Season Ticket Sales are Down

[ok-cats-computer]

Looks like season ticket sales will go down this year. It is unfortunate, but I don't think you can blame the fans in this circumstance.

http://www.courier-journal.com/stor...016/05/31/ukfb-season-ticket-update/85198036/

 

[gamecockcat]

Higher prices, mediocre product, mediocre lineup of home games and much improved home viewing experience = fewer season ticket sales (everywhere, not just UK). I would expect the same result in many other markets as well.

 

[Tskware]

I may look at the new season ticket plan in the upper deck, $420 for the whole season for 7 games might get me interested.

EDIT: Never mind, sections are in top corners of the stadium, one of which is in the visitors section. Think I will just look for single game tix this year for the games I want to attend.

 

[CatDaddy4daWin]

Kind of expected unfortunately. Probably also why they played down the Spring Game. If Cats take care of business this year, I bet you see a huge push for the Spring Game and substantially improved season ticket #'s. Think alot of folks WANT to dive back in but need to see something this year to feel like it's worth the investment again.

 

[UKErik]

The drop from Stoops' first season is pretty significant.

I think the two straight seasons that saw UK collapse took its toll on some fans. Personally, I was disgusted with how last season went in terms of how prepared Kentucky looked. From calling timeouts before punts and field goal attempts to falling for the trick play against Vanderbilt to being totally unable to slow U of L's running QB, Kentucky had some serious issues last season.

I also think the stadium upgrade, which seems to have been focused on UK's bigger donors, pissed off a lot of people. You can say "that's college football in 2016", and you'd be right. It truly has become all about money. Still, long time season ticket holders being displaced with seemingly little regard for their loyalty was probably a tough pill to swallow for many.

With all of that being said, if Stoops turns the program around, the place will be packed!

GBB!!!

 

[ukalum1988]

Kind of expected unfortunately. Probably also why they played down the Spring Game. If Cats take care of business this year, I bet you see a huge push for the Spring Game and substantially improved season ticket #'s. Think alot of folks WANT to dive back in but need to see something this year to feel like it's worth the investment again.

Yep - winning cures a lot of ills.

 

[CatFromDaHood]

Just need to win a couple of the toss ups to get to 6 games and a bowl game.

 

[Glenn's Take]

I think a lot of people underestimate how much the we'll tell you the date of the game so you can keep that entire day free for us but we'll let you know the time 12 days in advance annoys people. I understand that isn't UK's fault.

 

[jauk11]

Higher prices, mediocre product, mediocre lineup of home games and much improved home viewing experience = fewer season ticket sales (everywhere, not just UK). I would expect the same result in many other markets as well.

Well, OK if you say so, just don't blame any of it on mitch.

 

[rjr]

I agree with everything said. The stadium upgrade really turned about to be a disappointment for the regular fans. Seat displacements, parking passes lost, and an obvious recognition that the money was spent for the big spenders comfort, not the regular fan. To be fair to UK, its the big spenders that are paying for a lot of the renovation- but I still think they should have put actual seats in the entire lower bowl. I'm really shocked they chose not to do so...

 

[gamecockcat]

Watching games on TV last year, I saw empty seats at Georgia, Florida, Florida State, Texas, etc. Not just UK. All the above mentioned are also reasons. Think the price has bumped up against the ceiling of cost vs. benefit/enjoyment, though. Just like many other forms of entertainment, unfortunately.

 

[jauk11]

The drop from Stoops' first season is pretty significant.

I think the two straight seasons that saw UK collapse took its toll on some fans. Personally, I was disgusted with how last season went in terms of how prepared Kentucky looked. From calling timeouts before punts and field goal attempts to falling for the trick play against Vanderbilt to being totally unable to slow U of L's running QB, Kentucky had some serious issues last season.

I also think the stadium upgrade, which seems to have been focused on UK's bigger donors, pissed off a lot of people. You can say "that's college football in 2016", and you'd be right. It truly has become all about money. Still, long time season ticket holders being displaced with seemingly little regard for their loyalty was probably a tough pill to swallow for many.

With all of that being said, if Stoops turns the program around, the place will be packed!

GBB!!!

