Idea To Sell More Bowl Game Tickets

[usfbp]

Why should anyone be forced to pay for bowl game tickets?    What would be next,  forcing season ticket holder to pay for away game tickets?

[KB]

Why would anyone want to give more money to their university than they have to?  Why would anyone want to help their university look better in the eye of a bowl selection committee by having presold bowl tickets?  Geez, are you guys actually trying to make USF look better by showing loyalty and dedication and a willingness to travel to a bowl game to show support?  How absurd!

[usfbp]

I have been an advocate for sometime for deeply discounted or free tickets to ALL high school students. By doing this, you eliminate the issue any potential impropriety in recruiting. I think kids would love to have a place to go and hang on Saturday Evenings with their friends. Lets make USF games the place to be on Saturday nights in Tampa and make the kids USF fans now before the "Dirty 3" can fully sink their claws into them. If we get 'em young, we will have them hooked for the rest of their lives (just like the tobacco comapnies do).

Just what we need....unaccompanied high schoolers roaming around the RJ during Bulls games.  Look at the problems oither places have with them. IE: Baywalk  The TSA will need more Tazers!

If I'm not mistaken studies say that freebies rarely translate in to paying customers.  As good as it may be, Bulls football isn't quite as addictive as nicotine.

[SeaBull]

Cincy makes season ticket holders at certain levels pay a $50 ticket deposit.  I definitely believe we should look into something like this.  It allows us to say to bowl committees that we have already got committments in excess of $10K+.

http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/07-season-tix.html

Note: UC has the 2nd lowest priced football tickets in the Big East, even with a pre-paid Bowl Tix:

http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/07-season-tix-FAQs.html#seasontixchart'>http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/07-season-tix-FAQs.html#seasontixchart

Bottom line...UC is basically offering a FREE bowl tix to any reserved qualifying season tix holder...and even if those fans don't travel to the Bowl Game...UC can still count those tix as "tix SOLD!"

http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/07-season-tix-FAQs.html

How does UCF determine the number of bowl tickets sold?  Was that how you did it last year?

First they times the number of season wins by the number of seats at the new bright house stadium...45000(x) minus no shows...45000x - 1

Then they times the per game ticket price by the number of season tickets already sold for the BHS...$35(45000)  and add the number med school students = x + 1575000

This is what they come up with ..... 45000x^2 + (7.08 x 10^12)x - 1575000

Then they times that answer by the number of bowl games they watch from the comfort of their own homes then divide that product by the number of bowl games they were invited to...

[BaltoBull]

I think following Cincy's lead would be a great idea! I think it makes alot of sense....

I like the idea of ticket deposits "rolling over" until we do get accepted to a bowl game - however, I hope this will never be neccessary.

I am currently a Green Jacket Donor and certainly wouldn't mind paying for my bowl tickets in advance if it helps us look better in the eyes of a bowl selection committee. Plus I would prefer the money I spend on a bowl ticket to go directly to the school rather than Ticketmaster, et al.

Does anyone out there know how many other schools follow this ticket sales model?

[Joe]

I think we should start giving away tickets to local high school football teams and coaches.  Not sure if this would be considered some kind of NCAA rules violation, but it could certainly help recruitment.  We have the availible seats (3rd level), and they are people who like football.

It's win win. SO, think about it.

Definite violation.

Any complimentary admissions to postseason events is per se excessive entertainment.

[usfbp]

Why would anyone want to give more money to their university than they have to?  Why would anyone want to help their university look better in the eye of a bowl selection committee by having presold bowl tickets?  Geez, are you guys actually trying to make USF look better by showing loyalty and dedication and a willingness to travel to a bowl game to show support?  How absurd!

Smoke and mirrors rarely works more than once.  Bowl sponsors aren't fooled by empty seats.  The formula for selling more bowl tickets is quite simple.  Sell more SEASON TICKETS and you will sell more bowl tickets.  Why force people who have been supporting the program to buy tickets they do not want and will not use.  Start playing in better bowl games and more people will be willing to spend their dollars to go.  When you consider the total number of revenue producing season tickets that USF sold last year the number ( percentage) of fans who went to Birmingham was actually quite good.

