… that allows so many of you to wave off normal economic concerns?
The majority of responses to last night’s post about the impending increase in Georgia football ticket prices are consistent in chastising me for even mentioning the possibility, on the grounds that it’s an inevitability. Skipping past the suspicion I have that most of this advice comes from folks with no skin in this particular game, why am I, as a consumer, expected to remain passive in the face of a cost increase? Is there something about college football that requires me to demand nothing for my hard-earned money? Do those of you who offer that advice operate that way in every other sphere of your economic lives? (Yes, that’s a rhetorical question.)
To put it in the vernacular of a comment I received this morning, why is raising ticket prices like the weather? If we give B-M a pass on that, aren’t we encouraging more of the same down the road? (Not to mention that nobody ever expects a reduction in ticket prices after a disappointing season.) Are those of us paying the freight, so to speak, not even entitled to question how the money is being used, or why we can’t have a more fan-friendly game day environment if we have to pay more for the privilege? What other things do you people buy in such a way?
Speaking of silence and encouragement, does it not occur to some of you that by failing to make demands of Butts-Mehre, we get the sort of mediocrity that’s been a hallmark of much of Georgia athletics for decades?
I suspect that if I drew a Venn diagram of the folks shrugging off the ticket price increase with those who insist that college football players are adequately compensated for their efforts, there would be a large overlap. Again, with regard to the latter group, why do you have little compunction in urging that student-athletes accept conditions that you would never accept for yourself in your career?
So, what is it about college football? Is it just that it’s so easy for some of you to dismiss the concerns of others if they don’t personally affect your pocketbook? Or is it something about the sport in particular that makes you so passive?
I’m not asking these questions out of frustration or anger. I’ll stroke the check for the new price because I can afford to do so and because I still get enough enjoyment out of my hobby that it’s in my interest to do so. But I would never be as blithe as many of you are about it, even if I decided to walk away. I’m simply curious where the source of your apparent indifference comes from.
Get The Picture 
Senator, did you make that complaint to your congressman when they passed the tax bill that precluded your writing the ticket costs off this year? If not, then you sat on your duff while your personal costs for tickets went up by an act of Congress. What’s with that? Where was the uproar over that cost uptick that will probably take the fiscally challenged buyer out of the market while the richer purchasers yawn?
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So you think politics is just another form of commerce?
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Politicians think so
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We all best prepare for that. Have you noticed the WH business plan? Pay-for-Play has taken root with a vengeance.
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You’re really complaining about a tax increase?
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I saw in those comments a lot of ‘you can’t fight city hall’. The mockery of you were the normal attempts at jaded humor. The answer to your question seems straightforward: we ain’t gonna be able to do anything about it.
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I get that, but bottom line, that’s just begging the question. Which, I might note, you haven’t answered.
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To the question “why are we indifferent to these price increases”, I think my answer would be: the people who called you out aren’t spending a lot of time thinking the issue over, they’re trying to show the humorous mild cynicism of blog commenters. Ergo you can’t really tell whether they’re indifferent or not.
Put another way: you give us too much credit for deliberation. 😉
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Cojones, by your argument you are saying that if Congress had not added that part to the tax bill (cannot deduct football donation), then BM would never have raised the price of tickets. I find that hard to believe. BM is all about the pocketbook and big money donors, not john/jane doe in section 300. However, I don’t think Kirby should get a pass in all of this. All of the consultants, all of the renovations, etc cost money. It really is a circle of interest. Fans want a winner, new coach can/is give you a winner but at a higher cost. But at some point BM has to treat you as ‘an investor’ instead of a cow to be milked when it needs cash. These are, of course, JMHOs
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I was lamenting the fact that costs went up by an avenue that wasn’t ticket inflation that would account for the “Meh” that Bluto hears from commenters. Some (not all) people won’t buy tickets this year since it hits their personal pocketbook harder than if they were taking the price off their corporate taxes. Where they may have bought 10 tickets at $20k to distribute to their best customers, they may only buy two or three this year since it’s coming out of their family’s pocket. Those with deep pockets could care less about the escalation in price. It’s been headed in that direction for some time as far as middle class fan affordability.
College ticket prices are settling into a larger divide among customers where it is unaffordable to more and more each year, but that fits right into a tax bill that benefits only the upper 3% in this country that has pushed that divide to a greater width such that higher income people will be the only ones to be able to afford to attend games. Instead of “Let them eat cake.”, it’s “Let them stay home and watch it on tv.”. Thus, “Meh”.
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Add to that the retirees that can no longer afford the price of travel plus tickets. The other half would also object to those costs because they have gone beyond the price of a nice cruise that would benefit both, so there’s that
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I may be an outlier but I don’t support a full on pay the players, but I did decided a couple years ago to stop buying season tickets after 35 years. And a big reason was that there never seems to be enough in terms of $$$. From an economic point, I can buy tickets to all the big games I really want and come out cheaper than a renewable season ticket. But if you are willing to pay then they haven’t raised prices to high. Yet.
