(02-26-2015 12:09 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  < $50 to attend a single kane county cougar game for a family of 4. NIU just priced itself out versus a comparable sports option. I get the whole commitment thing, but you have to have fans who are clamoring to get scarce tickets to pull this off. Prove me wrong.

But that is baseball. My kid gets free tickets to KCC all the time and we just toss them out.

(02-26-2015 11:35 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 11:22 AM)BleedsHuskieRed Wrote:  

We don't have the draw though for that. Most casual fans are not going to look it at like a message board poster does. They are not going to buy season tickets, they are going to see that it will cost them $200 for their family to go to a game against Murray State, and stay home instead.

I am all for giving season ticket holders value and "protecting" us. But doing it in value added services, other opportunities rather than scaring away people who balked at $25 tickets and $30 tickets in years past.

No casual fan is going to want to attend the Murry State game at any price. The market has proven that.

However, pay $168 for tickets for a family of 4 to go to the UNLV game as a home opener or Homecoming is not out of the question.
[/quote]
If Homecoming is against some crap MAC team it probably is. I can't even get alum of the university, who went to games in school, and follow the success of the team to pay $30 to go to a single game. They would rather just stay home and follow on Twitter.

I am all for raising revenues and all that fun stuff, but the market has shown the value of a ticket to an NIU game at Huskie Stadium against X opponent is not $42.

They want to make it very uneconomical to attend single games and thus force people to buy season tickets. This is a noble purpose, but the casual fan will not buy season tickets but would rather prefer to attend one or two games without a commitment to season tickets. They attend games based on the opponent, whether or not they have anything else to do, and the weather. Whereas those of us with season tickets who cannot attend all games view it as a donation, the casual fan will not. This will be an interesting year. Hope it doesn't backfire.

(02-26-2015 12:24 PM)BleedsHuskieRed Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 11:35 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 11:22 AM)BleedsHuskieRed Wrote:  

We don't have the draw though for that. Most casual fans are not going to look it at like a message board poster does. They are not going to buy season tickets, they are going to see that it will cost them $200 for their family to go to a game against Murray State, and stay home instead.

I am all for giving season ticket holders value and "protecting" us. But doing it in value added services, other opportunities rather than scaring away people who balked at $25 tickets and $30 tickets in years past.

No casual fan is going to want to attend the Murry State game at any price. The market has proven that.

However, pay $168 for tickets for a family of 4 to go to the UNLV game as a home opener or Homecoming is not out of the question.

If Homecoming is against some crap MAC team it probably is. I can't even get alum of the university, who went to games in school, and follow the success of the team to pay $30 to go to a single game. They would rather just stay home and follow on Twitter.

I am all for raising revenues and all that fun stuff, but the market has shown the value of a ticket to an NIU game at Huskie Stadium against X opponent is not $42.
[/quote]

Actually the market has shown that the value of a ticket against X opponent does not have any worth when its discounted at the last minute to a can of soup and $8.

Heck we couldn't even get 19k people to show up for $10 per ticket to see us host Kansas.

The super low individual ticket price angle wasn't working so they are trying something new.

(02-26-2015 12:20 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:09 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  < $50 to attend a single kane county cougar game for a family of 4. NIU just priced itself out versus a comparable sports option. I get the whole commitment thing, but you have to have fans who are clamoring to get scarce tickets to pull this off. Prove me wrong.

But that is baseball. My kid gets free tickets to KCC all the time and we just toss them out.

you are an NIU football contributor. of course you will respond accordingly. But there are many many many families out there indifferent to either option. So what do they pick when there are options such as KCC versus NIU?

NIU can't live in a vacuum when it comes to the other sports options out in the chicago area. They are competing against all these minor league options. They better bring their marketing A+++ game plus value play to harness in these other 'casuals'. otherwise, take your 15k attendance and be satisfied.

I'm picking KCC all day long for the pure value play.

(02-26-2015 12:40 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:20 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:09 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  < $50 to attend a single kane county cougar game for a family of 4. NIU just priced itself out versus a comparable sports option. I get the whole commitment thing, but you have to have fans who are clamoring to get scarce tickets to pull this off. Prove me wrong.

