$25 a seat -- but SLU doesn't want your money

[jp18]

Brian, I normally like and agree with many of your posts. But I think you are way off here. I think the fans that have casual interest in the program and went to a handful of games because the tickets were reasonable are the exact fan SLU should be trying to attract.

That was me. I have no affliation with the school whatsoever. I like college basketball and enjoy following SLU. I got season tickets with my dad a few years back because I could get them for a great, cheap price. I was on the fence about this year because tickets were more than triple what I was paying for one of my two season tickets. I decided to keep them because of the new building. Do you really want to drive away fans like my dad and I? If so, why? SLU needs new fans. Winning will do it, but cheaper tickets doesn't hurt by any means. We need to create a buzz and getting people in that building for a game like today would certainly help.

[AlumniFan]

Brian - stop with the logical, well-thought out responses. You will never be popular on this board with that kind of reasoning. Remember, arena or not, million dollar coach or not, beautiful campus or not, significantly rising academic stature or not, SLU is still run by a bunch of idiots and is destined to abject and pitiful failure. My guess is the whole place will shut down within a few months because only incompetent nitwits could have raised $70 million for an arena and lured a famous coach to run the program. It is all a house of cards at the precipice of the abyss. I suspect we will soon be playing in the SLIAC. Besides all that, did you see the pathetic product these collective numbskulls put on the floor this afternoon? Proof positive of their unending incompetence.

WARNING: The above comments are made in a sarcastic manner. Those incapable of discerning sarcasm from sincere rhetoric should refrain from reading these comments.

[brianstl]

Brian, I normally like and agree with many of your posts. But I think you are way off here. I think the fans that have casual interest in the program and went to a handful of games because the tickets were reasonable are the exact fan SLU should be trying to attract.

That was me. I have no affliation with the school whatsoever. I like college basketball and enjoy following SLU. I got season tickets with my dad a few years back because I could get them for a great, cheap price. I was on the fence about this year because tickets were more than triple what I was paying for one of my two season tickets. I decided to keep them because of the new building. Do you really want to drive away fans like my dad and I? If so, why? SLU needs new fans. Winning will do it, but cheaper tickets doesn't hurt by any means. We need to create a buzz and getting people in that building for a game like today would certainly help.

I don't want to drive you away, but you kept your tickets. I assume you will keep your tickets if the product on the court is good. Look, I am not happy about having to pay a lot more for my tickets. I just realize that this is the way it is going to have to be if I want a winning program here. The new building and everything that goes with it wasn't cheap. Majerus isn't cheap. The staff isn't cheap. Charter flights are not cheap. The strength and conditioning programs are not cheap.

[AlumniFan]

"the extra ticket men" today, were going begging as those that came used all of their tickets; it still surprises me that 40 or so >no shows" could be counted in the gold section across from players' benches but in the middle of our house. Were they home in bed with colds?

Does anyone know, definitively, if all of the gold and higher cost seats have sold out? I know that there were a lot of high end seats left when I picked mine which I assumed was because no one wanted to pay a Billiken Club donation of $1,000+ per seat. While I picked early, I have to believe that a lot of people decided to forego the higher required donation and just took nearly as good seats, but for far less money. Now, the VIP parking and access to Lorenzini's are tempting, but I can park right across from the arena for $20 bucks and eat somewhere else and put the extra ~$8,000 in my pocket. It really comes down to how generous are you to the program.

Bottom line, it would not surprise me if some of those empty seats were never actually sold to season ticket holders.

[bonwich]

I don't want to drive you away, but you kept your tickets. I assume you will keep your tickets if the product on the court is good. Look, I am not happy about having to pay a lot more for my tickets. I just realize that this is the way it is going to have to be if I want a winning program here. The new building and everything that goes with it wasn't cheap. Majerus isn't cheap. The staff isn't cheap. Charter flights are not cheap. The strength and conditioning programs are not cheap.

What does any of this have to do with charging $15 or $10 or $5 for last-minute seats? (Hint: NOTHING.) We've all paid our $25. No one is complaining about that in this context.

