GopherHole Exclusive: UH-OH!!! Survey Shows Gophers Season Tickets Could Drop by 25%

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This is a harsh reality - and I knew that from the moment the U invited us in and shared with us the premium seating plan. All if this isn't an issue if we have a breakthrough year, so let's hope for one!!!
 

appreciate the article and he did a good job making his points. but do have to say it seems a bit heavy on speculation and unsubstantiated conclusions.
 

supadupafly said:
appreciate the article and he did a good job making his points. but do have to say it seems a bit heavy on speculation and unsubstantiated conclusions.
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Absolutely. This was merely to fulfill our curiosities to see if the general sentiment in and around where we sit, the folks we talk to matches up to the random crowd. In fact, there is a higher percentage of people likely not renewing that I know personally than what the survey results showed. As we state in the article, this was for entertainment purposes only and we do not proclaim it be a prediction of what is going to happen. It's a snapshot in time.

In the end, this will hopefully be a net benefit to the U. The worry is if we take a bigger than anticipated hit on renewals.

A breakthrough season will help immensely.

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
Absolutely. This was merely to fulfill our curiosities to see if the general sentiment in and around where we sit, the folks we talk to matches up to the random crowd. In fact, there is a higher percentage of people likely not renewing that I know personally than what the survey results showed. As we state in the article, this was for entertainment purposes only and we do not proclaim it be a prediction of what is going to happen. It's a snapshot in time.

In the end, this will hopefully be a net benefit to the U. The worry is if we take a bigger than anticipated hit on renewals.

A breakthrough season will help immensely.

Go Gophers!!
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agreed. although personally i am of the school of thought that many people often say things (especially when it comes to surveys, polls, etc.) from an emotional perspective and then often don't follow through on what they say they are going to do.

i.e. might be a bit emotionally frustrated at certain things (i.e. trevor mbakwe going down with a season ending injury, some of the transfers over the last couple years, etc.) and answer a survey as such. or they might be trying to send a subliminal message to someone (i.e. to joel maturi) that they want them out. but then come renewal time next year, they know they want to be at "their" gopher games once again and renew.......even though they "claimed" publicly to some that "by God" i am not going to.

we'll see i guess.
 


I would be curious what the results may have been prior to Mbakwe's injury... similarly, might be a good survey to update later on in the year, especially if the team is doing OK in conference play.

For the new football stadium tickets, did people first heavily gravitate to the no donation or lower-dollar donation seats? There are seats that are within several feet of each other that have different donation requirements.. just wondering if people were careful to sit on the edge of lower-dollar or no-donation seats...
 

Gopher Warrior said:
For the new football stadium tickets, did people first heavily gravitate to the no donation or lower-dollar donation seats? There are seats that are within several feet of each other that have different donation requirements.. just wondering if people were careful to sit on the edge of lower-dollar or no-donation seats...
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Yes, the no donation seats were taken 1st, and there were still donation seats available after all season ticket holders had chosen (this is what I was told, at least). That's what I assume will happen, the person in the upper level with a seat back will move up one row, or over one section to avoid the extra costs. I wonder what they will do if this happens - and the people with a lower point total don't have the option of non-donation seats?
 

Good article, and I agree with Nadine on this one. But I gotta be honest, I'm not too much worried about the loss of some season ticket holders if even with their losses the new ticket plan helps the U. Paying Tubby and getting a practice facility would only help the program, IMO.
 

Am I the only one excited about the new ticket program? I actually plan on paying the premium to get great seats. I'm excited. The boring blue hairs can sit in the cheap seats where they belong.
 



We will lose season ticket holders for sure, unless we have the type of season which Minnesota has not had in probably 14 years. So, its not like you can time a change like this for a "breakthrough" season as the Gophers just don't have them enough, regardless of coach. Bottom line is the U will make more money off this even with a drop in season ticket holders as the premium seats will recoup what is lost in pure ticket sales. Then, the same people who did not buy season tickets will likely still buy single game seats during the year as plenty will be available. I don't see a signifiant drop in attendence at all, just the amount of season tickets. As it is now, many season ticket holders don't go to all games anyway.

