Game IV:Youngstown State(Homecoming)

[95UNIGRAD]

You can get a 3 game pack for $77.

It's not $50 to see a UNI game.

Let's keep it real.

When you're from Des Moines, you're not going to get up to Cedar Falls 3 times in a season (speaking from experience).

[Born-a-Panther]

I'm obviously a die-hard but it's not always possible for a family with a lot of kids to go all-in on a three-pack. For one thing, they have to plan ahead for that. We want to be able to bring in the family that wakes up on a Saturday morning with nothing planned and wants to walk up and buy tickets or maybe they had so much fun tailgating that they want to now join their friends by going inside.

Also, families with kids are BUSY. We won't get to go to another game through the month of October - and may even miss the game in November - because my one son plays travel basketball, and their season starts in two weeks, and my other son plays travel soccer and has three October tournaments. (That is another thing that's continued to grow - youth sports and longer seasons for youth sports). Because we've always been a family-marketed gameday environment, that does impact attendance -- a bit. And if a family can only make it to one or two games a season because of their schedule, the three-pack doesn't work.

Ticket prices aren't in line with what the casual UNI fan or sports fan is going to spend.

[ronfitch]

When you're from Des Moines, you're not going to get up to Cedar Falls 3 times in a season (speaking from experience).

When you are from the Twin Cites, same thing. Plus, I (UNI grad x2, former UNI employee who loved working there, PSC member ... and I walked up and down the aisles of the Dome selling popcorn as a kid) want to take my wife (UNI grad), daughter and mom (who still lives in CF). Cheapest package for four for the 10/16 game through UNITix is $185 (includes $32 in fees to print my own tickets).

That is simply a non-starter for most families.

[BCPanther]

$30 for all seats inside the 30s, $20 outside with $15 tickets for kids and lets move on.

This isn't hard and is exactly in line with what the rest of the upper schools in our league do. I'm absolutely not a fill the place with $10 tickets guy because you cheapen your product. Being in line with SDSU, IlSU, UND, MSU and USD while being a tad more expensive than YSU and not begging people to come like InSU and WIU makes so much sense that everyone, except the guy that matters, can see it.

[sivert]

IMO, the experience has been (and still is) marred by poor audio quality. I know this is $$$, so I'm not offering a solution. But good quality music and voice are a big part of the emotional experience of a game.

[BCPanther]

IMO, the experience has been (and still is) marred by poor audio quality. I know this is $$$, so I'm not offering a solution. But good quality music and voice are a big part of the emotional experience of a game.

Agreed.

I guess that's Mark's next fundraising project along with a matching video board on the north end.

Credit where it's due, the new layout on the video board is MUCH better and they did a much better job of keeping stats current last weekend.

[ronfitch]

IMO, the experience has been (and still is) marred by poor audio quality. I know this is $$$, so I'm not offering a solution. But good quality music and voice are a big part of the emotional experience of a game.

Going on 45 years now.

Other venues figured this out decades ago.

[run&blade]

One game a year I would do $10 tickets and $5 beers.

at this point I would even let kids in free.

I would find every alum I could and email/snail mail them in the summer to mark their calendars for that promotion.

This year I would have done it for St Thomas and promoted the hell out of it in the Twin Cities also.

UNI dug their hole. Going to have to dig their way out of it. Screaming from the bottom of the hole “come join us down here for $30 each” isn’t going to attract very many.

I have been very impressed with the number of students at the games so far.

[BCPanther]

One game a year I would do $10 tickets and $5 beers.

at this point I would even let kids in free.

I would find every alum I could and email/snail mail them in the summer to mark their calendars for that promotion.

This year I would have done it for St Thomas and promoted the hell out of it in the Twin Cities also.

UNI dug their hole. Going to have to dig their way out of it. Screaming from the bottom of the hole “come join us down here for $30 each” isn’t going to attract very many.

I have been very impressed with the number of students at the games so far.

You don't charge High School prices for Division I football. Being in line with peers is just fine.

You can't undercut your product either.

[run&blade]

You don't charge High School prices for Division I football. Being in line with peers is just fine.

You can't undercut your product either.

Our high school charges $5 to get in and $3 for beer so UNI would still be more expensive.

[clenz]

What high school in Iowa is selling beer?