Repeat again: AN EMPTY SEAT GENERATES NO REVENUE. (It also generates no ability to turn a casual fan into a jp18 or a SLUFanSkip.) If the U would simply

1) Sell all remaining upper-deck seats on game day for $10 or less

(and perhaps 2) run a turn-in system, similar to that of the Cardinals, where those grossly embarrassing empty seats lower-level mid court could be purchased game-day by existing season ticket holders for, say, a $5 upcharge)

they would lose precisely nothing in existing ticket sales. In return

1) They wouldn't annoy folks like those who have posted on this board, as well as one of my seatmates, who would like to bring an extra kid from time to time but is put off by the $28 gouging

2) They would almost certainly get 9500-10000 on games like today

3) They might attract casual sports fans who might turn into casual or better Billiken fans

The idea of just waiting to win and selling tickets for $25 then defies any rational business sense.

[AlumniFan]

(and perhaps 2) run a turn-in system, similar to that of the Cardinals, where those grossly embarrassing empty seats lower-level mid court could be purchased game-day by existing season ticket holders for, say, a $5 upcharge)

JB - not sure about you, but I know that I have received correspondance that asked me to let someone at SLU know if I was not going to use my tickets - I assume they were giving them away.

[bonwich]

Brother AF: Don't forget, you have many more points than I do. My current seats aren't of a quality that any other season ticket holder would want to "move up" to them. I'm speaking of the Gold seats that have sat empty for the first three games. As you noted, it's very possible some of them weren't ever sold. But in any case, wouldn't it be better to have a system that lets die-hard fans fill those seats when the owners (or the U.) isn't using them?

[AlumniFan]

Brother AF: Don't forget, you have many more points than I do. My current seats aren't of a quality that any other season ticket holder would want to "move up" to them. I'm speaking of the Gold seats that have sat empty for the first three games. As you noted, it's very possible some of them weren't ever sold. But in any case, wouldn't it be better to have a system that lets die-hard fans fill those seats when the owners (or the U.) isn't using them?

No argument with that point at all. I assumed that they were giving them away to some deserving charity as opposed to other ticket holders. I would prefer mine go to someone who otherwise could not afford them, but I never have checked into the details.

P.S. I hope this is not our regular Saturday night - posting on internet boards, however, I have been enjoying some fine Napa Cabs tonight, so at least I have good company - on two levels.

[SluSignGuy]

Repeat again: AN EMPTY SEAT GENERATES NO REVENUE. (It also generates no ability to turn a casual fan into a jp18 or a SLUFanSkip.) If the U would simply

Just on this note, I don't think this should be overlooked. In 1996, my family could definitely be classified as casual fans. However, I got on the screen one day with a sign and got hooked. I haven't missed a conference tournament since 1999, and my family are loyal season ticket holders.

Making sure there are casual fan opportunities is key for SLU.

[courtside]

Part of the thought of building a smaller building was to increase demand for tickets. When you have a 20,000 seat building everybody believes they will have cheap ticket waiting for them at the last minute. It doesn't help the bottom line of a program much when you are selling a bunch of tickets for under ten bucks in addition to giving a bunch of tickets away for free. It cheapens the perception of your product. I have no problem with the way SLU has decided to price tickets this year. I have been told that SLU has already made more money off ticket sales/donations this season than the past two combined.

Don't tell me about how Mizzou sells tickets cheaper. SLU has out drawn Mizzou for each of the last three seasons and most of the last 15. SLU is a better draw than Mizzou basketball.

If you want to know how big crowds built on cheap seats and people having the expectation of free seats can kill a team look no further than the Blues. They are barely serving despite big crowds every night. Nobody believes they have to pay a price for Blues tickets that will keep the team in business. The Blues are on the verge of going out of business and have already fired twelve office staffers. They are one or two money people deciding to cut their losses and forcing SCP to put their assets on the auction block.

If you let let the public have the perception that your product is cheap you will never be able to produce anything but a cheap product.

How exactly does SLU compare to the NHL? Two entirely different entities.

Non-previous die-hards are going to pay non-coporate dollar in decent numbers to attend SLU basketball games if the cheapest ticket is $28. That was and is the point. There is no reason to have a small lower priced section or two. Most other like schools and better hoops programs have this in place.

