[Cracked Sidewalks] Note to MU ticket office: BAD IDEA

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

Note to MU ticket office: BAD IDEA

Written by: noreply@blogger.com (mu_hilltopper)




Marquette announced their "5-pack" ticket plans today.

BLUE PLAN: Georgetown, Connecticut, Syracuse, Villanova and St. John's
GOLD PLAN: Wisconsin, West Virginia, DePaul, Cincinnati and Seton Hall

Notice anything unusual about this scheme?  Every year, they package in 1-2 cupcake games with 3-4 solid games in each 5 pack.  Not this year.  All 10 games are quality Big East games.

As you can see, the hottest ticket of the year, the MU v. UW game, is also in a 5-pack.  MU did this 2 years ago, forcing the hated Badger fans into buying 4 unwanted games, so they could get the UW game and befoul our Bradley Center.

What happened two years ago?  Half the upper deck of our Bradley Center was decked out in red.  Nothing pisses me off more than having UW (or UL) fans smelling up our home court. -- Oh, and we lost.

What happened later?  Those same Badger fans SOLD THEIR TICKETS ON EBAY.   And guess what?  With auctioning off a couple good BE games, they were able to come out ahead!

This year, the UW package includes 4 high quality games.   Guess what?  They'll dump those tickets, and actually MAKE money buying this package.

On the other hand .. Two years ago, the demand from MU season ticket holders purchasing extras for friends was enough to sell out the place TWICE.   I realize some Season Ticket Holders will commit the sin of buying for their red-devil friends, but the majority will not.

It's not too late, Ticket Office.  Change the ticket packages right now, and keep the red out.

I swear to god, let me buy 100 tickets.   I will find 100 Warrior fans to sit in those seats, and come back for more.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/07/note-to-mu-ticket-office-bad-idea.html

[Rollout-the-Barrel]

Thats very true...Those plans did look different than before at first glance.  Kind of takes away the benefit of full season tickets.  I could just buy both plans and get most if not all the good games for less $.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

no doubt.  the gold package should be uw, uwm, south central utah state and a provisional d-1 team.  f-ck em.  make those asshold badger fans get stuck with the crappy tickets they can't unload.  plus, charge 4 games for 5 bucks too.

[mu_hilltopper]

First .. yeah, as I said in another post .. if you are a upper deck season ticket holder .. dump them.  Buy both 5 packs, that's 10 games.  Buy singles for the 3-4 other games you want.   Now you don't pay for the 6-10 cupcakes that are on the schedule.

Second.  NO.  No UW game in ANY 5 pack.  Let the season ticket holders disburse them to Warrior fans.  It's not perfect, but the Warrior to a-hole ratio would be way, way down.

.. And as I said after the 2006 debacle .. in the lower bowl, look at the stadium pictures, pinpoint each seat that's wearing red, and penalize the season ticket holder who gave up their seat, 5 B&G points.

[RawdogDX]

As someone who lived in chicago and bought five game packages since I wasn't going to make it to enough games to buy the season ticket package i'd like to send a big 'kiss off".  Those packets go to plenty of alums who can't make it to all the games and/or can't afford season tickets.  They aren't lower forms of life and it has to do with more than just one game.  (oh no we lost last time! we won away, is that because mu fans were in red at madison?)

The gold package two years ago sucked other than wisconsin and that didn't stop wisco fans from coming, this year the other games are good.  The reason there were so many WI fans last time is because the rest of the games were so bad that mu fands didn't buy up the packages. 

We go to a school that has an NBA arena in a med sized city that contains more WI fans than MU fans.  How in gods name is marquette going to make sure the upper deck is in all gold?  It's f'ing impossible.  ANd you can claim it would be 'way down' but it wouldn't be, because mu season ticket holders will put them on the internet.  But go ahead and just make up statistics.

