chip]

My guess... No. $100 for 5 games.

I think SU might go lower but I think they're also going to make it clear that this pricing is a steal by college football standards. And that everyone should expect an increase (close to double) right off the bat in 2013 or phased in.

 

[upperdeck]

this makes me wonder why they can offer discounted tickets for fball season tickets for really good seats but dont offer any kind of long range seating plan for discounted bball tickets for seats they sell 1-2 times a year and some years not at all.. i know some people why try to move, but unlike football the better seats are pretty much gone anyway so no easy way to get into the better seats for the better games anyway.

if they sold the bad bball tickets as season passes for cheap prices i bet 1-2K of people would buy them just to get in the bldg and they would more than make the money back on food/parking. we already know there are 5-10k of people who pay to just show up for bigger games because the better seats are gone already..

does SU even have a marketing school?

 

[upperdeck]

I think SU might go lower but I think they're also going to make it clear that this pricing is a steal by college football standards. And that everyone should expect an increase (close to double) right off the bat in 2013 or phased in.

if SU raises prices like that they will lose 30-50% of the season ticket base , steal or not people dont want to pay that much in CNY for football. people will go back to buying 1-3 games a year and skip buying season tickets at all. I know so many people thinking the same thing.. we make half the games and there is no real advantage to season tickets when almost any seat is good. I might not make any games this year, im not an alum so other than being a fan why do i want to throw away $500 a year?

 

[JeremyCuse]

if SU raises prices like that they will lose 30-50% of the season ticket base , steal or not people dont want to pay that much in CNY for football. people will go back to buying 1-3 games a year and skip buying season tickets at all. I know so many people thinking the same thing.. we make half the games and there is no real advantage to season tickets when almost any seat is good. I might not make any games this year, im not an alum so other than being a fan why do i want to throw away $500 a year?

Yeah sorry I agree with Upperdeck your delusional if you think they can simply double prices in CNY and keep what they have now less increase attendance. A slight increase ok fine but double thats not gonna fly and would be a huge mistake/error by the Admin.

 

[Cuseman78]

Of course not, they are low enough. $100 for 5 games is a freakin' steal.

 

[Chip]

Yeah sorry I agree with Upperdeck your delusional if you think they can simply double prices in CNY and keep what they have now less increase attendance. A slight increase ok fine but double thats not gonna fly and would be a huge mistake/error by the Admin.

The Admin probably made the mistake at $99 tickets in the first place, or at least extending them all the way to the 1st row. While somehow expecting to make up the gaping difference in premium seating. I guess they figure now that the easier way to fix their mistake is more NYC games.

Just seems crazy to me that $99 for 5 college football games is being considered over priced in any context.

 

[Chip]

if SU raises prices like that they will lose 30-50% of the season ticket base , steal or not people dont want to pay that much in CNY for football. people will go back to buying 1-3 games a year and skip buying season tickets at all. I know so many people thinking the same thing.. we make half the games and there is no real advantage to season tickets when almost any seat is good. I might not make any games this year, im not an alum so other than being a fan why do i want to throw away $500 a year?

I was only referring to the $99 season tix. If that represents 50% of our season ticket base then we've got bigger problems.

 

[rrlbees]

The Admin probably made the mistake at $99 tickets in the first place, or at least extending them all the way to the 1st row. While somehow expecting to make up the gaping difference in premium seating. I guess they figure now that the easier way to fix their mistake is more NYC games.

Just seems crazy to me that $99 for 5 college football games is being considered over priced in any context.

The $100 tix aren't the question. They may stay the same and it doesn't make a difference. It's the other tix. SU has already made a slight concession in that they have moved out when the $$ is due and have also given people the option of doing it in 1, 2 or 4 payments. But without a doubt, the cost of the regular tickets should be lower compared to last year.

 

[mgurtz79]

this makes me wonder why they can offer discounted tickets for fball season tickets for really good seats but dont offer any kind of long range seating plan for discounted bball tickets for seats they sell 1-2 times a year and some years not at all.. i know some people why try to move, but unlike football the better seats are pretty much gone anyway so no easy way to get into the better seats for the better games anyway.

if they sold the bad bball tickets as season passes for cheap prices i bet 1-2K of people would buy them just to get in the bldg and they would more than make the money back on food/parking. we already know there are 5-10k of people who pay to just show up for bigger games because the better seats are gone already..

does SU even have a marketing school?

Why would they sell those tickets cheap when they average 25,000 (meaning they sell most of the "cheap" seats most of the time). Only 6 of the 19 games had less than 20,0000. Any marketing student would tell you that if you can make $40 a ticket for 13 of a 19 game schedule that is $520. If you sell all 19 games for $20 thats only $380. Economics wins, and for what its worth if they go far in the NCAA's basketball tix will definitely go up again.

