UTEP Basketball and Ticket Prices?

[kyyote]

I was just checking the espn+ schedule for basketball and UTEP's first game is the 9th of November against Western New Mexico and you can get tickets to see this basketball game for as low as $41.  You can see OU for $2, Ok State for $11, and the Miners for $41.  That should bring in the younger folks instead of the blue hairs, right?  I mean elite teams, in elite leagues, playing other elite teams demand elite money.  Is this another one of those trust the process, deals?  Are we demonstrating some kind of perverse demonstration of our ability to command Big Money like Big Teams do?  I'm not sure that this is the way to build the program, especially while the conference seems to be, well, shakier than an alcoholic with DT's skiing naked in a snow storm past an open bar.

[MinerInWisconsin]

If you visit UTEP's website and their ticket link you can find tickets for $5 - $20. You can find expensive ones too but it looks like ticket sales have been good.

[SisyphusMiner]

MiW is referring to Ticketmaster who I think is the official ticket sales company as that's where the utep website takes you.  I think vivid seats (ESPN link) is a reseller like stubhub.  There's not a lot of good seats available in the high dollar areas, and actually not a whole lot of $5 tickets.  It looks like the sections behind the goals are not available.  Those may be student seating?  Or band and dance team?

[kyyote]

I didn't look to see ticket prices.  But this is from espn+;

West New Mexico       UTEP TBD      Tickets as low as $41   Don Haskins Center, El Paso, TX    William Carey       Southern Miss TBD      Tickets as low as $17   Reed Green Coliseum, Hattiesburg, MS    Brescia University       Middle Tennessee TBD         Murphy Center, Murfreesboro, TN    Western Colorado       Weber State TBD   ESPN+   Tickets as low as $15   Dee Events Center, Ogden, UT    Dickinson State       Montana TBD   ESPN+      Dahlberg Arena, Missoula, MT       UC Riverside       San Diego State TBD      Tickets as low as $9   Viejas Arena, San Diego, CA       Eastern Washington       Nevada TBD      Tickets as low as $16   Lawlor Events Center, Reno, NV    Fresno Pacific       Fresno State TBD         Save Mart Center, Fresno, CA    Neumann       Drexel TBD         Daskalakis Athletic Center, Philadelphia, PA       St. Francis (BKN)       Wisconsin TBD      Tickets as low as $2   Kohl Center, Madison, WI       Eastern Illinois       Northwestern TBD      Tickets as low as $7   Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, IL       Kansas City       Minnesota TBD      Tickets as low as $7   Williams Arena, Minneapolis, MN       Longwood       Iowa TBD      Tickets as low as $2   Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City, IA       Florida International       Georgia TBD   SECN+ ESPN+   Tickets as low as $5   Stegeman Coliseum, Athens, GA       Elon       Florida TBD   SECN+   Tickets as low as $3   Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O'Connell Center, Gainesville, FL       Evansville       Cincinnati TBD   ESPN+   Tickets as low as $4   Fifth Third Arena, Cincinnati, OH       UMBC       UMass TBD   ESPN+   Tickets as low as $42   William D. Mullins Memorial Center, Amherst, MA       Boston University       Rhode Island TBD      Tickets as low as $24   Ryan Center, Kingston, RI       Northwestern State       Oklahoma TBD      Tickets as low as $2   Lloyd Noble Center, Norman, OK       Utah Valley       Boise State TBD      Tickets as low as $14   ExtraMile Arena, Boise, ID    Wiley       Lamar TBD   ESPN+   Tickets as low as $14   Montagne Center, Beaumont, TX       Long Island University       San Francisco TBD      Tickets as low as $13   War Memorial at the Sobrato Center, San Francisco, CA       CSU Fullerton       Santa Clara TBD      Tickets as low as $12   Leavey Center, Santa Clara, CA       Brown    Salve Regina TBD   ESPN+             Columbia       Fordham TBD   ESPN+   Tickets as low as $22   Rose Hill Gymnasium, Bronx, NY       UIC       Dayton TBD   ESPN+   Tickets as low as $7   UD Arena, Dayton, OH       Delaware       Davidson TBD   ESPN+      John M. Belk Arena, Davidson, NC       Stony Brook       George Mason TBD   ESPN+   Tickets as low as $26   EagleBank Arena, Fairfax, VA       Southern       Louisville TBD      Tickets as low as $5   KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY       Maine       Virginia Tech TBD   ACCNX   Tickets as low as $5   Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, VA       Presbyterian       Clemson TBD   ACCNX   Tickets as low as $3   Littlejohn Coliseum, Clemson, SC

Now, if there are $5 tickets and espn+ is saying the cheapest seat is $41 someone should fix that so that people like me don't think the people at UTEP have lost their minds.

