our program would be in much better shape. Some will question the difference between 14K and 18K. It is huge in creating demand for season tickets. I remember the coliseum glory days when seats were fought over in divorce proceedings and passed along in wills. I’m not sure this proposed arena could have survived the Tubby/Pastner debacle but I’m convinced attendance would be a good bit higher and our record would be better due to a true home court advantage. I can remember being in the Coliseum and not being able to hear my date next to me. Watching the Purdue Ohio st. Game made me think of it. Not an empty seat in the house. Tremendous atmosphere and the coliseum had better acoustics.

I know Purdue is good but having an arena a little smaller than your demand is a ticket scalpers (and AD departments) dream. The same applies in football. If we had a 50K Liberty Bowl, I am convinced we would have sold out most games last year.

But the NFL and Grizzlies set the level of seats that the Tigers have to sell. Cal did a great job filling up the Forum but it’s going to be much harder to do in the future as we will have a hard time getting back all of our former season ticket holders.

Not advocating an OCS or arena at all. Just thinking of what attendance will be like in basketball when we hire a coach that the fans accept.

(02-07-2018 11:01 PM)Shooters Wrote:  our program would be in much better shape. Some will question the difference between 14K and 18K. It is huge in creating demand for season tickets. I remember the coliseum glory days when seats were fought over in divorce proceedings and passed along in wills. I’m not sure this proposed arena could have survived the Tubby/Pastner debacle but I’m convinced attendance would be a good bit higher and our record would be better due to a true home court advantage. I can remember being in the Coliseum and not being able to hear my date next to me. Watching the Purdue Ohio st. Game made me think of it. Not an empty seat in the house. Tremendous atmosphere and the coliseum had better acoustics.

I know Purdue is good but having an arena a little smaller than your demand is a ticket scalpers (and AD departments) dream. The same applies in football. If we had a 50K Liberty Bowl, I am convinced we would have sold out most games last year.

But the NFL and Grizzlies set the level of seats that the Tigers have to sell. Cal did a great job filling up the Forum but it’s going to be much harder to do in the future as we will have a hard time getting back all of our former season ticket holders.

Not advocating an OCS or arena at all. Just thinking of what attendance will be like in basketball when we hire a coach that the fans accept.

IMO the University should CLOSE the upper deck for a while.

Take the season ticket holders upstairs and let them even swap for club tickets for a while and start to sell out again.

My understanding is that it is only 9K seats in lower level and club (which seems low).

(02-07-2018 11:18 PM)Shooters Wrote:  My understanding is that it is only 9K seats in lower level and club (which seems low).

and.....






we have not come close to seeing 9k this year at a game this year.

(02-07-2018 11:06 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  IMO the University should CLOSE the upper deck for a while.

Take the season ticket holders upstairs and let them even swap for club tickets for a while and start to sell out again.

I fully agree that the Terrace Level needs to close, but it may not be as easy as it sounds. I would assume this is being considered as part of a renegotiation with the FedEx Forum to allow them save operating costs by not opening the Terrace Level, but many in the Terrace Level are only paying $100 for season tickets and may not be willing to pay much more.

What is the cheapest price you could sell a ticket for in the Club or Plaza level if you closed the Terrace Level? If you were to keep the lowest price at $100, you may have people flocking from the more expensive seats to the $100 seats because most of the seats on the Club or Plaza level are pretty good. This would decrease your total revenue. If you don't offer less expensive seats, then you are going to lose some of the faithful fans that have actually been coming.

Maybe they could offer a special deal for current Terrace Level season ticket holders to move down to Club or Plaza level for next season with the disclaimer that they will have to move back up to Terrace once the lower two levels start filling up or pay the higher price. That might work.

Go Tigers!

(02-07-2018 11:27 PM)MemphisBlue Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:06 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  IMO the University should CLOSE the upper deck for a while.

Take the season ticket holders upstairs and let them even swap for club tickets for a while and start to sell out again.

I fully agree that the Terrace Level needs to close, but it may not be as easy as it sounds. I would assume this is being considered as part of a renegotiation with the FedEx Forum to allow them save operating costs by not opening the Terrace Level, but many in the Terrace Level are only paying $100 for season tickets and may not be willing to pay much more.

