The best quote of this article...

[dawgstudent]

I think it was linked earlier this week but this statement stuck out the most...

If you treat your fans like customers long enough, eventually they'll start behaving that way, reducing their irrational love for their team to a cool-headed, dollars-and-cents decision to buy tickets or not, with no more emotional investment than deciding whether to go to the movies or buy new tires.

It's a tough game that ath departments across the country have to play. At what point does the money needed for the bottom line pass the passion of the fanbase where the fanbase says enough is enough.

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/roa...um-students-business-tv-ncaa-michigan-tickets

 

[aTotal360]

I disagree with the idea that being treated like customers is what is creating problem. The state of the economy is the biggest player. There simply isn't as much disposable income as there was a decade ago. This is forcing people to make logical financial decisions over irrational/fanatical decisions. In the last 10 years, everyone's mindset about spending has changed.

In today's market, it's all about "value add". You HAVE to give the client or consumer more than they expect to make them happy. Or they are going to move to something else. Long story short, you have to add on "free" bells and whistles to satisfy them.

These ideas probably go through most MSU ticket consumers' minds:
1) I just got charged more for tickets and got less (worse seats)
2) Parking and gas is getting ridiculous
3) I don't have the time I once did
4) My couch and hd tv are awesome
5) I'm getting bombarded with ads
6) the experience isn't what it was 3-4 years ago

As a marketer, I have seen many celebrity endorsements losing their value as well. People are simply making more and more logical choices with their money and are not being lead by the nose by marketing gimmicks. Consumers are smarter and see through the BS.

As for MSU football, I do think the fact we have not beat a top-10 program in long, long time is killing our perception and is a buzz killer. This has lead to the product being a little stale. Over the past couple year I have had ZERO confidence is us beating LSU, Bama, or aTm. On Saturdays, when I walk into DWS, I don't have that "what if" thought in my mind like I once did.

 

[AssEndDawg]

I know several families, mine included, who reached this point this year. It's not that I am "mad" at the athletic department or that I don't care about MSU sports anymore. I never really boiled it down until that article, it is simply that they eroded my irrational exuberance. My dad doesn't get around as well as he used to and after 50 years of supporting MSU he just decided that the cost had gotten too crazy to justify, so he laid out all the things he could do with that money and ended up picking something else. Every game is televised so why not? I lost my fanaticism this year too, I started thinking about what I could do instead of pumping that money into the MSU program, which seems pretty damn unimpressed with my help. We just finished totally redoing the front yard with the money we normally send to MSU. Think about how crazy that is, we just finished a project involving about a half dozen people working full time for 4 weeks, truckloads of materials, irrigation people, etc. all for the same amount of money I normally ship off to the people who don't seem to care about me because "I'm not a big money donor".

I'll still go to some games next year because my father-in-law buys tickets and I will still root for MSU, I just don't feel the craziness that made me want to give a huge chunk of my income anymore. It's pro sports now, and it's not my highest priority.

 

[DerHntr]

Plus, "at what point" is changing because the substitute experience at home has vastly increased with our TV technology. Add on top of that the major difference in cost that a recent grad will experience and you have a problem. If someone goes a few years without going to games/being a season ticket holder, it gets a lot harder to pull the trigger later.

 

[57stratdawg]

No issues with the athletic department or ticket price. Theyre inline (so I've been told) with the rest of the conference. But I don't have kids or anything.

 

[aTotal360]

I started thinking about what I could do instead of pumping that money into the MSU program, which seems pretty damn unimpressed with my help.

That's a very accurate statement. I think a plethora of people think the way you do.

 

[AHSDawg]

when you talk about a family of four being well in for over $200 just for BAD tickets, you are going to hit a wall for most fans. Especially for the logical ones that understand that our athletic budget has increased 4 or 5 fold in the past 6-7 years. Its hard to justify it to me. Rather than buying season tickets, I will go to one or 2 games. Its just too much of a financial commitment. A family of 4 from Atlanta is going to run me $400-500 per game. Its just too absurd these days.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

Wait until we get our UHD TVs, it will be hard to leave my home theater. I just started saving for one hoping they'll drop in price around Christmas, but they're amazing. Going to games is great, but it's a chore to get there.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

