pathetic attendance

[anthropanther]

Re: pathetic attendance

Its here:

http://www.rockbottom.com/DisplayLoc...cationID=10113

Thank you for finding it. Amazing place.

[Panther789]

Re: pathetic attendance

It's too bad that Troy is against anything that doesn't make money. Somebody in the athletic dept tried to get a group of kids (50) from inner city Cedar Rapids to the dome at a price of $5 per ticket this year. Troy wouldn't let it be done for below $10. When unnamed person allowed the group to have the $5 deal (because there was no way the group would be able to come up with the extra $250), Troy informed him that he would be terminated over the $250. Nice message, Dannen.

a. I'm not sure I believe everything here, but for the moment I'll assume every word is true.

b. If a group or "cause" wants to come to a game for free is Dannen or anyone else for that matter obligated to let them? At what point do we draw the line? 2 bucks? 5 bucks? 7?

c. If what you suggest is true, that this person asked permission from Dannen, he denied it, and this person did this anyways, I have no problem with him being fired.

[06panther10]

Re: pathetic attendance

It's too bad that Troy is against anything that doesn't make money. Somebody in the athletic dept tried to get a group of kids (50) from inner city Cedar Rapids to the dome at a price of $5 per ticket this year. Troy wouldn't let it be done for below $10. When unnamed person allowed the group to have the $5 deal (because there was no way the group would be able to come up with the extra $250), Troy informed him that he would be terminated over the $250. Nice message, Dannen.

mmm. Thats a tough one. Kinda crappy on both sides, but you can't just do whatever you want when your boss tells you to do something a certain way. And I agree, where do you draw the line of how many people? 50 seems like alot to me, personally. I mean, tickets are a certain amount, why does someone else get to pay that much less?

[mwatje]

Re: pathetic attendance

Ok, let me pull the Iowa card in order to put into perspective how RIDICULOUS Dannen is. Iowa donates LOTS of football tickets to underpriviledged kids....FOR FREE!!! My sister works with Big Brothers and Big Sisters in Iowa City, and they are given about 15-20 tickets EACH GAME to hand out to the kids and their big brother/sister. This group is then given a VIP tour through the entire Kinnick Stadium, Press Boxes, Underneath the stands, and then introduced ON THE FIELD before the game starts!!! On top of ALLLLL that, the kids are all given free Iowa t-shirts, and hot dog & a drink.

I believe they should allot about 50-100 tickets for every game that will be given to kids for free...boy scouts, inner city kids from Cedar Rapids, big brothers big sisters, etc.

Also, what use is making more money if you can't even pack your big home games? I'd take the packed house everytime because its about the students, the team, and the fans....UNI is supposed to be "not for profit," remember?

[clenz]

Re: pathetic attendance

Well if UNI isn't as far into the red year in and year out as they usually are, it will become easier to do things that schools with football budgets larger than the entire athletic department at UNI do.

[Newsbreaker]

Re: pathetic attendance

I like Dannen. I think he is super neat-o.

[06panther10]

Re: pathetic attendance

I don't think you can compare what Iowa does with tickets to what UNI does with tickets. We literally need every dollar that we can get. Giving those tickets away at an Iowa game means nothing to them, where giving away a buch of tickets could be more of a big deal at UNI.

[Purple Reign]

Re: pathetic attendance

[QUOTE=mwatje;148412]Ok, let me pull the Iowa card in order to put into perspective how RIDICULOUS Dannen is. Iowa donates LOTS of football tickets to underpriviledged kids....FOR FREE!!! My sister works with Big Brothers and Big Sisters in Iowa City, and they are given about 15-20 tickets EACH GAME to hand out to the kids and their big brother/sister. This group is then given a VIP tour through the entire Kinnick Stadium, Press Boxes, Underneath the stands, and then introduced ON THE FIELD before the game starts!!! On top of ALLLLL that, the kids are all given free Iowa t-shirts.

That being said-- Dannen is a total d-bag. I believe they should allot about 100 tickets for every game that will be given to kids for free...boy scouts, inner city kids from Cedar Rapids, big brothers big sisters, etc.

Also, what use is making more money if you can't even pack your big home games? I'd take the packed house everytime because its about the students, the team, and the fans....UNI is supposed to be "not for profit," remember? Dannen was the worst pick for an AD...UNI screwed up bigtime.[/QUOTe




Very strange post. Just about every day, someone tells me what a GREAT job Troy is doing. Perhaps you should make an appointment to visit with him and share your ideas. However, based upon the the first line of your second paragraph, that may not be such a good idea. I know Troy prefers to have intelligent conversations, not childish name calling. If you can lower the volume and raise the discourse, give him a call. Just a thought.

PR

[run&blade]

Re: pathetic attendance

My plan would give anything away, the fund would buy tickets at full price. Just need somebody in the Cedar Valley area to manage the fund and get the word out. The point of my idea was to sell tickets. Season ticket holders could have a spot on their renewal forms to dontate some money. Put buckets for spare change at the concession stands. Have a 50/50 drawing at halftime.