What is the cheapest price you could sell a ticket for in the Club or Plaza level if you closed the Terrace Level? If you were to keep the lowest price at $100, you may have people flocking from the more expensive seats to the $100 seats because most of the seats on the Club or Plaza level are pretty good. This would decrease your total revenue. If you don't offer less expensive seats, then you are going to lose some of the faithful fans that have actually been coming.

Maybe they could offer a special deal for current Terrace Level season ticket holders to move down to Club or Plaza level for next season with the disclaimer that they will have to move back up to Terrace once the lower two levels start filling up or pay the higher price. That might work.

Go Tigers!

yes, only make the offer to the current season ticket holders upstairs. Give them a year to year "credit" for the difference so that when it is built back up they will have to pay up or go back upstairs-- but for now they are happy, the seats are filled and it is packed (or more packed)

and I have bad news for you, the 'donations' for a seat license are 100% NOT tax deductible anymore so a lot of people are going to be re-thinking their tickets even more the coming year.

(02-07-2018 11:33 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:27 PM)MemphisBlue Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:06 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  IMO the University should CLOSE the upper deck for a while.

Take the season ticket holders upstairs and let them even swap for club tickets for a while and start to sell out again.

I fully agree that the Terrace Level needs to close, but it may not be as easy as it sounds. I would assume this is being considered as part of a renegotiation with the FedEx Forum to allow them save operating costs by not opening the Terrace Level, but many in the Terrace Level are only paying $100 for season tickets and may not be willing to pay much more.

What is the cheapest price you could sell a ticket for in the Club or Plaza level if you closed the Terrace Level? If you were to keep the lowest price at $100, you may have people flocking from the more expensive seats to the $100 seats because most of the seats on the Club or Plaza level are pretty good. This would decrease your total revenue. If you don't offer less expensive seats, then you are going to lose some of the faithful fans that have actually been coming.

Maybe they could offer a special deal for current Terrace Level season ticket holders to move down to Club or Plaza level for next season with the disclaimer that they will have to move back up to Terrace once the lower two levels start filling up or pay the higher price. That might work.

Go Tigers!

yes, only make the offer to the current season ticket holders upstairs. Give them a year to year "credit" for the difference so that when it is built back up they will have to pay up or go back upstairs-- but for now they are happy, the seats are filled and it is packed (or more packed)

and I have bad news for you, the 'donations' for a seat license are 100% NOT tax deductible anymore so a lot of people are going to be re-thinking their tickets even more the coming year.

They never have been 100%. This is a 80% deduction. I never thought about closing down the terrace level; that would be admitting defeat before we got started with a new coach-perhaps if we are stuck with Tubby another year.

(02-08-2018 12:35 AM)Shooters Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:33 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:27 PM)MemphisBlue Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:06 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  IMO the University should CLOSE the upper deck for a while.

Take the season ticket holders upstairs and let them even swap for club tickets for a while and start to sell out again.

I fully agree that the Terrace Level needs to close, but it may not be as easy as it sounds. I would assume this is being considered as part of a renegotiation with the FedEx Forum to allow them save operating costs by not opening the Terrace Level, but many in the Terrace Level are only paying $100 for season tickets and may not be willing to pay much more.

What is the cheapest price you could sell a ticket for in the Club or Plaza level if you closed the Terrace Level? If you were to keep the lowest price at $100, you may have people flocking from the more expensive seats to the $100 seats because most of the seats on the Club or Plaza level are pretty good. This would decrease your total revenue. If you don't offer less expensive seats, then you are going to lose some of the faithful fans that have actually been coming.

Maybe they could offer a special deal for current Terrace Level season ticket holders to move down to Club or Plaza level for next season with the disclaimer that they will have to move back up to Terrace once the lower two levels start filling up or pay the higher price. That might work.

Go Tigers!

yes, only make the offer to the current season ticket holders upstairs. Give them a year to year "credit" for the difference so that when it is built back up they will have to pay up or go back upstairs-- but for now they are happy, the seats are filled and it is packed (or more packed)

and I have bad news for you, the 'donations' for a seat license are 100% NOT tax deductible anymore so a lot of people are going to be re-thinking their tickets even more the coming year.

