"New" LFL costs..

[57stratdawg]

Rumor around the campfire is a 6 seat box in LFL will require roughly $3,000 annual donation commitment, plus the price of the tickets. I believe there will be 8 seat boxes as well which I assume will be slightly more.

A spot for the current trailer is about $200 bucks.

 

[ronpolk]

Well sounds like they have gotten a good deal for quite a long time. $200 is way too cheap for that spot but I would probably agree $3,000 is a bit much.

 

[AHSDawg]

I agree that $200 is absurdly low. Especially when others that would like a spot cannot get one due to the grandfathered in people. $3k may be high but $200 is certainly way too damn low. Going to require a growing period like when the people with $100 BC donation and 45 yard line seats got mad.

 

[dawgphd]

A few weeks ago, I was told they were going to be right at $2000 plus the tickets.

I'm not a LFL'er but $3000 seems high. I figure about $200-$250 per person plus ticket is a reasonable number.

 

[engie]

Not going to be that high. You can be in the current skyboxes at Dudy Noble for not much more than that per person...

 

[johnson86-1]

My only concern is that people get the LFL boxes that actually go to the games. I know plenty of people that I think would pay $3000 bucks just to have the lounge spot for Saturday and Sunday games of SEC weekends. Maybe not as many since many of them are also dropping ltos of money on football tickets. But I hope we don't end up with a LFL that is empty for weekday and friday games.

It'd be nice if people that get the lounge boxes for that purpose could pair up with some student organizations so that the student organizations could use the lounge for games when teh owner isn't there.

 

[aTotal360]

Or just keep it the way it is. It ain't broke.

 

[uptowndawg]

Only 6 people in a box?

And I take 'box' to mean one of the new LFL rigs that will replace the trailers. I know they are trying to keep them safe but figured the capacity would be more like 15-20 people per rig rather than 6 or 8.

 

[00Dawg]

I don't think it had dawned on me until today....

just how few people will have a seat in each "box". Obviously a number of frats will be priced out if they apply the costs we're talking about across the board, and if the configuration rules aren't handled correctly, they might find the new setup near-useless anyway. I hope the university adjusts the rules for those organizations, because a LFL with very few folks between 18 and 22 will kill the traditional feel.

 

[57stratdawg]

That's basically what I was told as well. $2,500-$3,500 depending on 6 or 8 seats and other options. I assume that means TV, electricity, extra storage, etc.

 

[kendrickjohnson]

Not maximizing the revenue from the LFL seems "broke" in my opinion.

 

[godlluB]

My only concern is that people get the LFL boxes that actually go to the games. I know plenty of people that I think would pay $3000 bucks just to have the lounge spot for Saturday and Sunday games of SEC weekends. Maybe not as many since many of them are also dropping ltos of money on football tickets. But I hope we don't end up with a LFL that is empty for weekday and friday games.

This...This all day long and twice on Sunday.

My biggest fear is that Stricklin is about to sacrifice atmosphere for money. The biggest problem DNF has now are all of the people who own the choicest seats (behind home plate) and never use them. I'm afraid the same thing is about to happen to LFL.

 

[johnson86-1]

just how few people will have a seat in each "box". Obviously a number of frats will be priced out if they apply the costs we're talking about across the board, and if the configuration rules aren't handled correctly, they might find the new setup near-useless anyway. I hope the university adjusts the rules for those organizations, because a LFL with very few folks between 18 and 22 will kill the traditional feel.

I would think $3k a box for fraternities is a no brainer. I would think the larger fraternities will likely get two boxes each. $6k divided by a hundred members is sixty bucks a member. That's going to be basically what they spend on their most expensive band each football season. And that's assuming no alumni helps them out. Not sure how big fraternities are now, but when I was in school kappa sigs and sigma chi would have definitely gotten two lounges and I think Pike, KA, SAE and maybe Phi Delts would have gotten two. ATOs would have gotten another.

 

[aTotal360]

The former Michigan AD agrees with this.

 

[johnson86-1]

Not maximizing the revenue from the LFL seems "broke" in my opinion.

