Student section = weak.

[mufansince72]

Maybe 30 people tonight in the upper student section. Really weak. Top 25 team against a Big East opponent. First half Saturday was pretty weak too, until some people showed up in the second half. I think they should take those tickets away from the students and give them to some HS or Middle School kids if they are not going to use them.

[GOMU1104]

Your post is weak.

8pm game against the last place team. Not much juice to it.

[Father Dan's Camera]

8pm?? Really? There was only 5 games left including last night and the students can't even fill the lower section? Maybe the announcement should be the best student section in the country when they feel the game is important enough to warrant their attention.

[MUAlphaBangura]

Your post is weak.

8pm game against the last place team. Not much juice to it.

That's funny. 8:00 game. Yeah, most college kids in bed by 10. Really???? One hour later makes that big of a difference? And a last place team????? You should be going to watch A FIRST PLACE TEAM. YOUR TEAM!! MARQUETTE!!!! Didn't seem to bother most of the other fans, many who had to drive back to Chicago, etc. My alarm still went off at 5:15 this morning. How many students were up at 5:15 this morning? Please don't take this personal, but your post was infinitely weaker than mufansince72's.

[MUMac]

Careful guys. Any criticism of the student section is met with a vociferous attack against the poster. Don't you know, our students are immune to any criticism?

Last night was pathetic. Less than two weeks into school and 5 games remaining. Pathetic.

[TheSultan]

I'm not going to bash the OP, but why bash the students? They aren't under any obligation to go to these games.

[MUMac]

I'm not going to bash the OP, but why bash the students? They aren't under any obligation to go to these games.

I think the OP called it like it is. They are touted as the best student section, they are not. Last night's crowd was embarrassing. No, they are not obligated to go, but frankly, that is a bizarre statement to stick behind. Absolutely bizarre.

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

I'm with the OP, I'm not sure what MU can do, but it might be time we look at reducing the student section just a little bit. For some of these games the entire upper bowl of their section is empty, especially for the Christmas break games. Now I'm not sure that even if they put them for sale to the public that people would buy them, but atleast you could maybe get something.

That being said it would be interesting to see how many students actually show up for other teams, I know Duke is renowned for their student section but its such a small area that I'm not sure they draw more than us, it's just they fill their whole section.

[TheSultan]

I think the OP called it like it is. They are touted as the best student section, they are not. Last night's crowd was embarrassing. No, they are not obligated to go, but frankly, that is a bizarre statement to stick behind. Absolutely bizarre.


Well, I agree with the "best student section" line. No need for that any longer.

[TheSultan]

I'm with the OP, I'm not sure what MU can do, but it might be time we look at reducing the student section just a little bit. For some of these games the entire upper bowl of their section is empty, especially for the Christmas break games. Now I'm not sure that even if they put them for sale to the public that people would buy them, but atleast you could maybe get something.

That being said it would be interesting to see how many students actually show up for other teams, I know Duke is renowned for their student section but its such a small area that I'm not sure they draw more than us, it's just they fill their whole section.


Marquette gets good student crowds for big games. A lot of schools are in the same boat.

[IWB]

Yes, it was USF, it was 8:00, it was a Monday night. Yes, the student section was weak, but this game probably had little interest from the general student body. The students that were there were loud and active.

Here is what I do have a problem with.... There are some Milwaukee sports radio guys ripping the students and fans for the poor turnout on Facebook this morning, with a picture that was taken with under 2:00 mins to go. why does that bother me?

Milwaukee Sports TV - Tim VanVooren from Fox 6, Lance Allen from TMJ 4 and Stephanie Sutton from WISN 12 were all there.

Milwaukee Sports Radio - Interns.

Yep, go ahead and rip the fans when YOU WEREN'T THERE! Hell, Stephanie Sutton could drop out a kid at any time and she was there.