They never have been 100%. This is a 80% deduction. I never thought about closing down the terrace level; that would be admitting defeat before we got started with a new coach-perhaps if we are stuck with Tubby another year.

80% then now 0% deductible, so it will make a difference.

90% chance Tubby will be back so closing the terrace is going to happen the only question is , Is it officially closed as part of a plan? or is it just what happened due to lack of interest.

(02-07-2018 11:06 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:01 PM)Shooters Wrote:  our program would be in much better shape. Some will question the difference between 14K and 18K. It is huge in creating demand for season tickets. I remember the coliseum glory days when seats were fought over in divorce proceedings and passed along in wills. I’m not sure this proposed arena could have survived the Tubby/Pastner debacle but I’m convinced attendance would be a good bit higher and our record would be better due to a true home court advantage. I can remember being in the Coliseum and not being able to hear my date next to me. Watching the Purdue Ohio st. Game made me think of it. Not an empty seat in the house. Tremendous atmosphere and the coliseum had better acoustics.

I know Purdue is good but having an arena a little smaller than your demand is a ticket scalpers (and AD departments) dream. The same applies in football. If we had a 50K Liberty Bowl, I am convinced we would have sold out most games last year.

But the NFL and Grizzlies set the level of seats that the Tigers have to sell. Cal did a great job filling up the Forum but it’s going to be much harder to do in the future as we will have a hard time getting back all of our former season ticket holders.

Not advocating an OCS or arena at all. Just thinking of what attendance will be like in basketball when we hire a coach that the fans accept.

IMO the University should CLOSE the upper deck for a while.

Take the season ticket holders upstairs and let them even swap for club tickets for a while and start to sell out again.

This is the best idea to creating a real atmosphere again. Every season ticket buyer gets lower bowl.

Upper bowl tickets to be sold game by game.

Anyone willing to spend on season tickets should be guaranteed lower bowl tickets

Great idea

(02-08-2018 12:56 AM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(02-08-2018 12:35 AM)Shooters Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:33 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:27 PM)MemphisBlue Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:06 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  IMO the University should CLOSE the upper deck for a while.

Take the season ticket holders upstairs and let them even swap for club tickets for a while and start to sell out again.

I fully agree that the Terrace Level needs to close, but it may not be as easy as it sounds. I would assume this is being considered as part of a renegotiation with the FedEx Forum to allow them save operating costs by not opening the Terrace Level, but many in the Terrace Level are only paying $100 for season tickets and may not be willing to pay much more.

What is the cheapest price you could sell a ticket for in the Club or Plaza level if you closed the Terrace Level? If you were to keep the lowest price at $100, you may have people flocking from the more expensive seats to the $100 seats because most of the seats on the Club or Plaza level are pretty good. This would decrease your total revenue. If you don't offer less expensive seats, then you are going to lose some of the faithful fans that have actually been coming.

Maybe they could offer a special deal for current Terrace Level season ticket holders to move down to Club or Plaza level for next season with the disclaimer that they will have to move back up to Terrace once the lower two levels start filling up or pay the higher price. That might work.

Go Tigers!

yes, only make the offer to the current season ticket holders upstairs. Give them a year to year "credit" for the difference so that when it is built back up they will have to pay up or go back upstairs-- but for now they are happy, the seats are filled and it is packed (or more packed)

and I have bad news for you, the 'donations' for a seat license are 100% NOT tax deductible anymore so a lot of people are going to be re-thinking their tickets even more the coming year.

They never have been 100%. This is a 80% deduction. I never thought about closing down the terrace level; that would be admitting defeat before we got started with a new coach-perhaps if we are stuck with Tubby another year.

80% then now 0% deductible, so it will make a difference.

90% chance Tubby will be back so closing the terrace is going to happen the only question is , Is it officially closed as part of a plan? or is it just what happened due to lack of interest.

I don’t think we can put a % on whether Tubby will be back. Several areas of the program are broken. Bringing Tubby back is continuing to ram a square peg down a circle hole.

(02-08-2018 12:56 AM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(02-08-2018 12:35 AM)Shooters Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:33 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:27 PM)MemphisBlue Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:06 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  IMO the University should CLOSE the upper deck for a while.