[courtside]

I don't want to drive you away, but you kept your tickets. I assume you will keep your tickets if the product on the court is good. Look, I am not happy about having to pay a lot more for my tickets. I just realize that this is the way it is going to have to be if I want a winning program here. The new building and everything that goes with it wasn't cheap. Majerus isn't cheap. The staff isn't cheap. Charter flights are not cheap. The strength and conditioning programs are not cheap.

You have to ....gasp....win first. People aren't going to come just because you buid a shiny new building. Biondi was quoted recently as saying, ok, no more excuses, the Arena is built. Ok, let's see, ticket prices, customer service, marketing, recruiting budgets, overall hoops budgets, non-revenue sport support, on and on and on...

Other schools actually won first.

[courtside]

Enrollment has not been a problem at SLU. The number of applicants is already far more than can be accepted.

I am not shocked that more kids at a high school want to go to Mizzou. They are probably just being realistic about which school they can get into. SLU should never aim to be like state U where every average kid wants to go and expects to get into. SLU by being a selective Jesuit institution is by design not that kind of school.

I could really care less about the sweat shirt you picked. Would it be nice for SLU to be everyones first choice when it comes to sweatshirts? Sure, but that shouldn't be the goal. If SLU becomes successful they will never be everyones favorite team in town. It just doesn't work that way for private schools. Ask Duke and Notre Dame about that. Marquette is not even the most popular program in Milwaukee, but they seem to do fine. Marquette has to price tickets differently because they play in a 20,000 seat building.

There is no reason for SLU to discount tickets anymore than they already have for a number of games. The fact that they have made more money off tickets this year than ever before is proof of that. Now they just need to win and the rest will take care of itself. SLU's goal should be to maximize the money they can make off the current ticket price structure. Every seat in the house is worth the price if the team on the court produces results. There isn't a bad seat in the house.

The people that are complaining about ticket prices are for the most part not people that will ever become season ticket holders. It is basically the same people that like college basketball, but never have been SLU fans. They have been going to some SLU games for years. They are pissed off now because they have to pay a lot more to get into see a product that they were use to seeing for little or no cost in the past. I am sorry, but I am not really worried about those "fans".

If you start making it cheap for them to come into the new building they and others will expect it to continue . It is best to make a clean break from that group now. If we don't want to be mom and pop.........we have to stop acting like we are mom and pop.

Actually Marquette has the best attendance in town Brian. Facts are a beautiful thing. 16239 average, 14th Nationally. The Bucks drew 15595 average, or 22nd in the NBA. Take away some of the early cupcake games and that average goes up even higher for Marquette. Marquette only raised its ticket prices AFTER they made the Final Four and AFTER they joined the Big East Conference. The Big East actually set the attendance record for league games this past year as the first league to go over 3 million in league attendance. Marquette routinely sells out games against Wisconsin and many Big East games and many big opponent games. All of those games have seats in the $9 and $15 range and scalpers get top dollar for them. Marquette balances out its pricing for games amongst several price points.

What about Xavier Brian? They charge way less for the cheapest tickets. They have a better hoops program than SLU and a newer building.

There are a lot of people that weren't born in a SLU family. Local and transplants. There are a lot of young kids who don't even know what a successful hoops season is at SLU. You want to make SLU a private club for SLU lifers only. This has been the same narrow-minded thinking that has hurt SLU in the past.

As I said it is all about supply and demand. So far SLU hasn't been good enough as a team, nor provided the value of event presentation to increase the demand vs the cost. Everyone hopes and expects that to change in the future, but it doesn't mean those will be any new fans, or casual fans, and not simply previously disgruntled SLU die-hards.

[davidnark]

The ticket prices are too high for the "cheap seats." There is no reason reason they couldn't price the unsold upper decks behind the baskets at $10/ticket or less. If the demand increases significantly in future years, they could sell these seats for higher prices through expanded season tickets or partial season packages.

[TheA_Bomb]

I am just learning that the cheapest seats are $28 and I am a bit shocked. However, I don't know all the facts perhaps the school did a study on what price they would need to charge to pay the bills and that is the number they came up with.

I live in a town where I am the causual fan of the Universities here: TCU, SMU, UNT and UT(Arlington). I have attended SMU games basketball v. Memphis and Soccer v. SLU. I was hoping to attend TCU football but schedule didn't work out with kids activities and would like to see TCU basketball. I even want to check out UTA as they play in one of the most unique Basketball venues in the Country. They play in a theater and the court is on the stage.

