We're supposed to be a smart business school and yet we still have fans who think trying to fill our small, deluxe, luxury stadium with our small, extremely well-heeled fan base by offering dirt cheap tickets is a smart plan
Second attempt
- Thread starter CMcCat
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You forgot If those higher prices are too high you will lose a number of even those hard core fans and donors. And that will have a longer term negative affect. Cause once you lose them, real hard to get them back and there are not exactly a ton of people standing in line, waiting to take their place
Those folks will be replaced by corporations paying a crap-ton for suites.
This is the economics of modern college football. NU would be doing itself a disservice by pursuing any strategy besides revenue maximization.
Sorry but I have checked policies including ticket prices and donations required at IL, IA, WIS, MN , MD, Rutgers and IND and what we are paying this year (including donations for both) is higher (and in most cases, significantly higher) for 5 games at NU (and I am around the 15-20 with pretty bad sightlines and not midfield) for much worse tickets than what is required for prime seats (between the 40s) for any of them for a full season.. And we still have to buy tickets to the other two games.
I tried to check MICH, OSU , PSU and NEB but too hard to get the info
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If they actually wisely use their revenue and consistently won games, the fans will come out. If they go 4-8 or worst every other year, you can’t give the tickets away.
We saw from after 95, even winning a number of games does not keep the place full, They bail at the first downturn. And with the competition we are facing hard to see us becoming OSU or MICH, Novelty of the new stadium wears off quickly and at that point you better have a superior product or the high price will have people voting with their wallet and feet
Ok, you’ve made your point. All I know is we have awful overall fan support as a program. The relative few that turn out are awesome, but there are not enough of them at cheap prices. We’ll see how it plays out.
Not going to provide the answer here, but will suggest the terms of the debate. The purpose of the university, and the sports programs, should not be to maximize money. Heck, if it were, we could effectively sell regular student admissions to the high bidder as private universities did in yesteryear. Universities have come to mean a lot of different things to different people. I think the answer to the pricing scheme is something more creative than mostly high prices or all very cheap - which I will concede has been the NU history. A design should be found that maximizes money from those happy to pay and the opponents from out of town who deserve to pay, leaves room for the lifers (maybe grandfathers them in in some fashion?) who would struggle with the higher prices, and also encourages casual fans who might become future supporters. Some elasticity based on the fortunes of the Eleven may be needed as there have been a lot of peaks and valleys.
Nope. There are far less seats available (lower supply), so prices go up. That’s literally day one Econ 101 stuff.
An optimistic, altruistic take. But not reality. Modern college football is all about the money.
NU fans can't have it both ways. If you want NU to continue to field a Big Ten football team in today's world, they have to step up to the money table. Includes the whole ball of wax from facilities to ticket prices. Their partners will insist on it over time. Having an Ivy League perspective won't cut it.
Accept certain inalienable truths
Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too, will get old
And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young
Prices were reasonable, politicians were noble
And children respected their elders
Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too, will get old
And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young
Prices were reasonable, politicians were noble
And children respected their elders
I expect the key assumption in their models is that football revenue will be flat to slightly in decline through the duration of the current TV contract as fan interest wanes based on team performance and then drops markedly when NU is cut from the megaconference and no longer competes in a football revenue-generating activity.
They could have put $250-300mm into a major renovation of RF as the Cubs have done with Wrigley. But knowing that football is on the outs, they decided to take advantage of a donor who wanted to gain experience in building a major stadium so as to enhance his eventual efforts to become a NFL owner and create an entertainment complex that establishes revenue to replace what will be lost from football TV contracts.
Hate to burst your bubble...
While we all appreciated the history of Dyche/Ryan, making a comparison to Wrigley is one of the dumbest things I've heard on this board. With exception of Fenway you can't compare anything about Wrigley to another North American stadium. If the Yankees were able to survive tearing down Yankee Stadium and building anew I think NU can do the same with Ryan Field. BTW, the end cost of Wrigley renovations ended up being $700M+ (and nicely all paid with private money).
I might add yesterday's game was a blast.
Amazing game. Reminded me of 54-51 which was similarly played in an historic park that could have been preserved. I am old enough to remember when NU marketed a then recently renovated RF as the “Wrigley Field of college football.”
