davidnark Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/st...7D?OpenDocument Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlumniFan Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Quote: "By scaling back the number of seats - the arena would still be one of the largest in the Atlantic 10 - it reduced the cost of the arena, allowing for the practice facility and offices." I will gladly give up 3,000 seats to have the coaches offices and practice facilities IN THE BUILDING. That was a HUGE thing for Soderberg, HUGE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 I also love the following quotes from Cheryl: "We want it jammed, we want it a hot ticket,'' Levick said. "We want to sellout, we want people lining up for tickets, we want to create a buzz and demand and we can do that with this facility." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Easy for Brad to say that he wants 10k - he won't have to pay the additional cost for a ticket. What still has me puzzled is if they give 1000 seats to students, sell 8000 season seats, than that only leaves 1000 seats for sale to the public assuming that more people next year do not try to buy season tix just to make sure they get in. It will be interesting to see how the work this out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 what they have likely done is create a built in psl. with fewer seats being available, it might take a billiken club membership to get a season tix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsWin Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 So what does a Billiken Club membership do for you? And I guess the longer you are a member the better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 A Billiken Club Membership starts at $120. Most members have at least 2 or 4 season tickets. A $30-60 per ticket donation hardly merits PSL designation. All of the current season ticket holders will have no problems securing seats, and there will still be several thousand season tickets to spare. I would be surprised to see several thousand new season ticket holders line up at the door merely because we moved on campus. If the new arena brings out a thousand new students, it as served its main purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecrewfinance Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 the on-campus location will, most assuredly, increase student turnout...we won't have to wait for things like 20 minute+ wait for buses, on both ends of the trip. The sheer convenience of having an on-campus arena should have students above 1k. Will we have enough space when Lisch is a SR? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Nice spin from Levick but I am not buyin...sorry. Blah blah blah...SHE couldn't lead the effort to raise the necessary funds, so the new arena will scal eback to 10k. I sure hop ethe goal is to have a LOT more than 1k students. What happens IF and hopefuly when SLU moves up in the world.....? And 2k-3k for student tix is more like it? SLU wil get the hanfful of big gmaes at Savvis, and anything is better than nothing....but bottom line is on Levick's watch they had to scale back...a big positive sure....but objectively....this is her job, her gig....and any other evaluation than mixed result isn't correct. She can give all the quotes she wants about jammed this and that...not buyin, thanks. Don't want to damper the day and positive....but I will at least always be objective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 let's say that the average person has 4 seats (probably more like two which would only double this thinking, but lets be conservative). that means if we have 8,000 season tix sold that 2,000 season tix holders. at 120 per person that is over $2,000,000 per year at the minimum level. take into consideration that the higher level you participate the more priority points you earn that number goes up. sorry david, but $2m+ per year is indeed very significant if this forces all to become billiken club members. the unknown is what happens to seats going forward. is it a situation where you never lose your location unless you die or just quit your tix? if so, i love it. i have effectively been participating in that type of psl for almost 20 years and i would be very pleased with that thinking. if they make location temporary and dependent on future priority points, with a 10k seating at the new arena, billiken club points will become extremely competitive and important to keep your seats or even think about moving up. that would be ugly for the small timers. all small timers should be able to afford the billiken club, but not at the highest levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 10,000 should be more than sufficient for SLU. Every casual sport fan and their dog are not entitled to come to a game. It is good economics--keep the demand slightly greater than the supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 >SHE couldn't lead the effort to raise the necessary funds, so the new arena will scale back to 10k. Non sequitur. Did you notice that the new pricetag is EQUAL OR HIGHER to the old one? They aren't "scaling back" because of funds. They're "scaling back" because Levick actually listened to the coaches and athletic department and reworked the incredibly flawed initial plan that, while it gave us a new arena, completely ignored the items needed to wow recruits and for efficient management of the athletic department -- namely, state-of-the-art (or at least much more state-of-the-art than if we'd have had to keep practicing at West Pine when there were conflicts) training and practice facilities. By the way, I have a fairly radical element to add to the points formula -- take attendance. If your seat isn't used for, say, at least 75% of games, you forfeit, oh, 500 points. I noticed last night that Biondi's section was maybe 25% full at tip-off, and never really made it beyond about 60% full. Too many of the white-stocking season ticket holders are among the casual fan base, and the reduced supply of available tickets would actually make it easier to sweep some of them aside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 slightly is the key word. in this case we are thinking small time. in duke's instance, how much you want to bet if cameron was being replaced duke would build a deandome like facility? it is what it is simply because that is what it has always been. second, remember in the durham area, they compete with wake, unc and nc state for fans. so the fan base is split pretty hard. third, beings it has always been that way, and just 20+ years ago in the pre coach k days, duke was likely