Plenty of Tickets Available

[GlastonTim]

Can you explain a bit further? I just checked uconnhuskies.com and was referred to Ticketmaster, where single ticket was $33 + $6 = $39, but ticket was in Section 206. I may drive up anyway for this, but want to know if you got info elsewhere, or whether there's a better method for getting a single seat.

To anybody else: if I just drove to Hartford on a whim at the end of the day without a ticket, would box office or outside the building be an option? Any tips or cautions to offer?

Thanks in advance.

PS - I think my last Hartford game was Seton Hall 1993, when CBS didn't show the banner my sister & I made that mentioned having our Dad's tickets because he was recovering from Coronary Bypass Surgery.

It was ticketmaster, I forgot to add the $6 , and there was a willcall option. I chose the lower level option, seatwas insec. 119, mind you I didnt buy cause I have tix already. I'm going to check right now.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Could you explain? I don't know the models.

In a single post? Probably not, but I'll try and will keep it short. In a nutshell, home games were divided b/w Gampel and XL in 1990. I was at the first Gampel game - we beat St. John's. Perkins created essentially two different ticket buying bases, to move tickets at both Gampel and the Civic center, and geared it entirely to selling season tickets only, very little to know individual game sales work.... that to this day, the athletic department has been tryign to figure out a way to get more unified. It worked great initially, but never was addressed properly for 25 years. Now you've got an aging population of people in two venues, that have all the priority seating, and rarely attend all home games. The points/renewal/contributions etc systems for priority seating are fine., the difficulty is making sure that there is a warm butt in the seats for all the games. Hathaway took the same ticket sales model that Perkins came up with to move approx. 10-12k seats for 20 or so home games split b/w two venues, and applied it to a 40k seat venue in 2003, for six home games a year, a model for sales that was completely inappropraite for the specific sport, the venue and the ticket buying base. We are still trying to dig out from that move too. But the new AD has the department working in the current century when it comes to ticket sales. Try the UConnhuskies.com website - there are ticket sales things happening there that should have happened a long, long time ago. Mini-plans, ticket exchanges, etc. etc.

 

[RMoore1999]

GET OVER YOURSELF and go.

Seriously, Dan, stop being a little cat.

 

[8893]

Can you explain a bit further? I just checked uconnhuskies.com and was referred to Ticketmaster, where single ticket was $33 + $6 = $39, but ticket was in Section 206. I may drive up anyway for this, but want to know if you got info elsewhere, or whether there's a better method for getting a ingle seat.

To anybody else: if I just drove to Hartford on a whim at the end of the day without a ticket, would box office or outside the building be an option? Any tips or cautions to offer?

Thanks in advance.

PS - I think my last Hartford game was Seton Hall 1993, when CBS didn't show the banner my sister & I made that mentioned having our Dad's tickets because he was recovering from Coronary Bypass Surgery.

Just go straight to Ticketmaster and search for 1 "Best Available." I just checked again and the first one that came up was Section 124.

If you go up without a ticket and only need one, go straight to the box office and see what singles they have. When the guys outside ask if you need tickets, say you are looking for one downstairs and that you are going to check for singles at the box office. Maybe someone will offer you a deal, there will be people selling tickets outside until at least tip-off, so you should be picky if you want to pay face value and only need one.

 

[Waquoit]

Just sayin.

So you're just sayin you're just a casual fan. That's fine.

 

[GlastonTim]

Just checked again, for $33+$6 i can buy a single ticket in section 112 row w and pick it up at will call

 

[GlastonTim]

Just checked again, for $33+$6 i can buy a single ticket in section 112 row w and pick it up at will call

I didn't click on best available instead click on aroow, options come up, and click lower level

 

[RMoore1999]

We need to sell out more games, for MBB and FB, period. It won't get us in another conference by itself, but it certainly wouldn't hurt.

Of course it won't. HFD's just being unusually stubborn on this one. Rumor has it he'll actually be out of state tonight on a date up at Mardi Gras in Sprngfld with the Miller Lite gals from one of his avatars. The whole "don't go, watch from home to help Connecticut make it B1G" nonsense is just a smokescreen...

 

[RMoore1999]

Absolutely NO ONE who was in Glendale would agree that it was an embarrassing showing. The amount of tickets sold through the university may have been "embarrassing" but there were very legitimate reasons for people to buy tickets elsewhere at deep discounts. In an effort to be supportive , I bought my $256 tix from UCONN but there were people who bought theirs for a quarter of that on stubhub etc. I don't care how many tickets the school sold but there was a significant showing of UCONN fans there. Not as many as OK but not an "embarrassment".

