Ticket prices???

[davyd83]

At the St. Paul regional, ticket prices were $94 for a three game pass and $47.50 for single game tickets. How ridiculous is this. You can get cheaper tickets for Minnesota Wild NHL games! How many college students can afford $47 for a single hockey game, or wish to pay $94 for a tourney in which their team may only play one game? Why were there no student ticket prices? Doesn't the NCAA want students to be able to participate in the excitement of the tourney? Don't they realize the cost for a student to not only travel 7 hours, pay for hotel rooms (many in the area of the arena were in excess of $150 per night plus taxes), food and then throw another $100 in for a ticket. Now add parking and miscellaneous expenses and it's going to cost the average NMU student a minimum of $400 for the weekend, provided you buy no souvenirs or meals at the arena, where a hot dog and a coke can set you back $10! How about families? Mom, Dad and 2 teenage kids want to go to the regional...$376 for a tourney pass or $190 for ONE FREAKIN GAME, before you buy a coke, dog or souvenir or pay for parking!!! Absolutely ridiculous!!! Hey NCAA, do you wanna see better attendance at the regionals? How about making it affordable for college students and families to attend!!! Does the "C" in NCAA stand for collegiate or corporate?

How many students do you think could afford a ticket to their conference tourney, a regional and the frozen four?

 

[Friartown]

Re: Ticket prices???

That's why I did not attend the games in Worcester. I am not a student but to take my son it was hard to pay $47.50 per ticket. One can only imagine how much more difficult it is for students.

At the St. Paul regional, ticket prices were $94 for a three game pass and $47.50 for single game tickets. How ridiculous is this. You can get cheaper tickets for Minnesota Wild NHL games! How many college students can afford $47 for a single hockey game, or wish to pay $94 for a tourney in which their team may only play one game? Why were there no student ticket prices? Doesn't the NCAA want students to be able to participate in the excitement of the tourney? Don't they realize the cost for a student to not only travel 7 hours, pay for hotel rooms (many in the area of the arena were in excess of $150 per night plus taxes), food and then throw another $100 in for a ticket. Now add parking and miscellaneous expenses and it's going to cost the average NMU student a minimum of $400 for the weekend, provided you buy no souvenirs or meals at the arena, where a hot dog and a coke can set you back $10! Hey NCAA, do you wanna see better attendance at the regionals? How about making it affordable for college students to attend!!! Does the "C" in NCAA stand for collegiate or corporate?

 

[ericredaxe]

Re: Ticket prices???

Who knows at what price leval they would max out their profits?

If they made the tickets half of that price would attendance double? I'm not sure. Certinally if it did, then one would assume they would also sell more hot dogs, soda, popcorn, parking, merchandise etc and thus be more profitable. Not to mention it would probablly be a better atmosphere.

I do agree though. I'm about an hour from Worcester and without my team in the tournament there is no way I would go and spend $50 on a game. If it had been $22 or along those lines, I might have gone out just to see some hockey.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: Ticket prices???

Does the "C" in NCAA stand for collegiate or corporate?

That was a rhetorical question, right?

There's a reason the Fort Wayne regional had nobody there. The locals can pay $9 for a Komets game. Why would they pay multiple times that for out of town college teams they probably don't care about?

 

[HCSmooth]

Re: Ticket prices???

My team was in the St. Paul regional, and I would've had a friend to stay with, but even I was turned off by the price of the tickets when I can just go find a bar and watch the game on TV among friends and save myself the 5 hour drive and $94 price of admission. I should be their target audience, and I didn't find any value in their ticket prices.

 

[wolverine318]

Re: Ticket prices???

At the St. Paul regional, ticket prices were $94 for a three game pass and $47.50 for single game tickets. How ridiculous is this. You can get cheaper tickets for Minnesota Wild NHL games! How many college students can afford $47 for a single hockey game, or wish to pay $94 for a tourney in which their team may only play one game? Why were there no student ticket prices? Doesn't the NCAA want students to be able to participate in the excitement of the tourney? Don't they realize the cost for a student to not only travel 7 hours, pay for hotel rooms (many in the area of the arena were in excess of $150 per night plus taxes), food and then throw another $100 in for a ticket. Now add parking and miscellaneous expenses and it's going to cost the average NMU student a minimum of $400 for the weekend, provided you buy no souvenirs or meals at the arena, where a hot dog and a coke can set you back $10! How about families? Mom, Dad and 2 teenage kids want to go to the regional...$376 for a tourney pass or $190 for ONE FREAKIN GAME, before you buy a coke, dog or souvenir or pay for parking!!! Absolutely ridiculous!!! Hey NCAA, do you wanna see better attendance at the regionals? How about making it affordable for college students and families to attend!!! Does the "C" in NCAA stand for collegiate or corporate?

How many students do you think could afford a ticket to their conference tourney, a regional and the frozen four?