And the Yankees can build their Mecca. They run no risk of being relegated to AAA.
My bubble is intact ;-)
Putting $300 mil into Ryan field would have been putting lipstick on a pig. That structure was shot. MEP-wise don't know but likely would have needed to be gutted. Probably all the surrounding infrastructure would have needed to be renovated like it is now. Isn't clear where they would have constructed all the additional functional spaces they are adding now since the existing structure complicates the matter.
I thought Pat Ryan is a part owner of the Bears. I doubt he needs any experience in building stadiums. Lots of people and firms can help with that. It is the money that's the magic ingredient.
I thought Pat Ryan is a part owner of the Bears. I doubt he needs any experience in building stadiums. Lots of people and firms can help with that. It is the money that's the magic ingredient.
So instead they decide increase prices 300% and drive away what few fans they do have, If that is NU Business School, I am glad I went elsewhere
Some people will pay for suites and reasonable to get what you can out of them. But most will not. My guess is that there might be demand for 5k more or less of those premium seats. Much more than that and and a lot of them will sit empty. Still gotta attempt to fill the other 30K. And for that we can look at our peers. (Sorry but those peers don't really include MICH, PSU, OSU). Our peers are more IL, IND, PU, IA, MN, MD, Rutgers and maybe WIS (don't really know about the West Coast schools . Still hard to grasp). And they price tickets between the 40s (Prime seating) at $600 to $1000 including donations and that is for 7 home games including 4 or 5 BIG games. Seating outside of that area is significantly less. What we have seen this year is prices of $1100 for 15-20 yds seats with poor sight lines(because they are so low) for only 5 games (and they aren't all BIG games). And we have seen what you would expect. Long time ST holders deciding enough is enough and voting with their feet and wallets. Reality is that at the prices being charged this year it is hard to even get 4K to pay the price.
Not demanding cheap tickets, But they do need to be reasonably priced and this year they sure are not, NU carrying that pricing structure into the new stadium will likely result in disaster
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Y
You are forgetting a big part of that ECON lesson, First that a free market determines the price at which supply and demand are equal. And that demand is elastic or inelastic. You seem to be thinking that a large portion of NU ST demand is more inelastic where you can sell what you have at any price, That can be true when you have a lot of additional people willing to take your place if you chose not to buy like at a perenial power with a huge fan base like MICH, OSU or PSU. We have seen that a big portion of NU demand is more elastic because we don';t have people waiting in line to take current ST holders place and that when you price the product too high, demand goes down. They have currently priced the product too high and people are deciding not to renew and there are not a lot of people behind them waiting to take their place at the new prices
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Reading this thread, as someone who moved out of the Chicago area a little less than 30 years ago and gave up his 45 yard line season tickets at the time makes me glad I don’t have to make the choices you all are making.
I do think the prices charged are a little goofy, and wonder why the athletic department doesn’t consider some pricing plans to retain and develop longtime STH’s and members of the Northwestern community. The bulk of the football revenue comes from media. To me, allocating a block of say 2500 to 5000 tickets for STH with a face value of $50 to $75 per seat per game with first priority to long term STH would build good will, help fill the stadium with purple, and not result in a huge revenue drain.
I know I’ve mentioned that for 25years I’ve been a Call STH. I have renewed every year because I get a couple of status discounts (senior, long term STH and retired faculty). Finding a place in the new stadium for longterm members of the NU community seems to me to be a no brainer.
I do think the prices charged are a little goofy, and wonder why the athletic department doesn’t consider some pricing plans to retain and develop longtime STH’s and members of the Northwestern community. The bulk of the football revenue comes from media. To me, allocating a block of say 2500 to 5000 tickets for STH with a face value of $50 to $75 per seat per game with first priority to long term STH would build good will, help fill the stadium with purple, and not result in a huge revenue drain.
I know I’ve mentioned that for 25years I’ve been a Call STH. I have renewed every year because I get a couple of status discounts (senior, long term STH and retired faculty). Finding a place in the new stadium for longterm members of the NU community seems to me to be a no brainer.