Someone posted a picture of the UCONN section here the other day that showed how good crowd was. Hopefully, they will read this and will repost the pic. If we would have played in the Orange Bowl instead I guarantee you we would have sold a ton of tix. Connecticut to PHX was just too expensive and too time consuming.

Would you suggest that since Florida State only sold 7000 tickets to their bowl game this year that they are small time and shouldn't be considered a major program and should be sent to conference USA?

We were at the Fiesta Bowl, and I totally agree with CAHusky. I was actually positively surprised with the turnout for Connecticut.

 

[businesslawyer]

In a single post? Probably not, but I'll try and will keep it short. In a nutshell, home games were divided b/w Gampel and XL in 1990. I was at the first Gampel game - we beat St. John's. Perkins created essentially two different ticket buying bases, to move tickets at both Gampel and the Civic center, and geared it entirely to selling season tickets only, very little to know individual game sales work.... that to this day, the athletic department has been tryign to figure out a way to get more unified. It worked great initially, but never was addressed properly for 25 years. Now you've got an aging population of people in two venues, that have all the priority seating, and rarely attend all home games. The points/renewal/contributions etc systems for priority seating are fine., the difficulty is making sure that there is a warm butt in the seats for all the games. Hathaway took the same ticket sales model that Perkins came up with to move approx. 10-12k seats for 20 or so home games split b/w two venues, and applied it to a 40k seat venue in 2003, for six home games a year, a model for sales that was completely inappropraite for the specific sport, the venue and the ticket buying base. We are still trying to dig out from that move too. But the new AD has the department working in the current century when it comes to ticket sales. Try the UConnhuskies.com website - there are ticket sales things happening there that should have happened a long, long time ago. Mini-plans, ticket exchanges, etc. etc.

You're blaming someone by wanting to sell all seats on a season ticket basis when the market can do that? Really.


Friggin Giants and Knicks and Red Sox. The scum.

 

[Carl Spackler]

You're blaming someone by wanting to sell all seats on a season ticket basis when the market can do that? Really.


Friggin Giants and Knicks and Red Sox. The scum.

You're just trying to provoke me. I'm not biting. Had the massive volume increase of football ticket sales that occurred b/w 2003-2005, as compared to the sales from Memorial stadium, been handled properly, specific to the sport, the venue, and the ticket buying base, we would not have the ticket sales problems in football that we have now, with the die hard fan base of approx 35,000. Ok , well I nibbled a little bit. But I'm not biting.

 

[Carl Spackler]

We were at the Fiesta Bowl, and I totally agree with CAHusky. I was actually positively surprised with the turnout for Connecticut.

This is one of the travesty's of our immediate media following, and their inability to break down myths that are perpetuated in the greater media about UConn. The myth is that UConn couldn't get fans to Arizona. That myth is entirely false. I estimate at least 10k fans there in blue and white. That's a low estimate.

THe problem was that the athletic department got caught with their pants down when Teggart hit that kick against South Florida. They tried to sell 17,000 seats to a single football game, with a model of ticket sales that for 20 years had been geared to a base of approx 2,000 regular UConn sports post season buyers, and guess what - we sold about about 2,000 packages to the game through the school.

But the traveling fans made it there, in large numbers.

Would be nice if the local media were able to break that myth apart.

 

[Waquoit]

Would be nice if the local media were able to break that myth apart.

Would be nice if UConn did something about that.

 

[whaler11]

The problem is they are still penny wise and pound foolish. Today's example: single game seats for Syracuse for $50. You know the ones they couldn't sell for $87 in packs of three games.

They continue to soak the fans short term with no insight into the big picture. In the end they end up doing things like comping entire sections at Gampel for DePaul.

 

[Waquoit]

The problem is they are still penny wise and pound foolish. Today's example: single game seats for Syracuse for $50. You know the ones they couldn't sell for $87 in packs of three games.

They continue to soak the fans short term with no insight into the big picture.

What's the big picture?

 

[whaler11]

What's the big picture?

The big picture is how do you get people to invest in the programs through the long term sales of season tickets. Emotionally and financially.

Leads you to a better spot then sending multiple emails about how there are still tickets for a game against the #1 team in the country.

 

[UConn4ever]

The problem is they are still penny wise and pound foolish. Today's example: single game seats for Syracuse for $50. You know the ones they couldn't sell for $87 in packs of three games.

They continue to soak the fans short term with no insight into the big picture. In the end they end up doing things like comping entire sections at Gampel for DePaul.

They did sell the Cuse game in the package I got Louisville Syracuse and Cincinnati all for about 90 bucks

 

[businesslawyer]

Would be nice if the local media were able to break that myth apart.

