What can the U learn form the Twins "flash ticket sale"?

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tjgopher said:
There is only ONE reason the Gopher marketing department won't do this plan. And ONE reason only.

Season ticket holders.

The marketers have very valid fears that offering $5 tickets to football and basketball games will result in whiny Gopher season ticket holders screaming from the top of their lungs about getting a raw deal. And, that in fact always happens.

Look what happened when they decreased the upper deck cost at Williams Arena a few weeks ago. An absolute ****storm from guess who? Season ticket holders, who were not impacted in any way by that lowering of the upper deck costs. But, they complained and complained loudly.

I promise if season ticket holders promised to NOT complain about flash sales, I can absolutely, guarantee that flash sales would be a more regular occurrence.

It's a no win for the marketers. People are bitching they don't do flash sales. Then, when they do flash sales, people bitch that they are being treated unfairly because some new guy gets a cheap seat while a long-time season ticket holder pays the freight. You can't have it both ways. You can't complain they don't do flash sales and then complain when they do.

For the record, I'm in the camp that says season ticket holders mostly get the best seats and they pay a price for those seats. We are mostly paying a premium and getting a premium seat, and are offered some unique fan experiences that some dude who just dropped $20 on a ticket in a flash sales isn't getting. So, the season ticket holders need to pipe down when upper deck, crappier seats are offered at reduced rates or as part of flash sales to help fill the building. The complaining really is the ONLY reason they don't offer cheap flash sales. But, the reality is, the Gopher season ticket holder is the most entitled, whiny fanbase in the Big Ten and does not have the ability to pipe down.
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They routinely offer heavily discounted (cheap) ticket packages and promotions (pizza anyone?), and have for years.
 

PMWinSTP said:
They routinely offer heavily discounted (cheap) ticket packages and promotions (pizza anyone?), and have for years.
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You realize the pizza tickets were paid for by the pizza company, right? The U sold them to Red Baron.

They have not offered a flash sale or discounted tickets in football or men's basketball in a long time. Cheapest single game price for Purdue MBB game for example was $50 per seat (upper deck). The lack of attendance in that game is what started the lower price for 2019-20 season tickets in the upper deck. It opened their eyes a little bit.
 
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bottlebass said:
Complete BS!!!!!!!!!!!! If they cared about the season ticket holders they wouldn't have jacked the prices the way they did driving away so many season ticket holders that had been around for decades through crappy times.
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That's why they think they need to protect the season ticket holder. They charged them a lot. They know that. They feel they shouldn't then backstab them by offering cheap tickets to new people. It seriously is really that simple.

And, season ticket holders will chirp loudly (as they did recently when the new cheap season ticket was introduced for upper deck seats at the barn.)

Look, I'm not defending them. I'm just telling you what they think.
 
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tjgopher said:
You realize the pizza tickets were paid for by the pizza company, right? <b>The U sold them to Red Baron.</b>
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At full price? W/O knowing RB’s plans?
Think this process through. The U essentially did a flash sale on those.


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Spoofin said:
At full price? W/O knowing RB’s plans? Think this process through. The U essentially did a flash sale on those.
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They knew exactly the plans. I don't know what they charged the pizza company. I am sure it was at a discount, so sure, it is a round-about flash sale.
 

tjgopher said:
You realize the pizza tickets were paid for by the pizza company, right? The U sold them to Red Baron.

They have not offered a flash sale or discounted tickets in football or men's basketball in a long time. Cheapest single game price for Purdue MBB game for example was $50 per seat (upper deck). The lack of attendance in that game is what started the lower price for 2019-20 season tickets in the upper deck. It opened their eyes a little bit.
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The only good deals (outside of Red Baron) in recent years were at the fair or black Friday but last year the deals weren't very good (pretty much regular price for hockey, basketball, and football).

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tjgopher said:
That's why they think they need to protect the season ticket holder. They charged them a lot. They know that. They feel they shouldn't then backstab them by offering cheap tickets to new people. It seriously is really that simple.

And, season ticket holders will chirp loudly (as they did recently when the new cheap season ticket was introduced for upper deck seats at the barn.)

Look, I'm not defending them. I'm just telling you what they think.
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I understand you're presenting the mindset of the Athletic Department, but that mindset is flawed, as evidenced by the decrease in season ticket holders in all three of the major revenue sports. The base has been small for a while. It has gotten smaller and the pipeline for replacements is thin.