[Joe]

I have been an advocate for sometime for deeply discounted or free tickets to ALL high school students. By doing this, you eliminate the issue any potential impropriety in recruiting. I think kids would love to have a place to go and hang on Saturday Evenings with their friends. Lets make USF games the place to be on Saturday nights in Tampa and make the kids USF fans now before the "Dirty 3" can fully sink their claws into them. If we get 'em young, we will have them hooked for the rest of their lives (just like the tobacco comapnies do).

Just what we need....unaccompanied high schoolers roaming around the RJ during Bulls games.  Look at the problems oither places have with them. IE: Baywalk  The TSA will need more Tazers!

If I'm not mistaken studies say that freebies rarely translate in to paying customers.  As good as it may be, Bulls football isn't quite as addictive as nicotine.

usfbp. I completely agree.

First things first. High school kids are probably not likely to even watch the game. I say that with a level of certainty, because I worked for a professional sports team that decided to hand out free tickets to high schoolers. What did we have? A bunch of kids hanging out on the concourse in little groups. Many got in trouble for smoking. Put fairly, the majority of the high school kids would use the free tickets as a way to get away from their parents and socialize with their friends. It's really not worth the stress of dealing with 15 year old kids who are acting up or trying to be Johnny Knoxville on the concourse.

Second. Any sports marketer will tell you. Free Tickets = losing situation. Email the top guys, the professors, or even those in the USF office. It devalues the product. If USF isn't close to selling out most games and people got tickets for free, studies have shown they aren't likely to be willing to pay $28 a pop for tickets they were able to get for free before. A better marketing plan (and this is why you've seen it explode the last 10 years) is the 4 pack. Ya know. 4 tickets, 4 cokes, 4 hotdogs for 60 bucks..or something similar. Still puts value on your product, but makes people pay to attend the game.

[Jihme]

We can charge UCF fans half price (out of sympathy) since their team is garbage and will most likely not make the post-season anyways.

[BullyPulpit]

I have been an advocate for sometime for deeply discounted or free tickets to ALL high school students. By doing this, you eliminate the issue any potential impropriety in recruiting. I think kids would love to have a place to go and hang on Saturday Evenings with their friends. Lets make USF games the place to be on Saturday nights in Tampa and make the kids USF fans now before the "Dirty 3" can fully sink their claws into them. If we get 'em young, we will have them hooked for the rest of their lives (just like the tobacco comapnies do).

Just what we need....unaccompanied high schoolers roaming around the RJ during Bulls games.  Look at the problems oither places have with them. IE: Baywalk  The TSA will need more Tazers!

If I'm not mistaken studies say that freebies rarely translate in to paying customers.  As good as it may be, Bulls football isn't quite as addictive as nicotine.

usfbp. I completely agree.

First things first. High school kids are probably not likely to even watch the game. I say that with a level of certainty, because I worked for a professional sports team that decided to hand out free tickets to high schoolers. What did we have? A bunch of kids hanging out on the concourse in little groups. Many got in trouble for smoking. Put fairly, the majority of the high school kids would use the free tickets as a way to get away from their parents and socialize with their friends. It's really not worth the stress of dealing with 15 year old kids who are acting up or trying to be Johnny Knoxville on the concourse.

Second. Any sports marketer will tell you. Free Tickets = losing situation. Email the top guys, the professors, or even those in the USF office. It devalues the product. If USF isn't close to selling out most games and people got tickets for free, studies have shown they aren't likely to be willing to pay $28 a pop for tickets they were able to get for free before. A better marketing plan (and this is why you've seen it explode the last 10 years) is the 4 pack. Ya know. 4 tickets, 4 cokes, 4 hotdogs for 60 bucks..or something similar. Still puts value on your product, but makes people pay to attend the game.

The problem with the 4 pack is that USF would only get a small percentage of that money and the rest would still be going to the Glazers. I am not advocating giving away tickets liberally. I really think the best course of action is to offer $5 or $10 seats to high schoolers. By making them pay to loiter, you are less likely to get loiterers looking for trouble. There would be many who would watch the game. Yes, you would get your share of those that sip a coke on the concourse, but who cares, they can do what they want at the games. I promise you, over time, we would gain fans by doing this.