[mufansince72]

I took pictures last night. It wouldn't have matterred if they were from two minutes to go or 20 minutes to go. I have been to almost every game this year, and the student section has been very weak all year. If a winning team against Big East opponents can't draw students, the simple fact is there are too many student seats. Maybe they ought to think about how they allocate student tickets to create more demand than supply. I would rather they give those seats to HS students or middle school students, boy scout troops, etc to fill the area. Whomever said that it was 8 PM on a Monday is out to lunch. I have college kids, they don't even think about going out until 8 PM.

[MUBB713]

Pretty much agree with everything. I'm glad it was brought up because I thought it was just me. The students that were there were loud but the numbers were pathetic. It wasn't until halfway through the first half that the section behind the band was some what full.

Also, students don't have the right to look at the opponent and say, "not good enough." They should go to watch their top 25 team. I actually thought the crowd was pretty decent otherwise.

[KMWTRUCKS]

Monday night is a tough day for a game. Most kids are trying to get back into school for the week and get caught up on all the work they probably did not do over the weekend. At least that was me in College. I think we are being a little tough. I'm actually a bigger BBALL fan now then I was in college. Also what is the PA going to say? When we get 16K for a SAT game against PITT its OK to call them the best fans but not when we get 13K against USF?

[IWB]

I am in agreement, but the picture that was taken showed empty rows in the main part of the lower section, showed big gaps in the section behind the USF bench and huge gaps in the section next to that closer to half court.

Now I have no issues ripping the poor attendance of the students, but when a picture shows three sections half empty when they were packed full, I will take issue with it.

[TheSultan]

Also, students don't have the right to look at the opponent and say, "not good enough."


Of course they do. And they exercised that right in droves.

This is not a problem unique to Marquette by the way. It happens at 95% of the colleges out there. Too much competition for entertainment time...too many night classes...drop in "school spirit." The reason many go to the games isn't to watch basketball anyway...it has more to do with the social scene.

[GOMU1104]

I took pictures last night. It wouldn't have matterred if they were from two minutes to go or 20 minutes to go. I have been to almost every game this year, and the student section has been very weak all year. If a winning team against Big East opponents can't draw students, the simple fact is there are too many student seats. Maybe they ought to think about how they allocate student tickets to create more demand than supply. I would rather they give those seats to HS students or middle school students, boy scout troops, etc to fill the area. Whomever said that it was 8 PM on a Monday is out to lunch. I have college kids, they don't even think about going out until 8 PM.

I said it. And like it or not, that had something to do with it. From 05-08, I probably missed 5 total home games, so I'm not the one that would complain about going to an 8pm monday night game...I went. The diehards and regulars will go no matter what the time, but I'm willing to bet, a majority of the students with tickets said "eh, worst team in the league, I'm not going to go. I'm going to Murphys/Caffs instead."

The student section should be pretty good the rest of the way, so I can give them a break for not being that great for this game. You'll have to find something else to complain about.

[mufansince72]

I don't know, I guess I'm just upset because I am old enough to remember when an MU ticket was like gold. I have no idea how much student tickets cost, but I am guessing they are pretty inexpensive. Very cheap entertainment for a college kid. It's embarrassing when they use that "best student section in the country" intro line when there are few students there. I am not buying the opponent angle either, because some of the best games I can remember in the past several years were against South Florida. I would not be shocked at all if South Florida beats MU down in Tampa next week.

[GOMU1104]

I don't know, I guess I'm just upset because I am old enough to remember when an MU ticket was like gold. I have no idea how much student tickets cost, but I am guessing they are pretty inexpensive. Very cheap entertainment for a college kid. It's embarrassing when they use that "best student section in the country" intro line when there are few students there. I am not buying the opponent angle either, because some of the best games I can remember in the past several years were against South Florida. I would not be shocked at all if South Florida beats MU down in Tampa next week.

Huh?

We havent lost to USF at home since 1998.

Since Buzz has been here...MU is 4-1 vs. USF.

Last night - 63-50...Win...Never Close
2012 vs. USF - 67-47...Win...Never Close
2011 at USF - 59-58...Win...Crowder hit some shots late
2010 vs. USF - 63-52...Win...Never Close
2009 at USF - 57-56...Loss...Lazar missed a shot at the end.

