A new view of the challenge to increase attendance.

[Icebear]

Let's take this issue from a different direction.
Leaving out pricing for the moment.
What could UConn and the Athletic Department do that would make attending the game more atractive or compelling than sitting home and watching it on TV?
I forgot to add better food vendors.


You can vote for more than one selection.

 

[UConnCat]

Found this tidbit in an article on today's Tennessee-Texas matchup in Knoxville:

Free Tickets: Fans donating two school supply items today will receive free admission to the game. Fans can donate at the main box office or the ticket booths at Thompson-Boling Arena's northeast and northwest gates.

This is one way to fill in upper level seats. I can't imagine UConn doing this.

One thing I would like to see is for a certain number of unsold tickets to be donated to local girls' teams in the Hartford area. I think this would be a great way to fill some empty seats in the XL center and also generate interest in the game.

 

[alexrgct]

Ticket packages are a biggie. Packages that allow more people access to lower bowl seating, at least during the less desirable games. Packages that are promoted towards specific segments of fans, girls teams, youth groups, charitable organizations, and the like.

I don't believe giving the students more access to premium seats helps the situation until they prove they can reliably fill the section they have already.

 

[alexrgct]

Found this in tidbit in an article on today's Tennessee-Texas matchup in Knoxville:

Free Tickets: Fans donating two school supply items today will receive free admission to the game. Fans can donate at the main box office or the ticket booths at Thompson-Boling Arena's northeast and northwest gates.

This is one way to fill in upper level seats. I can't imagine UConn doing this.

One thing I would like to see is for a certain number of unsold tickets to be donated to local girls' teams in the Hartford area. I think this would be a great way to fill some empty seats in the XL center and also generate interest in the game.

Haha, great minds think alike, apparently.

 

[alexrgct]

One random question: do a lot of students attend LV games? Honest question- don't think I see them on TV, but I might not have been paying close enough attention.

 

[UConnCat]

Haha, great minds think alike, apparently.

Apparently. I lived in Chicago for many years and within walking distance of the DePaul campus. One of the things I noticed about the crowd at DePaul's women's games was the incredible number of local girls teams from Chicago and the suburbs. The DePaul women don't draw great crowds (unless it's a top 10 team), but I loved seeing the young girls at the games.

 

[FairView]

Ticket packages and pricing will help. Free tix are a for-sure help, but you need more. UConn needs an integrated marketing campaign to make people WANT to go to the games. They need to make the game experience a must-have. It's not a one-dimensional solution.

 

[Icebear]

Ticket packages and pricing will help. Free tix are a for-sure help, but you need more. UConn needs an integrated marketing campaign to make people WANT to go to the games. They need to make the game experience a must-have. It's not a one-dimensional solution.

This is exactly my point in asking this question. What are the add-ons that would make it a must have value?

 

[tomcat]

Well, folks have been making lots of suggestions. In the face of an awful economy and a currently aging fan base, it is not easy to get attendance back to where it was. But it can be significantly improved.
-- Take the new AD's suggestion on persuading lower-level ticketholders to sell their tickets through UConn to someone who will attend. Let people from the upper level sit in the lower level after 10 minutes have elapsed.
-- Get seat backs for the seats at Gampel. This never was a problem for me, but it clearly is for numerous people.
-- Do something about the ridiculous parking charge at Storrs. It is hard enough to go there without being slapped in the face with outrageous parking fees.
-- Create meaningful ticket packages, and align the team with girls teams across the state.
-- Pricing rates that are dependent on the level of the competition.
-- Giveaways similar to what Tennessee did, as per the posting above. Benefits the community, benefits the team.
-- Market the hell out of the first-class product that is being offered.
-- Revamp the athletic marketing department so that a simple philosophy prevails: When you have a team of the quality of the UConn women, anything short of a sellout is a failure.

