We sold out of baseball chairbacks...

[dawgstudent]

This is the most we have ever sold in the history of our program.

YEAR	TOTAL
2014	5,644*
2010	5,632
2002	5,596
2009	5,559
2012	5,559
2013	5,526
2004	5,477
2011	5,448
2007	5,364
2008	5,559

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[coach66]

It is great to see the excitement return to one of the best programs in the

country. I love going to those game on a nice spring day, one of the pleasures in life.

 

[Philly Dawg]

+12

 

[Xenomorph]

I would've bought tickets again, but I just can't do the metal bleachers anymore. Count me among whatever number of our fans are hoping we can put together funding for a completely new stadium.

 

[engie]

It's crazy the extent to which the number is basically capped -- no matter how good or bad we are supposed to be. This year ought to prove that -- even in breaking records and almost assuredly adding 30-50% more demand -- we still are selling just a few additional season ticket packages.

FYI, we've actually got 4316 stadium chairbacks plus 180 skybox chairbacks. So, a total of 4496 actual chairback seats.

Last season, 2013, was our highest average(paid) attendance in school history by an average of 678 fans per game(previous record set in 2007).
It was also the highest total(paid) attendance in Dudy Noble history by almost 49,000 tickets(previous record set in 2003).

 

[DerHntr]

It's crazy the extent to which the number is basically capped -- no matter how good or bad we are supposed to be. This year ought to prove that -- even in breaking records and almost assuredly adding 30-50% more demand -- we still are selling just a few additional season ticket packages.

FYI, we've actually got 4316 stadium chairbacks plus 180 skybox chairbacks. So, a total of 4496 actual chairback seats.

Last season, 2013, was our highest average(paid) attendance in school history by an average of 678 fans per game(previous record set in 2007).
It was also the highest total(paid) attendance in Dudy Noble history by almost 49,000 tickets(previous record set in 2003).

50% more demand? I know you are just making an assumption based on excitement within the program but that's mighty high. I'd be surprised even with 30% more demand.

/edit to add: I realize this will likely send on a rant. I'm just saying that 50% more demand seems high. Not an indictment of your self worth or super fandom. I swear.

 

[bulldogcountry1]

I was on the waiting list for chairbacks. I called two weeks ago after the renewal deadline plus a couple days into working down the list, and they told me they had sold out then.

I'm getting some second hand, but it still pisses me off when I sit in a "sold out" grandstand that's half empty on most weekends. I had to do the same thing last year, and I recall entire rows that nobody ever used.

 

[00Dawg]

Did you get your chairbacks this year?

 

[engie]

50% more demand? I know you are just making an assumption based on excitement within the program but that's mighty high. I'd be surprised even with 30% more demand.

I think you are short-selling the 20 and 30-somethings that have experience in the bleachers and have never even attempted to buy season tickets although they would love to have them over the likelihood of only having tickets available in those bleachers. I have countless acquaintances that fall into that category -- that would/will buy season tickets if and when they can get decent chairback seats. If we had decent seats available, I have no doubt we would sell 8000+ season tickets.

It's hard for me to make the 5600 number add up in reality. That's already 1100 general admission season tickets sold in the lounges/bleachers...

 

[engie]

Did you get your chairbacks this year?

What do you mean? I have skybox tickets outside of 2-3 Saturdays a year -- and have general admission season tickets for LFL. I can't make midweeks and still like to party on Friday/Saturday before using Sunday to recover and relax in the boxes before heading home -- the long way of saying that "my" situation at DNF is perfect for me.

"My" argument for what needs to happen has no basis from my own personal situation -- where I have been blessed to make some tremendous connections over the years and have been able to mold my experience there into exactly what I want it to be. My argument is to take care of and include all of the people currently being 'left out" -- which I also experienced at one point in life and never forgot. I'm a huge baseball fan too -- how many fringe fans have we whiffed on over the years by making their initial experiences miserable in comparison to "regulars" by forcing them into those bleachers while they look at a half-empty grandstand?

