Terrible Mariucci attendance

[gopher wes]

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

traffic can be ridiculous and unpredictable for gopher games since we're in a city with buildings taller than ten stories.

I think at the end of the season there will be a material decrease in ticket revenue, and if they try to raise season ticket prices after many constant years, mariucci will be even more brutal next year.

fyp

[BigAl]

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

I was there tonight, and yes there were a lot of empty seats. Once again it was a late-arriving crowd, but it didn't come close to matching Friday night's attendance, which honestly was close to full (other than the student sections, which were only about half full, due to the Thanksgiving Holiday). Tonight I would estimate that actual butts in the seats, in the second period after the late arrivals showed up - but before disgruntled Gopher fans left early - at about 7,000. Part of that I think is due to the unusual Sunday night start, but overall there is definitely a declining trend in Mariucci attendance, which I'm sure is worrisome to the Gopher athletic department.

Of course it's worrisome to them, why do you think they are trying to ruin the current setup of college hockey?

[purpleinnebraska]

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

Traffic can be ridiculous and unpredictable for Gopher games since we're in a city with buildings taller than ten stories.

I think at the end of the season there will be a material decrease in ticket revenue, and if they try to raise season ticket prices after many constant years, Mariucci will be brutal next year.

I only came for the Kato game this year, and I was late arriving because of the high school football parking fiasco, but there was also a pretty substantial volleyball crowd that night that might have contributed to the parking mess. I assume volleyball attendance has spiked this year (pun intended). Has that had any effect on Mariucci attendance?

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

Vegoe's article on GPL about ticket usage for the 2014/15 season.
http://www.gopherpucklive.com/index....=news&id=12553

Sure the U only reports tickets sold, but since it is a public institution, Vegoe was able to get the tickets scanned numbers.

Interesting read; thanks for posting that.

As a overview, the report indicates that 1 of 5 sold tickets winds up being a no-show. Even without data for previous years, the current number is clearly higher than historical levels. Based on viewing many telecasts from Mariucci over the years, the difference is noticeable. Based on last Friday's telecast, I actually thought the no-show numbers might be higher.

Also interesting is the fact that the no-show rate doesn't vary between conference and non-conference games. Long term that really needs to change if B1G Hockey is to claim any kind of success at the U of M. In fairness, the Gopher schedule does include attractive in-state opponents. Visiting fans' road trips to MSP are obviously much shorter.

But at a more general level, I'd argue that college hockey ducats are tougher to re-sell than most other sports tickets. For season ticket holders, college hockey is the favorite sport, or close to it. Hence the season ticket makes sense. But who are you going to sell extra tickets to? Among the general public, you'll find a few more hard-core fans. But for the rest, college hockey doesn't crack the Top 5. Even in the hotbeds.

My sense is that, after a while, it's easier just to eat the tickets rather than go through multiple rejections. And if you do find someone, they'll likely understand that it's a buyer's market and demand a deep discount. Again, it might not be worth the bother.

I wish the regular season resale market was stronger -- for all teams. But as far as I can tell, the reality is more discouraging, most of the time.

[St. Clown]

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

Interesting read; thanks for posting that.

As a overview, the report indicates that 1 of 5 sold tickets winds up being a no-show. Even without data for previous years, the current number is clearly higher than historical levels. Based on viewing many telecasts from Mariucci over the years, the difference is noticeable. Based on last Friday's telecast, I actually thought the no-show numbers might be higher.

Also interesting is the fact that the no-show rate doesn't vary between conference and non-conference games. Long term that really needs to change if B1G Hockey is to claim any kind of success at the U of M. In fairness, the Gopher schedule does include attractive in-state opponents. Visiting fans' road trips to MSP are obviously much shorter.

But at a more general level, I'd argue that college hockey ducats are tougher to re-sell than most other sports tickets. For season ticket holders, college hockey is the favorite sport, or close to it. Hence the season ticket makes sense. But who are you going to sell extra tickets to? Among the general public, you'll find a few more hard-core fans. But for the rest, college hockey doesn't crack the Top 5. Even in the hotbeds.

My sense is that, after a while, it's easier just to eat the tickets rather than go through multiple rejections. And if you do find someone, they'll likely understand that it's a buyer's market and demand a deep discount. Again, it might not be worth the bother.