[clenz]

Went and did some comp shopping

South Dakota State
High: 40
Low: 25
Notes: NDSU game is $65 for all seats and UNI this year (their homecoming) is $10 more per ticket. Their OOC games were 5-10 cheaper on both ends as well. Something like 75% of the stadium is in the door for less than $30 bucks

Sam Houston State
High: 55
Low 20
Notes: Over 90% of their stadium is under 25 to get in the door. There is a small section of reserved seatback/club style seats on one side of the stadium that go for $55 this year. This year is also different for SHSU in that prices are higher. In past years it has been $10-15 on the low end and $30 on the high end. Their title in the spring, and new conference where they are playing more name teams, has boosted prices this year.

James Madison
High: 285
Low 25
Notes: Honestly JMU is a horrible comp but I’m leaving them in. About 85% of their stadium can be gotten into for less than $35 (the vast majority being under 30) but their average price is HEAVILY skewed by how they redid the one side of that stadium and built it to be largely club/luxury style seating. They will be FBS soon enough and will be removed as a comp – not that they should be to begin with honestly.

NDSU:
High 55
Low 20
Notes: Much like JMU it’s a tough comp in terms of ticket pricing and demand. Winning 9 of 10 titles has skewed what they can get away with charging. Having said that you can get into NDSU games cheaper than UNI games.

EWU
High $80
Low: 20
Notes: Heavily dependent on opponent and this year they have a slate of nothing but their biggest rivals at home. Montana was $80 for every ticket, Idaho is 60-80, Montana State is 60-80 and Weber State is 30-50. They also have a stadium of 7500 with demand for 8k+ tickets for every game. Double their capacity and they aren’t charging those prices. Also give them not those games at home and their normal prices are 15-35

UC Davis
High 37
Low 12
Notes: Small section of $50 to get in are “club” level pricing.

SIU
High 50 (Homecoming/Family weekend)
Low 10
Notes: The majority of the stadium is gotten into for less than 25. There are 27 sections in the stadium and only 3 of them cost more than 25 and are largely made up of season ticket holders/corporate partners

Montana
High 43
Low 35
Notes: There is almost no price difference no matter where you sit in the stadium. Though given their history of drawn 23k plus every single week it would makes sense. I would also argue that, in general, you’re getting a hell of a deal given Montana’s history, stadium, etc. The Brawl of the Wild is significantly more but using that game as their baseline prices is just dumb

Montana State
High 43
Low 25
Notes: See Montana but a slightly smaller stadium. They will regularly sell out/hit 85% capacity.

Delaware
High: 43
Low: 11
Notes: Recently renovated stadium. Only on section out of 23 is over 35 to get in the door. Only 2 others are more than 28

Missouri State
High 29
Low 14
Notes: They also have senior pricing as well as youth pricing options. Only about a third of tickets they sell are more than 22 dollars. About 60-70% of the seats for sale are $14

Youngstown State
High: 20
Low 10
Notes: Day of game is 22 and 11 rather than 20 and 10. I wasn’t looking at season tickets but you can get season tickets to YSU for less than 100 bucks.

Illinois State
High: 35
Low: 20
Notes: Majority of tickets are in the $20 range

Weber State
High: 40
Low: 10
Notes: Legitmately 95% of that stadium can be gotten into for $18 or less. 70%, maybe more, can be gotten into for 15 or less

South Dakota
High 40
Low: 25
Notes: Every ticket is the same price the only difference is game premiums. Homecoming is 40 at USD and SDSU is 40. Every other game is 25

Jacksonville State
High 125
Low 12
Notes: Every single ticket in that stadium is $12 except a tiny portion that are club seats they sell for 125. The club area is 50% of 4 sections. So out of 25 sections in that stadium that seats 24,000 they have a combined 2 sections that sell for 125. It’s probably less than 2,000 seats total.






It's pretty safe to say we are near double what we should be in ticket prices.

[sevelev711]

Yeah when laid out like that, god. We're charging more than the team that won 8 champs in 10 years, and has no FBS competition.

[BCPanther]

But when you are completely unable to expand the fan base because you refuse to market, those that are left have to pick up the tab...

[sevelev711]

The thing that confuses me is that, like, usually when things are this bad, you see more off the wall, dumb, desperate ideas from the AD. Your "10 Cent Beer Nights" adjacent-ideas. But there's none of that for us. It's like they're trying to take the quiet approach, without realizing that this is the wrong business to take the quiet approach for.