 

[uconnfan68]

Well, folks have been making lots of suggestions. In the face of an awful economy and a currently aging fan base, it is not easy to get attendance back to where it was. But it can be significantly improved.
-- Take the new AD's suggestion on persuading lower-level ticketholders to sell their tickets through UConn to someone who will attend. Let people from the upper level sit in the lower level after 10 minutes have elapsed.
-- Get seat backs for the seats at Gampel. This never was a problem for me, but it clearly is for numerous people.
-- Do something about the ridiculous parking charge at Storrs. It is hard enough to go there without being slapped in the face with outrageous parking fees.
-- Create meaningful ticket packages, and align the team with girls teams across the state.
-- Pricing rates that are dependent on the level of the competition.
-- Giveaways similar to what Tennessee did, as per the posting above. Benefits the community, benefits the team.
-- Market the hell out of the first-class product that is being offered.
-- Revamp the athletic marketing department so that a simple philosophy prevails: When you have a team of the quality of the UConn women, anything short of a sellout is a failure.

Lots of good points. It's embarrassing to see a half empty arena on national tv. Fill it any way you can.

 

[Ruffian75]

A light bulb just went off. Why do they even play at Gampel? Parking fees....100% of which go to UConn. I am assuming the University gets nothing for parking in Hartford.

Football isn't played on campus. Why is basketball? Speaking of football, maybe it has something to do with the downward trend. Going D1 in football seems to coincide with the decline in basketball attendance. Maybe some people are spending their entertainment dollars on football.

IMO there is nothing that can be done to fix the attendance problem. People just don't have enough interest in the product anymore. The cost of tickets is obviously not the problem. The tickets to non season holders for Stanford and A & M was $10 yet they are $22 for Providence. . Still only 13,700 attended Stanford and I doubt there will be more than 12,000 for A & M.

 

[Icebear]

One thing that strikes me about the bleacher seating in Gampel is that when you are not selling out it makes no sense to worry about maximizing the seating rather than improving the seating that might result in people being more willing to fill those seats.

Let me reiterate I'm looking for folks suggestions as to what would make the games more attractive and compelling experience not rehashing old negatives.

 

[Ruffian75]

Let me reiterate I'm looking for folks suggestions as to what would make the games more attractive and compelling experience not rehashing old negatives.

Raze Gampel, discontinue games at the 40, and play all games at Harbor Yard

 

[nan linds]

Seems I recall in that recent study UConn funded on saving/receiving money that ticket and parking revenues should be increased. Maybe I am remembering incorrectly.

 

[Ruffian75]

Seems I recall in that recent study UConn funded on saving/receiving money that ticket and parking revenues should be increased. Maybe I am remembering incorrectly.

Pure marketing genius. Attendance has been in decline since 2004 and the economy has stunk for 4 years. Solution. Raise prices.

 

[tomcat]

Seems I recall in that recent study UConn funded on saving/receiving money that ticket and parking revenues should be increased. Maybe I am remembering incorrectly.

This, if true, is the kind if idiocy that happens when you ask a specific question, then use the results to answer one or more other questions. If they asked how to maximize revenue, they would probably get this answer. To simply apply the findings without looking at whatelse might happen is just stupidity. As Icebear mentioned recently, it invokes the Law of Unintended Consequences.

 

[alexrgct]

Pure marketing genius. Attendance has been in decline since 2004 and the economy has stunk for 4 years. Solution. Raise prices.

If you feel that the price-elastic fans are gone and those who remain are price inelastic, that is actually very much the economically correct answer. It is not, however, the socially correct answer or a good investment in the future of the program.

 

[alexrgct]

One thing is very clear. UConn's WBB program reached the pinnacle and stayed there because Geno has the unique ability to take every success as an opportunity to do something grander and greater rather than letting success validate what he'd been doing already. The AD as a whole does not have that kind of vision and drive.

 

[BrooklynKid]

• Improve marketing. Make the experience fun for those who attend.
• Invite schools from the tri-state area to attend games. When I was in school, we always attended college sporting events.
• Fill up the empty seats with students.
• Modernize Gampel Arena or build a new one. I know this is a long shot, but the arena is dated and substandard.

 

[HuskyNan]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is advertising. Die hard UConn fans knew, for example, that Stanford was coming to town and that it was a #4 vs #5 matchup and those people are going to attend. However, UConn should have advertised the heck out of that game. Why not have some TV commercials/billboards/radio ads to draw in casual or new fans? That's really what the marketing dept needs to do - attract new fans or draw back people that perhaps tried a game or two and didn't find the experience rewarding.

 

[Wonkster]

... In the face of an awful economy and a currently aging fan base, it is not easy to get attendance back to where it was....