It appears Coyle may be lowering some ticket prices.....umm three years too late Mr. Coyle. The increases that Teague implemented were too much too soon. Through a large helping of Mega-Tongue on top of that and you've alienated the fan base. Coyle's public persona doesn't help the situation. His opportunity to address the situation was 2016, and yet here we are in 2019 still working around the edges of the problem.

I would argue the remaining season ticket holders might enjoy a stadium full of fans. It would give them another reason to leave early to beat the traffic.
 

tjgopher said:
That's why they think they need to protect the season ticket holder. They charged them a lot. They know that. They feel they shouldn't then backstab them by offering cheap tickets to new people. It seriously is really that simple.

And, season ticket holders will chirp loudly (as they did recently when the new cheap season ticket was introduced for upper deck seats at the barn.)

Look, I'm not defending them. I'm just telling you what they think.
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You aren't making any sense.
 




That is the basic argument we keep having:

existing season ticket-holders purchased their seats at full price. If new season-ticket holders are offered seats at a reduced price, is that fair to the existing season-ticket holders? Should those season-ticket holders be offered some incentive/compensation?

But, it still comes back to the same issue: supply and demand. people are not buying Gopher tickets at the current price. the supply outweighs the demand. to change the situation, you either have to increase demand, or reduce the supply. since they are probably not going to close off sections of the stadium to reduce supply, then the only real choice is to increase demand. ergo, the Gophers need a marketing campaign that convinces people to buy tickets at the current price ----- or they need to offer tickets at a lower price.

IMHO, I think they would be better off dropping prices for all seats. create demand - fill the stadium - and then you can worry about raising prices. Teague and the gopher powers-that-be got on the wrong side of the supply and demand curve, and now they are paying the price.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
That is the basic argument we keep having:

existing season ticket-holders purchased their seats at full price. If new season-ticket holders are offered seats at a reduced price, is that fair to the existing season-ticket holders? Should those season-ticket holders be offered some incentive/compensation?

But, it still comes back to the same issue: supply and demand. people are not buying Gopher tickets at the current price. the supply outweighs the demand. to change the situation, you either have to increase demand, or reduce the supply. since they are probably not going to close off sections of the stadium to reduce supply, then the only real choice is to increase demand. ergo, the Gophers need a marketing campaign that convinces people to buy tickets at the current price ----- or they need to offer tickets at a lower price.

IMHO, I think they would be better off dropping prices for all seats. create demand - fill the stadium - and then you can worry about raising prices. Teague and the gopher powers-that-be got on the wrong side of the supply and demand curve, and now they are paying the price.
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Full season ticket holder (and thus a better fan than anyone who is not) here. As it is I could do better $$$ wise by buying off of stub hub... but I buy season tickets.

I have zero problems with sales. I've never had a problem when I buy tickets elsewhere and find out they're cheaper too... that's just how it works with tickets.

While I do enjoy the perks of a quiet game now and then (no line in bathrooms, access to food faster) I, and I think most fans, would like a full stadium more than worry about who paid what.
 

tjgopher said:
You realize the pizza tickets were paid for by the pizza company, right? The U sold them to Red Baron.

They have not offered a flash sale or discounted tickets in football or men's basketball in a long time. Cheapest single game price for Purdue MBB game for example was $50 per seat (upper deck). The lack of attendance in that game is what started the lower price for 2019-20 season tickets in the upper deck. It opened their eyes a little bit.
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Mini Packs, Cub Packs. They offer discounts.
 



The Twins offered this sale for 12 games which is the equivalent of one gopher football game. I am wondering if non season ticket holders would answer these questions:

How cheap would the ticket have to be for you to buy a ticket in the upper deck corners?
Would you buy it if it was only for the Georgia Southern game?
Would you buy it right now with no knowledge of the quality of the team or weather?
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Full season ticket holder (and thus a better fan than anyone who is not) here. As it is I could do better $$$ wise by buying off of stub hub... but I buy season tickets.

I have zero problems with sales. I've never had a problem when I buy tickets elsewhere and find out they're cheaper too... that's just how it works with tickets.

While I do enjoy the perks of a quiet game now and then (no line in bathrooms, access to food faster) I, and I think most fans, would like a full stadium more than worry about who paid what.
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I actually did the RB thing, gave my season tixs to friends, and then sat right next to them because I knew the seats were open. I'm with you on the full stadium as well. Means the team is winning at an elevated level.
 