[Goose85]

An 8 o'clock game is actually better. Get your studies done, grab a beer and the weather was almost spring like.

Student attendance may be down everywhere, I don't know, but at MU we don't have football with basketball as the second sport / social event. Hoops is the social event.

I do know that last year Duke didn't sell all of there student tickets. Problem with Duke was they played all of their good non conference games at neutral sites and the ACC slate wasn't good enough for the students I guess.

Games now are all on TV, that may add to it as well.

When I was in school way back in the 1900's we played at the Arena. Tickets were through a lottery and not all students that wanted tickets could get them, so if you had tickets you didn't miss. Games were all sold out and they were not on tv like now. Now with a bigger arena tickets are no longer tough to get, so you can go when you feel like it.

I guess I can understand why students may not show up these days, but just quit saying the best student section in the country.

[mufansince72]

Huh?

We havent lost to USF at home since 1998.

Since Buzz has been here...MU is 4-1 vs. USF.

Last night - 63-50...Win...Never Close
2012 vs. USF - 67-47...Win...Never Close
2011 at USF - 59-58...Win...Crowder hit some shots late
2010 vs. USF - 63-52...Win...Never Close
2009 at USF - 57-56...Loss...Lazar missed a shot at the end.

You don't consider 59-58 close? What about the game a few years back when Jerel had a steal and basket at the buzzer? I don't give a crap who the opponent is. If the students don't show up, I will say there are too many student tickets. Why does a game have to be close to enjoy it? I personally enjoy games more when we have a comfortable margin.

[MUfan12]

Call me crazy, but when I was a Marquette student, I went to watch Marquette. Not the other team.

There's simply no defending the students here. This is a nationally ranked, first place team. The semester is less than 2 weeks old, so it's not like exams are coming. It's straight up apathy.

I've long advocated cutting the upper bowl allotment in half. It's time MU explored that option. If the "3 games a year" crowd wants tickets, they can buy them individually for those games.

[IWB]

A few comments -

First off, 72 - the Jerel steal and 59-58 were both at USF. Also, most students don't remember games like us older diehards do. The casual student doesn't remember the Jerel steal because none of today's students were at MU during that game. The 59-58 game - today's seniors were sophs, juniors were freshmen. Are you sure they all even watched that game? I don't care how good their team is in any given year, the name "South Florida" does not create a great deal of excitement in the students' minds. Just wait for the new conference - Xavier and Butler should/might draw, but do you think students will come out in droves for Dayton or maybe Saint Louis at 8:00 on a Monday?

The best student section in the country - agree, sounds dumb, especially when they say it when the upper deck is empty.

While yes, I do agree that there should always be more students there, Armen Saryan pointed out on Facebook that this year there has been a lot of games in Madison where the student section was not full. They have 40,000 students. Marquette has 9,000. It would take more than 50% of the student body to fill the entire student section. To equal that, Wisconsin would have to fill the entire Kohl Center and turn away a thousand students. That would never ever ever happen.

[Mucrisco]

I don't want to get political, and I hope the conversation doesn't go that route due to my post, but one of my best friends owns and runs a bunch of popular bars on 3rd street. He was telling me that Marquette kids don't go out like they use to. The economy has had a huge effect. Not only do people have less money, but it scares kids that their half their classmates can't get jobs when they are out of school. Also, parents are pushing their kids to get better grades due to that. So far less people are going out, and more kids are studying. On a Monday night, against a lesser opponent, having not spent that much money on tickets, and having easy access to tickets so you are able to only go to the big games, I can see kids staying home to study.

[Mucrisco]

Yes, it was USF, it was 8:00, it was a Monday night. Yes, the student section was weak, but this game probably had little interest from the general student body. The students that were there were loud and active.

Here is what I do have a problem with.... There are some Milwaukee sports radio guys ripping the students and fans for the poor turnout on Facebook this morning, with a picture that was taken with under 2:00 mins to go. why does that bother me?

Milwaukee Sports TV - Tim VanVooren from Fox 6, Lance Allen from TMJ 4 and Stephanie Sutton from WISN 12 were all there.