SMU basketball is fairly cheap to attend about $10 or so per adult. TCU is $15/ adult $8/ kid. They both don't have new arenas to pay for or million dollar coaches. TCU's coach is paid about $450k and SMU is probably about that or a bit more. If they charged $28/ticket even for children I wouldn't attend. I may consider it if they were playing Duke, UK, UCLA or UNC but that's about it and definitely wouldn't take the kids for that price.

I plan to see Chaifetz sometime this year but for $28/seat the kids may have to stay home.

I think the AD has done some things better lately:

-all games available to be viewed online, when I first moved out of town (2000) I sat in my car in Oklahoma listening to scratchy KMOX and I could only get that on a clear night, then came online radio, now video

-the website is decent

-good opening game events/ halftime shows

-1st rate coach

-volleyball team in top 25

-Soccer win in Tourney

-Baseball team upgrades

They have somethings that could be better but it is easy to nitpick.

[AlumniFan]

I did some on-line spelunking for ticket prices. Here is what I found:

Xavier - from their website, cheapest tickets are $18.

Dayton - lots of very cheap specials, but they are 400 level tickets at about $10 bucks per.

UMass - appear to be lots of different levels and inexpensive at the cheapest level, but good luck trying to figure out how to buy them (Oops. I forgot, only SLU screws up things like this)

Saint Louis U. - as low as $2 on Tuesday games, $5 for other games, higher for others.

Illinois - cheapest I could find were $22 plus $10 for processing, so $32 on-line

Carbondale (SIU) - for the SLU game, $16

Nebraska - pain in the ass to get to the ticket purchase point, but only $5 for cheapest. Not sure how far up they are, but they are call UPPER BACK.

Marquette - impossible to get to the ticket purchase point. Have to go on-line to Ticketmaster or call.

Rhode Island - Cheapest 300 level tickets were $10. Courtside were $66. 100 level tickets were $26

St. Joe's - all tickets available for the games I checked were $30

Memphis - $12 for next game - could not figure out how to purchase other games (p.s. they also have a Blue Crew)

Depaul - pain in the ass to get to the ticket purchase point - have to go through ticketmaster, when I finally got through all the screens, $20 seemed to be the cheapest.

Oregon - $17 or $12 for an "obstructed view". Not sure what that means, maybe a really fat guy in front of you.

University of Washington - $20 for bleachers, $25 for bleachers with backs or regular seats.

UNLV - end balcony are $8 but good luck trying to figure out where in the hell "end balcony" is.

Based on my experience, SLU is definitely on the very reasonable end of ticket prices for the casual fan. It appears that they are trying to provide a reasonable, if not cheap, price for fans. Generally, I was looking for single game tickets for the casual fan.

BTW - Thomas the Train must be making a BOAT LOAD OF MONEY! That friggin' train is in every city on earth!

I know this will piss a lot of people off, but the SLU site was one of the easiest to navigate and I went through a lot of sites. Many of these sites are a pain to navigate.

[courtside]

I did some on-line spelunking for ticket prices. Here is what I found:

Xavier - from their website, cheapest tickets are $18.

Dayton - lots of very cheap specials, but they are 400 level tickets at about $10 bucks per.

UMass - appear to be lots of different levels and inexpensive at the cheapest level, but good luck trying to figure out how to buy them (Oops. I forgot, only SLU screws up things like this)

Saint Louis U. - as low as $2 on Tuesday games, $5 for other games, higher for others.

Illinois - cheapest I could find were $22 plus $10 for processing, so $32 on-line

Carbondale (SIU) - for the SLU game, $16

Nebraska - pain in the ass to get to the ticket purchase point, but only $5 for cheapest. Not sure how far up they are, but they are call UPPER BACK.

Marquette - impossible to get to the ticket purchase point. Have to go on-line to Ticketmaster or call.

Rhode Island - Cheapest 300 level tickets were $10. Courtside were $66. 100 level tickets were $26

St. Joe's - all tickets available for the games I checked were $30

Memphis - $12 for next game - could not figure out how to purchase other games (p.s. they also have a Blue Crew)

Depaul - pain in the ass to get to the ticket purchase point - have to go through ticketmaster, when I finally got through all the screens, $20 seemed to be the cheapest.