[kyyote]

from the espn+ link;

$41
 ea
Section B ? Row 34

1?4 tickets  |  Zone Seating

$42
 ea
Section J ? Row 38

1?8 tickets

$49
 ea
Section K ? Row 30

1?4 tickets  |  Zone Seating



the site won't let me copy the seating chart but these are sections that go from the bottom to the top at the corners of the court.  Like section b is next to the student section.  So, I don't know what tickets sell for but if UTEP is allowing someone to say that the cheapest seats are $41 the marketing department should damned sure fix that.

[SisyphusMiner]

https://am.ticketmaster.com/utep/ism/MjFNQjExMDk=

[Austintacious]

Seats behind the south goal (where the teams enter and exit the arena) are held by season ticket holders.  My family members have had several of those seats since the Haskins Center opened. 

[SisyphusMiner]

Not so much on the topic of tickets, but on basketball.

CUSA under both current and future configuration is a one bid league.  Therefore the only way we get in the NCAA tourney is to win the conference tourney.  OR to have such a resume that we cannot be ignored.  Given that reality, I would like to see us schedule the toughest damn out of conference schedule imaginable.  Go play at Gonzaga, at North Carolina, at Kansas, at Kentucky, at Duke.  Playing that kind of OOC schedule will make CUSA seem like the weaklings they are.  Losses to those teams don't hurt you, but wins help.  And if you are playing those schools and getting exposure, it will encourage better recruits to come play for you.  I don't see a downside to this.

On a different note, I think having the conference tourney winner get the bid in a one-bid league is stupid.  The original thinking behind this approach was that the regular season winner was probably going to get a bid anyway and this gave you a 2nd team that didn't have the resume but was peaking late.  It's just not that way in CUSA.  There's one bid, and one only.  Your best team over the course of the season should get it.  Tourney should be for NIT attention.

[kyyote]

I agree with you on all points.  Playing 5 New Mexico state directional schools is not only worthless, it is an insult to supporters to charge to watch scrimmages.  Then, there's the chance you loose to one of them and now you are insulted and injured.  Not only should UTEP Play the best they can, but so should every cusa team.  The conference is about to either implode or find a way to change the inevitable and making it the tight league that just got tougher than the rest by forging their strength in fire.  Twenty bucks to watch the Miners play some top tier team holds considerable interest.  Playing the Eastern Middle of New Mexico at Muleshoe in the Don and paying to do it is at best charity.  A donation to the school.  But, you have to be bored stiff to feel like the excitement of this game is a step up in your life.  These games are really, "Give us a donation but hey here's a little something for it."  They might just as well give you a lapel pin at the door.  The NCAA sees it, too.  Every one of these exhibition level games is a lost opportunity.

The same thing happens in football.  We have just almost played our conference competition level to its natural conclusion.  If cusa adds five nm directional schools to the conference it would seal the coffin.  I honestly believe that an eight team league playing the toughest schedule in the nation would be an elevator ride to the top, rather than our continued slide into oblivion.

 

[SisyphusMiner]

Well, football is a slightly different animal because you don't get that many games and 6 wins is the magic number.

In basketball you'd still like to play a couple tuneup games, but then go after it.


Kind of related - we had a freshman basketball team in HS, and we played other freshman teams in conference play.  But our coach signed us up for a 16 and under city league for OOC play. I really don't know how many of them were under 16 because they all had moustaches and were big.  And they kicked our asses every time.  But damn, if the other freshman teams weren't easy.  We went unbeaten in conference.  This is what I'm saying will happen.  I don't care if we lose every one of those premier games, all of a sudden conference play looks like cupcakes.  AND you're getting national exposure, plus I imagine you get paid enough to pay for the travel.

[kyyote]

We had qualified for a bowl game but it was as empty as could be. If we lose the rest of the games this year how much credibility has UTEP gained?  Forgive me for changing lanes and directions on you but cusa is at a critical point. It needs to change from the transitional conference to a conference others aspire to. Adding a bunch of weaker teams creates a low tide and lowers all boats. We are already at the bottom and the water level is dropping.   This needs to be done before it?s too late and it probably already is.

[Minermojo]

I agree with everything Sisy said and some of what Ky said. Sooooo, let's make Sisy our AD and Ky as his ass istent.

The problem I see with Sisys idea is that it's not that easy to schedule those basketball schools. They probably have their schedules made for ten years.

[SisyphusMiner]

I think it's a lot easier to get a game at their house if you're not demanding a return game.  If you don't start now it never happens.  Every day Senter should do one intentional thing to improve us, no matter how small or insignificant it seems.

Do not despise the day of small beginnings.

[Minermojo]

I think it's a lot easier to get a game at their house if you're not demanding a return game.  If you don't start now it never happens.  Every day Senter should do one intentional thing to improve us, no matter how small or insignificant it seems.

Do not despise the day of small beginnings.

I think playing away at big time basketball builds a stronger player. When the time comes at the end of the season and we have to play in our conference tourney I guarantee the noise won't even faze them. The best part is if we win at those venues.