It's not just the tickets, it's everything. I have no supporting data, but I have a hunch fans are getting more spread out, graduates are moving further away than in the past. So those $200 of tickets end up costing well over $1,000 per game just to get there, spend the night, etc. Hell it costs me about $1k just to go to a game by myself. I can buy a new 70" TV for each game I don't go to

 

[sipDawg98]

Agreed. It comes down to the basic principle of does the cost exceed the benefit and vice versa. I'm hoping that this is just more of a cost problem than a culture shift. There's pros and cons to staying home and going to the game. Right now, with where I live, the cost to come to a home game is too much. I hate missing home games but the issue isn't as bad now that we all have HD and can sit in our living rooms and watch the game on the couch. They gotta lower the costs somewhere somehow. I know overall it's a business and you got to make money though.

 

[AssEndDawg]

I can buy a new 70" TV for each game I don't go to

I never thought of it that way but that HAS to be a scary thought for athletic departments.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

I think it's a culture shift. 20 years ago we didn't have ESPN apps, and the ability to watch any game in the country. You watched your team, and got updates over the radio. Now that you can sit at home and watch 20 games in one day, it could be argued you get less going to a game. I can set up three TVs in my den and have pizza delivered, and drink cold beer during the game.

That's my solution, sell beer.

 

[Wicked Pissah]

This may be my last year. Forking out 6k for being able to attend 2 or 3 games is dumb. It is so hard to get to starkville. Honestly, that is the main issue. I love tail gaiting and going to the actual games. I always will. Again,
Isnt necessarily money, it is the time and effort involved.

As I get older, the drive gets harder. I know it is bad to say but, someone above is right. It had gotten stale. 6-8 wins. Beat 4 cupcakes, KY, OM and one more. We really need to beat lsu or bama this year.

 

[futaba.79]

I missed memorabilia guy this spring.........

I enjoyed checking out his stuff. Over the years I bought some great stuff from that guy at great prices, including a 1980 State/Bama program. I wondered what happened to him, thought he had just gotten out of the business. Ran into him the other day. Come to find out, he got the boot from the AD. No real reason other than the consultants thought he was in the way.

Those are the kind of decisions you wonder about. I considered that guy an attraction, guess I was wrong.

I know this isn't exactly what the thread is about but I think it ties in with the theme of questionable decisions.

 

[johnson86-1]

I have a hunch fans are getting more spread out, graduates are moving further away than in the past.

I'm not sure if this is correct or not (I think data actually shows people in the U.S. are getting less mobile), but I think the number of fans that can buy $2500 packages for tickets are certainly more spread out than the fans that can buy $1200 packages. When you're selling tickets for a few hundred dollars donation and $50 a ticket, you can fill a lot of your seats with people from Stakrville, Columbus, Tupelo, and the small towns within an hour drive. When you're asking for a much bigger commitment, you lose some of those and are relying on filling a lot more of your seats from Memphis, Jackson, Birmingham, Atlanta, Nashville, etc. where people are more likely to make more money. The problem is for most people making good money, time is at a premium, so it's a lot harder for these people to dedicate a full weekend to a football game. And then there is the issue of the costs being basically double or triple because of the need to pay for gas and a hotel. Outside of Memphis, Jackson, and Birmingham (all of which have fan bases split between two or three or more SEC schools), we just don't have close population centers that can provide a good market for season tickets.

Throw in how good the experience has become watching from home, and how much less stressful it is to wake-up at home on Sunday so you can take care of things before the work week, and it's not hard to see how people decide to stay at home.

I think going forward the Athletic Department may have to think about offering two or three game packages with decent seats. Still require a seat donation, and require a bigger one on a per game/per seat basis and more per game for each ticket, but then break up the season, with the best three games in separate packages. That'd be a lot more palatable to people than buying 6 or 7 game tickets knowing they can't make it to half of them. The problem is it'd be hard to do this without encouraging current season ticket holders to drop their packages in favor of the small package. May not be doable.

 

[Big Sheep81]

I live within a 2:15 min drive of Starkville. I think once you get past 2 1/2 to 3 hrs one way that's where the there vs home really comes into play. I enjoy watching the games on TV but what keeps me coming is the experience of being there. I can record the game and watch it again later. But it's the live experience and spending the day on campus that makes me want to be there. I make all home games. The ticket price is a concern and jumping my BDC amount by 35% only enabled me to marginally (VERY) improve my seating in the same section. That bothered me some.