Take the season ticket holders upstairs and let them even swap for club tickets for a while and start to sell out again.

I fully agree that the Terrace Level needs to close, but it may not be as easy as it sounds. I would assume this is being considered as part of a renegotiation with the FedEx Forum to allow them save operating costs by not opening the Terrace Level, but many in the Terrace Level are only paying $100 for season tickets and may not be willing to pay much more.

What is the cheapest price you could sell a ticket for in the Club or Plaza level if you closed the Terrace Level? If you were to keep the lowest price at $100, you may have people flocking from the more expensive seats to the $100 seats because most of the seats on the Club or Plaza level are pretty good. This would decrease your total revenue. If you don't offer less expensive seats, then you are going to lose some of the faithful fans that have actually been coming.

Maybe they could offer a special deal for current Terrace Level season ticket holders to move down to Club or Plaza level for next season with the disclaimer that they will have to move back up to Terrace once the lower two levels start filling up or pay the higher price. That might work.

Go Tigers!

yes, only make the offer to the current season ticket holders upstairs. Give them a year to year "credit" for the difference so that when it is built back up they will have to pay up or go back upstairs-- but for now they are happy, the seats are filled and it is packed (or more packed)

and I have bad news for you, the 'donations' for a seat license are 100% NOT tax deductible anymore so a lot of people are going to be re-thinking their tickets even more the coming year.

They never have been 100%. This is a 80% deduction. I never thought about closing down the terrace level; that would be admitting defeat before we got started with a new coach-perhaps if we are stuck with Tubby another year.

80% then now 0% deductible, so it will make a difference.

90% chance Tubby will be back so closing the terrace is going to happen the only question is , Is it officially closed as part of a plan? or is it just what happened due to lack of interest.

Entertainment expenses for businesses are longer deductible as well either, which is not good for ticket sales...

(02-08-2018 07:50 AM)Tygrys Wrote:  

(02-08-2018 12:56 AM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(02-08-2018 12:35 AM)Shooters Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:33 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:27 PM)MemphisBlue Wrote:  I fully agree that the Terrace Level needs to close, but it may not be as easy as it sounds. I would assume this is being considered as part of a renegotiation with the FedEx Forum to allow them save operating costs by not opening the Terrace Level, but many in the Terrace Level are only paying $100 for season tickets and may not be willing to pay much more.

What is the cheapest price you could sell a ticket for in the Club or Plaza level if you closed the Terrace Level? If you were to keep the lowest price at $100, you may have people flocking from the more expensive seats to the $100 seats because most of the seats on the Club or Plaza level are pretty good. This would decrease your total revenue. If you don't offer less expensive seats, then you are going to lose some of the faithful fans that have actually been coming.

Maybe they could offer a special deal for current Terrace Level season ticket holders to move down to Club or Plaza level for next season with the disclaimer that they will have to move back up to Terrace once the lower two levels start filling up or pay the higher price. That might work.

Go Tigers!

yes, only make the offer to the current season ticket holders upstairs. Give them a year to year "credit" for the difference so that when it is built back up they will have to pay up or go back upstairs-- but for now they are happy, the seats are filled and it is packed (or more packed)

and I have bad news for you, the 'donations' for a seat license are 100% NOT tax deductible anymore so a lot of people are going to be re-thinking their tickets even more the coming year.

They never have been 100%. This is a 80% deduction. I never thought about closing down the terrace level; that would be admitting defeat before we got started with a new coach-perhaps if we are stuck with Tubby another year.

80% then now 0% deductible, so it will make a difference.

90% chance Tubby will be back so closing the terrace is going to happen the only question is , Is it officially closed as part of a plan? or is it just what happened due to lack of interest.

Entertainment expenses for businesses are longer deductible as well either, which is not good for ticket sales...

Yep, if you do the numbers it is a hidden 20% Increase in ticket prices ( or a little less depending on your tax bracket) - when things are going down already having an increase in prices is never a good idea.

(02-08-2018 08:57 AM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(02-08-2018 07:50 AM)Tygrys Wrote:  

(02-08-2018 12:56 AM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(02-08-2018 12:35 AM)Shooters Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:33 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  yes, only make the offer to the current season ticket holders upstairs. Give them a year to year "credit" for the difference so that when it is built back up they will have to pay up or go back upstairs-- but for now they are happy, the seats are filled and it is packed (or more packed)

and I have bad news for you, the 'donations' for a seat license are 100% NOT tax deductible anymore so a lot of people are going to be re-thinking their tickets even more the coming year.

