Quote:Memphis basketball season tickets dropped 25% in Penny Hardaway's best season. How officials explained it
Jason Munz
Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis basketball season ticket sales took a significant hit in 2022-23.

The university reported 8,397 season tickets sold – the fewest of Penny Hardaway’s five seasons as coach and a year-over-year decrease of 2,913 (or, 25.7%) – according to figures provided by the school to The Commercial Appeal via open records request.

“It’s a concern, but there aren’t alarms going off,” University of Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch told The Commercial Appeal earlier this month.

Hardaway’s Tigers advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season, falling to eventual Final Four participant FAU in the first round. Overall, Memphis enjoyed its best season of the Hardaway era, finishing 26-9. Led by All-America point guard Kendric Davis and all-conference forward DeAndre Williams, the Tigers won their first AAC Tournament championship, beating No. 1 Houston in the title game for the program’s first win over a top-ranked team.

Veatch and other athletic department officials take a variety of factors into consideration when digesting the steep decline, including overall industry-wide trends and a 15% year-over-year increase in tickets scanned (actual attendance). Five games at FedExForum during the 2022-23 season saw a higher number of tickets scanned than season tickets sold: Houston (13,302), Ole Miss (10,720), Tulane (8,824), Cincinnati (8,673) and Texas A&M (8,554). Three more games (East Carolina, VCU and South Florida) also drew more than 7,000 each through the turnstiles.

The Tigers' home non-conference schedule for 2023-24 has not been finalized, although several opponents are in place, including Vanderbilt and Virginia. Memphis is in the process of finalizing a home-and-home series − which would begin in Memphis later this year − with another Power 5 program, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the deal.

The COVID-19 pandemic also played a part, officials said, noting some season ticket holders’ payments were rolled over from 2020-21 to 2021-22, which could have led to a change in spending habits and led to some opting not to renew.

Another mitigating factor, according to Memphis officials, was the department’s decision to discontinue the sale of more than 1,500 season tickets to secondary market buyers.

“We had a lot of brokers, for lack of a better term, buying season tickets who would then sell them,” said Adam Walker, executive associate athletic director. “We cut that out just to have a little bit more control of the market.”

The low water mark for season ticket sales (4,115) came in 2017-18 (former coach Tubby Smith’s final season). Two years later, on the heels of Hardaway’s first No. 1-ranked recruiting class, Memphis reported 14,144 season tickets sold.

Veatch, while hopeful of a rebound, is confident the athletic department will adapt to the climate.

“Habits and patterns are changing,” he said. “You just have to adjust the product and how you sell it. We’re just going to have to look at it differently and take a different approach.”

We have 6 season tickets behind the Tigers bench. I'd say there were all but maybe 5 or 6 games where we couldn't give our 6 away.

It would be interesting to know how NIL and transfer rules are affecting season ticket sales all over the country.

I know it's hard for me to get as excited about college sports since these changes have kicked in.

That was coming off our best season under Penny and with KD coming in. I hate to see what it might be like for the coming season

Is this a shock?
The Grizzlies were good.
The Tigers are a perennial bubble team despite awesome rosters.
Last year's roster realistically only had 2 good players on it so the early season outlook was grim.
Every year has been drama drama drama since Hardaway was hired and much of it self-inflicted.
Maybe Tiger fans are just tired?

We are in a better place than with Tubby, but we are batting so far below potential and the fans know it.

(05-24-2023 09:49 AM)GermantownTiger Wrote:  It would be interesting to know how NIL and transfer rules are affecting season ticket sales all over the country.

I know it's hard for me to get as excited about college sports since these changes have kicked in.

Also with all the media behind paywalls, its tough for out of towners like me to follow all these changes.

I find it hard to believe the Grizzlies are taking away folks. They are two totally different products in my eyes. Plus Grizz season tix are such an obligation because there's so many more friggin games. Kind of like with football attendance across the country dropping the options to watch the games at home are just so much better then they used to be. I know with little kids now its a whole lot easier to just sit in my La-z-boy and watch the games. Especially weeknight games. Like most things if we start winning big games then the ticket sales will increase.

(05-24-2023 09:53 AM)Titans3775 Wrote:  Is this a shock?
The Grizzlies were good.
The Tigers are a perennial bubble team despite awesome rosters.
Last year's roster realistically only had 2 good players on it so the early season outlook was grim.
Every year has been drama drama drama since Hardaway was hired and much of it self-inflicted.
Maybe Tiger fans are just tired?

We are in a better place than with Tubby, but we are batting so far below potential and the fans know it.

