Re: Wisconsin Hockey 2018-2019: We can have a witty thread title when we start winnin
Regarding upper deck ticket prices, it obviously does make a difference. Remember 2013-14 when there was zero hype for an elite team (some early bumps in the road didn't help), and they were setting records for low attendance at men's hockey that fall?
They had a black Friday sale on those upper tickets and made them like 11 or 12 bucks. Sure enough, those seats actually got pretty full, even for 2nd year Penn State. They tried it, and it worked. (Looking back, it was probably just a boost to get some people in the door, but what we need is a giant long-term shift, not a little boost.)
I'd recommend they remember that. I also would recommend that they look at every other sports team I've ever seen in my life that sells tickets and draws more than 4000 fans regularly. Did they outsmart all of these hundreds of teams? Doubtful.
I'd also recommend they look at UW volleyball and UW men's hockey, and compare that comparison to the sport of volleyball (in this city, region, and country) and the sport of hockey (in this city, region, and country).
They're charging major league college sports prices for a minor sport. UW hockey used to be the third major sport here (not all colleges have that, even huge ones). Seeing the drastic shift in how many people follow the program as fans - and how those people do it - over the years makes that very, very clear even though it's mostly not quantitative stuff. (Student ticket sales and usage is, and the shift reflects exactly what I describe).
A 50% - or even 40 or 30% - reduction in price is significant. For a family, it the dollar amount multiplies (for the total purchase). Even for one person, 10 bucks might not be a lot, but there's a big point missed here. We're not talking about the fans going out of their way to watch games. They're not buying those tickets (virtually nobody is), and there aren't many of us left. we're talking about people - even Wisconsin Badgers fans - who have never engaged with Wisconsin hockey, but who so enjoy going to (other) games and would enjoy it. Again, I think families are a big part of that equation, because a night at the Badgers game has some appeal, but a group of four that doesn't care much about UW hockey (in the sense of being a fan) is going to frame 20 dollar tickets in a different category than 10 dollar tickets.
The cheaper option works for those who might want to check it out. That's the group they need, because there aren't thousands of fans sitting around going "hmmm if this Granato team proves themselves, I'll start going."
I obviously don't have as much information as they do, but they need to a) look to UW volleyball (and not pretend men's hockey is to far above it to make that comparison) and to the time that they did discount those tickets straight-up and the barren wasteland upstairs suddenly had life. Oh and c) remember that this ain't like the Ottawa Senators where making some positive changes with the team will get fans rushing back. It's letting people learn first hand what college hockey is.
Everyone feel encouraged to echo any of that to any fancy UW people you encounter.
