🏈 Long, but good read on football attendance, ticket sales, etc. (Focused on Michigan.)

[TerryP]

Last week, the Michigan athletic department admitted what many had long suspected: student football ticket sales are down, way down, from about 21,000 in 2012 to a projected 13,000-14,000 this fall.

The department has blamed cell phones, high-definition TV, and a sweeping national trend – but those don’t tell the whole story.

How’d Michigan lose so many students so fast? Answer: a lot of hard work.

Athletic Director Dave Brandon has often cited the difficulty of using cell phones at Michigan Stadium as “the biggest challenge we have.” But when Michigan students were asked in a recent survey to rank seven factors for buying season tickets, they ranked cell phones seventh — dead last.

What did they rank first? Being able to sit with their friends.

But Brandon did away with that last year, with his new General Admission seating policy. Instead of seating the students by class — with the freshmen in the endzone and the seniors toward the fifty, as they had done for decades – last year it was first come, first served. (They also raised the price to $295 for seven games, up from $195 for six games the year before.) The idea was to encourage students to come early, and come often. Thousands of students responded by not coming at all.

http://johnubacon.com/2014/06/the-r...ers-are-bailing-on-michigan-football-tickets/

 

[bama alum]

“We know who our competitor is,” Brandon often says. “Your 60-inch, high-definition TV.”

If that’s true, maybe they shouldn’t have increased seat prices by an average of $100 each since Brandon took over.

Many, many Bama, barn, Jawja, Texas, etc. fans have 60" tvs. That doesn't stop them from coming to games. Raising ticket prices like that for students?? Duh!

 

[BamaFan334]

I'm sorry, but when I'm paying $13,000 a semester to go to school, you can kiss my damn ass if you plan to raise ticket prices. Alabama is only $75, which I even question that with all the fees paid already. I like how they tried fixing the issue, but seemingly raised prices. College football is going to hit a peak as far as money is concerned, if it hasn't already, and students, alumni, and fans alike are going to rebel against the system. I was at the casino in Cherokee, North Carolina this weekend and was playing cards with a Georgia season ticket holder since 1980, and he told me about another ticket increase the athletic department out on their tickets, so he said this would be his last year purchasing. Money is obviously killing the sport and will continue to create more issues.

 

[TerryP]

I'm sorry, but when I'm paying $13,000 a semester to go to school, you can kiss my damn ass if you plan to raise ticket prices. Alabama is only $75, which I even question that with all the fees paid already. I like how they tried fixing the issue, but seemingly raised prices. College football is going to hit a peak as far as money is concerned, if it hasn't already, and students, alumni, and fans alike are going to rebel against the system. I was at the casino in Cherokee, North Carolina this weekend and was playing cards with a Georgia season ticket holder since 1980, and he told me about another ticket increase the athletic department out on their tickets, so he said this would be his last year purchasing. Money is obviously killing the sport and will continue to create more issues.

Some will "rebel against the system," and stop buying tickets. But, I don't see it close to reaching a peak or coming close to one.

Taking UA as example, the product we see on the field is second to none. The administration knows this. In the SEC, it's not something lost on any school's administration.

I can't help but look at the NFL here. The lowest price ticket available right now is found in Cleveland. Their average is $109 per ticket. They're in a stadium that seats 73,200 and the average attendance for their games in 2013 was 71, 242. There's a horrible product on the field, a loyal fan base, and no issues with price per ticket.

When UofSC was in the midst of a 20+ game losing streak Williams-Bryce Stadium was packed every weekend. Bad product, average price was the same as a lot of the other SEC schools, and the seats were filled.

These ticket prices will push some fans away from attending games in person. There are other fans more than willing to step right in and take their seats.

 

[BamaFan334]

Some will "rebel against the system," and stop buying tickets. But, I don't see it close to reaching a peak or coming close to one.

Taking UA as example, the product we see on the field is second to none. The administration knows this. In the SEC, it's not something lost on any school's administration.

I can't help but look at the NFL here. The lowest price ticket available right now is found in Cleveland. Their average is $109 per ticket. They're in a stadium that seats 73,200 and the average attendance for their games in 2013 was 71, 242. There's a horrible product on the field, a loyal fan base, and no issues with price per ticket.

When UofSC was in the midst of a 20+ game losing streak Williams-Bryce Stadium was packed every weekend. Bad product, average price was the same as a lot of the other SEC schools, and the seats were filled.

These ticket prices will push some fans away from attending games in person. There are other fans more than willing to step right in and take their seats.

I agree with what you're saying, but soon enough you're going to price out most Americans. With inflation at crazy rates and wages not keeping up, it'll soon phase out a ton of fans. The demand is there with people wanting to see their team, but the ability is slowly declining.

watch Roll Tide/War Eagle and listen to when Harvey Updyke talks about attending the Iron Bowl and how much he paid for a ticket he couldn't afford. I think decisions like that are being made on a regular basis and skew statistics, but that's just my opinion. People will pay an arm and a leg, but I'm betting it forces them to slack on other obligations as a part of it.