Oregon - $17 or $12 for an "obstructed view". Not sure what that means, maybe a really fat guy in front of you.

University of Washington - $20 for bleachers, $25 for bleachers with backs or regular seats.

UNLV - end balcony are $8 but good luck trying to figure out where in the hell "end balcony" is.

Based on my experience, SLU is definitely on the very reasonable end of ticket prices for the casual fan. It appears that they are trying to provide a reasonable, if not cheap, price for fans. Generally, I was looking for single game tickets for the casual fan.

BTW - Thomas the Train must be making a BOAT LOAD OF MONEY! That friggin' train is in every city on earth!

I know this will piss a lot of people off, but the SLU site was one of the easiest to navigate and I went through a lot of sites. Many of these sites are a pain to navigate.

Those SLU tix are not walk up prices alumnifan. Those are purchase in advance internet pricing and only for certain days agaisnt certain opponents.

What are everyday prices for all opponents, no random specials, in person. Kent St., BC etc...$28 cheapest seat.

[AlumniFan]

Those SLU tix are not walk up prices alumnifan. Those are purchase in advance internet pricing and only for certain days agaisnt certain opponents.

What are everyday prices for all opponents, no random specials, in person. Kent St., BC etc...$28 cheapest seat.

let me get this straight: $2 and $5 ticket prices do not count for the casual fan because they might be inconvenienced by having to sit down @ there computer in the comfort of their home to buy them?!?! that explains a lot about the state of our society today!

[courtside]

let me get this straight: $2 and $5 ticket prices do not count for the casual fan because they might be inconvenienced by having to sit down @ there computer in the comfort of their home to buy them?!?! that explains a lot about the state of our society today!

That is for FOUR games all season.

Liberty

UMBC

NC A&T

Richmond

And, it is online only.

Ticket prices for Kent St. and BC and everything else $28 for cheapest ticket.

[AlumniFan]

That is for FOUR games all season.

Liberty

UMBC

NC A&T

Richmond

And, it is online only.

Ticket prices for Kent St. and BC and everything else $28 for cheapest ticket.

So a quarter of the games then not counting whatever they did for the first two games (Harris Stowe and UMSL). That is the opportunity for the "casual fan". If the team wins, the other games will sell too. If the team loses, even free tickets will remain unclaimed. Either way, the school is still trying to make some cheap tickets available to draw in "casual fans". I do not see a problem with this from a business perspective or from a fan perspective.

[courtside]

So a quarter of the games then not counting whatever they did for the first two games (Harris Stowe and UMSL). That is the opportunity for the "casual fan". If the team wins, the other games will sell too. If the team loses, even free tickets will remain unclaimed. Either way, the school is still trying to make some cheap tickets available to draw in "casual fans". I do not see a problem with this from a business perspective or from a fan perspective.

Lol....four games? Internet only?

Well, from a business perspective it didn't work well this season as attendance was not great this week for two of SLU's best home opponents of the year.

From a business perspective, you want to be inclusive and accomodating. Not selling tix at halftime and punishing walk up fans isn't inclusive. $28 a ticket for the cheapest ticket isn't inclusive. This is SLU hoops, not a long-standing top 25 program or better.

SLU is not currently in a position to be having $28 be its cheapest ticket at games. You seem uninterested in attractive "new" fans to SLU basketball. I was unaware demand and attendance was so great, and trending upward so well, that SLU doesn't need to be interested in the casual fan. Even if SLU was a top 25 program, there is still a need to do it differently. You illustrated the point with your list that SLU is not comparable with prices of many schools with greater hoops programs.

[bonwich]

This has become a tad more contentious than I'd intended, but I guess that's the nature of all Internet boards.

Once again, nowhere have I ever said that the decision to sell all season tickets at $25 was poor. The revenue there was based on the seat-license fees, and it seems to have worked reasonably well, with the one apparent shortcoming that a visible number of prime seats have remained empty for the first few games. I readily see the logic in holding those seats open "betting on the come" that Rickma will produce progressively more wins and exciting teams.