This pretty much nails it. While I personally couldn’t care any less if the entire NBA folded this afternoon, a lot of folks enjoy Grizz games. People only have so much $$ and time to spend on basketball. Tiger basketball hasn’t been an elite program since Calipari left and people are coming to the realization that it’s not gonna be any time soon, if ever again. With the recent news that we can’t compete in NIL, all the bums/winos and crime downtown, and now a conference schedule playing a bunch of nobodies, it’ll probably get worse. We had season tix for 10+ years (except yr 2 of Tubby because.. what a joke he was), bought ours back the day Penny was hired, but haven’t had them the last 2 seasons. It’s just a hassle going down there 20 times a year especially when 17 of them are against garbage teams.

Penny doesn't really sell the program as much as I think he should. But then again, you had a guy like Calipari who had things going on on the plaza before every game.

I'm curious how there can be multiple games with more tickets scanned than tickets sold.

(05-24-2023 10:20 AM)UofMark Wrote:  I'm curious how there can be multiple games with more tickets scanned than tickets sold.

I thought the same thing when I quickly read it, but after going back and re-reading it says more scanned than 'season' tickets sold. So that makes more sense. Some games had good walk-up sales and some had larger student turnouts.

I knew we weren't at Tubby level ticket sales as some had suggested.

(05-24-2023 10:12 AM)true_blue_thru_and_thru Wrote:  I find it hard to believe the Grizzlies are taking away folks. They are two totally different products in my eyes. Plus Grizz season tix are such an obligation because there's so many more friggin games. Kind of like with football attendance across the country dropping the options to watch the games at home are just so much better then they used to be. I know with little kids now its a whole lot easier to just sit in my La-z-boy and watch the games. Especially weeknight games. Like most things if we start winning big games then the ticket sales will increase.

JMO but a lot of the blame the grizz stuff just feels like the easier excuse than looking inward as to why your product is less appealing currently.

(05-24-2023 10:18 AM)fishman6581 Wrote:  Penny doesn't really sell the program as much as I think he should. But then again, you had a guy like Calipari who had things going on on the plaza before every game.

Kirk and Cal, and to a lesser extent West, Fuente and Norvell - Those sales guy types are what we need here. It's what works best here.

The main reason I didn’t renew for both sports, it’s the conference that we where left behind in, that’s it in a nutshell, I think some people like myself have no drive to see some of these teams, if the Big 12 or the ACC came calling tomorrow, we would have sellouts, that’s my opinion, if has nothing in my opinion to do with the grizz, I’m a true blue tiger fan for life.

(05-24-2023 09:53 AM)Titans3775 Wrote:  Is this a shock?
The Grizzlies were good.
The Tigers are a perennial bubble team despite awesome rosters.
Last year's roster realistically only had 2 good players on it so the early season outlook was grim.
Every year has been drama drama drama since Hardaway was hired and much of it self-inflicted.
Maybe Tiger fans are just tired?

We are in a better place than with Tubby, but we are batting so far below potential and the fans know it.

Bingo! This 100%. +3.

George Lapides was 100% right. He said when the fixed/fake/rigged rasslin league was announced coming to MEMPHIS that it would be the worst thing to happen to the TIGERS.

Kids used to grow up TIGER fans, wearing TIGER gear all over town. The entire city of MEMPHIS knew all TIGER players names. They were treated like rock stars.

Now all you see are little kids/teens wearing local NBA crap, their heroes are now local NBA players, not TIGERS.

As older TIGER fans continue to go to glory, (the fans from the 60's-90's), it will get worse.

There are a lot of contributing factors to declining attendance nationwide in certain sports.

1) The changing of rules in almost every sport. Most to increase offense. Thus obliterating all the records in most sports.

2) Again the changing of the rules, to speed up the games. Now less $$ bang/time for the buck. Games in all sports used to last longer, it was an event. It used to be more $$ bang/time for the buck, now less.

3) Specifically to college sports. The INSANITY of NIL coupled with the TRANSFER PORTAL is a huge reason for declining interest in the college arena. The games we all grew loving are no more, sports have changed for the worse .

3) All sports, both PRO and UNIVERSITIES going WOKE however is the main reason for declining attendance in certain sports .

(05-24-2023 09:41 AM)fishman6581 Wrote:  We have 6 season tickets behind the Tigers bench. I'd say there were all but maybe 5 or 6 games where we couldn't give our 6 away.

So you have season tickets but didn't go?

(05-24-2023 11:09 AM)TigersOhMy Wrote:  

(05-24-2023 10:12 AM)true_blue_thru_and_thru Wrote:  I find it hard to believe the Grizzlies are taking away folks. They are two totally different products in my eyes. Plus Grizz season tix are such an obligation because there's so many more friggin games. Kind of like with football attendance across the country dropping the options to watch the games at home are just so much better then they used to be. I know with little kids now its a whole lot easier to just sit in my La-z-boy and watch the games. Especially weeknight games. Like most things if we start winning big games then the ticket sales will increase.

JMO but a lot of the blame the grizz stuff just feels like the easier excuse than looking inward as to why your product is less appealing currently.

Tell me how many cities with major league sports teams have college sports teams doing well? There are some but not many. Should they all look within?