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That was my calculus as well. Plus, I recognized that I’m not the consumer. ESPN is.
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I think I’m out after 2019. There’s no way I’ll ever qualify for the big games based on priority, and I’ve been a season ticket holder since 2005. I think this year I can finally order Florida tickets. I feel like I can scalp tickets and come out ahead. The kicker for me was when I arrived at our lot for the last game and there was a sign stating that it would no longer be a free lot starting in 2018 (we parked in the East Campus Deck lot, right by the Ramsey Center.) We had to arrive pretty early to get a spot there, but I saw that as the price you pay for free parking. Now we have to find more parking if we don’t want to pay. It’s just becoming more and more expensive to be a Dawgs fan, and I can’t keep up.
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Same as it ever was. . .
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When I bought my house is Normaltown 20 years ago the seller said “This is the price, there are 5 people behind you who all pay it. Take it or leave it. We took it.” I don’t think “paying the freight” entitles you to shit except to get in the game.
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College football, my biggest trivial passion for the last 30 years, is taking a back seat to other things lately. Many things surrounding the game gross me out a little bit, quite frankly. I just don’t see the point in spending thousands on it annually any longer. Yes, I still watch every Georgia game and root like hell, but my dollars just go to other things. Honestly, I’m finding it silky that I’ve spent so many thousands over the years to watch unpaid kids play a game. But, like I said, I can’t NOT watch, because I love the team and have great memories of my time in Athens. Semi-related: Read the articles out today about Apple stock and the iphone X, and see how there’s always a limit for the consumer, and economics ALWAYS eventually wins.
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Silly, not silky. Thanks for the help, autocorrect.
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When will they start charging for G day? You know it is coming.
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And if they do and nobody goes they’ll stop.
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I forget which school it was but a while back a school started charging for theirs and it backfired because it turns out there’s a rule that if you charge for a game, other teams are allowed to send their coaches to scout you.
Now I don’t know how much more you can learn from being at a spring game in person than you can watching it on tv, but you know how paranoid all these coaches are, the last thing they want is a bunch of coaches from rival schools walking around their campus. That alone should keep us from having to worry about it anytime soon.
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I think if UGA tickets were like others, in the $100 range already we’d be raising hell for sure. Our only option is to quit buying and B-M knows we won’t because we love it, especially seasons like the one we just had.
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They know majority won’t because many still remember giving up tickets under Goff and they still haven’t worked their way back to those seats. Yes the fans love it, and if they’re teased with that 1980 season they keep coming back.
It is all a catch 22 if you stop donating you fall back down the line, if you’re not donating enough you’re not getting to the seats you want. So how do you protest? Letters and voicing opinion over media does push things along at a snail’s pace.
My family were season ticket holders during the 80s and most of the 90s my Uncle continued until his passing a few years ago. I knew I didn’t have the money to get lower level tickets on the south stands between the 35s further it is cheaper to buy tickets to the games I want on the secondary market. I did stop buying UGA clothing, tickets, or for that matter anything licensed by UGA once I wanted Richt gone, did it matter? Not really. I went to 3 games last year and 1 the year before.
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It seems pretty simple to me. We love it and we love UGA. None of us are going to become Tech fans because their ticket prices are cheaper. We can switch grocery stores, automobile brands (most of us) or toothpaste because those are not things of the heart. Whereas our dawgs well, they are. Does that mean that it would never be time to ask for a divorce? No. But I don’t think any of us are making an appointment with lawyer over a few dollars in ticket prices.
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When did love come to mean unquestioning love?
And what does that have to do with your stance regarding player compensation?
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And what does that have to do with your stance regarding player compensation?
Still pushing that agenda I see. I have never understood why you do it…or for that matter, why do it here if it matters that much to you?? I don’t think you are going to accomplish much on this forum. But since it seems so important to you and you bring it up AGAIN…I got to ask ….why should they get paid IYO??
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It’s a college football fanblog. Where else would you suggest I express myself in that regard?
As for why, I believe in free markets. It’s un-American for someone to have his or her ability to earn the full measure of what their skills are worth limited by a cartel. It’s also a violation of law.
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“It’s also a violation of law.”
So, sue’em…or just keep complaining.
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Sue ’em for what? I’m not a student-athlete.
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You’re an Attorney though, can’t you find a disadvantaged student- athlete and sue on his or her behalf?
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Man, I don’t litigate. I’m a humble real estate lawyer.
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It has nothing to do with Player compensation. Television contracts have nothing to do with player compensation. We have discussed this before. Bottom line is you seem to feel that because there is more money in the sport over the last number of years that players are entitled to some of that money. I on the other hand feel they are still getting what they signed up for which, is a free education. Which for many of them is more than they could get if not for the sport. Football is a team sport played by individuals. While some people have more God given talent that talent is worthless without the rest of the team. I don’t see any difference when I sit in Sanford Stadium now than when I watched Willie McClendon, or Meat Cleaver Weaver play. Yes there are more people in a bigger stadium and a really nice video board It (I would have loved to have seen Butler’s kick in 84 replayed on one of those at the time) and more TV cameras more often. But the game and the people remain essentially unchanged. On top of that, any form of direct player compensation would inevitably result in college recruiting devolving to a reward for the highest bidder (which probably won’t change much for Auburn). I think over time that would be a death nail to the sport we know and enjoy.