The theme that I keep returning to is that the U just doesn't pay attention to little things. The competition for sporting-events dollars is pretty low this season (Rams and Blues), and the U has the opportunity to draw those 50 or 100 or 250 incremental fans I mentioned in a previous post to each game, but by pricing seats at $25, it's saying it really doesn't care for that strategy. Again -- the incremental revenue from those fans (at $10 or $15 a ticket) isn't meant to PAY for the damned arena. But 1) it's revenue that wouldn't come in otherwise, plus whatever amenities those fans also buy; and 2) it's BUILDING A FAN BASE. I personally have encountered a dozen or so people who have indicated they'd like to come to a game and see the new place, but the $25 price tag scares them away.

One other data point: Mizzou's lowest season ticket price isn't $199 -- it's $99. "Family plan" tickets include two adults and two children for $397 for the season. Why can't SLU offer "family plan" walkups of one adult and one youth ticket for $15? What would that possibly hurt?

[Tonka]

This has become a tad more contentious than I'd intended, but I guess that's the nature of all Internet boards.

Once again, nowhere have I ever said that the decision to sell all season tickets at $25 was poor. The revenue there was based on the seat-license fees, and it seems to have worked reasonably well, with the one apparent shortcoming that a visible number of prime seats have remained empty for the first few games. I readily see the logic in holding those seats open "betting on the come" that Rickma will produce progressively more wins and exciting teams.

The theme that I keep returning to is that the U just doesn't pay attention to little things. The competition for sporting-events dollars is pretty low this season (Rams and Blues), and the U has the opportunity to draw those 50 or 100 or 250 incremental fans I mentioned in a previous post to each game, but by pricing seats at $25, it's saying it really doesn't care for that strategy. Again -- the incremental revenue from those fans (at $10 or $15 a ticket) isn't meant to PAY for the damned arena. But 1) it's revenue that wouldn't come in otherwise, plus whatever amenities those fans also buy; and 2) it's BUILDING A FAN BASE. I personally have encountered a dozen or so people who have indicated they'd like to come to a game and see the new place, but the $25 price tag scares them away.

One other data point: Mizzou's lowest season ticket price isn't $199 -- it's $99. "Family plan" tickets include two adults and two children for $397 for the season. Why can't SLU offer "family plan" walkups of one adult and one youth ticket for $15? What would that possibly hurt?

I think that's a great idea to offer family packages.

BTW, I noticed there are not one, but two places on SLU's site to offer feedback to the Athletic program. Maybe they should hear some of this stuff.

[AlumniFan]

Lol....four games? Internet only?

Well, from a business perspective it didn't work well this season as attendance was not great this week for two of SLU's best home opponents of the year.

From a business perspective, you want to be inclusive and accomodating. Not selling tix at halftime and punishing walk up fans isn't inclusive. $28 a ticket for the cheapest ticket isn't inclusive. This is SLU hoops, not a long-standing top 25 program or better.

SLU is not currently in a position to be having $28 be its cheapest ticket at games. You seem uninterested in attractive "new" fans to SLU basketball. I was unaware demand and attendance was so great, and trending upward so well, that SLU doesn't need to be interested in the casual fan. Even if SLU was a top 25 program, there is still a need to do it differently. You illustrated the point with your list that SLU is not comparable with prices of many schools with greater hoops programs.

Your are right - this IS SLU hoops. The BC game was almost 90% soldout! It is not like there were 10,000 empty seats. How many schools sold nearly 10,000 tickets for an early season game? There are 330 D1 teams - how many had almost 10,000 in their 2nd D1 contest? This team gets piss poor media coverage, has only two known players, and features a ton of freshman. It competes in a large market with pro hockey, baseball, football (insert joke here) and several other college and high school teams not to mention everything else that there is to do. What do you really expect? All of a sudden St. Louis is going to poor into Chaifetz to see Kyle Cassity or Brett Thompson? THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO THESE PEOPLE ARE YET! We all know because we are part of a VERY small group who are very into Billiken basketball. No one else cares and free tickets won't get them to care - UNTIL the Billikens win.

You are so over the top - "walk up fans isn't inclusive". What - are they standing out with baseball bats and beating people who try to walk up and buy tickets? Please.