There has been some GREAT talent on display at Commonwealth for years now--------unfortunately MOST of the really great ones have been wearing the wrong uniforms. And yes there have been some great exceptions.

But I still think getting rid of seats was a big mistake, if the 07 team with one four star, one 5.6, two 5.5s, and some very low ranked two stars on offense could AVERAGE 67,000 fans with a LOSING SEC record there will be a huge demand for tickets when UK football gets rolling again------and it WILL. I have always enjoyed great talent and plays being made, even if most of it is by the other team------but I enjoy them TWICE as much when they are made by players on our team, and with the talent we have already here and coming in I think we are going to be getting more than our share of those great plays. AND I think that is going to make a lot of difference in whether we win or lose a lot of those close games.

But as usual mitch is all about the money, I hope he really did learn his lesson with the millions he has lost on football with his penny wise pound foolish football decisions in the past.

Things are definitely looking up IMO though, the only STUPID thing I see now is UK allowing Transfer U, Thug U, and others to LEGALLY pay their players a lot more than we do ours, it was two to one (better now, but bad) and that isn't counting all the things they do that aren't legal. No one talks about it, but it is the elephant in the room IMO, that will cost us dearly in the end. I starved my way through UK one semester, why should they do it when they don't have to.

And yes I do realize that mitch has even less control of the COA (a very complicated situation) than he did with a lot of the other budgets, but if Bama can double their COA overnight to catch up with their big rival then I think we should be able to come a lot closer to our TWO biggest current rivals.

 

[why_not_kentucky]

I attend 3 games a year. I purchase tickets for $10 each just right outside the gate. I will continue to this season as well.

 

[jcmc225]

A friend of mine did a commonwealth tour last weekend maybe, and mentioned Barnhart said he plans to replace bleachers with seat backs for all seats aside from student section. I think plan is long term changes to help all fans but you gotta start at the top and work your way doen.

 

[JasonS.]

Last year was a monumental whiff for the program. We're now below 2004-2005 levels in terms of fan interest in buying tickets. The market absolutely cratered last season, as anybody who tried to give away extra tickets to a home game -- let alone tried to sell them on the secondary market [laughing] -- can attest.

 

[gobigblue812_rivals29381]

A friend of mine did a commonwealth tour last weekend maybe, and mentioned Barnhart said he plans to replace bleachers with seat backs for all seats aside from student section. I think plan is long term changes to help all fans but you gotta start at the top and work your way doen.

I

I thought they were adding backs to all of the bleachers in the lower levels, not adding stadium chairs. If they were to remove the bleachers they would have to redo seat assignments again because they would lose capacity again.

 

[lex cath]

Was thinking about season tickets but with no parking pass it made the decision easy

 

[Ineverplayedthegame]

Results! Results! Results!
Win some games, go to some bowl, and the fans will come back. The generation of fan that would pay the price and support UK football losing season after losing season is going away. The new fans (including students) want a return for their entertainment dollars. Even though Stoops has done well in recruiting, he's been lousy as a developer of talent and even worse as a game coach. Win 6-7 games a couple seasons in a row and me and 10-20k of my friends will be back with the season tickets.

 

[vhcat70]

Jacking up the parking pass fee couldn't have helped.

 

[DACats86]

I

I thought they were adding backs to all of the bleachers in the lower levels, not adding stadium chairs. If they were to remove the bleachers they would have to redo seat assignments again because they would lose capacity again.

They are not adding chairs, nor should they.

 

[KyCatFan1]

I'm pretty sure they are just adding the backs to the bleachers which will likely make it like a sardine can in the seats. It is already pretty tight with your knees nearly in the back of the person in front of you. I am sure this will cost a couple of inches to make it even worse. They should have just held off on doing this. Wait and see if demand increases and expand both end zones and convert all the seats to chair back seats. It would make for a much better fan experience for everyone and still should add at least a few thousand more seats at the minimum after losing some from the changeover.

 

[jcmc225]

I

I thought they were adding backs to all of the bleachers in the lower levels, not adding stadium chairs. If they were to remove the bleachers they would have to redo seat assignments again because they would lose capacity again.

Maybe i misunderstood when my friend mentioned backs on the seats (maybe he did mean seats as in bleachers).