That is why I didn't attend the games in Ft Wayne. Even with the discounted prices, I could not afford to go on a graduate student salary. My wife and I decided we would rather save our money for the FF regardless of what happened in the regionals. I am in Ann Arbor only 2 hours away from Ft Wayne. We looked at the cost taking into account tickets, gas, meals, and most likely starbucks for the ride home. At the moment, to get any type of good seat without requiring binoculars to see the action is going to require over $200 for a pair of tickets. The NCAA can stuff it with their prices.

 

[Zudnic]

Re: Ticket prices???

After TicketMaster fees, two game packages to Worcester were $120.

The prices upset me too. They seem to not be aware that most of these games are on in HD. Had I not received a free ticket from a friend, I would have skipped Saturday.

It was particularly galling since Worcester is such a dump.

I think if UND had won, a BC-UND matchup would have drawn much better. I think casual fans look at BC vs an ECAC team and think it's a slam dunk.

 

[pinch]

Re: Ticket prices???

The prices are going to ruin this event. STUDENTS should be able to purchase tickets for $10...if you want to overcharge others, that is fine, but students should be given the opportunity to attend the regionals at a special rate

 

[markwojo]

Re: Ticket prices???

The NCAA is thoroughly retarded with their pricing in these regionals. I say that from seeing the regional in the Kohl Center in '08 where a championship game featuring UW in their home rink against about as big a rival as you can get (North Dakota) drew 9816. UW has more season ticketholders then 9816 and North Dakota brought a nice crowd (not to mention Denver...another big name rival, and Princeton had a few folks in the house as well since not all of them picked up and left town after Sat night). 9816 for a championship game in Madison with a regional that involves conference rivals like North Dakota, Denver, Wisconsin playing in their home rink, and an outstanding hockey community is inexcuseable and a direct testimony to the ticket pricing (Yes UW basketball offered a competing choice for the imagination of Badger fans that weekend...but sorry not THAT many went on the road that virtually the entire third deck should be empty).

I can understand the greed in doubling ticket prices for a regional and charging $90-100 for the weekend as opposed to the $40-50 you do for a regular season weekend of games for some or even many of the tickets, but why on earth do you not use different tiers of pricing when you are playing in 2/3rd's full buildings in even the best case scenerios? Do you think if you put a pricing tier at the Kohl Center like $45 a game for the lower bowl, $35 for the second level, $25 for the third level, and $15 for the ends of the upper deck that you might draw in a slightly more casual hockey fan or a family that has financial limits in their budgets? I think there are many more families of 4 willing to spend $200 (@$25 a ticket) to attend a regional then are capable of spending $400 (@$50 a ticket) to sit in the upper deck at the Kohl, or Excel, or whatever other half empty facility regionals get played in.

 

[Zuck_Em_Bucky]

Re: Ticket prices???

The prices are going to ruin this event. STUDENTS should be able to purchase tickets for $10...if you want to overcharge others, that is fine, but students should be given the opportunity to attend the regionals at a special rate

Ha ha. Sorry, I couldn't help but laugh. I was a grad student at Wisconsin in 2006 when they went to the FF in Milwaukee. I believe each school that year in the FF got TWELVE (12) 'student' tickets. Total. I know a lot still bought tickets through the forum & whatnot but that really soured me.

In addition, what student can afford to put $600+ dollars out for nearly a year (assuming you buy 4 tickets to the FF) or even a few months. You have to put in for tickets by June, they don't draw til August and if you don't get tickets you also signed your right to interest on your $600 away. The Ed O'Bannon lawsuit is gonna ROAST the NCAA and I can't wait! (FYI here's more on the EOB lawsuit: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/sports/ncaabasketball/11colleges.html and http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/frank_deford/03/10/NCAA-amateurism-lawsuit/index.html)

 

[superfan11]

Re: Ticket prices???

Ha ha. Sorry, I couldn't help but laugh. I was a grad student at Wisconsin in 2006 when they went to the FF in Milwaukee. I believe each school that year in the FF got TWELVE (12) 'student' tickets. Total. I know a lot still bought tickets through the forum & whatnot but that really soured me.

In addition, what student can afford to put $600+ dollars out for nearly a year (assuming you buy 4 tickets to the FF) or even a few months. You have to put in for tickets by June, they don't draw til August and if you don't get tickets you also signed your right to interest on your $600 away. The Ed O'Bannon lawsuit is gonna ROAST the NCAA and I can't wait! (FYI here's more on the EOB lawsuit: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/sports/ncaabasketball/11colleges.html and http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/frank_deford/03/10/NCAA-amateurism-lawsuit/index.html)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA the news about that lawsuit just made my day dude thank you!!!!

 

[Roben]

Re: Ticket prices???

After TicketMaster fees, two game packages to Worcester were $120.

The prices upset me too. They seem to not be aware that most of these games are on in HD. Had I not received a free ticket from a friend, I would have skipped Saturday.

