Game IV:Youngstown State(Homecoming)

[95UNIGRAD]

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

If you're in Iowa, beer cannot be sold at high school sporting events, so pull the other one. You can make a point without making junk up.

[BrockLesnar]

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.

Yeah, the family three pack needs to go with very few sales. The $40 all around doesn't work. I'd go with $26 all around. That's only my guess. The $40 is too much and $25 seems to be not enough.
. If that doesn't work then go down to $25 all around. Lower prices would in theory generate higher demand, but we can't afford to go down lower than $25. Let small kids Age 5 and under in for free. We're not in 1999.

[clenz]

Yeah, the family three pack needs to go with very few sales. The $40 all around doesn't work. I'd go with $26 all around. That's only my guess. The $40 is too much and $25 seems too cheap. If that doesn't work then go down to $25 all around. Lower prices would in theory generate higher demand, but we can't afford to go down lower than $25. We're not in 1999.

I didn't look deeply into 3 game packs or season tickets for any of those schools, but a few had the information easily accessible. What I can say is we seem to have slightly higher season ticket prices as well - especially for "non-premium" seats that are off to the sides.

Bottoming out prices isn't going to be the answer but something needs to be done. In reality our season tickets are 259 dollars for sections Q and P and 22 per seat in sections E, F, O, and R once you add in the required PSC donations. Again, I didn't deep dive, or go out of my way to look for, season ticket information but I'm going to bet 259 dollars for 5 games at the FCS level is on the extreme high end. To go further I'd guess that having to pay 200 per seat at the 20-25 yard line for 5 games is a top 2-3% ticket price

Because season ticket prices are what they are you can't really do much with single-game tickets because then what is the incentive for season tickets? You piss off donors and people more willing to buy tickets and plan the day around being at UNI.

The family pack is 77 for tier 3 tickets...the goal line. Over $25 per ticket to sit on the goal line. It is over 50 bucks, per ticket, to sit upper half of the dome at the 20 yard line. 60 per ticket if you want to get closer to mid-field.

The reality is our ticket prices should be significantly lower

A quick mockup I did



In my eye nothing on the east side goes above a T2 given they are behind the students and band. I'm willing to listen to section C and D being T3 even because they are directly behind the band though I don't think it's needed, especially given season ticket owners on the east side.

The 2 corner sections in each corner should not be more than 20 right now. 15 is a solid price. Make them GA even. you buy GA access to A or GA access to T.

For homecoming or a premium game feel free to go up 5, maybe 10, per ticket and go 40-30-20. For a game like UST, Sac State, or any non-con game that isn't a big name program drop 5 bucks per ticket and go 30-20-10.

Looking around for Valley games you could have a premium/standard/basic pricing for

Premium: NDSU, SDSU, SIU, homecoming
Standard:USD, ISUr, UND, YSU, family weekend
Basic: ISUb, WIU, MSU - throw MUSU in here if/when they are added.

Looking at OOC games that would be potential premium: Montana, EWU, Montana State, Delaware, New Hampshire, SHSU, and that's about it. Cases could be made that programs like Weber State, who comes in next year, should be premium prices but the vast majority of who we are trying to attract aren't going to recognize Weber State as a premium game - ore ven how to say Weber.

OOC games against any PFL team should be the basic cost. Most OOC games should be standard


That set up brings us in-line with peers and puts prices where the most seats are empty for single-game sales at a price that is more likely to attract someone.

The sightlines from the top of N, M, S, T, B, J, are honestly pretty damn good. Very good actually. However, looking at a seating charge online - and the one I just edited is the official one from the website - it looks like you're dropping 40 bucks per ticket to sit in the endzone at the top of the stadium. There's also a perception battle that needs to be fought for how it works as well.

[FOTY]

And making the transition back to reasonable prices will not be easy. Wonder how many looked at going to homecoming or family weekend, saw the pricing and won’t give it another thought for several years? We’ve lost those ticket buyers for years, maybe forever.

Quite the hole we’ve dug for ourselves.

[BCPanther]

Just another thing Mark is going to have to fix. He's totally not busy running a Division I football program, coaching, recruiting and doing all of his own fundraising. Might as well add selling tickets to it.

[ronfitch]

Just another thing Mark is going to have to fix. He's totally not busy running a Division I football program, coaching, recruiting and doing all of his own fundraising. Might as well add selling tickets to it.

Farley would be good at it, IMO. Maybe he could negotiate a Deion Sanders-like cut of ticket sales.

[BrockLesnar]

We also have a problem with our fair weather Hawkeye loving fan base. I don't think the price makes a difference for some of our fans.

[06panther10]

And making the transition back to reasonable prices will not be easy. Wonder how many looked at going to homecoming or family weekend, saw the pricing and won’t give it another thought for several years? We’ve lost those ticket buyers for years, maybe forever.

Quite the hole we’ve dug for ourselves.

100% correct. Zero foresight from our leaders.

[panther-state]

You can get a 3 game pack for $77.

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

Let's keep it real.

Unfortunately, not everyone is local and can commit to that, otherwise it is a worthwhile deal. I hate that it's just the farthest sections, but what's stopping people from moving over into the closer sections? Plenty of seats!

UNI's play should be making it as easy as possible for anyone to make a game. Walk-up, pre-planned, single fan or entire family, etc...and right now that's just not the case.