 

[167Hike]

yes it's backs for the bleacher seats. Will finish off the lower bowl and the first 8 rows in the upper deck (on the ones that don't already have them) this year. Will then do the rest of the stadium (all uppers) over the next two years.

Mitch was asked on my tour why we didn't just go the route of all chair backs for the lower bowl. His answer was it would reduce he seating capacity by another 6500 to 7000 seats and he said that was too much.

 

[The_Godfather_rivals]

Last year was a monumental whiff for the program. We're now below 2004-2005 levels in terms of fan interest in buying tickets. The market absolutely cratered last season, as anybody who tried to give away extra tickets to a home game -- let alone tried to sell them on the secondary market [laughing] -- can attest.

Exactly.

For far too many seasons have seen a purchase of tickets at "face value" actually equate to essentially a donation to UK because the actual value of them is 1/4 of that cost. Not that I expect UK to offer season tickets for $10 each, it's just that the product has been atrocious far too often and people with any sense are going to be conflicted about paying that much for something that can be easily obtained for far less....if they decide they want to actually attend.

That's another problem. People realizing tickets are easily obtained for far less is just part of the problem. People not investing in the season ticket package so that they can wait until grabbing them last minute for less allows someone to decide they just no longer have interest in attending. We see it even with our basketball program in that the season ticket packages sell out easily, but those single game tickets that come available last minute don't typically sell out.

 

[shutzhund]

Should this year be a rerun of the last two the only reason left to go is to tailgate. Even Vandy has penciled us in their win column as a near sure thing. DISGUSTING.

I'm still pulling for Stoops, the staff and players but without much confidence. Guess this doesn't fit the "true fan" profile but I would gladly sit on uncomfortable bleacher seats and not utter a negative word if UK could finally field a capable football team. That's a better fan experience than where you plant your butt.

 

[ukalumni00]

Like others have said, winning will cure most of the issue.

As for the stadium renovation topic, I was never under the assumption they were going to do a lot of nice things for the average fan. It was all done to generate more revenue through the folks with the money to spend. The fact of big business now is there is no loyalty (minimal at best). Its all about making the all mighty dollar. Working in Corporate America teaches you that. College football is big business. It sucks but that is reality. If you want the glitz and glamour and be treated first class at a UK football game you need to have the money to do so. That is just the cold hard truth of the situation.

Its a double edged sword for AD's now. They want the fans to be patient but they also want your money (lots of it). These AD's and coaches are being paid a ton of money and that is why the leash is much shorter than it use to be. I know folks will say Stoops inherited a mess and all that. Everyone gets that, but he has to start producing on the field this season. The schedule is tough. His first three season have raised a lot of questions of his ability to be a legit SEC HC. The fans want him to succeed, but they are not going to spend their money on a coach and program they have a lot of questions about right now. Again, winning will bring them back. This program has to make a bowl game this season to get fans excited again and also keep the recruiting momentum going.

 

[oboroCATfan]

Should this year be a rerun of the last two the only reason left to go is to tailgate. Even Vandy has penciled us in their win column as a near sure thing. DISGUSTING.

I'm still pulling for Stoops, the staff and players but without much confidence. Guess this doesn't fit the "true fan" profile but I would gladly sit on uncomfortable bleacher seats and not utter a negative word if UK could finally field a capable football team. That's a better fan experience than where plant your butt.

Well said. I don't care one bit about seat comfort, I understand why some people do but for me watching a good Kentucky football team would make every seat comfortable.

 

[why_not_kentucky]

6 wins will not cut it. Gtfoh. 8+ or bust for the cash they want us to dish out on tickets and parking. Oh and the food is garbage.

 

[CatDaddy4daWin]

Curious what some of you all expect?

Before this, most fans wanted a few things:
- more wins (still working on that)
- better gameday atmosphere (it is much improved, but again, only wins will take it to that next level)
- better amenities (renovated restrooms, club level seating, and suites)
- more money in the program to build facilities (suites/club level)
- blue endzones (got em)

You cannot upgrade a stadium and a practice facility in the vicinity without losing parking(WHICH MOST SEC STADIUMS HAVE VERY FEW OF)
Losing seats? Who cares...are we not on a thread talking about how ticket sales are down?