Why? Has someone killed all the 40 to 60-year-olds?
.

 

[Ruffian75]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is advertising. Die hard UConn fans knew, for example, that Stanford was coming to town and that it was a #4 vs #5 matchup. But those people are going to attend anyway. UConn should have advertised the heck out of that game. Why not have some TV commercials/billboards/radio ads to draw in casual or new fans? That's really what the marketing dept needs to do - attract new fans or draw back people that perhaps tried a game or two and didn't find the experience rewarding.

I don't know what the solution is. As a horse racing fan, I have been watching the sport die a slow death for 30 years. Ratings for the biggest day, the Breeders Cup, have been in the toilet since NBC did not renew their contract in 2006 and ESPN took over. No more free TV. Last year, the great mare Zenyatta was the subject of a 60 Minutes segment. What happened? The ratings tripled for the BC. Without a star this year horse racing went back to the same abysmal figures of the present ESPN era. ESPN's contract is up in 2013 and it might spell the demise of the Breeders Cup

How can UConn WCBB be promoted? Maybe the university should be greasing all the local news networks to include some kind of news, any kind of news, on their broadcasts on a daily basis. Show 30 second profiles on the players. Have Geno on air for a minute once a week talking about upcoming games. Give the residents of CT a constant reminder of the treasure we have.

Considering we have won 157 of our last 161 games, it really is a shame to see that our attendance is presently 60% of what it was just 8 years ago.

 

[FairView]

What I meant in my earlier post had nothing to do with add-ons for the ticket packages or parking packages or anything to do with fixing seating. They need marketing that builds awareness and demand. People need to want to come to the games. They need to have a burning desire to see UConn women play. You achieve that with a long-term integrated marketing program that makes a UConn women's game someplace people want to be.They need to manage perceptions, uncover motivators and then act.

Mucj of the original fan base got caught up in the moment of the emergence of a national power. It was exciting. The 40-60 year olds caught the excitement that flowed from the novelty -- here in Connecticut where we have nothing. Families gravitated towards it with their kids. Now the excitement of something new is gone -- UConn is always a contender (collective yawn from the masses). And the original die-hard fan bases has moved on to other stages in their lives.

It is now UConn's job to reach out with community programs, advertising, new media, events, etc., etc. to capture mindshare and walletshare ... just like any business. Do you think an Abercrombie or American Eagle or Talbot's shirt is worth the premium? Not entirely, but people want it. Should anyone even consider eating at McDonald's? Of course not, but marketing brings you there.

UConn needs to hire professional marketers. They will investigate the problem, understand it and come up with a solution to put bottoms in seats. In fact, if marketers do a great job, UConn may be able to eventually raise prices again.

 

[Ruffian75]

UConn needs to hire professional marketers. They will investigate the problem, understand it and come up with a solution to put bottoms in seats. In fact, if marketers do a great job, UConn may be able to eventually raise prices again.

Remind me not to hire your company

 

[Cafe Poliziano]

Well, folks have been making lots of suggestions. In the face of an awful economy and a currently aging fan base, it is not easy to get attendance back to where it was. But it can be significantly improved.
-- Take the new AD's suggestion on persuading lower-level ticketholders to sell their tickets through UConn to someone who will attend. Let people from the upper level sit in the lower level after 10 minutes have elapsed.
-- Get seat backs for the seats at Gampel. This never was a problem for me, but it clearly is for numerous people.
-- Do something about the ridiculous parking charge at Storrs. It is hard enough to go there without being slapped in the face with outrageous parking fees.
-- Create meaningful ticket packages, and align the team with girls teams across the state.
-- Pricing rates that are dependent on the level of the competition.
-- Giveaways similar to what Tennessee did, as per the posting above. Benefits the community, benefits the team.
-- Market the hell out of the first-class product that is being offered.
-- Revamp the athletic marketing department so that a simple philosophy prevails: When you have a team of the quality of the UConn women, anything short of a sellout is a failure.

You hit the nail on the head. The only other thing is that the prices for food and beverages is hugely over the top. As to marketing the team, they need someone who has some idea of who the next generation of fans are and as you said market the hell out of the team towards that demographic. Oh, and start doing it right now.