They never have been 100%. This is a 80% deduction. I never thought about closing down the terrace level; that would be admitting defeat before we got started with a new coach-perhaps if we are stuck with Tubby another year.

80% then now 0% deductible, so it will make a difference.

90% chance Tubby will be back so closing the terrace is going to happen the only question is , Is it officially closed as part of a plan? or is it just what happened due to lack of interest.

Entertainment expenses for businesses are longer deductible as well either, which is not good for ticket sales...

Yep, if you do the numbers it is a hidden 20% Increase in ticket prices ( or a little less depending on your tax bracket) - when things are going down already having an increase in prices is never a good idea.

Hopefully, the elimination of the 80% charitable contribution will only be in 2018. Every major conference is about to throw a collective massive fit over that and I would not be surprised to see that reversed but perhaps at a lower percent, somewhere between 50% and 70%. For struggling programs like Memphis it legitimately could have a major negative impact on season ticket sales for the upcoming season(s).

There are a couple of goals down the street from my place, we'd have to get a new net for one. Probably fit about 2-300 in the grassy area around the court. It'd be an issue in the rain or after dark, but I think the atmosphere there would be fabulous. I think we could consistently sell 2-300 tickets for next season.

(02-07-2018 11:06 PM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(02-07-2018 11:01 PM)Shooters Wrote:  our program would be in much better shape. Some will question the difference between 14K and 18K. It is huge in creating demand for season tickets. I remember the coliseum glory days when seats were fought over in divorce proceedings and passed along in wills. I’m not sure this proposed arena could have survived the Tubby/Pastner debacle but I’m convinced attendance would be a good bit higher and our record would be better due to a true home court advantage. I can remember being in the Coliseum and not being able to hear my date next to me. Watching the Purdue Ohio st. Game made me think of it. Not an empty seat in the house. Tremendous atmosphere and the coliseum had better acoustics.

I know Purdue is good but having an arena a little smaller than your demand is a ticket scalpers (and AD departments) dream. The same applies in football. If we had a 50K Liberty Bowl, I am convinced we would have sold out most games last year.

But the NFL and Grizzlies set the level of seats that the Tigers have to sell. Cal did a great job filling up the Forum but it’s going to be much harder to do in the future as we will have a hard time getting back all of our former season ticket holders.

Not advocating an OCS or arena at all. Just thinking of what attendance will be like in basketball when we hire a coach that the fans accept.

IMO the University should CLOSE the upper deck for a while.

Take the season ticket holders upstairs and let them even swap for club tickets for a while and start to sell out again.

Very reasonable solution. I like this. I don't think we should accept a smaller, lesser version of ourselves. I'm not for giving up the recruiting perk of playing in an NBA arena. Let's build up to our expectations/dreams (whatever your view is) rather than minimizing the program to accept under-achieving/avergae.

It would be nice to see them play in the Coliseum a few times a year if they could ever put the money into redoing it. Lots of schools do that. I think it was Gonzaga a few years ago that played some games against us in Spokane. Cause Cal didn't wanna go to the Kennel. There truly was a method to his madness.

I have always advocated for one game a year at the Fieldhouse--general admission. That would be wild.

(02-08-2018 11:08 AM)salukiblue Wrote:  I have always advocated for one game a year at the Fieldhouse--general admission. That would be wild.

Double header with the women.

(02-08-2018 11:08 AM)salukiblue Wrote:  I have always advocated for one game a year at the Fieldhouse--general admission. That would be wild.

This right here is an awesome idea.

These scaling back suggestions are not what I had in mind at all. My point was (maybe not too well articulated) that it would be a lot easier to manage the finances of our two major sports with reasonably sized arenas that IMO would held create demand for season tickets as opposed to walk ups in those huge facilities. It has been proven over and over that a facility slightly smaller than ticket demand in a decent year is the optimum size. Tarping off upper level behind the basket (similar to FB) would be a good alternative to closing the entire upper level of the Forum down