Hopefully, you had some fun last night. Once in awhile, it does happen. That's what keeps us going. $$$$
RU needs to take this into account when pricing tickets/parking
- Thread starter DJ Spanky
- Start date
First, what does that have to do with declining season ticket sales the past two years? Second, how is that different than other schools?
Xm radio ESPNU was talking about this topic around 8 this morning. The general consensus from the hosts and callers was simply the cost of the whole event.
I think the current owner/s of the top sports leagues forgot -- or more likely never cared -- about why their teams and their leagues got to be so popular over the last century to begin with. A ball game used to be a cheap pleasure and the kids who watched grew up and then took their own kids to the games.
Once you decided to pump as many $$$$ out of fans as you could, you set up the dynamic of "win everything" or there is no reason to patronize your team or even sport. Even some of the "fans" who pay the most money for prime seats or boxes are doing it for show - not out of fanatical love of team. Some of those die-hard fans were pushed out the door awhile back with more to follow. The future fan generation goes with them.
And worse, pumping the fan base for more $$$ is a little like filling a balloon with air. You get away with it for awhile and then one day, it's too much. You can't throttle back, the buyer is gone and on to other things. The tradition of being a team and/or sport fanatic over the ages has been worn down and worn away.
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$ 10 11 inch hot dogs for starters and no free condiments.
Yup. Somebody somewhere looked a sheet and said instead of 40,000 people paying $40 ($1,600,000), I bet we can make more money charging $50. And so 5,000 people stopped paying, but 35,000 x $50 is $1,750,000, so it must have worked. Then somebody else came along and said you know, $50 is okay, but the last time we increased the ticket price we got more money. Let's try $60. Another 5,000 dropped out, but 30,000 x $60 = $1,800,000. Another great business transaction. And then that guy's boss said, why stop there? Let's charge $75! So long to another 5,000 fans, but 25,000 x $75 = $1,875,000.
And now these people are finally looking up and wondering, hey, where did 40% of our fanbase go?!
A tad off topic, but greed nonetheless: start time. I haven't watched a MLB playoff or WS game in years. Regular season pretty much too. 8pm weekend start time for the Mets/Yanks last season? If I can't watch the end, why even start? My kids will never grow up seeing a MLB game end. They have their studies to tend to.
They will never be fans.
Short term greed will destroy long term health of these leagues.
They will never be fans.
Short term greed will destroy long term health of these leagues.
Hopefully they took into account the loss of concessions revenue when they made their calculations.
Thank's, Source, for bringing this back to the OP point...
This whole issue of inflating prices for sporting events is turning off fans. And the ones most responsible for this are the ones with the most to lose... it is the big money teams... leagues.. TV networks selling ads.
Sports is the last bastion of "appointment television"... and still plenty of people watch recorded games instead of watching live. Watching LIVE means watching commercials or being exposed to them.. millions of fans seeing the same message. all at the same time. It gets a premium from advertisers.
The big money teams have no problem paying more and more for talent.. coaches.. recruiters in college.. some propose paying scholarship athletes.. why? because they have the money and it gives them an advantage. Heck.. they pay recruits' family members now.. *wink, *wink.
All this provides upward pressure on budgets of their own team as well as their competitors.
As does fan expectations.. think of how many times we have seen Rutgers fans here decry spending less on coaches than the average Big Ten team.. or even spending the least among Big Ten teams. Spending alone seems to be a goal of some fans.. having that tied, in their minds, directly to eventual wins and losses.
Again.. upward spending pressure which results in increased ticket prices, increased donation demands and increased parking fees.
And that money largely comes from TV revenues.. and increased demands for increased TV contracts results in concessions on the game itself.. when the clock can stop.. how many TV timeouts.. what matchups are played at what time on what channel.
I think the conferences need to come out with "salary caps" for coaching staffs and football staffs and all athletic department personnel. Skew it a bit for cost-of-living in certain areas. Stop the ever-increasing upward spending pressure at least from that angle. I suppose that is a drop in the bucket compared to facilities... but it has to start somewhere. Otherwise.. I fear there is going to be a crash in spectator sports across the board. I fear once fans are gone, price cuts will not win them back. They will find other things to do... and this idea of blackouts.. that won't help.. people will just move on to something else to spend time on.
If every cost to attend games was cut in half today.. how many more people would get season tickets and come back?
Turn into a Phillies fan. Home games start at 7:05 p.m. BTW, when I was a kid and following the Yankees, you could count on an 8 p.m. game ending at 10:15 usually. But that seems impossible these days.
