New facility questions

[Warrior of Law]

At some price point, I'm sure MU has costed out what their next best option would be.  If they have to pay $1M/year in rent, over the course of 10-15 years, they may be better off building their own facility.

[GoldenWarrior11]

It's hard to believe, but - at some point - Al McGuire Center will become outdated, and the need for a new on-campus facility (for practice use and/or otherwise) will present itself.  At that time, who knows?  Perhaps with Lovell, who has shown his commitment to building new structures on campus, as well as extending campus, there is a day where Marquette decides it wants to build its own on-campus arena.  However, I don't think that time is in the near future.  One day perhaps.

There is something to be said at playing at an NBA arena, especially considering our attendance figures over the years.  We supply a great deal of fans to games, even in down years.  It helps with recruiting, it helps with our program prestige and it is great for the students and fans. 

[MUDPT]

For those of you who don't know, professional sports team sell their relationships with physician groups.  It isn't who is the best doctor, it's who pays the most.  That's why agents should get their players with the best doctor, regardless of where they play.

[MUfan12]

At some price point, I'm sure MU has costed out what their next best option would be.  If they have to pay $1M/year in rent, over the course of 10-15 years, they may be better off building their own facility.

They could pay 30M in rent over the life of the building and still be better off than building and operating their own facility.

[mu03eng]

They could pay 30M in rent over the life of the building and still be better off than building and operating their own facility.

+1

[mu03eng]

When there was the planned joint Sports Medicine facility with the Bucks and Marquette, the expectation was that there would be open bidding for the naming rights. Pretty sure the Bucks (who work with the current Sports Medicine Institute at Froedtert) expected FMLH would win the rights and Marquette expected that Aurora (whom they partner with) would win.

Regardless, before the bidding opened, Marquette announced a partnership with Aurora. Didn't sit well with the Bucks, who went their own way and partnered up with Froedtert. Definitely a bit of a misstep by Marquette, in my opinion.

This is one of several sources of friction between the Bucks and Marquette, add it's probably one of the biggest. Another one was that MU was buying up property(as part of a planned long range plan) that the Bucks were starting to look at for the arena.....the Bucks felt MU was trying to strong arm them by owning the property first (probably thought that cause it's what the Bucks would have done were the roles reversed).

All of this combined with MU not having much other leverage has led to the Bucks putting MU over the barrel a bit. A deal will get done because it is in the best interests of both parties but I think it's going to be a fairly contentious relationship going forward.

It's not just MU though, the Bucks relationship with United Way has gotten somewhat contentious as well. It's just the style of the new leadership team

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[brewcity77]

At the end of the day, it just makes too much sense for both parties, but I do worry a bit about how it may affect our ticket prices.

[mu03eng]

At the end of the day, it just makes too much sense for both parties, but I do worry a bit about how it may affect our ticket prices.

Oh they are going up to be sure, but not really sure how much.....that's the delicate box MU finds itself. It can justify some price increase with the new facility but if they increase too much they may accelerate the STH flight that's going on.

Whether they will acknowledge it or not, there is a considerable amount of angst/need for this season to be very successful

[jsglow]

They could pay 30M in rent over the life of the building and still be better off than building and operating their own facility.

+1,000

[mu_hilltopper]

It can justify some price increase with the new facility but if they increase too much they may accelerate the STH flight that's going on.

Whether they will acknowledge it or not, there is a considerable amount of angst/need for this season to be very successful

Interesting topic for sure.  I think the bulk of the "excess" STH flight is over, though.  Their bigger issue is churn.   STHs have a normal rate of decline as people age out, become disinterested, find new ways to spend their entertainment dollar.   

The bigger deal now is finding new STHs to replace the others.  Excitement breeds ST desire .. and students haven't experienced real excitement since 2012.  Yeah, last year was swell, but likely not enough to generate tons of desire from 20-somethings new in the job market.

I'd guess STH levels will flatten out for the next two years as people anticipate a season in the new arena and will accept a one year price jump to see the place.  2nd season in the place .. will depend on wins/losses in March.  If Wojo can string together 3 seasons of NCAAs, they'll be ok .. if MU underperforms / no post-season .. STH decline will accelerate in 2019.

[Warrior of Law]

I'd be interested to get the perspective of the MU lobbyist when the state was putting the arena package together. Clearly, MU knew the BC was going down, MU recommended STHs to support the deal, and there was likely a MOU on the MU rental prior to the public support.

Regardless, MU is missing out on a great tool for selling tickets, so hopefully they get it resolved quickly.

[GGGG]

Interesting topic for sure.  I think the bulk of the "excess" STH flight is over, though.  Their bigger issue is churn.   STHs have a normal rate of decline as people age out, become disinterested, find new ways to spend their entertainment dollar.   

The bigger deal now is finding new STHs to replace the others.  Excitement breeds ST desire .. and students haven't experienced real excitement since 2012.  Yeah, last year was swell, but likely not enough to generate tons of desire from 20-somethings new in the job market.

I'd guess STH levels will flatten out for the next two years as people anticipate a season in the new arena and will accept a one year price jump to see the place.  2nd season in the place .. will depend on wins/losses in March.  If Wojo can string together 3 seasons of NCAAs, they'll be ok .. if MU underperforms / no post-season .. STH decline will accelerate in 2019.

I think the bulk of the growth in STH won't come from alums in their 20s.  It will come from alums in their 30s and 40s who are into MU basketball, but haven't sprung for season tickets yet because they haven't been able to afford it or just had other things to do.