[muguru]

Everyone needs to get on the phone to the ticket office and let them know as a fan, season ticket holder, or alum, that having UW in a 5 game pack yet again, is simply unacceptable. I believe that if enough people call to voice their dissatisfaction we can make a difference. There is NO EXCUSE whatsoever for the UW game to be in a 5 game pack. This infuriates me beyond belief. I had a nice long chat with my ticket rep last year about this very thing and he told me he knew and the ticket office knew that it was a problem having so much red in the stands last year and that they were "working some other ideas" to help alleviate that.

Guess they didn't come up with anything. I will be calling tomorrow. Everyone else needs to as well.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Send this to Cottingham....with all of his extensive athletic department experience he might have just overlooked this one.

Agree, silly.  Very silly.  The idea of mini-ticket plans is to help sell the dog games that no one wants to buy.  If you make them too attractive you cut into the very purpose of them to begin with. 

Based on this ticket pricing scheme...the hiring process remains flawed...for AD.

However, I wouldn't be as worried about season ticket holders dropping their tickets to get mini-plans, wouldn't they lose their points position or are mini-plans awarded points too?

[mug644]

Another possible consequence that hasn't been mentioned is that there may well be even lower attendance at the "cupcake" games. Very rarely, I assume, are tickets to those games bought at single-game tickets, but people who already have the tickets through a package might still go.

[paulpogo]

Note to MU ticket office: BAD IDEA

I realize some Season Ticket Holders will commit the sin of buying for their red-devil friends, but the majority will not.

It's not too late, Ticket Office.  Change the ticket packages right now, and keep the red out.

I swear to god, let me buy 100 tickets.   I will find 100 Warrior fans to sit in those seats, and come back for more.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/07/note-to-mu-ticket-office-bad-idea.html

To this point, if there are any season ticket holders that are interested in getting 2 additional seats, I can guarantee my son and I will be wearing gold and not red.

[jce]

Everyone needs to get on the phone to the ticket office and let them know as a fan, season ticket holder, or alum, that having UW in a 5 game pack yet again, is simply unacceptable. I believe that if enough people call to voice their dissatisfaction we can make a difference. There is NO EXCUSE whatsoever for the UW game to be in a 5 game pack. This infuriates me beyond belief. I had a nice long chat with my ticket rep last year about this very thing and he told me he knew and the ticket office knew that it was a problem having so much red in the stands last year and that they were "working some other ideas" to help alleviate that.

Guess they didn't come up with anything. I will be calling tomorrow. Everyone else needs to as well.

Having been to almost all of the UW games in the BC for the past decade or so, I really didn't notice that much of a difference.  There is always a lot of red for that game because, well, UW has more fans than we do.  Think about it...if you just sold this game as single game tickets, that wouldn't prevent any more red than through this plan - plus they earn more revenue by forcing people to buy a package.  If you sold them only to MU season ticket holders, you may not have a sell-out.  It would look more silly to have empty seats for the game.

[chapman]

On the other hand .. Two years ago, the demand from MU season ticket holders purchasing extras for friends was enough to sell out the place TWICE.   I realize some Season Ticket Holders will commit the sin of buying for their red-devil friends, but the majority will not.

Wasn't nearly half of the lower bowl also red two years ago?  I remember accusations at the time of season ticket holders not necessarily buying for their "red-devil friends", but buying to make a buck regardless of who purchased the extra tickets. 

Also, I hope something changes with the suites.  They were 80% red last time, and it was embarassing.

[rocky_warrior]

Hmmm...gotta' go with RawDog on this one. 
It may be that since there are 4 "good" games packaged with UW that more Marquette fans will be interested in the pack?  Seriously, perhaps the reason a lot went to Wisconsin fans last time was because they were willing to suck up the cost and/or resell the 4 games they didn't want.  MU fans could have looked at the pack and thought "it's a waste of money -I only want to see UW".

We'll see how it plays out, but to me this 5-game pack is much more intriguing than one with UW and 4 cupcakes. 

