[NU Sports] Attendance

[Jonathan Hodges]

I've thought that high ticket prices are one of the obstacles for NU
increasing football attendance.  This is especially true for families who
typically have 4+ tickets to buy.  I know that there have been a ton of
promos this year (including $35 end zone seats and even half price tickets
for the PSU game with an online coupon code this past week), but seeing that
high price tag drives many causal fans away who would otherwise drop by for
a day-of-the-game purchase.

I know that one reason for the high prices is that NU can reap the revenue
from the opposition's fans who come into town (especially for the likes of
PSU, OSU, and Michigan), but outside of those games the price is a big
obstacle for bringing in fans.

Be that as it may, Tracy Hitz (NU athletic deptarment marketing lead) has
been interviewed this year and has stated that pricing studies have shown
that reducing the ticket prices won't necessarily bring in enough fans to
make up for the lost revenue from the lower prices.  After reading some of
these interviews and hearing from people on the inside, the NU athletic
department is doing all it can with the resources it has to bring in fans
(the SPAC tailgate was hopping, with help from the NU athletic department,
and they've been running a ton of promos this year) and it would be worth
noting for those who keep stating that "NU marketing sucks" on this and
other internet discussions.

In any case I think the attendance answer can be helped by reduced ticket
prices in some situations (i.e. nonconference games), along with a slew of
other actions.  The problem is that the issue is complex and will require a
complex set of solutions over a period of time - there is no magic bullet.

Jonathan


On Sun, Nov 1, 2009 at 12:22 PM, <bwdolphin146 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Does anyone else think that $50 a pop for tickets for a team that (sorry,
> will be brutal here) has not won a league title since 2000 or a bowl game
> since 1949 is too much money?
>
> I know, tickets are cheaper bought by season plans, etc. But still.
>
> Bw
> Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
>
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