[Litehouse]

Making the NCAA last year helped stop the STH decline.  However, all of this shows how high the stakes are with winning and keeping things rolling.  The stakes will be even higher going forward, assuming we have a less favorable lease at the new arena.  This entire situation is another reason I'm OK with Wojo going after Grimes, even though we're currently full for next year.

[warriorchick]

I'd be interested to get the perspective of the MU lobbyist when the state was putting the arena package together. Clearly, MU knew the BC was going down, MU recommended STHs to support the deal, and there was likely a MOU on the MU rental prior to the public support.

Regardless, MU is missing out on a great tool for selling tickets, so hopefully they get it resolved quickly.

I think most MU fans have figured it out for themselves.  I doubt that there will be many folks next year who will be saying, "Dang it!  I completely forgot about the whole 'new stadium' thing when I was deciding whether or not to buy season tickets last year!"

[Mr. Nielsen]

Sales in 2017,were 4 times of 2016 1st week & equal to '15 & '16 combined for new season tickets. I was told sure tickets will go up, but they will not sky rocket in the overwhelming most locations. The goal is to sell seats. New arena or not, Chicago State is still Chicago State in the new arena. The goal is to have the new prices out to the public for the new arena in January.

[Litehouse]

I think the bulk of the growth in STH won't come from alums in their 20s.  It will come from alums in their 30s and 40s who are into MU basketball, but haven't sprung for season tickets yet because they haven't been able to afford it or just had other things to do.

I think it could come from both.  The Coors Light corner is a great idea to help get the 20-somethings in the door, and hopefully they'll want regular tickets as they get older.  I think the $125 end-zone sections are another great idea.  Those sections are full and get people in the habit of buying season tickets, and hopefully they upgrade to better seats as they accumulate more points.

[Litehouse]

Has anyone seen a seating chart of the new arena?  Any idea what the student section will look like?  With a larger lower level, it would be nice to have a larger continuous section, instead of being broken up into the different levels.  The corners/endzone of the BC are such a fractured mess for seating, which really makes it difficult to have a cohesive student section.

[MUfan12]

Has anyone seen a seating chart of the new arena?  Any idea what the student section will look like?  With a larger lower level, it would be nice to have a larger continuous section, instead of being broken up into the different levels.  The corners/endzone of the BC are such a fractured mess for seating, which really makes it difficult to have a cohesive student section.

This would be my best guess as far as the students are concerned.

[brewcity77]

Oh they are going up to be sure, but not really sure how much.....that's the delicate box MU finds itself. It can justify some price increase with the new facility but if they increase too much they may accelerate the STH flight that's going on.

Talking to some Bucks STHs, the increases were sharper than many expected. This article discusses some of those increases, in the 45-63% range.

Having trouble finding the new Bucks seating chart on my phone, but one thing that stood out was not just the higher price points, but multiple price points in the same section depending on how close you are. So rows A-F for example costing more than Q-Z.

Not sure how MU will handle it, but if my current annual bill of around $1600 jumps to $2400 or more, that'll be a hard sell. And for newer STHs, part of the incentive is the chance to improve your sectional standing. That could definitely become cost prohibitive.

[GGGG]

The Bucks tickets went up so much because the new owners are trying to maximize revenue while Kohl did the "I'm going to make everything accessible" thing.  For years the Bucks have been among the cheapest in the NBA.  Even if you increase the average ticket price by 50%, they will be in the bottom half.

https://www.barrystickets.com/blog/nba-ticket-prices/

So I don't think we should use the Bucks as an example of how MU is going to go.

[mu_hilltopper]

Sales were 4 times of 2016 1st week & equal to '15 & '16 combined for new season tickets.

Can you restate that?

[source?]

Can you restate that?

Yeah, that initially confused me as well but I think he's saying that this season there's are already four times as many new season ticket holders as last year.  This number is approximately equal to the number of new sth's from '15 and '16 combined.

[mu03eng]

Talking to some Bucks STHs, the increases were sharper than many expected. This article discusses some of those increases, in the 45-63% range.

Having trouble finding the new Bucks seating chart on my phone, but one thing that stood out was not just the higher price points, but multiple price points in the same section depending on how close you are. So rows A-F for example costing more than Q-Z.

Not sure how MU will handle it, but if my current annual bill of around $1600 jumps to $2400 or more, that'll be a hard sell. And for newer STHs, part of the incentive is the chance to improve your sectional standing. That could definitely become cost prohibitive.

What'll be interesting is whether they try to price the new arena as it's own value or as a value compared to what it was at the BC. What I mean by that is if I have seats in the BC do they have comparable seats in the new arena and price accordingly. Or do they simply say this the arena and this is value of the seat.

I'm thinking it's much more palatable (as least in my mind) to say ok I'm getting a comparable seat to what I was getting before but I'm adding x% in price because of the new arena.

[mu_hilltopper]

I imagine the Bucks are jacking the price, plus multiple years of future increases in one big swoop to introduce the Chaluparena in year 1 .. to set a new pricing "normal."  Whether that works for a loser franchise like the Bucks, who knows. 

[bilsu]

I imagine the Bucks are jacking the price, plus multiple years of future increases in one big swoop to introduce the Chaluparena in year 1 .. to set a new pricing "normal."  Whether that works for a loser franchise like the Bucks, who knows.

They were in the playoffs last year and appear to be on an uptick. I was actually surprised how exciting they were when I watched their playoff games on TV. The first time I have watched a Buck's game in years.