NU Fans & Students Should Be Ashamed

[BobbCat14]

As another one of the few non-alums here, I agree with you that local interest is a ginormous issue.

But I disagree with you that cost isn't an issue. It's really GIVING AWAY my unused tickets, so any cost is a problem when this team isn't very competitive for the tournament ... which is historically always.

I agree there isn't a bad seat in the house, but how does a fourth grade kid know that?

What would I do? Outside of adding 2000-3000 more seats to the original arena plan targeted specifically for freebies, I'd work to find a demographic of Evanston, Skokie, Rogers Park, Wilmette etc kids and make tickets free and incredibly accessible to them and their families over a five-to-ten year period. Take the financial hit and give away 2000 seats to each game, and invest in the future.

2000 seats x $20 x 19 games = $760,000 annually ... NU can afford this.

I assume the same case could be made for a successful football program.

But that thought is even more pie in the sky with limited WR capacity. So on we go to another generation. The seats are sold but interest is minimal and the only market is X,000 NU grads every year with X% who don't really care ... another X% who don't stay in the area, etc.

I’ll see your idea about giving tickets away and raise you.

We should do what the White Sox did for years when I was a kid (and may still do for all I know) and give away a pair of tickets to kids who get straight A’s or have perfect attendance. I’m sure a lot of people here remember this program, got those tickets and used them.

As I recall, they had a sponsor who bought the tickets. I forget who. Inland? That would be the best of all worlds - NU would get their money, we’d get butts in the seats and we’d also be priming the pump not only for future fans but also future students.

And it would work for football too. Even better with that section in the northeast corner. Maybe even have to kids trot out on the field (or the court) at halftime or whatever. Thrill of a lifetime.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

how are they goin to compete with cell phones? Most or all of the people in our office will watch their favorite teams on their cell, nba pass, mlb at bat, btn, espn/dish etc.

It’s not an easy question to answer, but ultimately the live experience has to be much better than anything that can be created in a cell phone. There is still something to be said about cheering with a group of like minded fans and high diving total strangers when your boys are kicking ***.

 

[Mr Wickerpark]

Honest question, what percentage of seats are owned by STH’s? I have heard numbers that are very high. How does that percentage compare to the old WR? I know the ticket office had painted a picture of a scarcity of seats left after STH purchases. I been to 4 games this season, but all have been thanks to the generosity of STH’s.

I don’t mean to deminish any financial impact on you or others, because raising prices do price some folks out if STH. However, someone came up with the funds and replaced you. That person should be a NU supporter. This is because there is no way a Broker would break even in lower deck seats from a cost perspective if you intent is to buy to sell the tickets. The donation makes it not even close.

I think there is at most 3 games this year that you would not be able to get in the stadium for face value or below. There would be additional games if you insisted on premium lower bowl seating. Point is IMO you could piece meal the entire season of tickets at a cost of face value seats Without the donation.
Yes, it takes some searching and work and would be considered a pain in the *** for some, but entirely possible.

As far as the fat cats trying to recoup there investment on the secondary market. I highly doubt it. This too would not come close to recapturing their investment, takes work, and quite frankly these large donors aren’t messing around with stub hub or the like to what amounts to chump change for many of them. I think they are far more likely to give them away. Sometimes they will end up in Cats fans hands and sometimes they won’t.

Again, fully respect this is not your situation or mine of the majority of us here. However, from their perspective they keep the tickets with the folks that contribute the most and are in theory Cat fans. I wish the office had their own ticket sale process that would allow for the STH’s to resell tickets when they don’t go thru the NU ticket office to screened verified NU fans like yourself. Maybe we pay a small fee per year to be listed and contacted when these seats aren’t used. No mess for the fat cats and they should want the seats used by NU fans not empty.

nu itself sells hundreds of tickets on stubhub. Only a few thousand sth accounts. NU blocked off several rows during the seat selection process and routinely sells rows 1 and 2 in section 108, row 1 right behind the bench in 107 that opposing fans gobble up, and the last few rows of 109 and 108 along with a few hundred baseline seats.
Remember, sth were limited to only 4 tix but the blocks that NU sells on SH become more identifiable with quantity.
Good for them because they can make alot more money on single game tickets as opposed to season tix.

 

[Mr Wickerpark]

It’s not an easy question to answer, but ultimately the live experience has to be much better than anything that can be created in a cell phone. There is still something to be said about cheering with a group of like minded fans and high diving total strangers when your boys are kicking ***.

true but not at $2,000 a seat for lower sideline. In my renewal, we are already talking about leaving 108 and moving to 209 center court. Those seats are awesome and only cost 350.
For football, there just isnt a base of demand so i usually buy a seat off of Stubhub for $6 to most games.

 

[willycat]

When I coached AYSO the NU women's soccer coach gave a talk and then invited us to a game. She explained her reality thusly. When her team travels to another Big Ten school for a game they are one of the top two or three events in that town....whether Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois or whichever. So there's always a crowd and that crowd rabidly supports the state school.

For home games, NU competes for fans with a long, long list of entertainment alternatives always offered by one of the most vibrant cities in the world. For non alums in Iowa City, U of Iowa sports are the Sox, Cubs, Bulls, Blackhawks, Bears rolled up with umpteen music venues tens of thousands of restaurants, dozens of museums....the list is endless.

On top of that, relatively tiny student population whose historic profile is national and so there's not much of an alumni base in the area from which to draw.

It's not an excuse, it's reality. Get the team into the top 25 year in and year out and that might change.

Sure NU has competition from the pros but don't many who frequent the theatre or museums in Chicago would even think of taking in a BB game. Also yes , Nu has a small student and alumni population but they are also located next door to millions of potential fans. Really can't believe that they can't regularly fill up a 7.000 seat arena with purple.

 

[FitzFan]

Maybe we pay a small fee per year to be listed and contacted when these seats aren’t used. No mess for the fat cats and they should want the seats used by NU fans not empty.

That’s a great idea. Seriously, please email that over to the sports marketing department!

 

[willycat]

That’s a great idea. Seriously, please email that over to the sports marketing department!

Good idea but thought something like that has already been proposed and don't recall seeing any response. Hey, maybe they could do the same with parking for the football games. Nah, they already have the money pocketed.

 

[Sec_112]

... We should do what the White Sox did for years when I was a kid (and may still do for all I know) and give away a pair of tickets to kids who get straight A’s or have perfect attendance ...

That's EXACTLY the program I was thinking about as I typed this morning. Bill Veeck's program got me to many more Sox games than I ever would have attended.

It never occurred to me how the straight As and perfect attendance play into NU's mission.

For being the caller of the day, Bobb, you get this ...

 

[Sec_112]

cost isnt an issue. There were hundreds of tickets that NU had listed on Stubhub for $15 in blocks of 20.
The reality is that sports attendance is down.

I don't disagree with anything you said except that cost isn't a problem. If the $15 tickets remain out there, then there isn't a demand at that price and cost is an issue. The demand has to be created somehow. Attach the word free to anything and watch how differently people act.

Let me offer another example. Have you ever been to a city street fare that was once free, then decided to charge as little as a five dollar cover charge? There's a HUGE difference.