Topper, I understand your though/plan about letting season ticket holders pick up more tickets for the UW game and then making sure they go to MU fans.  But (as you know) unfortunately only a small percentage of fans read MUScoop (or other fans sites) making the distribution more difficult.    If we could just afford an advertising banner at the BC your plan may just work :  "Need tickets to the UW game?  Ask season ticket holders at MUScoop.com"

[ecompt]

Does anyone know when individual-game tickets go on sale?

[jutaw22mu]

Well obviously there are pluses and minuses to the ticket packages arranged as they are.  As someone who is from out of state...about a 4 hr drive away...I think these packages are great.  I don't know any season ticket holders, so chances are I won't be seeing the MU-UW game unless I buy the game package.  Since I am reduced to a few games a year due to distance, it would suck to by the package and have crappy games in the deal.  I can't drive up for every game or else I would have season tickets and I certainly am not making a 4 hour drive to Milwaukee to watch them play some craptastic teams. No way.  So perhaps these packages were designed more for alums like me.

Second I was at the last MU-UW home game (knew some students who hooked me up since i had just graduated) and I do not remember seeing as much red as some of you are complaining about.  Yes there were Badger fans, but it wasnt an overwhelming amount (such as when we play at DePaul and seriously outnumber their fans).

The downside of this is that of couse it allows Bucky fans to get tickets.  But maybe, just maybe some of them will show up to the other 4 games in yellow.  And for those that sell their remaining tix on Ebay?  I dont see much room for profit in any game except maybe West Virginia.  DePaul, Cincinnati and Seton Hall
will probably go for face value or may not even draw any interest.

[mu03eng]

I'm curious to see how this plays out.  I was planning on buying season tickets this season, however given that I have other expenses this year(house and wedding) buying these two packages seems to be a good alternative, but means the team brings in less money.  This may increase interest from MU fans and keep Bucky out but at the expense of season ticket packages.

As to the punishing people for bringing, buying for Bucky fans, I'm split on that.  I understand it, but at the same time I'm marrying a rabid Bucky fan this fall.....she wears gold and cheers Marquette on every day but those days where Bucky is directly involved.  She will always be wearing red to those games nothing I can do about it.  I think the AD needs to be creative in keeping the red out but punishing people via photographic evidence I don't think isn't one of them.

[sigep80]

I'm in Chicago as well and have bought the five game packeges recently.  Last year all five games were against Big East oponents as well - Providence, Notre Dame, DePaul, Rutgers and Georgetown.

Furthermore, 4 of those games were on Saturday, which is a big help.

[The Man in Gold]

This is clearly a ploy by TC so that he can guarantee max sellouts for each game in the package and thus set state records each time by allowing one more fan in at each game.

The nerve of the guy.

[jmayer1]

I live in Chicago as well and love the 5 game plans.  I hope they do it the same way as they did last year: put all the weekend games in one package and all the weekday games in one package.  However, I don't know if they did that/could have done that since the dates aren't known yet.

As for including UW in a package with other good games; I'm all for it.  It is up to MU fans to buy up those tickets.

[Sir Lawrence]

As to the punishing people for bringing, buying for Bucky fans, I'm split on that.  I understand it, but at the same time I'm marrying a rabid Bucky fan this fall.....she wears gold and cheers Marquette on every day but those days where Bucky is directly involved.  She will always be wearing red to those games nothing I can do about it.  I think the AD needs to be creative in keeping the red out but punishing people via photographic evidence I don't think isn't one of them.

I go to every game MU plays at the Kohl Center--why?  Because my partner has season tickets and takes me to the game.  I wear gold.  My partner goes to every UW game at the BC--why? Because I have season tickets and invite him to the game.  He wears red.  There are plenty of folks who have similar arrangements because of work relationships, or marriage, or even siblings.  To punish season ticket holders because there is red in a season ticket seat is a bit harsh.   

[mu_hilltopper]

Sir Lawrence : You are banned.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Wasn't nearly half of the lower bowl also red two years ago?  I remember accusations at the time of season ticket holders not necessarily buying for their "red-devil friends", but buying to make a buck regardless of who purchased the extra tickets. 