Football is a whole other story (and I have football season tix, not basketball). They do not have a desirable product and they compete with weather (not much to do in the winter in upstate NY, lots to do in the fall).

That being said you only need to look at basketball to see how fans work. SU basketball sold out most of its road games, meaning when your good everyone wants to see you. If SU won the Big East this year with a good record (not the 8-4 UCONN style) and went to a BCS game, season tickets would fly up next year. Also if they got a player worth watching (think back to the days of McPherson, Graves, McNabb...paging Ashton Broyld) that would bring people back as well.

 

[GoSU96]

I'm predicting SU goes with $85 Food Stamps with similar discounts across the board. They have to to appease the CNY'ers. The USC game prices are high...but SU didn't set them.

Screw appeasing the fans. I'm sick of the bitching. Go, don't go, buy tickets, don't buy. The incessent whining here is ridiculous.

 

[BORZAK]

Offer vouchers for the USC game to season ticket holders. Eat a like for a good turn out on national tv.

 

[rrlbees]

Screw appeasing the fans. I'm sick of the bitching. Go, don't go, buy tickets, don't buy. The incessent whining here is ridiculous.

yes, because a program can survive without a fanbase. did doug lie in his presser?

 

[GoSU96]

Personal opinon.

 

[Millhouse]

if SU raises prices like that they will lose 30-50% of the season ticket base , steal or not people dont want to pay that much in CNY for football. people will go back to buying 1-3 games a year and skip buying season tickets at all. I know so many people thinking the same thing.. we make half the games and there is no real advantage to season tickets when almost any seat is good. I might not make any games this year, im not an alum so other than being a fan why do i want to throw away $500 a year?

i think this is correct. there's just not enough fans locally to push people into season tickets. when the fan base is way bigger than capacity, people buy season tickets in other places because they don't want to miss out on the best games. so everyone buys seasons. and since it's more fun to go to a crowded game, and since you know that everyone else had to buy seasons, and since you already have the ticket, you have a lot fewer no shows.

i think they need to keep season tickets where they are and most importantly.. don't bore people to death. these games in the dome have been brutal. keep them cheap, drop the prices of the expensive tickets so it doesn't look so terrible (make it less obvious that it's easy to get a ticket) and hope there's some positive feedback (more people going makes it more appealing for the next person to go, and so on)

we need to get the petty stuff out of our heads. ok fine it's a steal, ok fine other schools charge more and fill it up, ok fine people are fair weather.

i think it's a function of not enough people locally and being way too boring for too long to pull in out of towners. i don't know how much ticket prices matter, but the $99 horse left the barn. you can't charge people more to go after so many of them have been bored to death when they've gone.

 

[orangehomer]

is it bad that i would rather buy expensive seats for the usc and possibly temple games and skip the home season tickets altogether?

 

[Orangello]

is it bad that i would rather buy expensive seats for the usc and possibly temple games and skip the home season tickets altogether?

In a word, Yes. At least buy the food stamp seats and support the program.

 

[sutomcat]

Agree. The bad attendance is due to a few factors, the relatively unattractive schedules in recent years is not a big one and changing to the ACC is not going to be impactful in terms of driving demand higher.

The biggest problems with attendance, IMHO, are as follows, in descending order:

1) The team loses a lot more games than it wins. Even at home. This area does not support losing teams.
2) The games have been awful to watch. For far too many years. We get beat badly a lot and rarely show any signs of having even a decent offense to watch. If we have to lose a lot, it would be more interesting to lose games 45-40 instead of 27 to 7.
3) The economy is bad here, a lot of people that used to go to games are gone and the ones they are still here have less disposable income to spend on football.

The quality of the schedule is probably 4th on the list. It becomes more of an issue as more games are moved to NYC.

Everyone knows that the pricing for football tickets is really screwed up right now. We are the only program in the country I see with the endzones mostly filled and the areas between the goal line and the 25 yard line mostly empty. I know a lot of people that used to have seasons in preferred areas but switched to food stamps because of the huge price differential and the fact that a) they can still sit in their old seats if they want and 2) the seats in the food stamp sections are not that bad anyway.

The long term goal should be to increase the season ticket base, increase interest in the program so we start getting sellouts and then, when interest has been restored, increase ticket pricing accord to demand. With the added revenues from TV from joining the ACC, I think we should drop prices for the good seats for football, cut the preferred seating donations for football and give people strong incentives to buy season tickets. Take a loss on ticket revenue now to get to a point where pricing can be adjusted to where it belongs later. And do everything possible to make the product on the field something fans would enjoy seeing. In the final analysis, that is the most important thing.

Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to take two steps forward.

 

[Orangello]

Agree. The bad attendance is due to a few factors, the relatively unattractive schedules in recent years is not a big one and changing to the ACC is not going to be impactful in terms of driving demand higher.

The biggest problems with attendance, IMHO, are as follows, in descending order:

1) The team loses a lot more games than it wins. Even at home. This area does not support losing teams.
2) The games have been awful to watch. For far too many years. We get beat badly a lot and rarely show any signs of having even a decent offense to watch. If we have to lose a lot, it would be more interesting to lose games 45-40 instead of 27 to 7.
3) The economy is bad here, a lot of people that used to go to games are gone and the ones they are still here have less disposable income to spend on football.

The quality of the schedule is probably 4th on the list. It becomes more of an issue as more games are moved to NYC.

Everyone knows that the pricing for football tickets is really screwed up right now. We are the only program in the country I see with the endzones mostly filled and the areas between the goal line and the 25 yard line mostly empty. I know a lot of people that used to have seasons in preferred areas but switched to food stamps because of the huge price differential and the fact that a) they can still sit in their old seats if they want and 2) the seats in the food stamp sections are not that bad anyway.

The long term goal should be to increase the season ticket base, increase interest in the program so we start getting sellouts and then, when interest has been restored, increase ticket pricing accord to demand. With the added revenues from TV from joining the ACC, I think we should drop prices for the good seats for football, cut the preferred seating donations for football and give people strong incentives to buy season tickets. Take a loss on ticket revenue now to get to a point where pricing can be adjusted to where it belongs later. And do everything possible to make the product on the field something fans would enjoy seeing. In the final analysis, that is the most important thing.

Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to take two steps forward.

Winning cures all which is why last year was so harmful to the overall perception of this program. If we had just been able to get one more win and gone to a bowl two years in a row, there would be a real perception that we had turned the corner going into 2012. We are not going to consistently increase the season ticket base until we start winning consistently and appear competitive in all of our games, even the losses. This year is going to be tough.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Agree. The bad attendance is due to a few factors, the relatively unattractive schedules in recent years is not a big one and changing to the ACC is not going to be impactful in terms of driving demand higher.

The biggest problems with attendance, IMHO, are as follows, in descending order:

1) The team loses a lot more games than it wins. Even at home. This area does not support losing teams.
2) The games have been awful to watch. For far too many years. We get beat badly a lot and rarely show any signs of having even a decent offense to watch. If we have to lose a lot, it would be more interesting to lose games 45-40 instead of 27 to 7.
3) The economy is bad here, a lot of people that used to go to games are gone and the ones they are still here have less disposable income to spend on football.

The quality of the schedule is probably 4th on the list. It becomes more of an issue as more games are moved to NYC.

Everyone knows that the pricing for football tickets is really screwed up right now. We are the only program in the country I see with the endzones mostly filled and the areas between the goal line and the 25 yard line mostly empty. I know a lot of people that used to have seasons in preferred areas but switched to food stamps because of the huge price differential and the fact that a) they can still sit in their old seats if they want and 2) the seats in the food stamp sections are not that bad anyway.

The long term goal should be to increase the season ticket base, increase interest in the program so we start getting sellouts and then, when interest has been restored, increase ticket pricing accord to demand. With the added revenues from TV from joining the ACC, I think we should drop prices for the good seats for football, cut the preferred seating donations for football and give people strong incentives to buy season tickets. Take a loss on ticket revenue now to get to a point where pricing can be adjusted to where it belongs later. And do everything possible to make the product on the field something fans would enjoy seeing. In the final analysis, that is the most important thing.

Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to take two steps forward.

Wow great post, you really touched on a lot of topics all of them 100% true.
One thing I would say is that the seats from the goaline to the 15 are usually pretty filled its the start of preferred from the 20-30 that is a Huge issue and the cost difference from just outside that area is significant. Regarding the attendance issues at this point its hard to see what the Admin can do to get it back to where it was 40K plus on a consistent basis.

The city itself and the surrounding suburbs are so much different from the Late 80's and early 90's. From an industry to perspective to a population perspective. As Tom or maybe Extreme noted previously SU's fanbase from that era is aging rapidly and not really being replaced. Syracuse has seen an influx of immigrants who needless to say arent exactly football fans and who wont be drawn to the dome no matter who we schedule. Also SU is being killed by a general disregard for the fball program overall to say nothing about the thousands of anti-SU fans who live here which I noted last fall is the worst anti hometown sentiment I have ever seen.