So it is true, season tickets figures will change. However, I doubt it will change attendence too much. The atmosphere will not get worse, its already poor. It can only get better and maybe by moving a couple of piles of dust from their seats that rarely get loud and replacing them with someone who can actually project volume for the orifice on their face is a good thing?

Time will tell... and one thing is definitely true, a good season now will cover a lot of problems at the gate.
 

Tubtastic said:
Am I the only one excited about the new ticket program? I actually plan on paying the premium to get great seats. I'm excited. The boring blue hairs can sit in the cheap seats where they belong.
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Yes, my brother-in-law can't wait. He plans to pay the premium to move into some of the sweet seats left behind, as well.
 

Rouser said:
We will lose season ticket holders for sure, unless we have the type of season which Minnesota has not had in probably 14 years. So, its not like you can time a change like this for a "breakthrough" season as the Gophers just don't have them enough, regardless of coach. Bottom line is the U will make more money off this even with a drop in season ticket holders as the premium seats will recoup what is lost in pure ticket sales. Then, the same people who did not buy season tickets will likely still buy single game seats during the year as plenty will be available. I don't see a signifiant drop in attendence at all, just the amount of season tickets. As it is now, many season ticket holders don't go to all games anyway.

So it is true, season tickets figures will change. However, I doubt it will change attendence too much. The atmosphere will not get worse, its already poor. It can only get better and maybe by moving a couple of piles of dust from their seats that rarely get loud and replacing them with someone who can actually project volume for the orifice on their face is a good thing?

Time will tell... and one thing is definitely true, a good season now will cover a lot of problems at the gate.
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I'd sure like to see the math on that one. I would be willing to bet that they don't have anything near an 18% cancellation rate figured into their numbers.

Right now more than half of the home games are exhibition or non-conference games. With the way they schedule the Barn will be like a morgue in the non-conference season if we have 18% cancellation (or worse). Nobody is going to buy single game tickets for most of those games. That means you lose all the concession sales as well as those ticket sales.

Then there is the question of what they do with the unpurchased premium tickets. People tend to ask people near them how long they have been coming, etc. If they start selling those premium seats as single game tickets to the public there are going to be people in nearby seats that paid $400 extra per year for the priviledge who won't be happy. Then there will be season ticket holders sitting behind single game ticket holders. Once that gets around- it's a slippery slope.

If the product on the floor improves, then all is well. If not- big trouble-especailly if the TWolves become watchable. This is a very unusual situation. Normally you do a premium seating program to kick off a new arena or because the demand is very, very high- neither is that case here. In addition there is a broad sense that the athletic department is downright tone deaf to what the fans want to see in terms of schedule, etc.
 

Interesting survey. Thanks for the work. Are there any numbers available for other schools that have instituted premium seating?

Also, imo your 1st question should be "If you had to decide today ..." not "Are you likely to ... ". Just a thought that it puts the responder a little more on the spot for a 'snapshot' view of things.
 



tjgopher said:
Yes, my brother-in-law can't wait. He plans to pay the premium to move into some of the sweet seats left behind, as well.
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Certainly a lot of us will enjoy moving closer to the court. That's great and I'll take advantage. The problem is that the experience is much better when the house is packed and the crowd is loud. If you are under the impression that the removal of the boring blue hairs will bring to the front more screaming fans- don't bet on it. Most of the people who have the extra money are simply people that have the extra money. There is little relationship between enthusiasm for the team on the court and money in the pocket. You are likely to see a push to sell a lot of the unused premium tickets to corporations. Corporations will give those tickets to a lot of people who won't even know the player's names without a program.

One more note of interest: Non-conference attendance year to date is 10,877 per game. That's down almost 10% from last year and the year before (non-conference versus non-conference).
 

Re: Premium Seats

Is there a site/diagram of the premium seating for next year?
 