The upgrades are nice but we need to not be done with it, need to make improvements every.single.year till we catch up.
Putting seatbacks on all the benches are a nice improvement.

I will tell you what really sucks. Is the stupid SEC rule about serving alcohol. That prohibition era rule needs to be kicked to the curb! It does impact ticket sales and butts in seats. And dare I say if they served beer that people wouldn't be forced to partake in much stronger choices that are better sneaked in, resulting in fewer blackout drunk dumbasses (not that that has not been me on an occasion or two)

 

[UKRob 73]

Football fans have been screaming for upgrades for 20 years. Too little too late for many. UL built a brand new stadium AND upgraded it like 3 times in a span where UK did nothing.
Mitch has been a terrible AD for football. I dont see any vast changes until he is gone.

 

[bigbluehomer]

The drop from Stoops' first season is pretty significant.

I think the two straight seasons that saw UK collapse took its toll on some fans. Personally, I was disgusted with how last season went in terms of how prepared Kentucky looked. From calling timeouts before punts and field goal attempts to falling for the trick play against Vanderbilt to being totally unable to slow U of L's running QB, Kentucky had some serious issues last season.

I also think the stadium upgrade, which seems to have been focused on UK's bigger donors, pissed off a lot of people. You can say "that's college football in 2016", and you'd be right. It truly has become all about money. Still, long time season ticket holders being displaced with seemingly little regard for their loyalty was probably a tough pill to swallow for many.

With all of that being said, if Stoops turns the program around, the place will be packed!

GBB!!!

Exactly. You make people who have been together move to open up room for big money. You take away parking passes from people that have had them for 10-15 years and you raise rates on tickets constantly and then outproce parking passes to try to free more up. The admin is their own worst enemy and it's coming back to get them.

IK football has always been about the lifelong fans, not the big money people who buy the boy when we are winning. I have said it before and I will say it again, UK football when the way of NASCAR and sold out. They have alienated their core fan base and it's showing. Get smart and cater to the 10-15 year fan again or you will keep losing them.

Spot on with these two posts, IMO. Although I renewed this year, I'm still fairly bitter about seats that were in my family since the stadium opened and in my name for the past 16 years just taken from me without so much as a howdy doody a few years ago. We had a great group of fans in my section that I only saw 7 or 8 times a year but were a fun part of attending the games since we had had suffered so many times together and had those few moments of happiness and delirium.

I have no doubt that UK is frothing at the mouth to increase ticket prices. They couldn't do it this year because of last season's collapse (renewal rate would have been 30%, LOL!) so instead manufactured a BS excuse to get more money with the parking pass K Fund scam.

UK has gone "all in" on Stoops. But the last 2 years of horrific late season collapses (well last year anyways) has left the athletics dept. where it currently is, an 80% renewal from last year. Another late season collapse like last year and there may be only 20k renewals next year.

As for me, I'm still somewhat bitter like I said earlier. Been a huge and loyal fan for a long, long time though, so it's hard for me to give it up. Probably because I'm stubborn, stupid, and/or (fill in the blank). LOL!

I very much hope that MS can get the program headed in the right direction W/L wise. Definitely seems to have upgraded the talent and the administration has finally paid attention to the pathetic practice and recruiting facilities. Where is that going to get us? I'll give you my opinion again in about 6 months. LOL!

 

[JasonS.]

Been a huge and loyal fan for a long, long time though, so it's hard for me to give it up. Probably because I'm stubborn, stupid, and/or (fill in the blank).

You just described us all, brother. Life as a Kentucky football fan.

 

[andreIGUODOLLAsigns4UK]

The drop from Stoops' first season is pretty significant.

I think the two straight seasons that saw UK collapse took its toll on some fans. Personally, I was disgusted with how last season went in terms of how prepared Kentucky looked. From calling timeouts before punts and field goal attempts to falling for the trick play against Vanderbilt to being totally unable to slow U of L's running QB, Kentucky had some serious issues last season.

