Basketball ticket renewals and upgrades…

[tony6777]

IMHO, geography has always been a bit of an issue for attendance. Lots of people who can afford to procure season tickets on a regular basis make their livelihoods from either the Tulsa or OKC metros. They'll make the trip for games that matter to them, when we are winning handily, when we have star status players, or when the team has something on the line for example. Some people seem to make little to no effort to fill their season seat if they've got them. Of course there's some of us who go to them all if we can and seek to donate them if we gotta to anybody willing & able to take our place.

It's not always about the cost, it's the time budget for a lot of folks. Some have more money than they know what to do with & don't care if their seat goes empty. Folks can make more money, not more time. Nowadays, the games are all on TV and in high-Def. Why drive & return home after midnight when it can be viewed on a 85in screen at home?That's good enough for many folks who don't fully appreciate the experience of actually being there and a part of the game. I know several who've dropped even their football tickets in favor of their home viewing experience, opting to host friends at a watch party instead. The Eddie Sutton era did not have these particular issues. Many games did not land on TV. If you wanted to catch basketball, you needed to go to the arena, simply put.

Well, maybe it's about time prices are lowered significantly across the board. Some seem to think that'll bring the rowdy back consistently. I personally don't feel that will move the needle a lot. Must win win win, it is the only real change that affects attendance.

 

[SloPoke]

Mike Holder helped kill the goose so to speak. My grandparents had tickets dating back to the Iba era and were priced completely out of the GIA.

 

[OSU79]

Mike Holder helped kill the goose so to speak. My grandparents had tickets dating back to the Iba era and were priced completely out of the GIA.

Ticket prices are definitely an issue, but when I look at upgrading my 300-level seats the per seat donation goes from ~ $350 to $1700, and those are near or behind the baseline. And there's hardly any available! Yet half or more of those seats are empty most games. Almost every game we missed I gave away my seats to someone on Orange Power, but apparently that rarely happens in the 200-level. I really considered dropping our tickets this year because it's really lame to sit in mediocre seats in a 1/3 full arena, especially when many of those empty seats are right in front of you. I did renew, and may yet move to the 200s, but it's more out of a sense of duty than true excitement. I do have reasonably high hopes for this team, and I really like HCMB, but man do I wish we had half the atmosphere of the old days.

I wish they'd give away $1000 prizes to 3-5 students per game in those stupid-ass games they play during TOs and halftime. I think increased student attendance and concession sales would cover the cost, and even if they don't the improved atmosphere would be worth the cost. A stupid game played for $100 is just stupid - and no one pays any attention. Musical chairs or a half court shot for $1000 gets everyone fired up, and it carries over into the game atmosphere.

 

[Sutton4ever]

Just look at the NCAA attendance. Across the board Div 1 attendance has declined.


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No one is denying attendance across the board has dropped. But ours has been dreadful. Empty arena on television, cringeworthy. While some schools might be going from 11K to 10K average. There are levels to this.

 

[FlamingAggie]

Well, maybe it's about time prices are lowered significantly across the board. Some seem to think that'll bring the rowdy back consistently. I personally don't feel that will move the needle a lot. Must win win win, it is the only real change that affects attendance.

This. Attendance wise, basketball is where football was in the 90s. People will turn out for the big games (ie. Bedlam) but outside of that you just have the diehards. Winning fills up those empty seats in the upper deck. Winning makes it a "must attend" event for students (right now it isn't). Winning makes alums a lot more willing to drive to Stillwater for an 8pm tip on a weeknight.

 

[Sutton4ever]

I would imagine it gets tough for season ticket holders when they start offering people to come for like $5 in the middle of the season. And, we still can't people to come in those scenarios at times. Like Tony said, the team has to play well enough to make people want to give up their time. Is this trip worth their time if our team plays sloppy and uninspired at home? If that happens a couple times (like some of our early non-conference home games this past year), people don't think it's worth their time anymore. If people leave the game thinking those players fought their tails off and what a great effort, then they are more apt to give more of their time. The players and coaches need to make it feel like it means a lot to them. Coach Sutton, being an OSU grad, lived that. Underwood, a great used car salesman, sold that and his team played that way often as well in that one year.