However, I emailed Byrne several years ago and Stricklin last year about the improved treatment of us as fans toward being a customer or client. Up unit Byrne, I was just ticket-buyer who provided money. My game experience did not matter. Byrne changed that with the event staff he hired. I know it hurt some feelings but trying to get past those Shriners took too long. And the concessions were awful not to mention the restrooms. USM had better concessions 10 years ago than we did (for all 10 fans). I like being treated like a customer or really a client. It's what I have to do in my work. If you take someone from being just a sale to a customer and then make them a client, they tend to stay with you even when times are tough and when you have to increase their cost to do business with you. Cost may be the ultimate bottom line but treating them like they are appreciated will keep most with you.

I like "free" bells and whistles too but I think what brings most folks back even with the increased cost is a much improved treatment as a fan and the time on campus. Plus, there are still quite a number of folks w/n the same driving distance as me to keep attendance up at a decent level.

 

[AHSDawg]

Oh, I agree with you completely. When you talk about season tickets, hell, you are talking about remodeling a kitchen, bathroom or a pool over a couple of seasons... That's where it starts to really be a difficult decision for me. I love MSU but I like watching them on my flat screen from my pool even more. And, I am not wiped out for work the next week either.

 

[Miss.Stake]

If Sticklin really does eliminate all ads from the Jumbotron(s) this year, and we beat a legit team or 2 this year I think you'll see a lot more happy fans.

 

[Confucius Say]

These ideas probably go through most MSU ticket consumers' minds:
1) I just got charged more for tickets and got less (worse seats)
2) Parking and gas is getting ridiculous
3) I don't have the time I once did
4) My couch and hd tv are awesome
5) I'm getting bombarded with ads
6) the experience isn't what it was 3-4 years ago

7) the way we operate the jumbotron sucks. I'm sick of blaring "oh Lord, want you buy me a mercedes benz" commercials when its 3rd and 4 with the game on the line. Oh, and this is not minor league baseball; I do not want to watch a milkshake, french fry, and hamburger race from the 50 to the goal line. The aura was much better 2009-11.

 

[Miss.Stake]

Oh and also, PLEASE cater to young alumni more. It's us with no wife and no kids who can make every game. Please give us an affordable way to enjoy attending and going to games.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

This is also where our small towns hurt us. It's hard to get a hotel room for one or two games, and those of us who live far away can't make every one. I have to take a day off work, and basically spend three days to go to a game. And maybe fans aren't moving further, but they certainly are more engaged. Now it's easy to keep up with the team and stay involved no matter where you live. For the cost of going to one game, I could buy a new TV, get a hooker and a keg of beer.

 

[sipDawg98]

I miss the days of being a student, walking up to the ticket office and handing over 13 bucks for my student season tickets...

 

[kired]

My wife and I just decide to look at it as a vacation. For 7 games we shell out somewhere around $3,000 between tickets, donations, parking, food, gas (drive from Tupelo). If I consider a one week vacation I'm sure we'd spend at least that much. So that's how I rationalize it.

My kids are young and absolutely love going to the games. We love getting back to Starkville and seeing friends from different parts of the state during the fall. I rarely go south of Starkville any more so football games are the only time I'm going to see people from central / south MS.

I can watch football on TV almost every night of the week from September to December. But there are only a handful of opportunities to see it in person. I'll keep going as long as it's reasonable --- which for me that means it cost less than ~$4,000 / year for my family of 4 (all expenses considered) and that I don't move more than 2-3 hours away.

 

[KurtRambis4]

That's the thing

Going to games is great, but it's a chore to get there.

to me. It's not necessarily the financial aspect. Then again, I don't have to pay for 3+ people. For me, it's the whole ordeal of getting in my car, driving 2 hours, getting to the game, sitting through the game, driving back home (2 hours) and getting back at 0200 on a Sunday. You essentially have spent your entire weekend for a 3-4 hour football game.

The alternative is me sitting at home, grilling out, watching football all day (spending a fraction of the money) and having time to do other things.