It definitely was unfair and "broke" to basically let grandfathered people have the left field lounges for essentially zero cost, but maximizing short time revenue is almost never the right goal for college athletics. It's why we have a large student section in football. There's a definite middle ground and I would think $3k all in would be in the right neighborhood. You're talking basically $500 per seat per season. That seems like it won't price too many people out but also is high enough to ensure that people that get them value them.

 

[engie]

They may push out the frats anyway under the ideal of making a unified student section under the scoreboard in right. It's a superior sustainability idea anyway. Involving students is one way that the OM way is much better than the traditional MSU way of doing it. You take the frats out of that section, you take the sorority chicks out of that section, and you make the attraction of it less ideal overall, and your "unified" student section idea has more trouble really getting off the ground...

Upon closer viewing, it does look like all of the "rigs" in the new setup are 6-8 person in the mockup. That would be a mistake -- and one I'm assuming that Stricklin will "hear" and fix on an individualized for previous owner level once the $$ discussion is had. What we saw was a rough draft -- not the final product. He went to great lengths to address issues people had with the rebuild -- he's not just going to quit listening now.

If that's the actual pricing point on the lounges -- we're going to have to build twice as many skyboxes and much larger loge/clubs than planned because the actual cost difference is pretty miniscule in comparison with the available amenities. The fact that 1/3 of the season is in potentially brutally cold weather alone makes a club a really attractive option...

 

[engie]

My biggest fear is that Stricklin is about to sacrifice atmosphere for money. The biggest problem DNF has now are all of the people who own the choicest seats (behind home plate) and never use them. I'm afraid the same thing is about to happen to LFL.

We've sacrificed atmosphere for $200 lifetime tickets for many years now. Alienated part of a half generation of potential MSU baseball fans by sticking them in the bleachers or otherwise excluding them from lounge or skybox or chairback opportunities. At least now money is an actual return on investment.

I think $700/head final cost is too high for the lounges. But there has to be ROI financially to justify building this thing the best that college baseball has ever seen. Paying $20mil debt service on a baseball stadium isn't the easiest thing in the world if you start putting a pencil to it and extrapolating interest.

It should be about $500 final cost/head out there IMO. That's still way the heck more expensive than before -- but reasonable enough to justify doing. It goes to $700, why not just pay $1000-1200 and buy club level?

 

[KurtRambis4]

So that

comes to what, about $30/seat per game plus tickets? That doesn't seem unreasonable.

 

[coach66]

Average attendance on my buddies trailer was around 20, I don't see how this is

going to work.

 

[aTotal360]

I agree. LFLers actually go to the games. They've earned it. I hope the people aren't forced out for the sake of "maximizing revenue".

Sounds to me that most fans are simply jealous they don't have the access and want to justify it. Most LFLers have been putting in the effort and resources to make it special for 20+ years. Let them keep doing what they are doing.

 

[57stratdawg]

Yeah to me the size of the boxes is worse than the price. Our spot hosts 20 or 30 people on an SEC Weekend easy at a time. Some always coming and going. I think we'll lose that with smaller groups.

Realisitically, I think the number of people in the lounge is going to drop to about 1/3 or 1/4 of the current capacity in the future.

 

[00Dawg]

If they can still seat 20+ people per rig, and if fraternities make the wise decision of sacrificing a band (or something), then you might have a shot. Otherwise, frats will have to start some sort of priority or lottery for the 6 or 8 seats they have. If other previous LFL holders bail out, then maybe some will have the opportunity to pony up and get another, but my remembrance of fraternity funding doesn't really jive with yours, and there are a lot of "ifs" in this equation.

 

[00Dawg]

You're not selling me on pushing out the frats. To me this just sounds like giving the frats fewer reasons to come to games (no exclusive seats to hang with their friends), and turning the original LFL area into an alumni-only area, which is then less attractive for recent alums, and definitely has a different feel. Meanwhile, the right field area was pretty good as is. We should be trying to keep the current social dynamics beyond the wall, not change them.

 

[dawgstudent]

That's wrong. They will hold 20 people.

 

[Mjoelner]

I agree. LFLers actually go to the games. They've earned it. I hope the people aren't forced out for the sake of "maximizing revenue".

