28k tickets for Maine

[CTMike]

McLovin is the ultimate homer.

Some agree free tix and giveaways to the homeless and flat screen buyers at PC Richard's is good. Some say it pisses off the money base into possibly withholding $$ in the future. McLovin and the homers are wrong.

There is literally no one on the board who complains more than you.

 

[huskymedic]

Mike Anthony ‏@ManthonyCourant 54m 54 minutes ago
UConn FB ticket distribution has gone over 29,000 for Thursday's opener.

 

[kemba]

Thank you. I have season tickets and resent the Univ dropping tickets from the sky. It insults folks who pay. Why bothef getting season tickets when every game there are ads and emails for $10.00 tix? Why pay a seat license for chair backs or between the 20-40?

You pay more to get the seats you want. Besides that, you're right, it doesn't make financial sense to buy season tickets. That's never going to change unless demand gets to the point where people are worried about whether they are going to be able to buy single game tickets for the better games. And that's never going to happen unless they grow the fanbase.

 

[Jimdish255]

I wasn't even going to post in this thread until Art brought me into it.

Half his posts are about d!cking up the board - he is the one that created this thread with his lame passive aggressive shot at me. Sorry this isn't Pop Warner and I'm not going to treat the program as if it is.

Printing tickets and giving them away in bulk has a negative impact in the long term. That some people don't get that or care is fine - but don't give me grief because you can't see two steps down the road.

I would agree with the last part generally but this is Maine and we aren't losing any real money with the trade-off being a better atmosphere, a few new fans and the fact that our long-term isn't very long. It's kind of the next 3 months. After that we can fold the ticket issue into our long-term business plan whatever it may be. Enjoy the moment. Benedict is pushing in the right direction and not monitoring.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

For me, season tickets are a point of pride and something I'm more than happy to do to support the university. I can see why some people, especially families opt to get their tickets through cheaper avenues. Ideally, demand would be so that season tickets would be the cheap option. We are farrrr from that pint though.

 

[Jerry27]

Does this apply to people complaining about what other people post just because it doesn't make them happy? The 28k number doesn't make him happy, so he "complains". His opinion of the 28k number doesn't make you happy, so you complain. What's the difference?

How does one person refusing to be celebrate a number that is easily shown to be highly suspect ruin the day for so many people?

If you can't enjoy the number without having affirmation from every single poster, then who is really miserable here?

24 more hours till my tailgate kicks off and it can't come soon enough. I can't wait to argue about punt returns, missed blocks, Diaco's clock management, and students leaving in the 3rd quarter.

It's not his opinion that is being complained about, it's the fact that no matter what is done or said they complain. Everyone else is too dumb to realize the game that is being played by distributed versus actual gate. No one can try to paint anything positively because of the reality police who think only they "get it". And the person I responded to is a relatively new poster so I pointed that out. Big difference actually.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Not that Rutgers should ever be an example of how to do anything but they have done exactly what the AD is now doing to drive attendance figures. We mock them about it look where it got them. I bet somewhere on our Big12 checklist is "at least 75% capacity at football games." If giving them away get us there so be it.

 

[CTMike]

Season starts in less than 24 hours, so season ticket sales for 2016 are a moot point now. We had modest football improvement last year and it resulted in very modest improvement (if you can even call it that) in season ticket sales this year.

Sales drive for 2017 season tix starts now, and it starts with a beat down of Maine. Win and show excitement.

 

[whaler11]

For me, season tickets are a point of pride and something I'm more than happy to do to support the university. I can see why some people, especially families opt to get their tickets through cheaper avenues. Ideally, demand would be so that season tickets would be the cheap option. We are farrrr from that pint though.

Yes - the overall structure is broken and has been broken for a while.

You should do better buying in bulk, instead they reward one-offs.

It doesn't matter much because there isn't really a secondary market - but the school flooding the market and selling places like stub hub below face value is just another way they disadvantage season ticket buyers.

Those are the people you should be rewarding - not taking advantage of the fact that some quantity buys them as a matter of pride. Clearly there aren't enough of us.

 

[BlueMAB]

It's not his opinion that is being complained about, it's the fact that no matter what is done or said they complain. Everyone else is too dumb to realize the game that is being played by distributed versus actual gate. No one can try to paint anything positively because of the reality police who think only they "get it". And the person I responded to is a relatively new postEra so I pointed that out. Big difference actually.

Actually you got his argument wrong. He's not saying nobody gets the distribution game.

Maybe let the new posters interpret posts for themselves since you got it wrong.

 

[Jerry27]

Actually you got his argument wrong. He's not saying nobody gets the distribution game.

Maybe let the new posters interpret posts for themselves since you got it wrong.

Really? That wasn't what was said? I think maybe you should follow the whole conversation before posting instead of rushing to defend what you clearly didn't read.

