Season Ticket Drop from 2014: 17% - Ouch

[iahawkeyes17]

The decrease in college football ticket sales is not a Barta problem, a KF, or even an Iowa problem. Go out and read, it happening nationwide. Here's an interesting take on the situation; http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/2013/college-football-live-game-attendance/

Yes it's a nationwide problem but even if Iowa gets to the point where it's still a 10% drop off that is a telling number. To lose that many isn't just a national issue but let's be honest there are some Iowa issues well documented attributing to this

 

[Titanhawk2]

I'm confused by your math, not that it really matters. That 17% is about 7,000 tickets. Isn't each home game sellout worth about $5M?

Not to mention all of the other impacts, including the impact on me.

I read that the 17% drop was just under $2M in value, so not worth a home game (Plus 7,000 tickets times 7 home games only 49,000 game seats)

 

[O.H. Lee]

They did say student tickets are up, but failed to report the numbers.

No, they very clearly did not. They said that they EXPECT student sales to be up, but they are currently several thousand behind last year. They did indicate that August (after school starts) is historically the month when most student sales take place.

 

[O.H. Lee]

Win the winnable games (all of them this year), and singles will boom.

As the article said, the last sub 60k game was in 2002. Winning. Cures. All.

Wrong again. Ticket sales at Iowa generally follow a 1 year-lag pattern. 2002 had very low attendance for several games, despite one of the best seasons in school history. The next year is when attendance started to pick up. 2007 (an awful year) had very strong attendance, then the numbers go back down the next year (a good season). 2010 had higher attendance numbers than 2009, etc. People here do not make game-to-game purchasing decisions, they make season-long decisions. And even if Iowa is good, nobody is going to want to come out and watch the crap games on this schedule.

 

[JRHawk2003]

With Stubhub and the secondary market, dont all games basically become sellouts? They just discount down to match market price?

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Wrong again. Ticket sales at Iowa generally follow a 1 year-lag pattern. 2002 had very low attendance for several games, despite one of the best seasons in school history. The next year is when attendance started to pick up. 2007 (an awful year) had very strong attendance, then the numbers go back down the next year (a good season). 2010 had higher attendance numbers than 2009, etc. People here do not make game-to-game purchasing decisions, they make season-long decisions. And even if Iowa is good, nobody is going to want to come out and watch the crap games on this schedule.

I could be wrong, but I think that was his point....attendance in 2002 was poor because of 2001, but after 2002 attendance jumped. In other words, maybe this can be a 2002...poor attendance, surprise season and subsequent resurgence in ticket sales.

 

[JRHawk2003]

If you were the UI, wouldnt you rather sell those tickets,. even at a steep discount, rather than let them sit totally unsold?

Are all the tickets on Stubhub sold by individuals? I guess the role of the brokers like Stubhub is still murky to me in all of this.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

The point is that a good season this year will effect ticket sales NEXT year, but will very little impact on single game sales for this season, which was his contention.

Oh, it will absolutely boost sales as the season progresses if we're doing well. If we're undefeated going into the Maryland or Minny game, single game ticket sales will be through the roof. Yes, I realize what the odds are of that happening, but we're talking hypothetically now anyway.

 

[JRHawk2003]

There's only so much of a discount that the athletic department can offer before you start to really piss off the people forking over full price (+ donation) to keep their season tickets. If I just have to wait a few months for ticket prices to be slashed, then what's my incentive to donate and order season tickets in the first place?

Part of the problem they're dealing with right now is the availability of cheap tickets on the secondary market. The athletic department offering huge discounts just to move a few last-minute seats only makes that worse.

Well that's exactly why I dropped them. My decision had less to do with W-L records and more to do with the actual value of the games going forward. There are going to be 2 dog preseason games per year no matter what. This year its Illinois State and North Texas. Then, you add in Purdue, Illinois, and Maryland and you have a bad schedule. You have Maryland and Rutgers crowding out games that used to be against OSU, MSU, UM, etc. That blows. The schedule they present you with simply does not hold value. I will go on the secondary market and pay less thanks.