Look, do you really think if they made the unsold upper bowl $15 per seat that they are going to make more money? Wrong - do the math. IF they get the other thousand or so tickets sold, then they get $15,000, but they give up $13 per seat for the other 4,000 or $52,000. Not to mention how pissed all those people who paid more for season tickets would be. But more importantly, do you REALLY think that many people will come at $15, but not $28? If so, where were they last year when ticket prices were cheaper?

This whole argument is just silly and absurd. SLU is far from perfect, but there seems to be a core group of people who constantly find things to ***** about. For the past 10 years people have been complaining. Now, when so much looks positive, people are CREATING new things to ***** about. Can't you all just stick to kicking around Guy Philips and be positive on SLU for a change?

Dumb question. Nevermind....

[bonwich]

Look, do you really think if they made the unsold upper bowl $15 per seat that they are going to make more money? Wrong - do the math. IF they get the other thousand or so tickets sold, then they get $15,000, but they give up $13 per seat for the other 4,000 or $52,000. Not to mention how pissed all those people who paid more for season tickets would be. But more importantly, do you REALLY think that many people will come at $15, but not $28? If so, where were they last year when ticket prices were cheaper?

This whole argument is just silly and absurd.

Now, c'mon, AF, that's beneath you ("silly and absurd.") We all have points of view. Mine is that the concept of "student rush" tickets at the Symphony or the TKTS booth in Times Square or SLU's long-ago system of "best remaining seat" certificates have all been proven as successful business models.

There's a logical fallacy in your "give up $13 per seat for the other 4,000" argument -- THOSE SEATS WERE ALREADY SOLD. You wants advance seats, you pays your money. (And you get your choice of the seats available a few to many days in advance of the game.) Do you really think that 1) those people will be "pissed" if other people buy seats (especially if they're restricted to end-zone seats) game day for $15 or $10 or even $7.50? 2) That all 4,000 of them -- or even a sizeable portion -- would wait until game day and stand in what would doubtless be very long lines just to save $10 a ticket?

And do I really think that people would have come to the BC game at $15 but not $28? Well, just little old me had four separate conversations with people who wanted to come to that game but thought the price was way too high. Maybe I'm just a lightning rod, but anecdotally, the U. lost a good chance to draw casual sports fans and build a foundation for a growing fan base with no foregone revenue.

[brianstl]

You have to ....gasp....win first. People aren't going to come just because you buid a shiny new building. Biondi was quoted recently as saying, ok, no more excuses, the Arena is built. Ok, let's see, ticket prices, customer service, marketing, recruiting budgets, overall hoops budgets, non-revenue sport support, on and on and on...

Other schools actually won first.

So SLU has to win first? They have made more money off season tickets than ever before by a wide margin. The goal is for the program to make money not lead the nation in attendance.

Actually Marquette has the best attendance in town Brian. Facts are a beautiful thing. 16239 average, 14th Nationally. The Bucks drew 15595 average, or 22nd in the NBA. Take away some of the early cupcake games and that average goes up even higher for Marquette. Marquette only raised its ticket prices AFTER they made the Final Four and AFTER they joined the Big East Conference. The Big East actually set the attendance record for league games this past year as the first league to go over 3 million in league attendance. Marquette routinely sells out games against Wisconsin and many Big East games and many big opponent games. All of those games have seats in the $9 and $15 range and scalpers get top dollar for them. Marquette balances out its pricing for games amongst several price points.

What about Xavier Brian? They charge way less for the cheapest tickets. They have a better hoops program than SLU and a newer building.

There are a lot of people that weren't born in a SLU family. Local and transplants. There are a lot of young kids who don't even know what a successful hoops season is at SLU. You want to make SLU a private club for SLU lifers only. This has been the same narrow-minded thinking that has hurt SLU in the past.

As I said it is all about supply and demand. So far SLU hasn't been good enough as a team, nor provided the value of event presentation to increase the demand vs the cost. Everyone hopes and expects that to change in the future, but it doesn't mean those will be any new fans, or casual fans, and not simply previously disgruntled SLU die-hards.

XU has to compete with Cincy in town. It is not a fair comparison.

Don't try to say Marquette is the most popular program in town You know that is not true. You know that Wisconsin is far more popular in Milwaukee than Marquette. If you say differently you are lying to yourself or purposely lying to everybody on the board.