[FOTY]

Re: pathetic attendance

I don't think you can compare what Iowa does with tickets to what UNI does with tickets. We literally need every dollar that we can get. Giving those tickets away at an Iowa game means nothing to them, where giving away a buch of tickets could be more of a big deal at UNI.

I'd like to disagree.

If Iowa gives away 20 tickets at a cost of $45 to an "Iowa Sellout", they stand to lose $900 (+ ticketing fees). Granted, that is a drop in the bucket to them.

If UNI were to do the same they lose what? An empty seat? When we only sell 9k, 10k, or 11k in a staduim seating 16k we have plenty of space for a few free tickets for charity. That promotes good will in the community, potential future Panther fans, and maybe, just maybe some consessions. By giving tickets away to individuals who would not attend on their own, I see lost potential in the future versus lost $$$ in the present.

I understand if we were selling the place out why we would not offer discounts or free tickets. That is not the current reality.

I'm not an economist, but that is my humble opinion.

[06panther10]

Re: pathetic attendance

I could be wrong. I just know we don't have any money, so they are very careful with it.

[mwatje]

Re: pathetic attendance

Fair enough, the name calling was immature and uncalled for and I'll take it off. However, everytime I've heard his name this year, its had a negative connotation along with it. So I guess we're coming from two entirely different perspectives and I'll be the first one to admit that I definitely don't know him and have been simply making assessments based off performance and reports from other people.

That being said, I think FOTY understands what I'm getting at. Iowa spends much more on those kids than I'm even proposing-- they pay someone to give one hour guided tours, give out t-shirts, give a ticket, free hot dog and drink. We can easily afford to give away 25 tickets or so to these charities and we don't even have to provide them with the other above mentioned items. This cost is very nominal. which also reminds me that there stands a good chance that those charitable activities are tax deductible, any accounting majors out there to confirm this??

I also take a different stance with dannen on this: a balance must be struck between ticket costs to create positive cashflow while still maintaining (at least) near sell out crowds. Last year we had cheap tickets, good family packages, and sell out crowds. This year we have more expensive tickets, no real family package, and all this during a recession...and lo and behold--> empty seats. Adjustments could have been made mid season when it became apparent that the balance was not struck...no adjustment made. You may say, well we're in the hole so we gotta charge more...which I'll respond with: We charged more, and we're still in the hole, and now we don't have packed home games. So what's the difference? Obviously it is not as simple of a solution as raising ticket prices. In fact, we may not come out much more ahead than we did last year. We hired a new marketing agency to handle all our sports marketing and I believe they provided us with the new athletic website that all of you have seen. These agencies are not cheap!!! Will they do a good job? Heck ya! Will it help our bottom line? Nope. If anything, the increased ticket prices are so we can afford some of these new services we are beginning to pay for.

There is a way to perform charitable things, generate sell out crowds, and still come out with positive cashflow... schools do it all year long, there's no reason why UNI can't either.

[Panthers to the Bone]

Re: pathetic attendance

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20081209/SPORTS020702/812090365/1095/SPORTS

"I think it's kind of been the same thing all across the country," said Dannen, who added that gross revenue generated by the football program has risen from $500,000 last year to $800,000 this season.

[GonzoCat]

Re: pathetic attendance

A university is not a taxable entity. And if it were, giving away something that you would otherwise sell does not result in a tax deduction, it simply results in less revenue.

As PTTB just pointed out our football revenues are reported to be up by 60% this year. That's a hell of a job by someone, Dannen has stated he was not involved with setting ticket prices.

[northwest iowa panther]

Re: pathetic attendance

A university is not a taxable entity. And if it were, giving away something that you would otherwise sell does not result in a tax deduction, it simply results in less revenue.

As PTTB just pointed out our football revenues are reported to be up by 60% this year. That's a hell of a job by someone, Dannen has stated he was not involved with setting ticket prices.

You can tell this to people on this board until you are "Purple in the face" and they are still not going to believe you.

Dannen was not hired until July, ticket prices were set in the spring. Adjusting prices in mid season because of economic downturn opens a can of worms.

My educated guess is that the University, Board of Regents, and the State Legislature will reduce their funding of athletics. You get what you pay for and if you think giving it away will solve our money woes, then you're on the other side of fiscal responsibility. I'm sure that all involved (university, regents, legislature, athletic adm.) will look at many things to determine ticket prices in the future. The main consideration will be the lack of public funding (tax dollars) and how to make up the difference. Reducing ticket prices is a viable possibility. Giving away tickets usually insures that more people will want free tickets. Why pay for something that you can get for free.

I'm a loyal Panther supporter. I' remain optimistic in regards to Panther athletics, but I tell everyone "Enjoy what we have now, it probably will not be what we have in the future."