Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

Been a season ticket holder for over 20 years. Went to renew my tickets and was told that my price is almost double what I paid the year before. This is the message I sent to the AD after getting nowhere with the ticket office:

Mr. Moosebrugger:

I have been a season ticket holder for football for over twenty years. This year when I went to renew my tickets, I was informed that my cost for four tickets in the same seats I have had for five years was going to more than double. I decided to just purchase two tickets and that price was still more than that of the four tickets I had been purchasing.

I talked with your ticket sales manager, but was not given any satisfaction. The reasoning was the college went to pricing that was similar to other MAC schools. My question is, are the other MAC schools upsetting their loyal fan base (and that is a stretch description for BG) when they can only get 5000 people through their gate? Are the other schools raising their prices and actually offering something in return instead of fewer tickets at a higher price? Are they actually making changes to improve the game-day experience which is non-existent at BG? People can't even bring Tootsie Rolls in to throw when BG actually scores because it will hurt concession sales. One of the greatest traditions I have ever seen gone because of the inability of the concession sales to serve a decent hot dog.

I am one dissatisfied season ticket holder. I am having trouble seeing why I should pay more for fewer tickets to watch one of the worst Division 1 teams in the nation. I want to continue to go to the games. I enjoy the time with my kids, but I can find something else to do on Saturday (or the exciting Tuesday or Wednesday night) that is far more economical. I enjoy the time with my friend who I have been sitting with for the entire time I have had season tickets. Give me a reason to renew my tickets. Kyle wasn't able to. As the head of athletics at BG, give me a reason why I should renew my tickets for the same seats I have had at a higher cost. Give me a reason to continue to invest in my alma mater that is doing so little to invest in me as a loyal fan.


Pat McCauley

PS...Give Kyle the power to give a small discount ($5 per ticket, something, anything to show you are interested in my loyalty) and I would not have had to bother you.


Never heard back. Didn't surprise me. It's sad that this is what BG athletics has come to: Upsetting your loyal fan base and not even responding to someone who has supported the program for years. Used to have basketball tickets too. When people ask me how BG is looking for the upcoming season, my response now is "I don't care, I'm going golfing with my kids on Saturdays." Sad.

What was your price for last season's five home games, and what is the price for this season's six home games?
My season tickets are the same price this season as last season.

I paid $180 for four tickets. This year they wanted $220 for two tickets. They did quite understand my issue with this.

I wonder if that has anything to do with the home sideline moving to the east side of the stadium.

Did this new price include a “seat gift” for each seat? I just looked up ticket prices and they seem basically the same as last year... BUT also show this “gift” per ticket.If you’ve already given to FC, you don’t have to pay this extra fee.

Honestly, I feel our tickets have been underpriced for years for a D-1 program. But it’s annoying to have the FC “gift” attached the way they’ve now done it. It IS similar to what a lot of schools are doing, just don’t know what rest of MAC is doing.

A compulsory gift isn't a gift...it's a surcharge. I hesitate to do business with people who hide fees with weasel words.

This is a problem to under-pricing your product for years and/or offering "discounts" previously. Makes it hard to bring stuff up to their proper market value and even now they are still a good value.

Understand your frustration based on what you had previously paid but also understand wanting to run a profitable and sustainable business model.

I see zero evidence to support the notion we've been pricing our tickets at a level that is too low

Flip,
I get what you’re saying, at least based upon last 2 years. But High Schools now are charging $7-8 per game. So pricing a D-1 game at less than double IS underpriced IMO.

Class of 61 wrote:Flip,
I get what you’re saying, at least based upon last 2 years. But High Schools now are charging $7-8 per game. So pricing a D-1 game at less than double IS underpriced IMO.

Simple supply/demand. A stadium that's 1/4 full would suggest the price is too high for the demand.

That and trying to compare our product...the generic "D1 football" (which isn't a very good descriptor) to HS isn't accurate because it doesn't address the market for each product. In most areas...HS football is a community event. People aren't necessarily buying tickets to see the football...they're buying tickets to see the kids in the band (my daughter's HS band is 151 kids this year) , their kids in the cheer squad, their kids in the flag corps etc... They're also there because it's their town...their home. There's an emotional attachment there. The on field product isn't s much of a factor...so comparing the quality of the football isn't really germane

That attachment exists for schools like OSU and UM...even with people who never went to the school (Walmart Wolverines) but I really don't think we have that here. People in NW Ohio don't feel an attachment to BGSU because it's the hometown team...the alumni don't seem to on a very substantial scale..hell, current students don't seem to feel much of an attachment to the place.

So...what we're left with is this. You could open the gates and charge nothing and probably not see much of an increase in bodies in the seats. If that is correct, lowering prices to $5.00 a game with the hope of drawing more people wouldn't help. What you're left with is the notion that you must raise additional revenue by charging the loyalists more. Test that loyalty...will you gain enough money from an increase to offset the loss of a segment who' loyalty isn't strong enough to support that increase.

Given the conference's slavish relationship to ESPN...along with the overall laziness of the University with respect to marketing and promotions , I don't see us ever having the vision or tenacity required to do the heavy lifting needed to build a fanbase. This is what we are...are nominally D1 program that is funded by student fees, ESPN and a couple of ass kickings in money games each year. We aren't setting prices in response to demand...we're setting prices to see how high we can go before we completely kill demand.

I have no problem with BGSU charging more. Tickets have been underpriced when compared to the quality of the product, the rest of the league, or nearly any other benchmark I can think of.

My guess: Most people suck it up and go. I'm certainly not going to let a few dollars keep me away from a game I want to see.

In my opinion, when your football team already had terrible attendance last season, a 2-10 season where they lost to a 1AA school at home and got blown out by any formidable competition, it’s business suicide to raise ticket prices. You’ve already disengaged your fans with this terrible on the field production the last 2 years. Now you add in all the off the field problems, and your going to raise prices? This athletic department is an absolute joke, from the ground up, and has been for years. Not to mention having an AD that, if he still hasn’t answered BGorDeath’s email, cannot face and address the criticism of those decisions. Definitely not how you gain or retain a fan base. #fireJinks

Mike Jinks is a non factor...he's meaningless. Fire him right now and replace him with anyone short of Urban Meyer and you won't move the needle on fan support. Historically...with one or two yrs of aberrations..we are a program that seems to put 12-15k in the stadium (ok...we finesse that number with tickets sold or distributed and maybe counting students twice). Mike Jinks is 3-5 year window in a system that's existed since the stadium opened.

Mine were the same price, only change is that they're going to remove the ugly pink seat backs off the ones we had. When I looked at the season ticket pricing this year I didn't note any large change in the way they cost. Maybe they charged you single game prices for your seats?