Sounds to me that most fans are simply jealous they don't have the access and want to justify it. Most LFLers have been putting in the effort and resources to make it special for 20+ years. Let them keep doing what they are doing.

^^^THIS^^^ Most LFL'ers are locals and are about 90% of the crowd on those late February Tuesday night games when it's 42 degrees and windy. Attendance and atmosphere will take a hit but at least we'll be in the black. And LT smiled.

 

[engie]

That's wrong. They will hold 20 people.

Nice clarification.

Suddenly the price tag becomes beyond reasonable...

 

[engie]

Meanwhile, the right field area was pretty good as is. We should be trying to keep the current social dynamics beyond the wall, not change them.

Sorry -- you're wrong. But we've been around about this before. It just makes it clear you've never watched a game from right field at Swayze and then watched one from right at Dudy Noble and compared. Because there is no comparison. And it's why we're prettymuch copying their method in the rebuild.

 

[KurtRambis4]

So which is it?

There are people saying 6 and then there are people saying 20. I don't think somewhere around $30 person , per game (plus ticket) is outrageous (that's figuring 6 people).

 

[johnson86-1]

If they can still seat 20+ people per rig, and if fraternities make the wise decision of sacrificing a band (or something), then you might have a shot. Otherwise, frats will have to start some sort of priority or lottery for the 6 or 8 seats they have. If other previous LFL holders bail out, then maybe some will have the opportunity to pony up and get another, but my remembrance of fraternity funding doesn't really jive with yours, and there are a lot of "ifs" in this equation.

If the LFL seat 20 people per box at $3k per box, you're talking about $150 per season ticket and having enough room for everybody outside of big SEC weekends. There would have been very few fraternities that didn't jump on that when I was there. Just too cheap to pass up if given the opportunity, provided you have 40 members plus.

But it's still a no brainer even if they just seat 8 at $3k a box. At that point, you end up spending $6k for 16 seats, or $375 a seat for 30+ days of baseball. You're talking about $200 per day of baseball at something like $13 per person that enjoys it. There's not going to be a much cheaper way to spend their entertainment budget. There will be somewhat of a hassle with allocating who gets to go for big weekends and how to handle guests, but for the medium sized fraternities and bigger, one to two boxes is going to be easily doable. Fraternities are always tight for money, but it's usually because they do a lot of events. Most of the medium to large ones would have 6 bands during the fall, and another two or three during the spring, which would entail seurity for each one, and for a lot of fraternities they'd have to pay for transportation to one of their spring parties, then you have rush parties in the summer. Some of them might not do it, but for most of them it will be fairly easy to find $3k in their budget to shift around if not $6k. There will also be some competition driving it. None of the fraternities on the main row are going to want to be the one without a LFL. As long as one buys in, the others likely will.

 

[Bangarang]

I would think $3k a box for fraternities is a no brainer. I would think the larger fraternities will likely get two boxes each. $6k divided by a hundred members is sixty bucks a member. That's going to be basically what they spend on their most expensive band each football season. And that's assuming no alumni helps them out. Not sure how big fraternities are now, but when I was in school kappa sigs and sigma chi would have definitely gotten two lounges and I think Pike, KA, SAE and maybe Phi Delts would have gotten two. ATOs would have gotten another.

While I agree that fraternities could probably afford it, I think some consideration should be given to legacy LFL members and at what point do you draw the line on "those who could afford it" to beginning to disqualify the old guys who've been bbq'ing for years and form an integral part of the culture of the LFL as a whole?

New and swank is cool, but part of the huge draw for visitors was the "less-than-exclusive" feel the lounge creates.

I certainly respect the challenges Grasshopper has in maintaining the delicate balance of enhancing our revenue streams while maintaining the culture and fortunately I think it's something he gives considerable thought to before acting on items like these. (I'm ignoring the whole Vroom Maroon scare). For the record I do think some sort of a trailer spot price increase is warranted though.

 

[thunderclap]

I agree. LFLers actually go to the games. They've earned it. I hope the people aren't forced out for the sake of "maximizing revenue".

Sounds to me that most fans are simply jealous they don't have the access and want to justify it. Most LFLers have been putting in the effort and resources to make it special for 20+ years. Let them keep doing what they are doing.