 

[theIowaHawk]

Yeah, it certainly will effect season ticket sales this year, but I disagree it will have little impact on singles for THIS year.

If Iowa starts 5-0, that Illinois game will be full. When the team starts 9-0, that Minnesota game, unless reported ahead of -20 weather, will be an easy sellout.

I agree it won't have much impact on first 4.

 

[theIowaHawk]

Wrong again. Ticket sales at Iowa generally follow a 1 year-lag pattern. 2002 had very low attendance for several games, despite one of the best seasons in school history. The next year is when attendance started to pick up. 2007 (an awful year) had very strong attendance, then the numbers go back down the next year (a good season). 2010 had higher attendance numbers than 2009, etc. People here do not make game-to-game purchasing decisions, they make season-long decisions. And even if Iowa is good, nobody is going to want to come out and watch the crap games on this schedule.

Curious how you think I'm "wrong again."

You demonstrate my point. Sub 60k game in 2002, a phenomenal season...........sellouts the next year. Winning. Cured. All.

 

[theIowaHawk]

There is a 0% chance of having a significant crowd for that game. .

Who is this guy? A "significant crowd"? So, let's say my worst-case scenario for Minnesota is 60k, 60/70k is somehow insignificant?

Jesus, Iowa was 22nd in attendance last year.

 

[theIowaHawk]

No, they very clearly did not. They said that they EXPECT student sales to be up, but they are currently several thousand behind last year. They did indicate that August (after school starts) is historically the month when most student sales take place.

Ok Hoss, here is exactly from the article: "Barta said ticket sales to current UI students are up and sales to incoming freshmen are up 40 percent."

 

[And1Hawk]

Pretty easy. Start winning football games, especially at home, erase the crackdown on tailgating.and stop charging more and reseating folks when the first 2 are not being done.

 

[theIowaHawk]

Pretty easy. Start winning football games, especially at home, erase the crackdown on tailgating.and stop charging more and reseating folks when the first 2 are not being done.

They already took care of #2, need #1 to take place.

 

[ichawk24]

This year's freshman class will be 700 kids larger than last year, and first year students are the most likely to buy season tickets. We will see what happens in August.

Lets stop comparing end-of-2014 numbers with June 2015.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Could you please list topics that
meet your criteria that should be discussed on this message board? I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say sorry to upset you great message board messiah.

1. Kirk Ferentz's contract
2. Firing Greg Davis
3. Firing Kirk Ferentz
4. What is Jake Rudock doing now
5. Firing Gary Barta
6. How much our team may or "may not" suck this coming season
7. The 1980s.
8. MAC recruits
9. How Sally Mason destroyed an institution
10. Tailgating police horror stories
11. And lastly...things that end in "-amburger"

All these topics have been approved for discussion on the official Hawkeye Report Football Message Board.
And no you may not directly address the great message board messiah. But you can leave a message with one of His secretaries and it will be passed along through the system of filters until it gets lost in the shuffle or is eventually replied to out of boredom 8 months later....

 

[hoffmkr]

I dropped my tickets this year as a result of last year's reseating. Loved my old tickets but got bumped two sections. With the product on the field and kids sports, sitting in front of TV was a better seat than after the reseat. I'll end up with some single game tickets, but the university probably won't get my $1200 donation this year

 

[theIowaHawk]

I dropped my tickets this year as a result of last year's reseating. Loved my old tickets but got bumped two sections. With the product on the field and kids sports, sitting in front of TV was a better seat than after the reseat. I'll end up with some single game tickets, but the university probably won't get my $1200 donation this year

So, you donated (presumed) for 6 seats, or 3 seats and still got "bumped two sections"? This surprises the hell out of me. First, I'm not sure what you mean by sections, because I hadn't heard of anyone having to move a section due to the reseat, second I was really only hearing about people moving up last year, not many moving back.

Frustrating to hear that happened to you, but I am curious what exactly happened.

 

[JRHawk2003]

The $100 and $200 donors are more or less taken for granted. I did it for a long time out of loyalty to 3 generation of family graduates and many years of going to games. It was not one thing that made me quit, but it was the lousy schedules that did it to me finally. I don't think they will miss my $100 a year.