In the NFL if you don't have a QB, you're finished. How many teams have a real shot at the Bowl at the start of camp? 10? The rest? Why bother showing up?
CFB? I may have been delusional 20yrs ago thinking many programs had a shot at a NC. Today, I am losing interesting believing it's 10 of the 120 Div 1 teams at most.
Maybe the old timers were right. The bowl system was best? Each region had their bowl so the chance of success was greater. Can't, and shouldn't go back in time.
The world is changing. Need to adapt with it. The world is experiencing life on a phone in 20 second clips.
Actually, what I was referring to is how much of the additional ticket revenue is offset by having 5-10-15,000 fewer people in the stands paying for food/drink at the concessions stands.
The BCS bowls.. the BCS national championship game and the CFB Playoff all exist for one reason.. advertising dollars.
The NCAA basketball tournament and the FCS Playoffs exist to have a true national champion... albeit a playoff/tournament champion.
Chasing the dollars is the problem. So get costs under control.. then tell the TV contract people how its gonna be. Take less if that allows you to control the conditions where you can better put fannies in the seats.
In the NFL you have a draft.. and a salary cap.. and we saw this year how the refs will help you win a Superbowl if you have a big enough market and a good story :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:.
But all you need do is draft that QB and sign him to a long contract.. if it ends up being a swing and a miss.. sucks to be you.
But in college football.. just buy a Nick Saban or Urban Meyer or Jim Harbaugh.. though that Harbaugh might be that "swing and a miss". And there's the problem.. you must first have the MONEY and, as you say.. maybe 10 programs have that money and other need to spend like the big boys to compete.
Odd Tangent.. entertaining story recruiting-wise... Kirk Cousins from Michigan State rote a book called "Game Changer".. ebook is $2.99 on google play.. but you can read the excerpt I found interesting for free at link below. I was looking for Mark Dantonio's quotes about recruiting limitations at MSU.. how he takes next-tier kids in his area, mostly.. but has to compete with national programs.. sound familiar? I think the timing of that quote was from when he made the playoff.. but google results are chock full of recruiting class quotes that its hard to find. And in those searches I found Kirk Cousin's book..
link to excerpt
If I could easily cut and paste from that I would.. but I cannot. in summary.. he had non-P5 offers.. wanted Michigan State.. but they fired Coach Smith and there were offers to other QBs out there.. and Dantonio had offer out to a kid who chose Oklahoma and another QB where he promised he'd not take another QB.. if he'd commit. Then Dantonio offered Cousins but said he'd have to offer another QB for depth.. and that turned out to be.. Superbowl MVP Nick Foles!
link to excerpt
If I could easily cut and paste from that I would.. but I cannot. in summary.. he had non-P5 offers.. wanted Michigan State.. but they fired Coach Smith and there were offers to other QBs out there.. and Dantonio had offer out to a kid who chose Oklahoma and another QB where he promised he'd not take another QB.. if he'd commit. Then Dantonio offered Cousins but said he'd have to offer another QB for depth.. and that turned out to be.. Superbowl MVP Nick Foles!
You realize that the 8pm "weekend" start times are because those are aired on ESPN for Sunday Night Baseball?
Saturday night games aired on SNY/YES/channel 11 etc start at 7pm too.
Has it been that long since the Phillies were on national TV?
The unbelievable amount of TV money is what changed the equation back beginning in the 1960s or 1970s.
If they had insulated the fan base and kept their expenses down, the packed stadiums and the excitement would be there for a lifetime... and longer. The amazing salaries and other operating expenses could be carried by the TV money.
If they had done this, fans would be packing the place. The athletes would probably have suffered a lower salary structure.
Instead, they rolled the TV money and the gate money together. Then when player salaries and other factors forced more money into their hands, the equal and opposite reaction was to charge fans more to watch and/or buy things from the team ownership.
But honestly, Yu Darvish was signed for $21 M/year for six years. Is he really walking away from baseball if it was half that? Is there any MLB player saying, "Well, if a million a year is all you can offer in this League then I'll go home and find another career."
Not blaming the athletes and agents. It's up to the owners to have assessed the big picture and exploit the opportunities afforded it BUT also preserve what makes it desirable to follow in the first place.
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Well, it's been a while: I remember having the Sunday plan during the glory years and having games switched from 1:35 to 8. (I gave up my plan, but for personal reasons; it had nothing to do with the decline of the team.) But games that are not on national TV -- that is, almost all of them, start at 7:05. The Phillies are not the only National League team that does this. I also recall the Phillies consulting the fan base about what start time it wanted.
