High ticket prices

[SisyphusMiner]

I kinda touched on this, but to me the way a crowd at a game feeds off each other, off the team, and the team feeds off them is 85% of the fun.  Otherwise I can watch on TV where I can always have a great view and sit and analyze what's happening.

I used to love the way we would take over SMU and UNT gyms and the Miner fans were loud and proud and feeding off each other.  That's not to mention how great it was with 8-10k fans in the Haskins arena.

It really really sucks going to a game and there's no crowd, no enthusiasm, no energy.  I wouldn't pay much to go watch Tech in an empty arena.  It just is no fun.

Price the tickets to fill the stands.  It will become fun and an event.  And the team will win a few more games and play with fire.  When that happens, and it becomes a desirable way to spend your Saturday night, then you can raise prices.  I would pay a lot more to watch a mediocre team in a rocking arena than a good team in a dead one.

[Austintacious]

Many, many years ago, I went to Dallas to see UTEP play SMU.  There was a welcome tent for UTEP alumni and fans among all the SMU related tents.  When game time approached, we walked to the stadium.  An quite intoxicated SMU student started ranting on me how they were going to beat our butts.  I stayed calm and just said "we'll see."  UTEP was behind about three or four touchdowns at the end of the third quarter but came to life in the fourth scoring enough points to win the game.  On the way back to the car, I kept looking for that student to rub it in.  However, it was an unbelievable finish to the game.  Anyone remember the game.  I think SMU had just opened their new stadium that year. 

[Minermojo]

Hey Austin, I also went to an Smoo fb game one year. While waiting for the game to start we were mingling outside the
Quad and my friend and I had a dry throat and decided to walk over to one of the kiosks where they were serving beer. So we walk to it and ask for a couple of beers. The kid serving them looked kinda perplexed but he gave them to us anyway. After standing there waiting for our drinks my friend tells me to look in a certain direction. I didn't have any inkling what he wanted me to see but I did so anyway. When I looked there was a looonnnnggg line of Smoos waiting to get to the kiosk. Schiff, I told myself that today we would die as the crowd that was assembled didn't take too lightly that we jumped the line so audaciously. After we drank our quaff we didn't dare go back for seconds. LOL

They probably thought we were badasses and were afraid of confronting us. They kept their cool though maybe because most of them were dressed to the nines and didn't want to get dirty. Ha, ha, ha.

[Chanson]

I kinda touched on this, but to me the way a crowd at a game feeds off each other, off the team, and the team feeds off them is 85% of the fun.  Otherwise I can watch on TV where I can always have a great view and sit and analyze what's happening.

I used to love the way we would take over SMU and UNT gyms and the Miner fans were loud and proud and feeding off each other.  That's not to mention how great it was with 8-10k fans in the Haskins arena.

It really really sucks going to a game and there's no crowd, no enthusiasm, no energy.  I wouldn't pay much to go watch Tech in an empty arena.  It just is no fun.

Price the tickets to fill the stands.  It will become fun and an event.  And the team will win a few more games and play with fire.  When that happens, and it becomes a desirable way to spend your Saturday night, then you can raise prices.  I would pay a lot more to watch a mediocre team in a rocking arena than a good team in a dead one.

Normally I would agree if we were on an even playing field. However, the playing field is no longer even. The NCAA has made huge changes to favor the Power 5 conferences. The only way to keep up is $$. TV is big on pay day & the NCAA has used it to favor themselves by pushing big programs & Metropolitan areas to corner the sports market.
That means mid majors are only now breeding grounds for superior athletes, coaches, AD's, Athletic programs, & so on.
Then you have the few smaller schools that have become special Boutique Programs like St. Mary's, Gonzaga, Creighton, Butler, etc. These places hold on to their athletes & coaches.
So...the best case scenario is to pit an end to the NCAA dictatorship. That ain't happening.
The other option is to go Boutique & up pricing.
3rd option is to continue to take it up the ars & watch your program go up & down. More downs than up.
I'm up for suggestions.

[kyyote]

2,000x$100=$200,000
4,000x$50=$200,000
8,000x$25=$200,000

12,000x$20=$240,000

10,00x$20=$200,000+1,000 free set aside for students that they can use or have in hand to sell+1000 set aside for student to claim up until 24 hours before a game or they become available to UTEP ticket sales to be added to a future needs fund.

Of course there are other ways to price the seats, but the math of butts in seats is also the math of multiplication as it multiplies the money spent on all of the ancillary things like concessions, local restaurants and bars and such.  The games should be the place to be! The ticket prices will set themselves higher!  Make it The Fricken' Rockin' Don!  You know, where players want to play and coaches want to coach.

Someone threw out Tim Hardaway's name the other day.  IF you paid Tim Hardaway $2 million a year to come let the world know that UTEP is serious as a heart attack about UTEP basketball you could pack the house for Timmy!  You add $10 to the price of a ticket.  Let's go with the $20 ticket and make it $20+$10 for Timmy=$30.  Each home game adds $120,000 per 12,000 fans and his name brings in players, news, action, life to the school and the entire community. 

I don't say that my simple numbers are the answer.  I do say that you can price a used YUGO at $10,000 and you can cut the price in half to $5,000 but it is still a used YUGO.   Or you can buy the Corvette for $50,000.  The YUGO will be breaking down at the worst times, and costing you money to repair it regularly.  And it makes you look STUPID!  Or you can win races, carry beauty queens in parades and look like and be a WINNER!  lol

[SisyphusMiner]

Your math is correct.  Reality doesn?t quite work that way but I know you weren?t saying it does.  There is an optimal price point for profit.  And there is an optimal price point for attendance.  And they aren?t the same or probably even close now.

But if you make the games a desirable place to be and be seen, the price point for optimal attendance starts creeping up.  Disney World keeps raising prices and they still sell out every day.  UTEP could make games a dollar and probably not sell out.

But there?s other ways to skin the cat.  Charge $25 and offer nachos and one free beer with ticket and I bet you double attendance next game

[SisyphusMiner]

I paid $20 per ticket to sit in row 6 behind the Miner's bench at the UNT game.  just a reference point for the top team in the league in a bigger market (though more diluted) with presumably better average income (didn't actually check).

[Chanson]

I paid $20 per ticket to sit in row 6 behind the Miner's bench at the UNT game.  just a reference point for the top team in the league in a bigger market (though more diluted) with presumably better average income (didn't actually check).

That is a good deal. Let us know how many show to the game?

[SisyphusMiner]

will do.  I'm not very good at estimating crowd size though.
In previous years, Miner fans have been well represented.  I would say there have been years before McCasland that we outnumbered their fans.

[Diablosisaminerfan]

I think that now that c-usa is dumpster tier with all those schools leaving, I fear that utep will slip further down and may have to find a way to generate funds somehow since no fucking way cusa is gonna be able to distribute money as they won't have any kind of tv deals. At this point the sun belt is probably a better conference imo. We coulda had a chance if effort, money and smart planning was done just like utsa that went from div 2 to a strong athletic school but now I don't trust any of of these clowns at UTEP to get us out of the hole we are in.