Milwaukee Sports Radio - Interns.

Yep, go ahead and rip the fans when YOU WEREN'T THERE! Hell, Stephanie Sutton could drop out a kid at any time and she was there.
That's because Steph's a rock star!

[Goose85]

I don't want to get political, and I hope the conversation doesn't go that route due to my post, but one of my best friends owns and runs a bunch of popular bars on 3rd street. He was telling me that Marquette kids don't go out like they use to. The economy has had a huge effect. Not only do people have less money, but it scares kids that their half their classmates can't get jobs when they are out of school. Also, parents are pushing their kids to get better grades due to that. So far less people are going out, and more kids are studying. On a Monday night, against a lesser opponent, having not spent that much money on tickets, and having easy access to tickets so you are able to only go to the big games, I can see kids staying home to study.

With the cost of tuition these days, it is almost suprising that kids have money to buy beer, especially at the prices in bars near the Bradley Center.

[Litehouse]

A few comments -
While yes, I do agree that there should always be more students there, Armen Saryan pointed out on Facebook that this year there has been a lot of games in Madison where the student section was not full. They have 40,000 students. Marquette has 9,000. It would take more than 50% of the student body to fill the entire student section. To equal that, Wisconsin would have to fill the entire Kohl Center and turn away a thousand students. That would never ever ever happen.

Plus, I believe the UW student section is only about 2,000 seats, while the MU student section takes up about 4,000 seats.

[mufansince72]

A few comments -

First off, 72 - the Jerel steal and 59-58 were both at USF. Also, most students don't remember games like us older diehards do. The casual student doesn't remember the Jerel steal because none of today's students were at MU during that game. The 59-58 game - today's seniors were sophs, juniors were freshmen. Are you sure they all even watched that game? I don't care how good their team is in any given year, the name "South Florida" does not create a great deal of excitement in the students' minds. Just wait for the new conference - Xavier and Butler should/might draw, but do you think students will come out in droves for Dayton or maybe Saint Louis at 8:00 on a Monday?

The best student section in the country - agree, sounds dumb, especially when they say it when the upper deck is empty.

While yes, I do agree that there should always be more students there, Armen Saryan pointed out on Facebook that this year there has been a lot of games in Madison where the student section was not full. They have 40,000 students. Marquette has 9,000. It would take more than 50% of the student body to fill the entire student section. To equal that, Wisconsin would have to fill the entire Kohl Center and turn away a thousand students. That would never ever ever happen.

That is why there are too many student tickets. Cut the allotment. Give the other ones away to inner city youth for all I care. Develop another generation of fans. While they are at it, MU should probably look at their pricing mechanisms for some of these games. I can't remember the last time I paid full price for a ticket. They might as well sell the upper corner opposite of the student section for about 2 bucks each for non marquee games.

[BLT]

I think the student section has been very active and into it this year. Very organized and creative. I thought the break games had bigger student turnouts versus previous years...and it is kinda cool to see families sitting with the students. I will point out that there were also many sections of the lower bowl in the alumni areas that were pretty empty too, especially the family seats. The 8PM games are too late for kids and/or these families would need a babysitter...which are usually high school kids not free on weeknights. Then there is the Chicago or cities north of Milwaukee contingents who have to drive a couple of hours to and fro. Easier to study or stay at home to watch for either these students or fans. Late night games are simply made-for-tv events, let's face it. I think MU does well in comparison to others, but if they want fans to show up on these late games, they need to amp up the live events/promotions around the game to make them special.

That said, some on campus schools like Notre Dame seem to pack in the students for all sporting events. What do they do differently?

[mufansince72]

I don't want to rip on the students who were there, because they were very active. I just think that the student section is too big. I would rather have a smaller full student section, than one that looks half empty.