It's tough to buy season tickets when there are deals like they announced today all the time. Groupon had tickets for $12 earlier this year, the Iowa game was on sale for $20 or so on black friday, and they announced a few good Big Ten games at discounted prices today. I can go to a half dozen of the best games for a fraction of the price of season tickets.

Gopher Sports Deal
$25 Northwestern January 22[SUP]nd[/SUP]

$20 Ohio State February 14[SUP]th[/SUP]

$25 Michigan State February 22[SUP]nd[/SUP]

$25 Nebraska March 3[SUP]rd[/SUP]
 


bga1 said:
If you are under the impression that the removal of the boring blue hairs will bring to the front more screaming fans- don't bet on it.
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I'm not under that impression at all. Not sure where you got the idea that I was.
 


bga1 said:
I'd sure like to see the math on that one. I would be willing to bet that they don't have anything near an 18% cancellation rate figured into their numbers.

Right now more than half of the home games are exhibition or non-conference games. With the way they schedule the Barn will be like a morgue in the non-conference season if we have 18% cancellation (or worse). Nobody is going to buy single game tickets for most of those games. That means you lose all the concession sales as well as those ticket sales.

Then there is the question of what they do with the unpurchased premium tickets. People tend to ask people near them how long they have been coming, etc. If they start selling those premium seats as single game tickets to the public there are going to be people in nearby seats that paid $400 extra per year for the priviledge who won't be happy. Then there will be season ticket holders sitting behind single game ticket holders. Once that gets around- it's a slippery slope.

If the product on the floor improves, then all is well. If not- big trouble-especailly if the TWolves become watchable. This is a very unusual situation. Normally you do a premium seating program to kick off a new arena or because the demand is very, very high- neither is that case here. In addition there is a broad sense that the athletic department is downright tone deaf to what the fans want to see in terms of schedule, etc.
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I will try to do an analysis, but I don't think the U would even consider this if it wasn't a no brainer to make more money. I think a substantial loss in tickets could be absorbed, but I will try and run some numbers.

None of this means its a good idea..
 

That page of deals that Gold Vision linked to is unbelievable. They're selling $20 tickets to see Ohio State, the best team in the Big Ten and one of the best teams in the country? Wow.

I know it is Valentine's Day, but still.

And then with deals like that, why would anyone buy season tickets?
 

Rouser said:
I will try to do an analysis, but I don't think the U would even consider this if it wasn't a no brainer to make more money. I think a substantial loss in tickets could be absorbed, but I will try and run some numbers.

None of this means its a good idea..
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Okay, my california public school math says this... I have no idea of the actual number of season tickets currently sold or how many of the seats are donation versus non donation next year. That said..

If you assume 8000 season tickets at 30 a pop, thats $240,000. If only 6000 renew, thats $180,000. So a $60,000 drop per game. If we figure the average donation is $250 per seat, or $13 per game using a 19 home game slate. That means 4615 seats need a donation to break even. Is that far fetched? Not sure, perhaps. I think its feasible and likely more will, thus a profit.
 

Rouser said:
Okay, my california public school math says this... I have no idea of the actual number of season tickets currently sold or how many of the seats are donation versus non donation next year. That said..

If you assume 8000 season tickets at 30 a pop, thats $240,000. If only 6000 renew, thats $180,000. So a $60,000 drop per game. If we figure the average donation is $250 per seat, or $13 per game using a 19 home game slate. That means 4615 seats need a donation to break even. Is that far fetched? Not sure, perhaps. I think its feasible and likely more will, thus a profit.
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That's probably pretty good math. You would have to subtract lost concession profits and also figure in the group that is already paying for premium seats (in some cases more than this). That said, I just don't think it's ever a real good idea to install a program that makes 18% of your loyal fans to want to go away unhappy. Tough to get those back.
Winning this year- at least enough to make the NCAAs would dramatically reduce that 18% fall out figure. They need that to happen.
 