And how exactly are they supposed to do that? Have a reporter go door to door through the state and ask people if they went to Glendale and, if so, who did they buy tickets from?

We didn't buy from the school, and while 10k fans there doesn't strike me (having been there) as impossible (although on the high end of what I would guess), we didn't have so many fans there that it was obvious that we had a great turnout notwithstanding that people didn't buy from the school.

This is not the Courant's failure -- it is ours. More people needed to come and more people needed to throw money away just so the school could sell tickets. that is the bottom line, but it's so much easier to point fingers than look in the mirror.

 

[Husky25]

So you're just sayin you're just a casual fan. That's fine.

What a missupported conclusion, but be that as it may...I will also be unable to attend the game tonight. Where do I turn in my True-Blue-Die-Hard-100%-Attendence-Required-at-all-Things-UConn Card? There is no mailing address on the back. I haven't been to a Red Sox game in 2 years, I guess I'm not allowed to be a baseball fan either. By the way, all those people who weren't at the football game vs. William & Mary on October 18, 1997 will also have to turn in their cards as well. There was only about 9,000 of us, so don't try and say that you were.

The issue is not the people who cannot attend (I will be lucky if I can get home in time for the tip, let alone get to Htfd, but I will watch/listen to as much of the game as possible.)...The issue are the people who have purchased tickets (via season tickets or otherwise), don't go, and don't ensure that their seat is occupied on game day (lookin' in the general direction of the high $$ donors and corporate courtside seats.).

 

[Husky25]

This is not the Courant's failure -- it is ours. More people needed to come and more people needed to throw money away just so the school could sell tickets. that is the bottom line, but it's so much easier to point fingers than look in the mirror.

UConn has had an in-arena support issue ever since basketball achieved its national prominance. It just took the worst economic downturn in 75 years to bring it to bare. The common fans' household income decreased and they were forced to get choosier on what they spent their discresionary income. Once they found they can do without (or substitute for) their previous activities, its not as important for them to recommit to them.

 

[hungry husky]

Will not be attending but will be screaming loud from Tallahassee. My family held season tickets for 20 years, wish I could be there.

 

[Carl Spackler]

And how exactly are they supposed to do that? Have a reporter go door to door through the state and ask people if they went to Glendale and, if so, who did they buy tickets from?

We didn't buy from the school, and while 10k fans there doesn't strike me (having been there) as impossible (although on the high end of what I would guess), we didn't have so many fans there that it was obvious that we had a great turnout notwithstanding that people didn't buy from the school.

This is not the Courant's failure -- it is ours. More people needed to come and more people needed to throw money away just so the school could sell tickets. that is the bottom line, but it's so much easier to point fingers than look in the mirror.

And you're still trying to bait me. The national main news stories around the game for UConn were about the difficulty in ticket sales, while the stories about Oklahoma were about their actual football team. Could the UConn sports media publicity team done better - absolutely. Could the local media have done more? Sure.

BTW: who said "courant"? I'm pretty sure I specified local media, there's a local sports media company that's a lot more noticeable than the "courant".

 

[whaler11]

They did sell the Cuse game in the package I got Louisville Syracuse and Cincinnati all for about 90 bucks

Yes that's my point. When you don't sell them out 3 @ 90 - moving them to 50 for the single game doesn't make a ton of sense. It's just a short term cash grab with no long term strategy. Further teaches people to cherrypick the attractive games.

 

[Waquoit]

What a missupported conclusion, but be that as it may...I will also be unable to attend the game tonight. Where do I turn in my True-Blue-Die-Hard-100%-Attendence-Required-at-all-Things-UConn Card? There is no mailing address on the back. I haven't been to a Red Sox game in 2 years, I guess I'm not allowed to be a baseball fan either. By the way, all those people who weren't at the football game vs. William & Mary on October 18, 1997 will also have to turn in their cards as well. There was only about 9,000 of us, so don't try and say that you were.

The issue is not the people who cannot attend (I will be lucky if I can get home in time for the tip, let alone get to Htfd, but I will watch/listen to as much of the game as possible.)...The issue are the people who have purchased tickets (via season tickets or otherwise), don't go, and don't ensure that their seat is occupied on game day (lookin' in the general direction of the high donors and corporate courtside seats.).

What's your point? Guy said he wasn't going to the game, not because he couldn't make it but because he didn't want to pay the normal price the day of the game. Casual fan, that's fine.

 

[Waquoit]

Yes that's my point. When you don't sell them out 3 @ 90 - moving them to 50 for the single game doesn't make a ton of sense. It's just a short term cash grab with no long term strategy. Further teaches people to cherrypick the attractive games.

I think you have it ass-backwards. They were trying to limit people from cherrypicking this one game. And have they ever done this before?