[mufan2003]

Despite the poor student turnout last night, here is the positive:

The ESPNU announcer on Saturday says he believes Marquette has the best home court crowd in the Big East and that on Saturday the building was loud (against a sub-.500 Providence team)!!! Statistically, we are 3rd in the Big East in average attendance season-to-date behind Louisville and Syracuse which have arenas with larger capacity. We consistently are in the top 15 NATIONALLY each year in average attendance. I understand the annoyance of the student turnout last night, but overall MU enjoys great fan support and student support when needed. Marquette needs to keep working through the Tribune, posters around campus, to get kids to go to EVERY game. I remember one professor when I was in college, he was great, he would tell everyone the day of a game that they better be at the Basketball game. He would rip on those that did not go, "What do you guys do?" We need more of that .

[mufansince72]

Another thought that I had is that MU should establish some joint deals or something with other organizations and establishments for some of these games. For instance, last night there were a ton of empty seats and unsold tickets. Jimmy Butler and the Bulls are coming to Mke on Wednesday. The Bucks are selling tickets to that game for half price. Maybe in situations like this the Bucks and MU could partner up and offer a two for one deal or something. Better marketing is needed.

[mufan2003]

The same professor would even push a deadline back a day if there was a game the night before a paper was due or an exam was to be given.

[ziggysfryboy]

TBSSITC just sounds soooo Tom crean.

[Litehouse]

I don't want to rip on the students who were there, because they were very active. I just think that the student section is too big. I would rather have a smaller full student section, than one that looks half empty.

This is a good point.
Students in the Student Section = Great
Students that don't show up for the game = Weak

However, I don't think it makes any sense to have a smaller student section. We don't sell out the other seats that are more desireable the way it is, so those upper deck end-zone sections would still be empty. We might as well sell them as part of the student section. It increases our attendance numbers and it does look impressive when they fill it for big games.

[IWB]

I don't know if they could partner with the bucks in a 2 for 1 deal too much red tape with NCAA - same with high schools because of the potential prospective recruits.

I would focus on the catholic grade schools as they do a reading program for tickets with the women's team - but even that is tough with the 8:00 pm start

[TheSultan]

I don't think there is much MU can do about this. My son goes to Butler, is a big basketball fan, but only goes to about 2/3 of the games. As he said, "there are plenty of other things to do on campus besides basketball." And I don't think this is unique to him or MU.

If you make it smaller, all you are going to do is have empty seats that aren't part of the "student section." And then what do you do when the big names come to town? Or on a weekend? MU wants to make it accessible for students to get to the games.

I understand that the "best student section" label is lame, but you really can't compare this to "back in the day." Different era...different generation.

[MU/Panther]

Couple of things here....MU's student sections is huge. They have about 4,000 seats for students.
Your Michigan & Duke's are about 1,000 to 1,500 for the student section. This is a problem for football & basketball in the ncaa's. (Less students going to game, from year's past) Before Tom Crean was coach, student season ticket sales were at 200. MU, now sell over 3,000 for student season tickets.

The paid crowd was 15,136. How about the general public who had tickets and didn't come to the game? Can't some of these folks just give away their tickets.

[Litehouse]

Duke's student section is 1,200. Last year, Duke was getting about 650 students per game and selling empty student seats to the general public.
http://articles.cnn.com/2012-02-10/worldsport/sport_cameron-less-crazy_1_empty-seats-crazy-towel-guy-duke-s-cameron-indoor-stadium?_s=PM:WORLDSPORT

[MUAlphaBangura]

Another thought that I had is that MU should establish some joint deals or something with other organizations and establishments for some of these games. For instance, last night there were a ton of empty seats and unsold tickets. Jimmy Butler and the Bulls are coming to Mke on Wednesday. The Bucks are selling tickets to that game for half price. Maybe in situations like this the Bucks and MU could partner up and offer a two for one deal or something. Better marketing is needed.

I'm not totally sure, but I believe Marquette's lease payment to the BC is based on the number of bodies in the place. So, it is hard for them to do mass give-a-ways of tickets or greatly reduced tickets because they are getting charged per person(don't know if it is a flat fee or % of ticket price). That was the explanation given to me years ago(early Crean years) when we were brainstorming marketing ideas to get more people to the games(not necessarily students). There are probably more factors involved than we know. But I agree with you on needing to make a student ticket more valuable than it appears to be today.