I also think the stadium upgrade, which seems to have been focused on UK's bigger donors, pissed off a lot of people. You can say "that's college football in 2016", and you'd be right. It truly has become all about money. Still, long time season ticket holders being displaced with seemingly little regard for their loyalty was probably a tough pill to swallow for many.

With all of that being said, if Stoops turns the program around, the place will be packed!

GBB!!!

Last season definitely took its toll on fans. The preparation our team showed was beyond disgusting, and if it happens again this year stoops needs to go (but he won't because of the silly extension and buyout).

 

[NCukcat62]

This season is it for me. No bowl game and I'm absolutely done with stoops

 

[ok-cats-computer]

I attend 3 games a year. I purchase tickets for $10 each just right outside the gate. I will continue to this season as well.

That is about what I do. I usually buy a few single game tickets each season. I try to buy them a few days before the game. I don't want to risk driving to Lexington the day of the game and not being able to get tickets, although that wouldn't have been much of a risk the past few years. Showing my age, I remember Curry's last year in which you didn't need a ticket to get into the stadium.

 

[gobigblue812_rivals29381]

I just upgraded my seats and I'm back on the 30 yardl ine in the lower level where I used to be.

 

[Catfanlou_rivals54997]

My group has gone from twelve tickets and three parking passes just four years ago to sharing four tickets and one parking pass and buying a few individual game tickets so as to have three tailgates.

HDTV and all of the other advantages of seeing the game at home for free are winning out. The scary thing is that most of the reasons we are cutting back are ESPN/SEC issues and beyond UK 's control. My guess is the downward trend will continue and MB 's decision to reduce sating capacity will prove to be a good one.

Just too many advantages to watching the game for free , seeing it better on HDTV and not tying up a whole day.

 

[The_Godfather_rivals]

One thing that might be impactful is that UK has NEVER figured out a way to make Commonwealth a true home field advantage in terms of impactful noise and participation from the fans.

People come to witness a game and not really come with a mindset to impact the game for UK.

Therefore, I've had the belief that UK fans generally view their presence as a non-factor when it comes to winning and losing.

Even when UK gets good crowds for a "big" game, they are usually not nearly as good as the ones we see at other programs (and by "good" I mean loud and raucous). I place some of the blame on the fact that our student section has sucked for decades, but I can't pinpoint why the overall CWS vibe has been that way. There's more to it than simply losing too often.

 

[Levibooty]

Again fans are much better at B&M than they are with simple arithmetic. Considering that Joker left the cupboard nearly bare of SEC level talent save a few consider this. A two-deep roster is 44 players excluding kickers, punters, and long snappers. A good class (2014) has 6-9 players that can provide immediate help and some more that will need time (2-4 years) to develop. If every class Stoops has had so far was as good as the 2014 class then this year we should have 36-45 players that will fill the 44 man roster we need to compete in the SEC.

Now we have lost 6 players that were highly regarded from the 2014 class so that drops that roster of 36-45 SEC level players down to 30-39. But that is not the whole story either since 2015 and 2016 classes do not compare well on paper with 2014 class. On paper the 2015 was a large drop off in highly regarded players with only three able to make significant contributions to date and the 2016 although a much better class with high potential will still be mere freshmen this year.

This is why I say fans demanding great performance from this team in the SEC are dreaming of apples and plums rather than making an unemotional assessment of the team, its needs, and the amount of time Stoops has had to completely turn over the roster in order to build a two-deep rotation capable enough and experienced enough to compete and win in the SEC.

It is happening but Kentucky football fans for the most part talk more about their anger and disappointment than they do about the obstacles that are in front of this team and how they are actually being whittled away. Our fans talk about late season collapse without a wit about a back loaded SEC gauntlet. Sometimes you just have to face the truth that we don't yet have the SEC level roster we need to compete----but we are turning that roster over and this is the first year Stoops young players will have some experience to go with that talent.

You can call this rah rah if you want but there is no denying that Stoops first abbreviated class this year will just now be Seniors, his 2014 class will be juniors. So the roster is turning over and the experience is accumulating.

I hope the talent combined with the experience is enough to turn the tide and start winning the games we are not favored to.

 

[Big John Stud]

I'm confused, is this a good thing or a bad thing? Low ticket sales were celebrated under Joker now you guys seemight down.