Even with the flash sale Target field hasn’t cracked 30k. I’m a twins season ticket holder and it just seems to be the apathy of the fans. We have a team that is in first place and playing great and people won’t show up. And don’t tell me it’s expensive to go to a twins game. You can go to stubhub and find box seats for 20 a piece.
 

Flash30 said:
Even with the flash sale Target field hasn’t cracked 30k. I’m a twins season ticket holder and it just seems to be the apathy of the fans. We have a team that is in first place and playing great and people won’t show up. And don’t tell me it’s expensive to go to a twins game. You can go to stubhub and find box seats for 20 a piece.
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You can go to almost every Gophers football game for $20 or less and yet someone starts a new thread weekly to bitch about ticket prices.
 

Flash30 said:
Even with the flash sale Target field hasn’t cracked 30k. I’m a twins season ticket holder and it just seems to be the apathy of the fans. We have a team that is in first place and playing great and people won’t show up. And don’t tell me it’s expensive to go to a twins game. You can go to stubhub and find box seats for 20 a piece.
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Not all the flash sale games are done are they?
 

bottlebass said:
Not all the flash sale games are done are they?
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Remaining home games in May, and there was a limited amount sold per game. Point is, even with the flash sale, tickets sold amount to a little more than 2,600 a game, and I assume there is some cannibalizing going on in those sales. Nice promo and some initial buzz, but continuing to win and nice weather will impact attendance much more.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Remaining home games in May, and there was a limited amount sold per game. Point is, even with the flash sale, tickets sold amount to a little more than 2,600 a game, and I assume there is some cannibalizing going on in those sales. Nice promo and some initial buzz, but continuing to win and nice weather will impact attendance much more.
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Agree on the bold as I stated earlier in this thread. I was replying to someone saying "even with the flash sale they haven't cracked 30k at the stadium yet". The flash sale games aren't over and I believe the flash sale included the brewers games and some other games on a weekend coming up. I bet they fill the stadium nicely (if the weather is nice like you said). Just a little premature by that poster to claim fans won't show up.
 

caliGopher said:
I would argue the remaining season ticket holders might enjoy a stadium full of fans. It would give them another reason to leave early to beat the traffic.
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I'm a season ticket holder and agree totally with you. Unfortunately, most season tickets apparently don't. Every time they offer deeply discounted seats (even including the pizza deal), they have a lot of calls and emails from season ticket holders complaining. Like not 10 or 15, like hundreds. They don't want to make them mad, so they quit doing the deals.

They dropped season ticket prices in the upper deck at Williams Arena for 2019-20 and they didn't hear the end of it from season ticket holders. Just look at the threads about on this webpage on that very topic. People bitched. It is what Gopher season ticket holders do.

I agree, I am never offended. But, many are. And, they are vocal. And, they scare the Gopher marketers.

I'd argue that the athletic department not worry about those vocalists, and offer discounts when they want. But, they are scared to scare off the remaining season ticket holders they have.

Look, you can disagree with the mindset (and I do), but I can tell you that is what they are thinking.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Mini Packs, Cub Packs. They offer discounts.
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Mini packs offer little incentive and Cub packs are $5 off a ticket, plus a $5 off Cub food coupon if you buy $50 worth of food.

That is nothing close to big discounts.

Again, they are knowingly choosing to NOT offer big discounts in an attempt to keep season tickets from complaining or leaving.
 

Flash30 said:
Even with the flash sale Target field hasn’t cracked 30k. I’m a twins season ticket holder and it just seems to be the apathy of the fans. We have a team that is in first place and playing great and people won’t show up. And don’t tell me it’s expensive to go to a twins game. You can go to stubhub and find box seats for 20 a piece.
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I think even with the success so far, this year there was a palpable sense of "Twins now suck as a rule" kinda atmosphere, even among the dedicated fans.

The Gophers have that in common where I think Ws have to come consistently, against the right teams.... and show a pattern of Ws before any huge pickups in general attendance. And of course for the Twins, school needs to get out too.
 

Here are some thing that can be done without deep discounts on tickets:

No fee days... you pay $20 for a $20 ticket
Food & Beverage vouchers
Double point days

It can be done.
 

tjgopher said:
I'm a season ticket holder and agree totally with you. Unfortunately, most season tickets apparently don't. Every time they offer deeply discounted seats (even including the pizza deal), they have a lot of calls and emails from season ticket holders complaining. Like not 10 or 15, like hundreds. They don't want to make them mad, so they quit doing the deals.