But that is baseball. My kid gets free tickets to KCC all the time and we just toss them out.

you are an NIU football contributor. of course you will respond accordingly. But there are many many many families out there indifferent to either. So what do they pick when there are options such as KCC versus NIU?

I'm picking KCC all day long for the pure value play.

We don't want indifferent fans. We need real fans.

Indifferent fans have that annoying conversation thru the entire game.

Indifferent fans are more likely to show up piss drunk and shout obscenities after every play that is not a first down.

Indifferent fans will check the weather 1hr before the game and decide if they are going to go or not....because they can just walk up and get a cheap ticket.

(02-26-2015 12:43 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:40 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:20 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:09 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  < $50 to attend a single kane county cougar game for a family of 4. NIU just priced itself out versus a comparable sports option. I get the whole commitment thing, but you have to have fans who are clamoring to get scarce tickets to pull this off. Prove me wrong.

But that is baseball. My kid gets free tickets to KCC all the time and we just toss them out.

you are an NIU football contributor. of course you will respond accordingly. But there are many many many families out there indifferent to either. So what do they pick when there are options such as KCC versus NIU?

I'm picking KCC all day long for the pure value play.

We don't want indifferent fans. We need real fans.

where do these magical 'real' fans come from? they start as casuals off the street.

(02-26-2015 12:43 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:40 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:20 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:09 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  < $50 to attend a single kane county cougar game for a family of 4. NIU just priced itself out versus a comparable sports option. I get the whole commitment thing, but you have to have fans who are clamoring to get scarce tickets to pull this off. Prove me wrong.

But that is baseball. My kid gets free tickets to KCC all the time and we just toss them out.

you are an NIU football contributor. of course you will respond accordingly. But there are many many many families out there indifferent to either. So what do they pick when there are options such as KCC versus NIU?

I'm picking KCC all day long for the pure value play.

We don't want indifferent fans. We need real fans.

And right now we have about 5K-6K. How do we get new ones?

(02-26-2015 12:44 PM)BleedsHuskieRed Wrote:  And right now we have about 5K-6K. How do we get new ones?

We have to invite people and show them why you love it. Does that mean buying an extra season ticket or two...yup.

(02-26-2015 12:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:44 PM)BleedsHuskieRed Wrote:  And right now we have about 5K-6K. How do we get new ones?

We have to invite people and show them why you love it. Does that mean buying an extra season ticket or two...yup.

Pass. this is unsustainable.

I do wish that season ticket holders had the ability to buy a specific quantity of individual game tickets at a discount over the general public price though.

Say equal to the number of season tickets you have. So if you have 2 season ticket then you have access to discounted 2 individual game tickets that you can order at any point in the season.

(02-26-2015 12:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:44 PM)BleedsHuskieRed Wrote:  And right now we have about 5K-6K. How do we get new ones?

We have to invite people and show them why you love it. Does that mean buying an extra season ticket or two...yup.

I buy 4 season tickets for my wife and me. We invite friends (2 other couples) to the games with us. One couple goes to 1 or 2 games, and the other couple goes to 1 or 2 games. For some of the games, we have no one going with us. The people we bring to the games will not be buying season tickets. They rely on us for the 1 or 2 games they will go to.

(02-26-2015 12:52 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:44 PM)BleedsHuskieRed Wrote:  And right now we have about 5K-6K. How do we get new ones?

We have to invite people and show them why you love it. Does that mean buying an extra season ticket or two...yup.

Pass. this is unsustainable.

Nothing but a growth in consistent money is going to grow this program.

The old ways of super cheap single game tickets caused way too much of a fluctuation in income just based off of if it was going to rain at all, it the temp was too cold or if we got killed by Wisconsin or Arkansas the week before.

(02-26-2015 12:40 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:20 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:09 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  < $50 to attend a single kane county cougar game for a family of 4. NIU just priced itself out versus a comparable sports option. I get the whole commitment thing, but you have to have fans who are clamoring to get scarce tickets to pull this off. Prove me wrong.

But that is baseball. My kid gets free tickets to KCC all the time and we just toss them out.

you are an NIU football contributor. of course you will respond accordingly. But there are many many many families out there indifferent to either option. So what do they pick when there are options such as KCC versus NIU?

NIU can't live in a vacuum when it comes to the other sports options out in the chicago area. They are competing against all these minor league options. They better bring their marketing A+++ game plus value play to harness in these other 'casuals'. otherwise, take your 15k attendance and be satisfied.