[MU/Panther]

I do like the fact that Marquette added two sections in the upper deck (south side) for the $125 season tickets.

[bleedbluegold03]

easy economics peeps - the supply faaaaar outstrips the demand for all but 3 games a year. Something that hasn't been mentioned to this point is that it is ALL freshman and sophomores that actually buy tickets.

Juniors and Seniors know that they can get a free ticket from anyone of their friends. essentially the crowd is made up of three groups: 10% fanantics (stay in line 2hrs+ and sit in the lowest section behind the basket), 30% fans (get there around an hour before the game), 50% students that go for the scene (show up drunk minutes before the game and sit upstairs).

---

My suggestion is such: pull back the student tickets by 2-3k. Make it special to have a ticket to the game and not something you want to just give away. You could sell two types of tickets: season passes that get you to each game for the running rate per ticket (40% actually student fans), and bunch passes that give you half the games a year for slightly more a ticket (still cheaper for the majority of students who are more price conscious and don't care as much). This way each type of student gets the amount of tickets they want and pay what they deem a good price.

next take the 2-3k and sell them as reg season tickets (I'd prefer marketing them to recent alums who can keep the bonding alive). If you can get half of the tickets sold at a higher rate that could equate up to 10k-12k seats sold each season or one more full game's worth of revenue.

You know what that allows us to do?!?! Use the increased revenue to offset a game at the AL each year. My dream.

[mufansince72]

easy economics peeps - the supply faaaaar outstrips the demand for all but 3 games a year. Something that hasn't been mentioned to this point is that is ALL freshman and sophomores that actually buy tickets.

Juniors and Seniors know that they can get a free ticket from anyone of their friends. essentially the crowd is made up of three groups: 10% fanantics (stay in line 2hrs+ and sit in the lowest section behind the basket), 30% fans (get there around an hour before the game), 50% students that go for the scene (show up drunk minutes before the game and sit upstairs).

---

My suggest is such: pull back the student tickets by 2-3k. Make it special to have a ticket to the game and not something you want to just give away. You could sell two types of tickets: season passes that get you to each game for the running rate per ticket (40% actually student fans), and bunch passes that give you have the games a year for slightly more a ticket (still cheaper for the majority of students who are more price conscious and don't care as much). This way each type of student gets the amount of tickets they want and pay what they deem a good price.

next take the 2-3k and sell them as reg season tickets (I'd prefer marketing them to recent alums who can keep the bonding alive). If you can get half of the tickets sold at a higher rate that could equate up to 10k-12k seats sold each season or one more full game's worth of revenue.

You know what that allows us to do?!?! Use the increased revenue to offset a game at the AL each year. My dream.

I like your thinking. Something has to be done.

[Gato78]

Gotta give Spencer the total kudos on student section organization. He is in the 1st row and leads the I believe cheer. The kid is a gamer.

[MU/Panther]

Why pull back on the number of seats you can sell to the student. It's not like those seats are going to sell to the public, since there are 4,000 unsold seats to the general public.

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

I think the reality is that for most games the supply of tickets outweighs the demand, and not just in the student section. If we got an on campus arena (I don't see that happening any time soon), I'd advocate that it be a 12-13,000 seat arena. It would be a bit more cozy than the BC is now and I think it would create an awesome atmosphere for college games

[MUBRACES]

For whatever reason, the student section has been less active for years. I remember waiting out in the cold at the BC in line hundreds deep just to get a lower bowl seat for probably half of all MU games back between 2002-2004, now how often does that happen? And that was against C-USA teams! Is it because people take for granted our success and expect it? The students used to be loud and rowdy all game....now it seams they only make noise when MU is in trouble, or is on a roll.

Now on what to do about the attendance....I agree with Bleed....there are just too many seats open for the demand. I think the true demand for a MU game is around 1500 to 2500 students a game, but we have 4k plus available.....reduce the number of student season tickets down to around 2500, which makes the supply and demand more on par....which will make the tickets available more coveted. Do this for a full season ticket, but then offer a 5-game pack for all the marquee games that will open up the 4k student section. Will this fill the upper section with general public for the lesser opponent games...no, but it will offer the general public to buy them at $25 a ticket instead of the $5 a ticket the students are paying for it.