It was particularly galling since Worcester is such a dump.

I think if UND had won, a BC-UND matchup would have drawn much better. I think casual fans look at BC vs an ECAC team and think it's a slam dunk.

I was looking for WCHA Final Five tickets before I got some from work. I was seeing some seats for $65 for the whole thing (5 games). Granted, they were top level ends of the arena, but it was a lot more reasonable. $150 I think after fees, or around there, would have gotten me one seat on club level for all 5 games.

After seeing the prices, I'm not surprised about the attendance levels. The NC$$ needs to address it. They'd better hope it's an all WCHA Frozen Four next year in St. Paul to get the numbers.

 

[RedFreak]

Re: Ticket prices???

Who knows at what price leval they would max out their profits?

I think they should focus on maximizing attendance rather than profit. For the good of the sport and the student athletes.

 

[markwojo]

Re: Ticket prices???

I was looking for WCHA Final Five tickets before I got some from work. I was seeing some seats for $65 for the whole thing (5 games). Granted, they were top level ends of the arena, but it was a lot more reasonable. $150 I think after fees, or around there, would have gotten me one seat on club level for all 5 games.

After seeing the prices, I'm not surprised about the attendance levels. The NC$$ needs to address it. They'd better hope it's an all WCHA Frozen Four next year in St. Paul to get the numbers.

The Frozen Fours attendance is not the problem at all. Those ticklets are sold almost a year in advanced and many people attend regardless of who is in the tournament. Yes a compelling field is more likely to fill the building to the rafters, but the worst field imaginable will still have the F4 well attended.

The issue here is more the regionals where you have 4 or 5 days to capture enough interest in the fanbases of 4 teams to get decent attendance numbers. Pricing of the tickets, when you add in the cost of travel, hotels, meals, ect is increasingly prohibitive for the teams that have to travel to the event, and there is an obvious problem in creating any excitement from the local hockey fans even when a local team makes a regional.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: Ticket prices???

It was particularly galling since Worcester is such a dump.

I have never been to the arena in Ft. Wayne, but on TV, that place looked like a major dump as well. Its so sad that they put the regionals it ****ty arenas (when they will no longer put it in beautiful venues like Engelstad or Mariucci) and charge insanely high prices.

I don't think the frozen 4 will be a problem, except this year, higher prices to see the national championship doesn't bother me, especially when they're selling out NHL arenas in Washington and St. Louis for the event.

 

[unofan]

Re: Ticket prices???

They'd better hope it's an all WCHA Frozen Four next year in St. Paul to get the numbers.

The Frozen Four and regionals are two completely different animals.

The Frozen Four sells out a year in advance to people who make it an annual event (this year notwithstanding, thanks to the Ford Field experiment). People travelling with the teams also have 2 weeks to make arrangements. The crowd are mainly out-of-towners.

Regionals have 4-5 days of lead time and depend heavily on locals for attendance.

The prices are going to ruin this event. STUDENTS should be able to purchase tickets for $10...if you want to overcharge others, that is fine, but students should be given the opportunity to attend the regionals at a special rate

Nice in theory, but good luck with that one.

 

[RedFreak]

Re: Ticket prices???

The Frozen Four and regionals are two completely different animals.

The Frozen Four sells out a year in advance to people who make it an annual event (this year notwithstanding, thanks to the Ford Field experiment). People travelling with the teams also have 2 weeks to make arrangements. The crowd are mainly out-of-towners.

Regionals have 4-5 days of lead time and depend heavily on locals for attendance.

I was watching some of the basketball this weekend and on one of the games (don't remember which one) the camera pulled back and much of the upper deck of that arena was empty too.

I agree that much of the problem is clearly the inablity of most people to rearrange their schedule on a few days notice to travel half way across the country, no matter what the ticket price. The tickets need to be priced to get the locals to show up.

 

[UML]

Re: Ticket prices???

I asked all of my friends if they wanted to go to the games in Worcester and they pretty much laughed at me when I told them how much it would cost.

 

[The Vicar]

Re: Ticket prices???

Couldn't agree more with the rants on this post. The prices are absolutley ridiculous! I hope the greed merchants of the National Communistic Athletic Association are reading these post of MANY upset college hockey fans!

 

[Roben]

Re: Ticket prices???

The Frozen Four and regionals are two completely different animals.

The Frozen Four sells out a year in advance to people who make it an annual event (this year notwithstanding, thanks to the Ford Field experiment). People travelling with the teams also have 2 weeks to make arrangements. The crowd are mainly out-of-towners.

Regionals have 4-5 days of lead time and depend heavily on locals for attendance.



Nice in theory, but good luck with that one.

I forgot about that...I haven't bought F4 tickets, so it didn't come to mind. Ah well...regional prices still could be improved. Profits would still be realized. Lowering the cost of a ticket will allow someone to feel less strapped for cash, and spend money on the higher margin concessions, like beer or the $5 hot dog.