 

[Sutton4ever]

This. Attendance wise, basketball is where football was in the 90s. People will turn out for the big games (ie. Bedlam) but outside of that you just have the diehards. Winning fills up those empty seats in the upper deck. Winning makes it a "must attend" event for students (right now it isn't). Winning makes alums a lot more willing to drive to Stillwater for an 8pm tip on a weeknight.

No doubt.

"What a performance that was vs Iowa State. Excited for Saturday vs Kansas State"
vs
"Man, I drove an hour plus for these guys to play like that? Guess we'll go to that birthday party Saturday instead."

 

[OSU79]

I would imagine it gets tough for season ticket holders when they start offering people to come for like $5 in the middle of the season. And, we still can't people to come in those scenarios at times. Like Tony said, the team has to play well enough to make people want to give up their time. Is this trip worth their time if our team plays sloppy and uninspired at home? If that happens a couple times (like some of our early non-conference home games this past year), people don't think it's worth their time anymore. If people leave the game thinking those players fought their tails off and what a great effort, then they are more apt to give more of their time. The players and coaches need to make it feel like it means a lot to them. Coach Sutton, being an OSU grad, lived that. Underwood, a great used car salesman, sold that and his team played that way often as well in that one year.

Agree almost entirely with your post. That said, as a season ticket holder it doesn't bother me in the least when they offer seats for $5 or $10. I'm all for anything that will put more butts in seats.

PS: I didn't add to my earlier post that we drive ~1.5 hours each way to see games live. As you said, it doesn't bother me at all when the team is fighting their asses off. It's all about feeling like the team (and the administration!) are as invested as I am.

 

[PJ-OSU]

I would imagine it gets tough for season ticket holders when they start offering people to come for like $5 in the middle of the season. And, we still can't people to come in those scenarios at times. Like Tony said, the team has to play well enough to make people want to give up their time. Is this trip worth their time if our team plays sloppy and uninspired at home? If that happens a couple times (like some of our early non-conference home games this past year), people don't think it's worth their time anymore. If people leave the game thinking those players fought their tails off and what a great effort, then they are more apt to give more of their time. The players and coaches need to make it feel like it means a lot to them. Coach Sutton, being an OSU grad, lived that. Underwood, a great used car salesman, sold that and his team played that way often as well in that one year.

This is where I am at and have been for a few years. The sloppy, disinterested play has been one of the few constants. I am always surprised and pleased when the guys play with effort and some passion. And I think it is truly noticeable when that occurs. Kills me that they can't do this with consistency across the whole season, as basketball is my first true sports love.

 

[Sutton4ever]

Agree almost entirely with your post. That said, as a season ticket holder it doesn't bother me in the least when they offer seats for $5 or $10. I'm all for anything that will put more butts in seats.

PS: I didn't add to my earlier post that we drive ~1.5 hours each way to see games live. As you said, it doesn't bother me at all when the team is fighting their asses off. It's all about feeling like the team (and the administration!) are as invested as I am.

Great perspective and post

 

[orangedog]

I'm renewing my seats, I really enjoy basketball only two hours and pretty entertaining. There is something going on with tickets though, you can barely find a seat to move to in the 200 yet at the games nobody is sitting in them, hard for me to believe that so man people buy tickets and don't go, a few but not THAT many..IDK maybe ticket vendors buy them all. The main problem basketball has is that families are busy and its hard to make the games at 8:00 pm during the week and right in the middle of the day on Saturday. A family would have an easier time committing to 7 football games, rather than a bunch of basketball games. It makes much more sense as a fan to just go to the games you can actually make even if you have to pay a little more for single game tickets. I've purchased 4 tickets for everyone in my family for the past few years, but I attend 90% of the games by myself b/c everyone else is busy.

 

[Pokevette]

You know, I make pretty good money. At one time (Eddie years) I had both OSU Football and Basketball season tickets.

Both season ticket prices went up so much I had to make a choice between the two and I went with Football. In part, Football games being on the weekends were just more convenient for me than trying to make weekday basketball games. I haven't had OSU basketball season tickets since.