Also, I hope something changes with the suites.  They were 80% red last time, and it was embarassing.

80% of the suites at the kohl hole were gold the last 2 years too.  It's an easy way for fans of the other teams to pick up tickets to the game, especially in madison.

now if I could convince my damn father in law to retire one year later, we'd be back in the kohl hole next year too.

[Sir Lawrence]

Sir Lawrence : You are banned.

That's OK--I'll go sit in the shade of my well appointed, brand new garage.  Living the dream in Larryland. 

[RawdogDX]

I think that this ticket book is the best thing mu offers in terms of ticket options.  congrats to those of you who buy upper deck season tickets but I don't see why you do it.  And I'll never understand why you want mu to fill it with crap games for those of us who enjoy having that option.  Why? Because the upper deck of an nba arena had opposing fans in it what, demagraphically speaking, is a neutral floor???

You are all basically saying:  Hey MU, we are sick of the people who buy the 5 game passes getting such good games! Please Screw up there 5 game booklet by putting some crap non-con games.  That way there will be a few less madison fans and they will be forced to have a ticket to some game against a 200+ rpi team. 

Well thanks guys.  Thanks, for your Desperate desire to have me go to crappy games instead of UWmadison.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I think that this ticket book is the best thing mu offers in terms of ticket options.  congrats to those of you who buy upper deck season tickets but I don't see why you do it.  And I'll never understand why you want mu to fill it with crap games for those of us who enjoy having that option.  Why? Because the upper deck of an nba arena had opposing fans in it what, demagraphically speaking, is a neutral floor???

You are all basically saying:  Hey MU, we are sick of the people who buy the 5 game passes getting such good games! Please Screw up there 5 game booklet by putting some crap non-con games.  That way there will be a few less madison fans and they will be forced to have a ticket to some game against a 200+ rpi team. 

Well thanks guys.  Thanks, for your Desperate desire to have me go to crappy games instead of UWmadison.

Your perspective on this is valid, certainly.  There's no solution that is a win-win for everyone.   As someone that has sat in the seat of having to sell tickets to the masses, however, I disagree with this approach they have taken.  I'm not so much concerned about the UW-madison game....there's always going to be some red in the lower section though back in the day I thought it was policed better then it is now.

My concern is the dog games now will be even harder to get a lift for.  At least by throwing in 1 or 2 dogs in a packet you are artificially going to bump attendance, even if most of it is on paper.  Say you sell 3000 gold packages that included dog #1.  That's 3000 extra seats you sold for that game that likely would not have been sold (or 95% of them certainly wouldn't). 

On the other hand, including these better games will help close the gap in the number of sellouts this year pushing the totals closer for some.   It's also a great value for the customer....from a customer service perspective it's terrific but from a financial bottom line perspective there is more risk then I would be comfortable taking.  I'd rather have the extra 3000 for the dog game then the extra 3000 for say DePaul because I can still get close to that extra DePaul sales in individual tickets and game day walk-ups, I can't make up the difference with the dog games.

[RawdogDX]

My concern is the dog games now will be even harder to get a lift for.  At least by throwing in 1 or 2 dogs in a packet you are artificially going to bump attendance, even if most of it is on paper.  Say you sell 3000 gold packages that included dog #1.  That's 3000 extra seats you sold for that game that likely would not have been sold (or 95% of them certainly wouldn't). 

This gaurntees a sell out for all home confernce games.  Take away the 5 packages and we might not.  That makes a differnce when games are on TV.

But that's not my point.  What i hear from you is that you think Marquette could possibly sell an extra 5-7 thousand tickets a year by jobbing over people who buy five packs and you think they should jump all over that like greedy tax collectors. 
That's what you are saying now right?  "Raw, you only can make it to a few games a year, but I think MU should force 40% of those games to be against crap non-con teams.  I'm estimating that this will put a couple k on to the end of the year ticket sales total, I'm sure you'll understand."

Well, no i don't.