They dropped season ticket prices in the upper deck at Williams Arena for 2019-20 and they didn't hear the end of it from season ticket holders. Just look at the threads about on this webpage on that very topic. People bitched. It is what Gopher season ticket holders do.

I agree, I am never offended. But, many are. And, they are vocal. And, they scare the Gopher marketers.

I'd argue that the athletic department not worry about those vocalists, and offer discounts when they want. But, they are scared to scare off the remaining season ticket holders they have.

Look, you can disagree with the mindset (and I do), but I can tell you that is what they are thinking.
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I find it hard to believe that they get “hundreds" of calls in protest when they offer discounted football tickets because I find it hard to believe that there are that many people who care enough to complain to the U. Any consumer who cares primarily about the “get in price” for Gopher football (or almost any sporting event anywhere in the country) gave up their season tickets long ago. If you want to get in for less money, there are multiple ways to do so.

But if what you say is true, and they do get those complaints, then the U damn well better listen to what they hear from their season ticket holders because the people paying $80, $90 or $100 per ticket for every game are infinitely more important to them than the people who might pay $10 a ticket to go to one game. You can talk all you want about the importance of full stadiums, long-term vision and lost generations of fans, but the athletic department has to try to balance a budget this year and the AD is going to be evaluated on current revenues, not efforts to plant seeds for revenues that might (or might not) develop years from now. Trying to re-build a fan base through slashing prices is an interesting concept, but no one who has a seat at the table has much of an incentive to take the long view.
 

tjgopher said:
Mini packs offer little incentive and Cub packs are $5 off a ticket, plus a $5 off Cub food coupon if you buy $50 worth of food.

That is nothing close to big discounts.

Again, they are knowingly choosing to NOT offer big discounts in an attempt to keep season tickets from complaining or leaving.
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Cub Packs discount is more than that and include food worth probably $60. Puts tickets in the $12-13 range for cheapest.
 
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PMWinSTP said:
Cub Packs discount is more than that and include food worth probably $60. Puts tickets in the $12-13 range for cheapest.
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You're right, I forgot about the free pop and free popcorn. But, the ticket price was $5 off the face value for MBB and football (plus food, plus the $5 Cub coupon). So, there is some value there, no doubt. That said, I'm not sure how you come about $12-13 per ticket.

It cost $50/game for a Cub pack ticket to most Big Ten MBB games this past year. So, a four-pack was $200. But you got four pops and four popcorns and a $5 ticket. So, you get maybe $260 worth of tickets for $200. Unless my math is off, how do you get to $12-13 per game, assuming you're talking MBB or football.

They did do a $20 ticket to the Rutgers MBB game if your kids colored a coloring page.
 
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2nd Degree Gopher said:
But if what you say is true, and they do get those complaints, then the U damn well better listen to what they hear from their season ticket holders because the people paying $80, $90 or $100 per ticket for every game are infinitely more important to them than the people who might pay $10 a ticket to go to one game. You can talk all you want about the importance of full stadiums, long-term vision and lost generations of fans, but the athletic department has to try to balance a budget this year and the AD is going to be evaluated on current revenues, not efforts to plant seeds for revenues that might (or might not) develop years from now. Trying to re-build a fan base through slashing prices is an interesting concept, but no one who has a seat at the table has much of an incentive to take the long view.
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Exactly, and therein lies the problem. No win situation. People complain they don't offer discounts, people complain when they do.
 

bottlebass said:
Agree on the bold as I stated earlier in this thread. I was replying to someone saying "even with the flash sale they haven't cracked 30k at the stadium yet". The flash sale games aren't over and I believe the flash sale included the brewers games and some other games on a weekend coming up. I bet they fill the stadium nicely (if the weather is nice like you said). Just a little premature by that poster to claim fans won't show up.
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You have to assume at least a a quarter of the stadium is going to be Brewer fans. So yes there will probably be a more full house. There’s nothing better than going to a game, admiring the beautiful view, drinking beer, and eating a hot dog.
 

Flash30 said:
You have to assume at least a a quarter of the stadium is going to be Brewer fans. So yes there will probably be a more full house. There’s nothing better than going to a game, admiring the beautiful view, drinking beer, and eating a hot dog.
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It's understandable. Fans in Wisconsin aren't going to be able to shell out big bucks to go to a game here if they've handed all their money over to Foxcon...
 

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