Thoughts on ticket sales – particularly Fresno State
(Written by kencraw)
Well, the word on the street is that ticket sales for the Fresno State game are going slowly. So far they’ve sold about 7500 tickets and they need to sell about 1500 more through the Cal Bears ticket office (the ATO) to break even.
And my thought is “DUH! Of COURSE ticket sales are going slowly.”
The increase in ticket prices is a real problem that the ATO needs to understand. The ticket prices for the season tickets, for only 5 games, were about the same as last year with 7 games, including the Big Game. So if I had gotten the same seats I usually get (regular reserved with no donor money), and got the Big Game tickets I’d pay on the high end of what I usually pay (somewhere between $2k-$2.4k):
6 season tickets: $300 x 6: $1800 (avg ticket: $60)
6 big game tickets: $75 x 6: $600
Total $2400
And now to add to that another game, where equivalent seats would be ANOTHER $75 each, and we’ve got a budget buster of a situation.
For me it’s even worse as with a new baby in the house and my insurance continually whittled away so that my percentage of the birthing cost going up significantly over previous kids (honey, are you SURE you want that epidural?), we had to cutback and get the cheap seats at AT&T. I still got the Big Game tickets because tradition is tradition, but I’m just not feeling like paying out for all my usual tickets.
Knowing me, I might end up forking over for two tickets or something at the last minute, but, sorry, I just don’t have it in me to pay more than in the past particularly for what is a pretty mundane/weak lineup of games.
August 27th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
The Fresno St. game is not only expensive it’s at a terrile venue. Look what happened at the 49er-Raider game. Public transportation is terrible and parking is outragous. They should have played the game in Oakland where BART has a station right outside the stadium. Sorry Sandy but I am staying home and will watch it drinking one dollar beer and eating one dollar hot dogs, and I get to park for free!
August 27th, 2011 at 9:39 pm
I sympathize with the Candlestick decision… it’s not like they had much of a choice. But when you make a compromise decision, you’d better price it accordingly.
August 28th, 2011 at 12:46 am
I am a fan and a 15 year ticket holder…. but I am not an alum. I am a guy that loves the Bears but I will admit I am a little tired of a team that takes guys like me for granted.
HEY BEARS!
HEY SANDY!
HEY JEFF!
You are in competition for my entertainment dollar. You are putting a second rate product in front of me and there are other things to do in the Bay Area… Yes…. even other schools to cheer for……
You have a year…. maybe two to get your act together and re-convince me that Memorial Stadium is the place to be on fall Saturdays.
Right now I am not sure you can do that…. And that shiney new stadium pulling in fans can only last so long as a draw…..
You need to put a quality product on the field to keep my butt in the seat.
August 28th, 2011 at 9:07 pm
this groupon thing is not making things any better
August 29th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Geez Ken, I thought you had Kaiser, where’s it’s $5 for everything. Or did your employer switch y’all over to an HSA?
August 29th, 2011 at 4:28 pm
No, I have Kaiser, but since you’re last experience with them was as a government employee you weren’t aware how massively they were changing their corporate plans for the rest of us. I’m now responsible for both copays (and they’re much higher than $5), deductible payments (which are hard to explain but expensive and often unanticipated) and 20% of big ticket items like hospitalizations. The good news is that there’s a cap on each of those categories and on one’s total outlay for the year, both for the individual and the family… but that cap, and we did hit it this year, is 2-3x what I’ve had to pay with previous babies.
The good news is that the other upsides of Kaiser are still true… I no longer have the issue of spending hours on the phone between the hospital and the doctors office and the HMO and the medical group sorting out any mistaken billing issues. They’re all one entity with Kaiser (and it’s the main reason I went back once they had a birthing center that wasn’t a 45 minute drive (a very important factor in my growing family as the bro is well aware)). Also all the cool stuff they’ve done with information sharing (no getting two sets of x-rays because you’re seeing a different specialist now (or whatever)) and the best HMO website in the country, still makes Kaiser a wise choice, particularly considering the HMO’s are pulling the same pricing tricks that Kaiser is now doing.
August 30th, 2011 at 6:27 am
Both co-pays? You mean Kaiser makes your unborn pay a co-pay for being born?!
That’s cold.