Re: Davis Wade Stadium expansion
Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 5:48 pm
I hope that MSU announces a decision to expand to 75k sized stadium as soon as possible. That may be the only thing that will get the UM administration off its complacent rear ends to fast forward plans for expansion of VHS in Oxford.
Every time UM has expanded, attendance has increased. Attendance has seemed to historically reach a certain percentage of overall capacity -- about 85%. When you have sell outs, or near sell outs on a regular basis, you are overdue for expansion. You are never going to get 100% of those buying tickets to attend every game. People buy season tickets and then attend as many games as they can or desire to ---- when they can't attend, they try to give away or sell the tickets, but this effort is not always successful, nor is there always time to do so when a last minute decision not to attend is made.
Right now, Ole Miss offers only 7500 student tickets (at student ticket prices), which are sold out pretty quickly every season. Those students who do not get student tickets before they sell out must either pay for full priced tickets, or just don't go to the games. There are a lot more students than 7500 on the Oxford campus. This is one easy source of additional ticket sales right there. I don't know what MSU's stats are on the student tickets sold, but I suspect that there may be room for more ticket sales to students at MSU also.
Also, the availability of tickets, especially sideline seats and decent endzone seats, can allow a school (like MSU or UM) to offer more economically priced ticket plans for families with children to encourage them to buy tickets and attend games. Getting folks to campus and to the games, even at reduced ticket prices, builds fan loyalty, promotes the school, yields more concession sales, yields more sales of licensed gear (caps, t-shirts, etc.), and will eventually result in more supporters and more money donations to the school over the long haul. It is probably the best student recruiting tool available to the schools.
When there is a perception of scarcity of tickets, then a good number of people who might otherwise attempt to just go to a game at the last minute with the thought of buying a ticket on campus, will not go due to fear of not being able to get a ticket at a reasonable price (many can barely afford the regular ticket price and can't afford a scalper's price). Thus, the perception of scarcity can keep folks at home who might otherwise attend. This is especially true for those who are not within an hour driving distance. People aren't going to go to the trouble of traveling, parking, walking to stadium, etc. without some reasonable assurance of being able to attend the game.
As indicated above, there are numerous factors that go into fan attendance of games. Putting a quality product on the field of play is another, and is more critical in the short term than most other factors. It may not always affect ticket sales, as fans will continue to purchase season tickets through hard times in order to support the program and preserve their ticket priority. But, it most always affects how many of those ticket holders attend the games.
This business of "we aren't even selling out for every game, or aren't at capacity attendance at every game, so we shouldn't even consider expanding until we do" mindset has been proven wrong over and over. This sentiment was expressed prior to EVERY time UM has expanded VHS over the last 20 years. And these naysayers were wrong EVERY time.
God speed on the Davis-Wade expansion.
Every time UM has expanded, attendance has increased. Attendance has seemed to historically reach a certain percentage of overall capacity -- about 85%. When you have sell outs, or near sell outs on a regular basis, you are overdue for expansion. You are never going to get 100% of those buying tickets to attend every game. People buy season tickets and then attend as many games as they can or desire to ---- when they can't attend, they try to give away or sell the tickets, but this effort is not always successful, nor is there always time to do so when a last minute decision not to attend is made.
Right now, Ole Miss offers only 7500 student tickets (at student ticket prices), which are sold out pretty quickly every season. Those students who do not get student tickets before they sell out must either pay for full priced tickets, or just don't go to the games. There are a lot more students than 7500 on the Oxford campus. This is one easy source of additional ticket sales right there. I don't know what MSU's stats are on the student tickets sold, but I suspect that there may be room for more ticket sales to students at MSU also.
Also, the availability of tickets, especially sideline seats and decent endzone seats, can allow a school (like MSU or UM) to offer more economically priced ticket plans for families with children to encourage them to buy tickets and attend games. Getting folks to campus and to the games, even at reduced ticket prices, builds fan loyalty, promotes the school, yields more concession sales, yields more sales of licensed gear (caps, t-shirts, etc.), and will eventually result in more supporters and more money donations to the school over the long haul. It is probably the best student recruiting tool available to the schools.
When there is a perception of scarcity of tickets, then a good number of people who might otherwise attempt to just go to a game at the last minute with the thought of buying a ticket on campus, will not go due to fear of not being able to get a ticket at a reasonable price (many can barely afford the regular ticket price and can't afford a scalper's price). Thus, the perception of scarcity can keep folks at home who might otherwise attend. This is especially true for those who are not within an hour driving distance. People aren't going to go to the trouble of traveling, parking, walking to stadium, etc. without some reasonable assurance of being able to attend the game.
As indicated above, there are numerous factors that go into fan attendance of games. Putting a quality product on the field of play is another, and is more critical in the short term than most other factors. It may not always affect ticket sales, as fans will continue to purchase season tickets through hard times in order to support the program and preserve their ticket priority. But, it most always affects how many of those ticket holders attend the games.
This business of "we aren't even selling out for every game, or aren't at capacity attendance at every game, so we shouldn't even consider expanding until we do" mindset has been proven wrong over and over. This sentiment was expressed prior to EVERY time UM has expanded VHS over the last 20 years. And these naysayers were wrong EVERY time.
God speed on the Davis-Wade expansion.
. Get those crackers working on something better than the temporary things they have up now or put up a larger set of temporary stands in the mean time. I'm with PoMonk, offer more cheap student seats.....one recommendation on that tho, ease up on the high school kids that are using a student ticket or the friend or date from another school that came over for the weekend. If they have a student ticket, they either bought it from or it was given to them by a student. Don't keep them out of the section just cause they don't have an id when they are walking in with folks that do. And no I'm not saying to let the guy painted up like a purple and gold tiger in the UM student section as that would start a fight.....just use your heads about it and it would make the craziest section in the stadium that much better.