"They printed and distributed probably 10k free tickets. If that gets you all hot and bothered that's exciting. Why don't you wait and see who actually shows up - because the true number never has anything to with distributed."

 

[upstater]

Did it ever occur to certain people that they wanted to have high attendance numbers at a crucial moment in the program's history?

If this school is left behind, it's not going to matter at all that free tickets circa 2016 A.D. ate into the season ticket base.

On the other hand, if they can show a consistent 30k-35k a game for the month of September, and it helps the cause even by 1%, they may very well find themselves in a situation where the season ticket question takes care of itself.

 

[CL82]

I see a lot of false narratives.

1. Giving tickets away to a low demand game to fill empty seats means that you must will give tickets away to every game. False.

2. Giving tickets away to a low demand game to fill empty seats means that will your season tickets holders. False.

3. Giving tickets away to a low demand game to fill empty seats gives you know value in return.

The last one is perhaps the biggest lie. Playing in front of a packed house is extraordinarily valuable. It improves the game day experience for the fans. It improves the home field advantage for the team. It makes for a better game on television. It introduces new potential ticket buyers to college football in the Rent, which is a great product.

Anyone who touts their business acumen by saying that empty seats are better for us right now, might want to rethink that issue. In the near term butts in the seats is critical for us. Don't believe ask our friends the Scarlet Knights. They gave tickets away to anyone to get their game day attendance numbers up while they were courting the Big 10. While that wasn't the decided metric they took the "nobody cares about football in the Northeast" meme out of play. We'd be foolish not to learn from that.

Now one point that has been made that I agree with is that it is bad business to soak the season ticket holders and then cut the price of single games, if that were to become the norm. We should drive down the cost of the season tickets to assure that we've got decent turn out. If their isn't perceived value in it, season ticket purchases will suffer.

 

[sportsart]

I see a lot of false narratives.

1. Giving tickets away to a low demand game to fill empty seats means that you must will give tickets away to every game. False.

2. Giving tickets away to a low demand game to fill empty seats means that will your season tickets holders. False.

3. Giving tickets away to a low demand game to fill empty seats gives you know value in return.

The last one is perhaps the biggest lie. Playing in front of a packed house is extraordinarily valuable. It improves the game day experience for the fans. It improves the home field advantage for the team. It makes for a better game on television. It introduces new potential ticket buyers to college football in the Rent, which is a great product.

Anyone who touts their business acumen by saying that empty seats are better for us right now, might want to rethink that issue. In the near term butts in the seats is critical for us. Don't believe ask our friends the Scarlet Knights. They gave tickets away to anyone to get their game day attendance numbers up while they were courting the Big 10. While that wasn't the decided metric they took the "nobody cares about football in the Northeast" meme out of play. We'd be foolish not to learn from that.

Now one point that has been made that I agree with is that it is bad business to soak the season ticket holders and then cut the price of single games, if that were to become the norm. We should drive down the cost of the season tickets to assure that we've got decent turn out. If their isn't perceived value in it, season ticket purchases will suffer.

Perfectly well thought out post with very little, if any to debate, but unfortunately there probably will be.

Sigh....

 

[ZOOCONN]

If you have extra tickets and can't bring someone else along, have the dude scan it anyway. Old hockey trick.

ha ya know what, I remember last year I was at a game and the guy in front of me (by himself) had the attendant scan four tickets. never understood why till now.

 

[BNich]

It always seems to come back to " what did I get for my money, compared to what you got for your money". "Why would I spend money for my seats when they got something similar for much less." That seems to be the direction of anything today. For fear of riling some people up, when you purchase season tickets, I simply ask your intent for doing so. Do you do so to support the school, the program and state U that you love because you want to support and cheer for them through thick and thin. Or do you do so for other reasons? Following the schools hashtag to "Fill the RENT and Rock the RENT" (I have seen variations from school twitters and various fans) when tickets are seemingly given away or sold at deep discounts to non season ticket holders and non regulars/individuals who may be first timers with the intent to peak interest and obtain new regular fans (to fill the rent), I again ask did you still purchase season tickets for the right reasons? There are quite a few on this board that have made very generous gestures to put up plenty of tickets for various games and reasons to get fans to fill the rent. If they can do it without remorse why do so many others complain when tickets are offered up other capacities? Not trying to instigate anything. I would rather like to get a clearer picture of WHY.

EDIT: This was posted before I saw the thread about free tickets for everyone.