 

[dawgphd]

It's crazy the extent to which the number is basically capped -- no matter how good or bad we are supposed to be. This year ought to prove that -- even in breaking records and almost assuredly adding 30-50% more demand -- we still are selling just a few additional season ticket packages.
.

I saw this question posed elsewhere and hadn't thought about it.

How will, lets say, a $800-$1000 annual cost per ticket (ticket plus seat license) effect demand?

I'm told that number is currently $450 ($250 ticket, $200 seat fee) on non grandfathered seats.

 

[engie]

I saw this question posed elsewhere and hadn't thought about it.

How will, lets say, a $800-$1000 annual cost per ticket (ticket plus seat license) effect demand?

I'm told that number is currently $450 ($250 ticket, $200 seat fee) on non grandfathered seats.

It's a delicate balance that I really don't know the answer to. I'd probably copy the pricing structure used at Alex Box(start a good bit cheaper and more conservative until you get people "locked in" and figure out where your at).

One thing about our current grandstand -- it's really not expandable with this staying true -- but currently every seat up there is a really good seat.

Here's the pricing plan for the Box.

 

[00Dawg]

Sorry. I was under the impression you'd tried to get chairback season tickets.

That being said, we need, and have needed for a long time, a true ticket exchange. It would put a damper on demand, but it would make for a much better atmosphere and experience.
Short of having one, I don't know that the experience for fringe fans will ever get much better. I don't expect a reseated stadium (new or rebuilt) to include a seating policy change.

 

[engie]

I agree. There are alot of options to "fix" the empty seats in the grandstand -- we've just got to find a solution everyone can be happy with and actually institute it.

I know they've been tracking actual attendance of season ticket holders for a couple of years now. I'd like to see the people whose tickets actually show up get a nice amount of additional priority toward getting the best/most visible seats in the future. Let's tie up as much of the corporate money as we can in the skyboxes -- and reward the people that actually show up with the grandstand seating. I'd even be for rewarding the lifetime seat holders that still have their seats with additional priority. Obviously, the price would have to go up on them -- but I'd "overqualify" them for seats based on their unwavering loyalty to MSU over the past 25 years.

If it's done right, we can make every seat in the house "better" -- and I'm pretty confident that it's going to be done right at this point...

 

[YardBarker]

I would've bought tickets again, but I just can't do the metal bleachers anymore. Count me among whatever number of our fans are hoping we can put together funding for a completely new stadium.

Count me as another that would buy chairback season tickets. Not buying season tickets to sit in those bleachers.

 

[00Dawg]

As comparison, here's UM's from 2009 and today. They changed their pricing structure to exclude the cost of tickets.:

Season tickets are $150 for the 2014 season. The following table breaks down the per-seat contributions and buy-ins for each section:

Section	Contribution	First Year Buy-In
Diamond Club	$1,400	$250
Infield Box	$400	$100
Outfield Box	$250	N/A
Grandstand D-L	$75	N/A
Grandstand A-C & M-O	N/A	N/A

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[Dawgbite]

I was on the waiting list for reserved season tickets but apparently I didn't make it since no one from the ticket office has contacted me. I have LFL access so it's no biggy, but I wanted chair backs for the times I just wanted to sit and watch the game plus I wanted a parking pass and you can't get a parking pass without season tickets. My dad almost did the lifetime seating deal back years ago, he loved him some MSU baseball but cared less about football or basketball. Wish he would have now. What looks like robbery now was a lot of money to him back in the day and he thought that he wouldn't get his money's worth out of the lifetime seats, go figure!

 

[notoriousD_O_G]

Yeah a ticket exchange or a way to monitor who doesn't show up would be nice. It sucks sitting elbow to elbow with LSU fans in the bleachers and looking at all of the empty chairbacks.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

As comparison, here's UM's from 2009 and today. They changed their pricing structure to exclude the cost of tickets.:

Season tickets are $150 for the 2014 season. The following table breaks down the per-seat contributions and buy-ins for each section:

Section	Contribution	First Year Buy-In
Diamond Club	$1,400	$250
Infield Box	$400	$100
Outfield Box	$250	N/A
Grandstand D-L	$75	N/A
Grandstand A-C & M-O	N/A	N/A

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Those are actually very reasonable prices, IMO.