It's just become a hassle to me.

 

[AlCoDog]

The damn hotels are the killer. Jacked up rates and 2 night minimums turn that into a $500 expense if you can get room. Thats almost half a damn house note.

 

[BertleTheTurtle]

I want to lead off by saying that there are a ton of valid points being made in this thread. The long drives, rising costs of gas and hotel accomodations, rising costs of tickets and bulldog club donations, etc. are all making it difficult for the average fan to make it to the games. However, I'm seeing a lot of complaints about advertisements, in game experience, and lack of quality wins as reasons for the decline in attendance. I have to respectfully disagree. Every been to a game at Bryant Denny? They don't advertise just as we do, they don't use the same ploys in an attempt to entertain fans during tv timeouts, and they actually win big time games, yet they still struggle with attendance in those cupcake games. In fact, attendance is down across the board for the entirety of college football. I think someone hit it on the head earlier when they mentioned the ability to watch the game in full HD from the comfort of their home. I'm sorry, but in my opinion, unless you are of the elder generation or have some type of handicap, this is pure laziness. I can guarantee you that we will pick up a big win in the future, maybe not this year or the next or the next 3 years, but eventually we will. I can also guarantee you that having that the feeling you'll experience with 60,000 fans is much more jubilant than watching from the comfort of your home. If you disagree with that, you've probably not been to many games in peron. For myself and my wife, getting back to Starkville and around campus is about much more than arriving to watch the game. It's important to us to see what all the University is doing, support new businesses around town, visit the buildings we once walked, see old friends, etc. Also, if you're losing that "what if" feeling when walking into a game, I feel terribly sorry for you. Why even watch the game on TV if that's the case? There is nothing that beats watching a give from within those stands at DWS and hearing the cowbells ringing when our boys take the field. No HD TV in this world could replicate that. I want to be clear that financially, it can be a burden at times, but we make due. It's called budgeting. Everyone venting in this thread just seems so negative about going to games. Again, everyone is entitled to complain and gripe and that's all fine and good, I just want to give a different perspective. Things aren't quite as bad as this thread would lead people to believe.

 

[Rog.sixpack]

Seriously? Sky Dawg tix are $210/person and no seat license fee

Thats very affordable.

 

[FreeDawg]

Man, you just nailed it. When you look at what that money can do in other places you find out what you value. Another factor for the younger crowd is student loan debt. Those payments are equal to what many mid level donors make

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

That's the kicker, your cost for the season is two games for anyone > 4 hours

or anyone who has to fly at least. Realistically it's $1500 per game for me to go. Yes, going to games is an experience, and great. But 12K a year is a damn lot of money to watch football, so I'm simply not going to buy season tickets.

 

[MagnoliaHunter]

What kind of mobile home do you have that's over $1k a month?

Damn that's an expensive trailer.**

 

[patdog]

Quit bringing facts into the bitching session. And don't even think about bringing up the fact they always put a 3-game package on sale in the summer for about $99. Why the hell can't we all just get premium seats between the 40 yard lines for less than a couple hundred dollars?

 

[AlCoDog]

I don't like to brag, but it's a 17ing nice one.

 

[Wicked Pissah]

I don't like to brag, but it's a 17ing nice one.

Alabama huh? I passed through Little Rock once.....that's a fine town.

 

[The Peeper]

"That there's an RV Clark, aint it a nice one?"

 

[twopack]

I echo this post

I know several families, mine included, who reached this point this year. It's not that I am "mad" at the athletic department or that I don't care about MSU sports anymore. I never really boiled it down until that article, it is simply that they eroded my irrational exuberance. My dad doesn't get around as well as he used to and after 50 years of supporting MSU he just decided that the cost had gotten too crazy to justify, so he laid out all the things he could do with that money and ended up picking something else. Every game is televised so why not? I lost my fanaticism this year too, I started thinking about what I could do instead of pumping that money into the MSU program, which seems pretty damn unimpressed with my help. We just finished totally redoing the front yard with the money we normally send to MSU. Think about how crazy that is, we just finished a project involving about a half dozen people working full time for 4 weeks, truckloads of materials, irrigation people, etc. all for the same amount of money I normally ship off to the people who don't seem to care about me because "I'm not a big money donor".

