Pitt's plan calls for heightened prices

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Link:  Pitt's plan calls for heightened prices

Pitt's plan calls for heightened prices

After being criticized for prices being too low, Pitt's athletic department decided to raise the price of season tickets, but to exclude the "Backyard Brawl."

By GEOFF DUTELLE

For The Pitt News

July 07, 2004

Oh, the difference a year can make. Pitt students can now place their football season tickets on a list with milk and gasoline, items that have seen significant price increases in the past year.

While it is easier to see why gas and milk have become more expensive, many are at a loss to understand the rise in the price for a season ticket that is significantly cooler than when it was among the hottest tickets in town only a year ago.

In a corporate world, the last message Pitt would want to send to its student fans would be that the student section -- the core of the crowd, providing home-field advantage all the way through bitter bowl games in December -- is less important than profitability.

Last year, a season ticket cost a student only $20, and fans got to see games against Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Miami. This year's season pass is $35 and, since the athletics department decided not to include the Thanksgiving Day game against West Virginia, the only big-time opponent fans will see is Nebraska

This isn't the beginning of the end for the exceptional support Pitt has shown for its student section, however. If anything, it is step one of a facelift geared toward creating a football student section as unified as the Petersen Events Center's Oakland Zoo is for basketball.

Ticket prices didn't rise because the economy is down, but have risen instead because of a "great example of the Student Government Board, athletics department and student body working together to better the ticketing process for students," according to Associate Athletics Director Jim Earle.

Although it is unfair to compare Pitt's 2004 schedule, or any school's schedule, for that matter, to the Panthers' home slate last fall, it is quite apparent that there are fewer marquee games. While Big 12 power Nebraska makes a rare trip to the Steel City in early September, and Boston College's farewell Big East tour stops at Heinz Field in October, the only game that seems to have students talking is the Backyard Brawl with rival West Virginia in late November.

Students may be puzzled, though, when their tickets arrive later this summer lacking the clash with the Mountaineers. While the $35 for a student pass is still very reasonable when compared to season tickets at other schools, it is a case of Yuengling more than what Pitt students paid for the greatest home football schedule of any team in 2003. Furthermore, the only rivalry that Joe Paterno will let the Panthers have is not even included.

In a risky move, the athletics department decided not to include the West Virginia game in the initial package, primarily because the game is on Thanksgiving night, when most students will be home on break. A supplemental sale is scheduled to occur later in the fall where students can buy a ticket for an additional $10.

The holiday time slot has been a difficult situation for the athletics department to deal with. While being on a holiday may cause student ticket sales as a whole to suffer, it also brings exposure and recognition to one of the nation's most underrated rivalry games.

However, this pushes a full season ticket package for a Pitt student up to $45 for 2004, a price perhaps perplexing to students, given that the highlight of the schedule is not initially included.

"The main reason for raising prices was an issue the athletics department discussed with SGB last winter," Earle said. "We wanted to discourage the fans who typically pay the $25 for a season ticket with the intention to go to only one or two games."

There was an open forum last winter for students, put on by SGB, to voice opinions regarding ticketing procedures, prices and options from which SGB and the athletics department drew up the new ticket package. Earle also pointed out that, because of these 'casual fans,' who show up only to those marquee games that the 2004 schedule lacks, the ticket office typically has no idea how many of the roughly 9,000 student seats will be filled on Saturdays. This means that students seeking to buy additional tickets for friends and family are usually turned away, being told the section is full.

Earle hopes that this new plan will free up additional tickets for students to purchase, even for the West Virginia game.

"We would like to think that the fans will come out and support the Panthers," says Earle, addressing the issue of Mountaineer fans trumping the number of Pitt fans at this year's "Backyard Brawl."

Earle also pointed to last year's highly anticipated game with Notre Dame as an example of Panther fan support in marquee games. The ticket office was criticized for very low season ticket prices last year, and many feared that Notre Dame fans would pay the price for a Panther season ticket and only go to the away game at Heinz.

"Last year, people rallied around the Panthers, and we sold out Heinz Field, primarily to Panther fans," said a confident Earle. "We expect the same this year for the West Virginia game."

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