drawing less than what cameron was seating then, there was no call for putting the current season tix holders in a tight spot either. again, personally i couldnt care less upfront. i know i am going to originally come out pretty good due to my 15 years of billiken club loyalty. but i am concerned about what happens going forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 What percentage of season ticket holders are already Billiken Club members? I would guess that it is a decent percentage. The existing membership fees need to be reduced from your $2MM estimate for your arugment to hold water. The college basketball program is ultimately a business. The university is doing their job by incentivizing the fan base to join the booster club (every decent program in the country does it). Every season ticket holder will have a seat in the new arena; those who are members of the booster club will just get priority. It is a sound and fair model. You should be happy that you will be given a priority due to your existing loyalty. I have never heard anyone suggest that you could subsequently lose your seat spot once it is selected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 bonwich said, "By the way, I have a fairly radical element to add to the points formula -- take attendance. If your seat isn't used for, say, at least 75% of games, you forfeit, oh, 500 points. I noticed last night that Biondi's section was maybe 25% full at tip-off, and never really made it beyond about 60% full. Too many of the white-stocking season ticket holders are among the casual fan base, and the reduced supply of available tickets would actually make it easier to sweep some of them aside." i like your thinking but they aint got the guts to do that. plus, that is like playing with dynamite. sure it might energize those folks to wake up and become more active and who knows they might also start donating more, but it also could chase those regular dollars away. one has to think center court behind the benches are likely big time benefactors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 it was suggested to me by a prior assistant athletic director when we had lunch. he told me that both georgetown and cincy determine seat location annually. so it would surprise me if they havent thought about it. again, i love the fact they have seen the light on using the billiken club. but it needs to be set up in a way going forward that either it wont affect location annually, or it really takes sizeable donations to move up. i.e. the instances of it happening are few and far between. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlumniFan Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 As many who have heard Brad speak know, the initial designs that did NOT have practice facilities, offices, etc. were not well supported by the coaching staffs. They really wanted the arena to be a complete facility. Now, it will be. I don't look upon this as scaling back, but the coaches and athletes getting what they really want. To me, that is the most important thing. As David pointed out above, there are PLENTY of tickets for the current season ticket holders. Period. Will they cost more? Probably, but how can that surprise ANYONE? Given the support this program has averaged since I began attending games in the early 1980's, I always thought 13,000 was way too big. I am very happy with the 10,000 capacity AND the fact that it is a complete athletic facility. Besides, the NCAA's change in capacity for events probably had as much to do with the decision to change the composition of the arena than anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 going after the blue hairs. I love watching the defensiveness of the old guard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlumniFan Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 I don't know how you would actually measure it, but if you could, that would immediately move those who never show up to the upper seats in the corners. AMEN!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 I agree that the seat selection shouldn't be reopened annually. I would think it would be an administrative and PR nightmare to move everyone every year. I understand if they want to reopen it every five years (or on some regular schedule) to discourage squatting by ticket holders who do not otherwise support the program. Perhaps they could just use Billiken Club membership as a guarantee that your seat won't reopen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Courtside - you are way off base about CL - she got the offices and practice facilities that everybody said was a must. So they had to cut back on the size - I am not happy about that but you have to take a big picture look - rememember the Stones song - " you don't always get what you want but you get what you need". This is what has happened here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Nark - your math does not compute - please explain more specifically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 It is a matter of perspective; we didn't go small time. We went with the very successful and respected Duke/Xavier/Gonzaga model. Duke's arena isn't small because of a dilluted fan base in the region; they could fill a 25,000 seat arena all year. Part of the Duke tradition is the fans--particularly students--camping out to get one of the hot tickets. The Duke fan base adores Cameron Indoor. Some of the most successful sports fanchises in the country (in terms of fan devotion and support) play in smaller venues. (See Duke, Cubs, Red Sox, etc.) It must be part of the St. Louis region chip on the shoulder that "big time" us measured by the capacity of a facility. I am not sure why having 3,000 empty seats at many of our games would make us "big time." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidnark Posted February 19, 2006 Author Share Posted February 19, 2006 $120/4 tickets = $30. $120/2 tickets = $60. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Nark, no you misunderstood my question - my bad. What I was asking was: If there 8000 season tix holders and you set aside 1000 seats for students, then the 1000 remaining tix - will have to be used for visiting teams fans, players family, corporate sponsorship programs, etc. I really think that next year more season tix will be sold as well as the following year for those who will want to try to ensure they get tix in the new arena. I fear there will not be enough for all season tix holders by the time we move in it. Maybe this year holders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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