Amen.

 

[Jacknut1]

That's cool if it's a 20 seat box. $3000 for 6 or 8 seats is utter ******** tho and will price a lot of current loungers out I imagine.

 

[drt7891]

Of course most fans are jealous. I'd pay way more than $200/season just to have a chinaman's chance to have a spot out there. But as it stands, I currently don't know the right people, so I don't have a shot in hell at a spot.

I'm not saying jack the price up either,... Nor turn this into a "highest bidder," but hell... Just simply having access out there (I.e. Knowing someone) would be nice.

 

[patdog]

The left field lounge areas in the drawings don't look like they hold anywhere near 20 people. The lofts do though. I'm sure the end product will be very good though.

 

[00Dawg]

IF they seat 20, sure, it's more likely.

Your second paragraph depends on:
a. Current rig holders not renewing
b. The fraternities having the priority necessary to secure a second rig
c. The same fraternities being willing to take a likely worse location so that they can have their rigs next to each other

 

[00Dawg]

I don't believe you and I have discussed Swayze's atmosphere before. I have definitely not been there, but I would be remiss if I didn't point out that their tradition sprang from a need and an opportunity meeting and taking on a life of its own, as all really good ones do. You're backing further alterations to something that works in the hope that we duplicate something someone else has.

Today's also the first day I've seen discussions of what this means for fraternities in general, so if Scott et al had the foresight to plan the LFL details in an effort directed at driving the fraternities out, that's both encouraging and frightening.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

I am no longer worried about DNF. Stricklin has my full confidence at this point. There will probably be a few kinks to work out at first, but he'll get it straight- his head is definitely in the right place.

And BTW, $3k/season for a 20 person rig is still very reasonable (assuming it is a 20 person rig). For example, we have 37 home games scheduled this year (not counting possible regionals and SR)- that would extrapolate out to around $4-5/person per game for most seasons. Can someone please explain to me how that is price gouging or unreasonable? Especially for a spot as coveted as the LFL... You won't find a better deal than that anywhere.

Sorry, but $200/rig for a whole season is what is REALLY unreasonable here- getting a spot in the LFL for that cheap is borderline stealing from the University and people who paid that are luckier than the Auburn football team and have been spoiled, IMO. No other school in the SEC would have kept this sweetheart deal for so long. Just accept that the days of getting a coveted spot in the LFL basically for free are over, and understand that you'll now just be paying a fair price... Hell, $4-5/person per game still sounds like a very good deal for the rig owners anyway.

 

[aTotal360]

Tell you what. Go out there on a midweek game. Introduce yourself to someone that has a lit grill. Start making friends with them. After a game of 2 of them letting you sample their food, let him know that you hate to eat their food without contributing. Then offer to pay for the experience. I'm sure you could work your way into a good situation if you say the right words.

 

[johnson86-1]

I agree. LFLers actually go to the games. They've earned it. I hope the people aren't forced out for the sake of "maximizing revenue".

Sounds to me that most fans are simply jealous they don't have the access and want to justify it. Most LFLers have been putting in the effort and resources to make it special for 20+ years. Let them keep doing what they are doing.

LFLer's have been putting in the effort to make left field lounge special, but they haven't exactly been putting in the resources. That's the whole point. You want people out there that will go to games so it stays special. At the same time, lots of people would be willing to give effort and money to be out there. Nobody is ever going to give up a left field lounge as long as it is basically free. You don't just want to raise money with the left field loung (although you want to do that also), you want younger and newer fans to have a chance to buy into left field lounge also. You don't jack up the prices to sky box levels out of recognition taht it would likely kill what is special about the place; but you also don't keep it at less than $7 per game just because somebody had parents that were out there 30 years ago.

 

[dickiedawg]

That's wrong. They will hold 20 people.

I'm really interested in this statement. I know you don't just throw crap out there. But it's hard to imagine them seating 20 folks, as I wouldn't think most hold that many as it is. The obvious exceptions to this are the big fraternity rigs, who are *** to elbow.

I'd be thrilled if they're that big- obviously you will have some say-so as to how they are laid out, and if you just put rows of seats I can see that.