Student Ticket Research Project

[shotgunDawg]

Due to yesterday's horrendous student turnout, and the discussion on this board about it, I decided to research all the SEC schools, except Missouri, to find out what other schools are doing in regards to student ticket allotments and what we should be doing. Below is the data:

School	Student Tickets	Capacity	% of stadium	On campus school enrollment	% of student tickets to enrollment
Mississippi State	11,000	55,082	19.97%	20,424	53.80%
Alabama	11,000	101,821	10.80%	30,602	35.90%
Arkansas	9,500	72,000	13.20%	24,595	38.60%
Auburn	16,000	87,451	18.30%	25,469	62.80%
Florida	20,750	88,458	23.50%	49,589	41.80%
Georgia	18,026	92,746	19.40%	33,367	54.00%
Kentucky	4,500	67,606	6.70%	28,094	16.00%
LSU	14,000	92,400	15.20%	29,549	47.00%
TSUN	5,500	60,580	9.10%	16,786	32.70%
South Carolina	10,000	80,250	12.50%	30,967	32.20%
Tennessee	14,000	102,455	13.70%	27,523	50.80%
Vanderbilt	6,000	39,790	15.10%	12,714	47.10%
Texas A&M*	30,284	90,079	33.60%	53,337	56.70%
Totals	170,560	1,030,718	16.55%	383,016	44.53%
Excluding TAMU	140,276	940,639	14.91%	329,679	42.55%

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*Texas A&M has the largest student section in the country. 12th man stuff I guess.

So what does all this mean?

IMO, we are offering to many student tickets per game when compared to our overall stadium capacity and on campus school enrollment. If you remove Texas A&M from the equation, since they skew the data, according to this data and in keeping in-line with percentages of the whole SEC, MSU should be offering the following to students:

8,212 student tickets before our stadium expansion
8,690 student tickets following the stadium expansion

Some schools also have a lottery, and maybe MSU should explore that if they were to lower to the student ticket allotment. However, right now, it is clear that MSU is offering to many tickets to students when compared to the rest of the SEC.

My Guess is that MSU offers so many student tickets because at one time it was much more difficult to sell the general tickets than the student. Therefore, in order for Scott Field to be filled, we had to have more students in the stands than we should have. However, just like with many other things in the world, you have to adapt and change to current needs. MSU now has a waiting list for season tickets, and due to that should lower the percentage of student tickets to what the percentages say they should be.

*Disclaimer: I put this together very quickly on the best data I could find. I may have made a math mistake at some point and would love if anyone has any ideas as to how to make this data more representative of the conference.

Much of the info was taken from the below link:
http://businessofcollegesports.com/2011/05/02/sec-student-ticket-prices-and-availability/

 

[jdbulldog]

Great work. MSU is missing out on about $700K a year by be so generous with its student tickets.

 

[Paperdog]

MSU makes same amount on student tickets as they do regular tickets

Students pay 35 dollars for their season ticket

However, every student pays a student activity fee as part of tuition ... The rest of the season ticket price comes from that fee

The good news is all students pay that fee whether they attend a game or not

 

[jdbulldog]

I stand corrected then. So, every student pays whether they go or not...now that is a really fair way to do it.

 

[LiterallyPolice]

Students pay 35 dollars for their season ticket

I could be misunderstanding this.... But how does $35 per season (from students) equal $40+ per game (from non students)?

Regarding the original thread, I think the numbers make a good point. How about this: We provide 1000 less students tickets, and make everyone practice the "We just beat the hell outta you" chant while they wait in line.

2 birds, 1 stone.

 

[HotMop]

How about we increase the student ticket allotment to 12k....

but reduce the total seats alloted by 25%. I'm assuming the seats are still GA so you just cram them in however they fit. Since half will leave in the 2nd quarter it should work itself out by halftime and anyone left can be nice and comfy.

Problem, solution.

 

[PiedmontDawg]

Nice work. Agreed that something needs to be done. I'm sure this has been answered, but what will happen to the loss of student seats in the NEZ?

I'm sure the grasshopper has thought this through and a change is almost certainly going to come with regard to the numbers and the process, as long as success (yearly bowl games) is sustained. Any possible increase in revenue will be explored, and it'll be a sign of success when student allotment goes down along with a shake-up in the process. Albeit, it'll be met with friction.

 

[Incognegro]

....Look down one more line and you have your answer...

However, every student pays a student activity fee as part of tuition ... The rest of the season ticket price comes from that fee

 

[dawgstudent]

Since we have had this discussion before, I think Ole Miss hands out 7500 student tickets if I remember correctly.

 

[SnakePlissken]

Students pay 35 dollars for their season ticket

However, every student pays a student activity fee as part of tuition ... The rest of the season ticket price comes from that fee

The good news is all students pay that fee whether they attend a game or not

Doesn't that fee cover basketball, baseball, and multiple other sports as well? I don't think students have to buy baseball or basketball season tickets do they? Doesn't that fee also help to cover Sanderson usage as well?

 

[RocketDawg]

I've always thought that in theory, the games are played for the students. That's not reality, of course, because of the money nowadays, but I don't have a problem with the students receiving a major allotment of tickets.

And unless I'm mistaken, the student sections have been full for all games this year (except yesterday), unless it was one of the minor games.

 

[seb304]

I've always thought that in theory, the games are played for the students. That's not reality, of course, because of the money nowadays, but I don't have a problem with the students receiving a major allotment of tickets.

And unless I'm mistaken, the student sections have been full for all games this year (except yesterday), unless it was one of the minor games.

Student section was packed for Auburn and Tennessee. I think students were suffering from a post-Bulldog Bash hangover and started filing in a little later than usual for Texas A&M but once we started getting annihilated, it cleared out fast. I'm not real sure what happened yesterday, but it was the worst student turnout I've seen under Mullen. Have to assume it was anomalous, and the meltdown against the students seems a bit unwarranted.

 

[Son_of_34]

I've always thought that in theory, the games are played for the students. That's not reality, of course, because of the money nowadays, but I don't have a problem with the students receiving a major allotment of tickets.

And unless I'm mistaken, the student sections have been full for all games this year (except yesterday), unless it was one of the minor games.

Agreed, unless you've sat in the student section then you wouldnt know how packed it really is. But then again seems like the only people complaing about the student section are not student, so they are more qualified to speak on the subject.

 

[shotgunDawg]

I agree that the sky isn't falling, and that it may be a one game, deer season, 11:00 deal, but that doesn't change the fact that our student ticket percentage, when compared to our stadium size and on-campus enrollment, it way to high. We need to trim some fat there and allow people to buy those tickets. Perhaps, sell 11,000 tickets, but only offer 8,500 seats. The rest of the students could just go to standing room only areas. That way the stadium would always be full.

It's an easy problem to fix, we simply have to many tickets allotted to students.