I'm picking KCC all day long for the pure value play.

NIU football isn't trying to brand itself as a minor league baseball team. They are trying to target a difference audience and rightfully so. It all comes down to what people think your brand is worth. That will drive what people are willing to pay.

Even if you got decent support from DeKalb itself, that would grow our ticket base substantially. I think the university has taken some good first steps, time for the town to pony up a bit more.

(02-26-2015 12:57 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:52 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:44 PM)BleedsHuskieRed Wrote:  And right now we have about 5K-6K. How do we get new ones?

We have to invite people and show them why you love it. Does that mean buying an extra season ticket or two...yup.

Pass. this is unsustainable.

Nothing but a growth in consistent money is going to grow this program.

The old ways of super cheap single game tickets caused way too much of a fluctuation in income just based off of if it was going to rain at all, it the temp was too cold or if we got killed by Wisconsin or Arkansas the week before.

ultimately, the path to growth will not be in harnessing the general population, but in the ability to capture current students. This has always been the root problem.

I'm not sure how you increase season ticket sales in a meaningful manner aside from leveraging grads who have been 'captured' as students. I've always felt this to be the case.

(02-26-2015 12:58 PM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:40 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:20 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:09 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  < $50 to attend a single kane county cougar game for a family of 4. NIU just priced itself out versus a comparable sports option. I get the whole commitment thing, but you have to have fans who are clamoring to get scarce tickets to pull this off. Prove me wrong.

But that is baseball. My kid gets free tickets to KCC all the time and we just toss them out.

you are an NIU football contributor. of course you will respond accordingly. But there are many many many families out there indifferent to either option. So what do they pick when there are options such as KCC versus NIU?

NIU can't live in a vacuum when it comes to the other sports options out in the chicago area. They are competing against all these minor league options. They better bring their marketing A+++ game plus value play to harness in these other 'casuals'. otherwise, take your 15k attendance and be satisfied.

I'm picking KCC all day long for the pure value play.

NIU football isn't trying to brand itself as a minor league baseball team. They are trying to target a difference audience and rightfully so. It all comes down to what people think your brand is worth. That will drive what people are willing to pay.

What audience exactly are they trying to capture?

(02-26-2015 12:57 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:52 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(02-26-2015 12:44 PM)BleedsHuskieRed Wrote:  And right now we have about 5K-6K. How do we get new ones?

We have to invite people and show them why you love it. Does that mean buying an extra season ticket or two...yup.

Pass. this is unsustainable.

Nothing but a growth in consistent money is going to grow this program.

The old ways of super cheap single game tickets caused way too much of a fluctuation in income just based off of if it was going to rain at all, it the temp was too cold or if we got killed by Wisconsin or Arkansas the week before.

Right on. You cannot build a sustainable financial model that is largely dependent on game day walk-ups. You need to lock in as many recurring income streams as possible upfront and that comes from build out the season ticket base.

NIU is going to the next level. You cannot make every body totally happy. Frazier has a plan and this is a part of it. The day is coming that the value of Huskie sports is higher than it is now. Get in at the beginning and you will be happy you did. We are a athletic program on the rise a and this is what it looks like! Forward to the future!

(02-26-2015 01:00 PM)huskiealum03 Wrote:  ultimately, the path to growth will not be in harnessing the general population, but in the ability to capture current students. This has always been the root problem.

I'm not sure how you increase season ticket sales in a meaningful manner aside from leveraging grads who have been 'captured' as students. I've always felt this to be the case.

Totally agree. The students do a great job of showing up in huge numbers...until they graduate.

We still need a Young Alum ticket! A full price ticket is not an option for 99% of our graduates. Over time some of those who were big fans as students are lost because they totally forget about how much fun they had. I was one of these people and would not have come back if it were not for our 2010 come back win vs WMU with the Coffman INT to set up the Toledo game for the MAC West.


Here is what pitch every year to athletics...

Graduated in the last 4 years and are a member of the Alum Association (I would try to get membership to be free for the first 4 years) have to ability to buy up to 2 season tickets at half price. So $61 for each season ticket this year. These seats would be on the East side with the students for the next few years then when the South bowl is built they would slide over to the South side of the East stands.