I'll still go to some games next year because my father-in-law buys tickets and I will still root for MSU, I just don't feel the craziness that made me want to give a huge chunk of my income anymore. It's pro sports now, and it's not my highest priority.

I am the "father" in this case, and this will be my last year of buying my 5 MSU season tickets. Somebody else can pick them up next year. Much as I enjoy the game day experience and have shelled out countless $ over the last 49 years since I graduated, it has just reached the point that it is not worth the effort anymore. Not a lot of enjoyment driving several hours one way to see MSU clobber Alcorn, South Alabama, or JSU. What was really the clincher for me was the parking at the research center. For years the parking was free, much like a lot of other places around the campus. Then a couple of years ago I get there for the first game and there are barricades set up with a $20 fee for parking. I don't have an issue with paying for parking because I have paid for parking many times in the past and don't expect a free ride on anything, but I do have an issue with the jump from 0 to $20 all at one fell swoop with absolutely no advance notice. Instead of starting out at $10 the first year, $15 the second, and $20 the third, they decided to gouge right off the bat when they realized they could get the money. I paid, but lots of other cars turned around and headed to other parts of the campus. How about the athletic department send out a quick email that indicates parking at the research center would cost $20 starting that year? God knows they send out enough emails on other things, but something as simple and courteous as that, was not done. There may have only been a few hundred fans involved, but those fans deserved an advance notice. I just want one season to see the new north end zone addition and then it is TV after that, and if no TV, then radio (which was good enough for years for me). If no radio then I can go fishing or occupy my time with other stuff since I will have extra money in my pocket. My only regret is having to put away my rusty old cowbell that has lasted me since 1961. It outlasted my marriage and was a better investment..............

 

[Confucius Say]

My only regret is having to put away my rusty old cowbell that has lasted me since 1961. It outlasted my marriage and was a better investment..............

And the cowbell will let you bang it as often as you like without complaining.

 

[uptowndawg]

This is my thinking

It's not just the tickets, it's everything. I have no supporting data, but I have a hunch fans are getting more spread out, graduates are moving further away than in the past. So those $200 of tickets end up costing well over $1,000 per game just to get there, spend the night, etc. Hell it costs me about $1k just to go to a game by myself. I can buy a new 70" TV for each game I don't go to

Take the college of engineering for example. We put all of these engineers on the market each year with not nearly enough industry around Starkville, or even the state of MS to support them so they chase jobs in other markets. It's hard to make it back to Starkville without spending crazy amounts of time on the road and spending a couple hundred bucks every trip when you're busy chasing the oil and gas industry in Texas or Louisiana. Same can be said for other majors chasing out of state jobs out of state.

 

[jb1020]

Then throw 2 kids and a wife in the mix

and its a total pain in the ***.

Like so many have said, we usually play 3 OCC opponents that we beat the hell out of, then we play a few teams we don't really have a shot at beating.

all the nonsense coupled with the fact that I can stay at home and not miss a second....its getting tougher and tougher to renew these tickets every year.

I had a chance to move from Sec 6, to pretty much anywhere, but I couldn't stomach the pain of increase to move from the goal line to the 20.

 

[barely]

I paid more and got less! And I am pissed at our athletic department. Ive had the same seats for 20 years. I watched us lose to maine, tulane, and troy in those seats. I had them when they werent worth half the face value. We get (a little) momentum in football and they do a "re-seating". So yeah, Im pretty pissed off at them.

 

[johnson86-1]

or anyone who has to fly at least. Realistically it's $1500 per game for me to go. Yes, going to games is an experience, and great. But 12K a year is a damn lot of money to watch football, so I'm simply not going to buy season tickets.

That season cost is basically the hotel cost for anybody that lives more than 2 1/2 or 3 hours away. For us we were at $4000 before buying the tickets. Even at that cost, we probably would have still kept doing it, but the approximately 9 hours of driving basically did us in. Once we started cutting out a few games, it made it easier to not get season tickets, which made it easier to cut back to one or two games a year. I'm glad other people are better fans than me and appreciate them dropping the money on the program and putting up with the hassles of travel. Hopefully we'll be able to start back again when the kids can enjoy it more and we can afford to just buy a condo or something.