Let underage students drink with shock collars on. Herd them into the game electronically and arrest them if they leave before the game is over. Reward them with cheesesteaks after the game.
This.
One Pitcher start to finish.
And no BS that we have today with 5 minutes of Commercials during each 1/2 Inning.
Not true at all. I have gone to many away games in the B1G and the Parking is cheap relative to RU’s $60 parking. This includes Nebraska, Michigan. Illinois, etc.
Absolutely, more of a chore and not enjoyable. That's the bottom line for losing season ticket holders. Changes and challenges with life are normally the excuse for dumping tickets, but if we were going to decent bowl games and the NCAA tourney, people would still figure out how to make tickets work.
You can get parking at Rutgers for $20. Only the lots adjacent to the stadium are $60.
I renewed for football already but to be honest part of me wonders if it would make a lot more sense to just buy tickets for each game on the secondary market. Tickets for the early season OOC games are going for $20 each (or sometimes even less) on site like Stubhub. And even the lesser B1G opponents don't really draw either.
I gave up on parking years ago when the prices skyrocketed under Julie. When it was $20 per lot and then based on points, I understood it. Even if they would have upped to $30 or $35 per game and still based it on points, I would have been okay with it. Now, $50 or $60 for a lot plus donations is just insane. I'll park at the Greek church and help them out instead.
I won't lose my fandom for RU but the prices have gotten a bit out of control and will force me to use other options (dropping season tickets and buying individuals, non-RU parking).
I gave up on parking years ago when the prices skyrocketed under Julie. When it was $20 per lot and then based on points, I understood it. Even if they would have upped to $30 or $35 per game and still based it on points, I would have been okay with it. Now, $50 or $60 for a lot plus donations is just insane. I'll park at the Greek church and help them out instead.
I won't lose my fandom for RU but the prices have gotten a bit out of control and will force me to use other options (dropping season tickets and buying individuals, non-RU parking).
When Rutgers joined the Big 10, it was reported by many people here that Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State fans were buying Rutgers season tickets so they could have good seats when their teams came to Rutgers. This was probably a sizable amount of any increase in season tickets, but it wasn’t actually Rutgers fans. What do those people do for the other games ? Are those the seats on stubhub or are they just unused ?
Rutgers should make the game against Texas State free for all. The game is a joke. The same should be done for UMass and Liberty. No one cares about those games anyway.
Yes, and I parked adjacent to Illinois and Michigan stadiums for $20 vs. the $60 that RU has the audacity to charge. Nebraska was $25 and the walk was about the same as the Purple lot.
There have been a lots of posts recently that say Rutgers just needs win and then the stadium will be packed, but I disagree. Fans want to see OOC games against Washington and UCLA and Miami. No one cares about E. Michigan or Texas Stars or UMass. Please bring real teams to Piscataway and fans will come, win or lose.
I usually get 3 yellow passes. This requires a $2k donation. By trying to get an extra $420 in parking, I'll just drop down to blue lot and reduce my donation. RU is losing $500 dollars from me.
Real teams he says. One day maybe we’ll figure it all out with regard to conference alignment/expansion and get those real teams every year.
Oh, wait...(insert eye roll emoji guy here)
The only thing that will help this issue/problem is wins.
Fans will not come win or lose. They will for wins.
I am still convinced that its all about winning and not the names....10-2/9-3 vs ACC or AAC opponents would draw just as much or more than going sub 500 in the Big 10 and basically starting the season with 3-4 losses pencilled in. The luster and draw of the Big 10 actually wore off pretty quick. Feel good crowds beating UCF and contending for the AAC title most years seems better than hoping for a win over 4-8 Maryland. Yeah i get the idea of the Big 10 so i know all that..potential and sleeping giant and all...but being in the Big 10 doesnt mean you will be a winner...just ask a slew of schools with limited success.
Its about names AND winning... and I'd also say we ain't getting the winning.. without playing the names. Big Ten and Big Ten East is all well and good.. but we need to play good OOC games. I think playing patsies will turn off better recruits.. and generate "who cares?" reactions from local media and residents.
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Exactly. And in parallel, single game tickets can be bought on stub hub pretty cheap. I wouldnt be surprised if secondary market have gone down every year season tix prices were raised.
If you paid $20 for a parking pass adjacent to the stadium at Michigan, you bought it on the secondary market. Those lots at Michigan are reserved for mega donors only.
Not sure about Illinois and Nebraska, but I'll guess you're not making apples-to-apples comparisons here either.
I thought he was being sarcastic and then realized.... he really was complaining that we dont play real teams.