And we should be able to charge AT LEAST that much (probably more) for our tickets- because there's no way anyone can convince me UM has a better, more loyal baseball fanbase than we do.

In reality, I think the ticket prices for seats in a new grandstand would be somewhere between UM's and LSU's.

 

[bulldogcountry1]

I agree. There are alot of options to "fix" the empty seats in the grandstand -- we've just got to find a solution everyone can be happy with and actually institute it.

I know they've been tracking actual attendance of season ticket holders for a couple of years now. I'd like to see the people whose tickets actually show up get a nice amount of additional priority toward getting the best/most visible seats in the future. Let's tie up as much of the corporate money as we can in the skyboxes -- and reward the people that actually show up with the grandstand seating. I'd even be for rewarding the lifetime seat holders that still have their seats with additional priority. Obviously, the price would have to go up on them -- but I'd "overqualify" them for seats based on their unwavering loyalty to MSU over the past 25 years.

If it's done right, we can make every seat in the house "better" -- and I'm pretty confident that it's going to be done right at this point...

I don't know how many are on the waiting list or how many ended up on the outside looking in like me, but there's no way tickets should be this hard to come by. If they are really monitoring usage, then they should send those who don't use theirs to the back of the line. Say, if your tickets don't get scanned for at least 25% of the games, then you shouldn't be allowed to renew. You should go to the end of the waiting list. That would make tickets available in two ways. Some people would just lose their seats by not going, and others would at least make the effort to put their tickets in the hands of someone who wants to go.

 

[00Dawg]

NM

Reply fail.

 

[00Dawg]

I don't think frequent turnover is the answer.

As an out-of-state season ticket holder with small kids, I can attest that I have a tough time giving away my tickets, let alone selling them for anything close to face value. There's been seasons I couldn't meet a 25% threshold, and there was no waiting list during some of them.
We've only had a chairback waiting list for 3 seasons, and there was none the 3 seasons before that. In 2007, the expected wait was at least 5 years before disappearing in 2, so it's obvious that demand waxes and wanes with team performance.

The new stadium needs to seat enough to satisfy current demand and maybe a little more, but as hard as it is to stomach, long-term we have to keep a small reservoir of demand (aka, a waiting list) in order to maximize PSL revenue. Let me state unequivocally that I appreciate folks who have gone to the effort of calling and getting on the waiting list, and have little sympathy for those who haven't. However, I don't envy the people who have to control the balancing act of supply and demand for tickets.

I really, really hope we get a true ticket exchange at some point to help minimize the impact on fans who can't get chairback season tickets, but there's been nothing preventing the university from creating one the last few years.

 

[CEO2044]

I really, really hope we get a true ticket exchange at some point to help minimize the impact on fans who can't get chairback season tickets, but there's been nothing preventing the university from creating one the last few years.

Me too. I'd love to have season tickets, but am not going to purchase any until I take my boards, have my job and life kinda lined up before. It kinda sucks timing-wise for me. In hindsight, maybe I should have gone ahead and put my name on the list, but I just don't like doing that kinda thing until I know I can afford it with my own money. Just how I am.

I'll be pretty busy this spring anyway unfortunately, but this is a good instance of really needing a reliable ticket exchange option. Hopefully I have enough friends where it won't be much of an issue if I want to sit in chairback.

 

[KurtRambis4]

Hilarious

/edit to add: I realize this will likely send on a rant.

*

 

[engie]

/edit to add: I realize this will likely send on a rant. I'm just saying that 50% more demand seems high. Not an indictment of your self worth or super fandom. I swear.

Cute. Still have your panties in a wad over that one, huh?
"8k or less on Super Bulldog Saturday...our fans just don't show up anymore!1!11"

 

[bulldogcountry1]

I hate to try to force someone to come because I know a lot of the ticket holders are older people who can't come often and still want to support the program, but if you know you won't come, just write a check.

How much of an uproar would it be if the only tickets available to most of us at DWS were in the upper decks, and the lower part was consistently 3/4 empty?