Now, I did have OKC Thunder tickets for 11 years. But by the time the Thunder came to town in 2008, the quality of basketball at OSU had really dropped off. So maybe it was more the quality of the team than the cost. Of course, I dropped my Thunder tickets after they traded PG and Russ...

 

[Sutton4ever]

I'm renewing my seats, I really enjoy basketball only two hours and pretty entertaining. There is something going on with tickets though, you can barely find a seat to move to in the 200 yet at the games nobody is sitting in them, hard for me to believe that so man people buy tickets and don't go, a few but not THAT many..IDK maybe ticket vendors buy them all. The main problem basketball has is that families are busy and its hard to make the games at 8:00 pm during the week and right in the middle of the day on Saturday. A family would have an easier time committing to 7 football games, rather than a bunch of basketball games. It makes much more sense as a fan to just go to the games you can actually make even if you have to pay a little more for single game tickets. I've purchased 4 tickets for everyone in my family for the past few years, but I attend 90% of the games by myself b/c everyone else is busy.

So only 1 out of your 4 tickets are generally used? That would be consistent with what you see in the rest of the 200 level.

If the team was really good, do you think your family would make more time to come to the games?

 

[orangedog]

So only 1 out of your 4 tickets are generally used? That would be consistent with what you see in the rest of the 200 level.

It's just strange that all the seats around me are spoken for, yet I sit by someone different every game..TBH I think the university buys a certain amount of tickets and then either hands them out as needed OR releases them back for sale as a single game, I've had some pretty recognizable people sitting around me at times but IDK

If the team was really good, do you think your family would make more time to come to the games?

TBH..NO..like I said my kids are much too busy to come to most games. Their activities are going on at the same time. My wife could care less, she likes Avery Anderson though. I do think winning will solve most attendance issues, that and the university should really advertise how reasonable tickets in the 300s are, most people would never believe you can get season ticket for $10.00 a game.

 

[Men's BB Junkie]

Actually, I thought attendance was pretty decent last year, despite the sanctions. It was 13,611, but it certainly wasn’t empty.

 

[OSUgradndad85]

Actually, I thought attendance was pretty decent last year, despite the sanctions. It was 13,611, but it certainly wasn’t empty.

I’m confused, please help me out here. What was 13,611? It can’t be average attendance because thats the capacity of GIA, and it sure can’t be total attendance for the year.

 

[Pokevette]

I think that was a typo. He meant to say it WASN'T 13,611, but certainly wasn't empty...
Meaning, not capacity but respectable...


In my opinion, we shouldn't be reducing capacity (i.e., seats) but rather lowering ticket costs. This is a simple supply vs demand formula. Until the product on the court improves, there needs to be lower ticket costs to create fans that will hopefully hang around when the team improves and the prices start to climb again.

 

[orangedog]

In my opinion, we shouldn't be reducing capacity (i.e., seats) but rather lowering ticket costs. This is a simple supply vs demand formula. Until the product on the court improves, there needs to be lower ticket costs to create fans that will hopefully hang around when the team improves and the prices start to climb again.

I think prices are about as low as they can go in the 300, the sections to the left and right of mid court are $250 and mid court are 500 for the season..thats a good deal. They could reduce prices in the 200, but like I've said most of them are marked as taken.
When you go to games its obvious that there is at least some interest as the 300 are decently full particularly the first 10-15 rows in the middle...the 200s though are usually pretty sparse.

 

[Sutton4ever]

I think prices are about as low as they can go in the 300, the sections to the left and right of mid court are $250 and mid court are 500 for the season..thats a good deal. They could reduce prices in the 200, but like I've said most of them are marked as taken.
When you go to games its obvious that there is at least some interest as the 300 are decently full particularly the first 10-15 rows in the middle...the 200s though are usually pretty sparse.

Aren't there donations required as well though?

And like you said, we have to solve the problem of the ticket owners and students who aren't going as well.

 

[Sutton4ever]

Actually, I thought attendance was pretty decent last year, despite the sanctions. It was 13,611, but it certainly wasn’t empty.

It was atrocious.