I wish the regular season resale market was stronger -- for all teams. But as far as I can tell, the reality is more discouraging, most of the time.

Also interesting to note, and it's not something the U widely distributes, but the corporate season tickets get used at a higher rate than the non-corporate season tickets. I was at the now infamous UAA WCHA Playoff sweep with a date and while walking around during intermission, we ran into a friend of hers. He happened to be a person who works with the team behind the scenes, and was talking about ticket usage. The U know exactly who's using their tickets and who isn't. It turns out that corporate seats get near center ice get used at a much higher rate than Mr. and Mrs. Scrooge McDuck use their tickets.

I witnessed it first hand with my brother last year. He has season tickets in one of the corners and makes it to almost all the game each year, and all the seats around him are also season ticketholder seats. It was a very common occurrence when I was at a game with him that the tickets all around us were going unused. The family to the right were having a baby, so they missed a bunch of games; the family in front only showed up to about every second series, and often missed Friday nights during those weeks. The list goes on and on, but it still stands that it's the private ticketholders that miss much more often than the hated Corpies.

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

The U know exactly who's using their tickets and who isn't. It turns out that corporate seats get near center ice get used at a much higher rate than Mr. and Mrs. Scrooge McDuck use their tickets.

Very interesting. I will say this. When those Gold Seats at Center Ice are vacant, they're very noticeable on TV, almost like they're lit up in neon. Could be that's where the negative perception on corporate usage comes from.

[goldy_331]

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

I only came for the Kato game this year, and I was late arriving because of the high school football parking fiasco, but there was also a pretty substantial volleyball crowd that night that might have contributed to the parking mess. I assume volleyball attendance has spiked this year (pun intended). Has that had any effect on Mariucci attendance?

The VB team frequently has sell outs and near sell outs, even for regular season conference games. It definitely impacts the late arrivals but I doubt it impacts final attendance.

[SanTropez]

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

Start serving beer - problem would be fixed.

[SJHovey]

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

Very interesting. I will say this. When those Gold Seats at Center Ice are vacant, they're very noticeable on TV, almost like they're lit up in neon. Could be that's where the negative perception on corporate usage comes from.

When you look at the first 20 seconds of this video, especially the shot from down in the corner looking across at the other side, it is pretty clear there is an attendance problem, no matter how many tickets are sold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-kq4AbbpSw

[5mn_Major]

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

Every year, there's lots of competition for attention in the cities. All major pro sports, one of the biggest arts scene between the coasts and thousands of other events going on. The only potential city with the same distractions is Boston...and maybe Ann Arbor. And what percentage of Bostonians follow BC hockey?

This year the Gopher team is pretty bad. So its expected.

In the end, the Gophers year in and year out have quite possibly the largest televised audience in the nation and actively following fan base in the country...so its all good.

[5thYearFreshman]

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

Every year, there's lots of competition for attention in the cities. All major pro sports, one of the biggest arts scene between the coasts and thousands of other events going on. The only potential city with the same distractions is Boston...and maybe Ann Arbor. And what percentage of Bostonians follow BC hockey?

This year the Gopher team is pretty bad. So its expected.

In the end, the Gophers year in and year out have quite possibly the largest televised audience in the nation and actively following fan base in the country...so its all good.

Gophers fans are simply fair weather fans. They will show up if the team is winning and they disappear to their caves to start Fire Lucia threads when they're not.

[D2D]

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

Gophers fans are simply fair weather fans. They will show up if the team is winning and they disappear to their caves to start Fire Lucia threads when they're not.

Hey there are still 59 teams behind us, and that includes SCSU.

http://www.uscho.com/stats/attendanc...men/2015-2016/

[SJHovey]

Hey there are still 59 teams behind us, and that includes SCSU.

http://www.uscho.com/stats/attendanc...men/2015-2016/

Tech needs a bigger arena

[hockeykrazy]

Re: Terrible Mariucci attendance

Hey there are still 59 teams behind us, and that includes SCSU.

http://www.uscho.com/stats/attendanc...men/2015-2016/

I am pretty sure he is a UNO fan stuck in Husky country.

[Tipsy McStagger]

Start serving beer - problem would be fixed.

It couldn't hurt.