I'm looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. Keeping an open mind. I'm in the camp that figures if a lot of people drop their season tickets, my chances improve to get better seats (the $100 or $250). Those of you in the 36th percentile or higher with Gopher Points, feel free to drop your season tickets next spring. ... need my seat rank percentile to bump up as much as possible!
 

SelectionSunday said:
I'm looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. Keeping an open mind. I'm in the camp that figures if a lot of people drop their season tickets, my chances improve to get better seats (the $100 or $250). Those of you in the 36th percentile or higher with Gopher Points, feel free to drop your season tickets next spring. ... need my seat rank percentile to bump up as much as possible!
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I'll pay your seat license in exchange for a few games!
 


I spoke to someone involved in developing the premium seating program when they first announced it. He shared a few pieces of interesting information:

1) They typically expect to lose about 5% of the season ticket holders in any given year. Those are most often newer ticket holders who lose interest, get frustrated with the inability to improve location, etc. They anticipated that the number would be higher for 2011-12 as some people who were absolutely not going to participate in the premium seating plan might figure it made sense to cut the cord right away rather than paying for a “lame duck” year. (I don’t know what the renewal rate for this year turned out to be.) They expected the non-renewal rate for 2012-13 to be around 10%. Based on that, I am sure that they would be disappointed if the non-renewal rate actually turned out to be anywhere close to 20%, but I doubt they would be totally surprised, either.

2) Part of the motivation for the change to this type of program was to create a more equitable donation system and to change the overall pricing model. There just isn’t an easy way to accomplish that. Right now, relatively few seats require donations, but those donation levels are much higher than the new system. The current system has folks donating >$1,000 per year per seat next to people who have never made a donation. They appreciate the loyalty of the longtime ticket holders, but in an environment where they need to increase revenue and where the primary thing they have to offer in exchange for that revenue is seat location, they are prepared to lose longtime season ticket holders who don’t make donations in exchange for increasing (significantly, they hope) the number of people making donations at some level. The survey doesn’t address how long people have had tickets or whether the respondents currently make donations, but that would be important information to know and would be of much more significance to the University than strictly the non-renewal rate alone. I suspect that the non-renewal rate among current donors will be much lower. I would expect that they will approach those who have donated at a higher level under the old system to continue their donations at that level and/or add seats.

3) They view any losses in current ticket holders as an opportunity to add new, higher revenue ones. If they truly end the re-seating process with lots of unsold premium seats, they will have those seats to market to new (or former) customers and will do so with seat locations far better than they have had to offer in the past. How much interest will there be in that? I have no clue, but I am sure that there are customers for chair back seats between the base lines who would pay an extra $400/per seat who would have no interest in sitting on a bench in the upper level, even at the reduced price. It would be much easier to find those folks in a better economy, but they are still out there in some number.
 

If you did a survey like this every year, the number of those who say they are not renewing is probably much higher than those who actually don't renew. Fans during the season will tell themselves they aren't going to renew but when the information is sent to them during the off-season and the deadline approaches, they'll change their mind. I'm not saying all of them will do it, but some most certainly will.
 

2nd degree Gopher, good stuff and it makes complete sense.

The two variables that would make this a lot easier would be to win big and have the economy improve. I'm not sure which is going to happen first!

Go Gophers!!
 

GophersInIowa said:
. ... Fans during the season will tell themselves they aren't going to renew but when the information is sent to them during the off-season and the deadline approaches, they'll change their mind. I'm not saying all of them will do it, but some most certainly will.
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Pretty much agree with that. A lot of people are very emotional about this issue right now, and understandably so. However, I think a lot of those saying they won't renew -- when the time comes & push comes to shove -- they'll go online when it's their turn to select their new seats. Some might even be surprised that they'll have the opportunity for better seats.

My philosophy has always been, even if the Gophers stink or are coming off a bad season, it'll always be Big Ten basketball. I'll never cease to enjoy watching other B1G schools come to Williams to play the Gophers.
 

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