That brings me to the other thing MU can do to increase student attendance.....right now (or at least when I was in school 10 years ago), season tickets for students were only like 50 or 60 bucks for the entire season, thats like 3-5 bucks a game.....of course they don't care if they miss the game, there is no financial loss. Increase the price they pay a game, and maybe they will think twice about throwing that money away, or at least selling the ticket to someone that will use it.

[Mucrisco]

Why pull back on the number of seats you can sell to the student. It's not like those seats are going to sell to the public, since there are 4,000 unsold seats to the general public.

With the big games that will sell out, you can make more money off of those seats. It's not like they are making a lot of money off of students anyway. For big games, everyone is rowdy anyway, so it's not like you lose energy with a smaller student section. I think the idea that people have, is if it's harder to get tickets if you are a student, they will appreciate them more and go to more games. If they aren't able to go to a game, they could sell that game to those students who weren't as fortunate to get tickets and actually want to go.

[MU/Panther]

For whatever reason, the student section has been less active for years. I remember waiting out in the cold at the BC in line hundreds deep just to get a lower bowl seat for probably half of all MU games back between 2002-2004, now how often does that happen? And that was against C-USA teams! Is it because people take for granted our success and expect it? The students used to be loud and rowdy all game....now it seams they only make noise when MU is in trouble, or is on a roll.

Now on what to do about the attendance....I agree with Bleed....there are just too many seats open for the demand. I think the true demand for a MU game is around 1500 to 2500 students a game, but we have 4k plus available.....reduce the number of student season tickets down to around 2500, which makes the supply and demand more on par....which will make the tickets available more coveted. Do this for a full season ticket, but then offer a 5-game pack for all the marquee games that will open up the 4k student section. Will this fill the upper section with general public for the lesser opponent games...no, but it will offer the general public to buy them at $25 a ticket instead of the $5 a ticket the students are paying for it.

That brings me to the other thing MU can do to increase student attendance.....right now (or at least when I was in school 10 years ago), season tickets for students were only like 50 or 60 bucks for the entire season, thats like 3-5 bucks a game.....of course they don't care if they miss the game, there is no financial loss. Increase the price they pay a game, and maybe they will think twice about throwing that money away, or at least selling the ticket to someone that will use it.A) In your first part, our saleman in Tom Crean is gone.
B)You can only buy student tickets as season-tickets, it's only $99. Why only sell 1500 to 2500 as you said, when MU has sold about 3200 student season tickets.

C) student-season tickets were $125 for the 2011-12 season. Sales went down, so they went back to $99.

[MU/Panther]

With the big games that will sell out, you can make more money off of those seats. It's not like they are making a lot of money off of students anyway. For big games, everyone is rowdy anyway, so it's not like you lose energy with a smaller student section. I think the idea that people have, is if it's harder to get tickets if you are a student, they will appreciate them more and go to more games. If they aren't able to go to a game, they could sell that game to those students who weren't as fortunate to get tickets and actually want to go. I got word students on Monday were trying to give away their tickets for free. The big games that sell out, is about 1 game per year. The Badger game wasn't even a sell-out. MU sold student area tickets for that game to the general public.

[Goose85]

From a school size perspective, we have pretty good student partication. I just can't stand the "best student section in the country" line.

By the way, maybe this has an affect on the students attending games (freshman drinking at a low). Glad I was in college during the 80's.


http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/drinking-among-college-freshmen-hits-record-low-major-185900788.html

[Bocephys]

From a school size perspective, we have pretty good student partication. I just can't stand the "best student section in the country" line.

By the way, maybe this has an affect on the students attending games (freshman drinking at a low). Glad I was in college during the 80's.


http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/drinking-among-college-freshmen-hits-record-low-major-185900788.html

There's too many other drugs readily available would be my guess. Stoners don't like basketball?