 

[whaler11]

It always seems to come back to " what did I get for my money, compared to what you got for your money". "Why would I spend money for my seats when they got something similar for much less." That seems to be the direction of anything today. For fear of riling some people up, when you purchase season tickets, I simply ask your intent for doing so. Do you do so to support the school, the program and state U that you love because you want to support and cheer for them through thick and thin. Or do you do so for other reasons? Following the schools hashtag to "Fill the RENT and Rock the RENT" (I have seen variations from school twitters and various fans) when tickets are seemingly given away or sold at deep discounts to non season ticket holders and non regulars/individuals who may be first timers with the intent to peak interest and obtain new regular fans (to fill the rent), I again ask did you still purchase season tickets for the right reasons? There are quite a few on this board that have made very generous gestures to put up plenty of tickets for various games and reasons to get fans to fill the rent. If they can do it without remorse why do so many others complain when tickets are offered up other capacities? Not trying to instigate anything. I would rather like to get a clearer picture of WHY.

EDIT: This was posted before I saw the thread about free tickets for everyone.

There are no right or wrong reasons for buying. It's either sold or not sold.

I'm not sure my point could be any clearer - I'm worried about the long term health of the program and working towards fixing the ACTUAL attendance and season ticket problems.

I don't care that they undercut ME - I care that they actively and aggressively chase off those who in your mind potentially buy for the wrong reasons.

 

[whaler11]

Perfectly well thought out post with very little, if any to debate, but unfortunately there probably will be.

Sigh....

Do you ever post anything of interest or do you just alternate between picking fights and crying that the board doesn't meet your standards?

 

[BlueMAB]

Really? That wasn't what was said? I think maybe you should follow the whole conversation before posting instead of rushing to defend what you clearly didn't read.

"They printed and distributed probably 10k free tickets. If that gets you all hot and bothered that's exciting. Why don't you wait and see who actually shows up - because the true number never has anything to with distributed."

That was a direct response to sportsart who questioned Kevin f k ing Dineen's attendance estimate from days (if not a week) ago.

Here's the crux of his argument.

"The key to attendance is selling season tickets. When many people have figured out you can buy tickets at a huge discount every week you are building your own disincentives for people to buy season tickets. "

 

[uconnphil2016]

There are no right or wrong reasons for buying. It's either sold or not sold.

I'm not sure my point could be any clearer - I'm worried about the long term health of the program and working towards fixing the ACTUAL attendance and season ticket problems.

I don't care that they undercut ME - I care that they actively and aggressively chase off those who in your mind potentially buy for the wrong reasons.

Not trying to say this in an agressive way (actually just curious), but how do you think that we should go about improving ticket sales? From my perspective, I see no problem with giving away free tickets to Maine. It's a loss leader and a tool that plenty of businesses use to attract new customers, so why shouldn't we do the same? I would understand the frustration if we were giving away tix all season, but when it's the opening game against an FCS opponent and you have an opportunity to get new fans in the door, why not just go for it?

 

[Caronimo]

And as the season ticket sales slide - they ignore this obvious reason.

When you look at how many non-student/program season tickets they sell the numbers are pathetic.

They went from about 22-23k in 2005 and a decade later - they are below 10k. They have managed to chase off more than half their real season ticket base and continuing to alienate them is being cheered on. You almost can't make it up.

Exactly. I was a season ticket holder for a couple of years, but saw all my friends scalping tickets for almost nothing. Decided it is easier and cheaper to skip the season tickets... Hell, they even sent me a promo code this year for free Maine tickets because I was a previous season ticket holder. It makes no sense to buy season tickets at all. They need to provide some sort of incentive. Free Parking? Free food vouchers? Cheaper tickets. Something.

 

[Caronimo]

Not trying to say this in an agressive way (actually just curious), but how do you think that we should go about improving ticket sales? From my perspective, I see no problem with giving away free tickets to Maine. It's a loss leader and a tool that plenty of businesses use to attract new customers, so why shouldn't we do the same? I would understand the frustration if we were giving away tix all season, but when it's the opening game against an FCS opponent and you have an opportunity to get new fans in the door, why not just go for it?

People in CT will still find a way to complain about paying for parking

 

[rich1122]

Read 29K this AM

 

[Exit 4]

Like Wing pointed out - maybe actually discuss the points instead of making comments about me.

I'd prefer UConn not act like a small time minor league baseball program. Cleary others mileage may vary.

I've got nothing substantial to add to this discussion. Generally I view any dollar spent for NCAA as a donation to the college athletic program. Therefore, free and discounted tickets do not bother me, but I appreciate that it may both others. At the end of the day, heavily discounting the Maine game is a good idea as we want to do whatever we can to improve the atmosphere and spark area interest in UConn football. Its about minting new fans and that has a cost.

 

[whaler11]

Not trying to say this in an agressive way (actually just curious), but how do you think that we should go about improving ticket sales? From my perspective, I see no problem with giving away free tickets to Maine. It's a loss leader and a tool that plenty of businesses use to attract new customers, so why shouldn't we do the same? I would understand the frustration if we were giving away tix all season, but when it's the opening game against an FCS opponent and you have an opportunity to get new fans in the door, why not just go for it?

Don't have time to get into better strategies today - but they have been giving away tickets for years and they haven't minted fans. Certainly not fans willing to pay for tickets.