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Ticket prices are cheap relatively speaking. Yes UGA AA needs to get it together in several areas (game day) but with program interest at a high I can understand how it makes sense to capture revenue potential when coaching and recruiting expenses have been raised as well
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Btw I don’t like paying more or treated like a piggy bank either. It is more palatable when the program is showing dividends to increased expenses
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I did leave room for divorce.
Your question on the first line was “What is it about College Football that allows so many of you to wave off normal economic concerns?” I thought I answered that.
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I asked more than one question in my post. Perhaps you didn’t read down far enough.
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I read down that far I just did not see the two things related. It has nothing to do with Player compensation. Television contracts have nothing to do with player compensation. We have discussed this before. Bottom line is you seem to feel that because there is more money in the sport over the last number of years that players are entitled to some of that money. I on the other hand feel they are still getting what they signed up for which, is a free education. Which for many of them is more than they could get if not for the sport. Football is a team sport played by individuals. While some people have more God given talent that talent is worthless without the rest of the team. I don’t see any difference when I sit in Sanford Stadium now than when I watched Willie McClendon, or Meat Cleaver Weaver play. Yes there are more people in a bigger stadium and a really nice video board It (I would have loved to have seen Butler’s kick in 84 replayed on one of those at the time) and more TV cameras more often. But the game and the people remain essentially unchanged. On top of that, any form of direct player compensation would inevitably result in college recruiting devolving to a reward for the highest bidder (which probably won’t change much for Auburn). I think over time that would be a death nail to the sport we know and enjoy.
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No, man, I recognize all that. But that’s not the question I raised with the post.
I appreciate the romance argument. I don’t get how people apply an economic approach to college football that they’d never apply in their own lives otherwise. That’s why I raised player comp as an example.
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When it comes to ticket prices and the cost of entertainment in general I’m not sure how much longer this will be true but I think for many it is an escape. Much like a vacation that some take or a new boat or RV some buy, the reward enables people to put aside consequences and sometimes even values to do things economically that they ordinarily would not do. I’m not sure how you’re trying to tie this with player compensation.
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As I asked in the post, “Again, with regard to the latter group, why do you have little compunction in urging that student-athletes accept conditions that you would never accept for yourself in your career?”
I”m not asking if you’re a romantic. I’m asking why the double standard.
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That’s easy. Because student Athletics is not a career and never has been. It’s a means to an end. For a very few the end is the NFL. For other’s it’s an education paid for by donors or taxpayers. For many in the latter group, it is about the only avenue out of a pretty desperate situation. When I was in school I planed for what I wanted to do after graduation as did most everyone else in school at that time. Because the University was not the end game. Had I been blessed by God with enough Athletic ability to be an important part of a major university’s athletics department then it would have been the same (except I would have a degree that did not cost nearly as much). The same as other people that did have that ability did then and as the people with that ability do today. So there is no double standard.
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As long as any other student can make money while enrolled under scholarship, that is a meaningless distinction. Not to mention one I bet most would disagree strongly with you about now.
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I disagree that it is a meaningless distinction since the other students on scholarship don’t have free tutors to help them study, free dieticians to help them remain in perfect dietary health, they don’t have people checking just to make sure they show up for class and to get their work when they don’t. They also don’t stay in the finest dorms with a lot of freely provided extracurricular activities without leaving the comfort of their dorm. These things and more equal out the equation. Not to mention that most of the athletes can use the fact that they were an athlete to give them a leg up on a career opportunity that the other students on scholarship do not receive.
I agree most would disagree now because most have situational ethics and values. That coupled with the fact that we mostly have a covetous society now which is at the heart of the argument that says because there is more money in the sport that the scholarship is just not enough even though it is the same deal with a lot more perks that existed in the 70’s.
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It wouldn’t be a disagreement if you didn’t disagree. 😉
You are certainly entitled to your opinion about the fair value of what the players receive. In rebuttal, all I can ask is what do you honestly think would happen to player compensation if Jeffrey Kessler prevails?
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If Kessler prevails you will see minor changes in policy and calls for players to be able to sell their likeness to the highest bidder (which is going to be a negotiated arrangement since most of this would be in the schools jersey. Then it will devolve into outright payments to players (and good luck getting an easy agreement on that not to mention what it will do to team chemistry)
While all of this is happening the largest schools and those with the least pretense of ethics will enter into a bidding war on the recruiting trail that will be impossible to police. Soon thereafter most of us that love amateur athletics will find it mostly distasteful mostly indistinguishable from the NFL. So instead of just having a bunch of egotistical, self entitled athletes playing on Sunday we’ll have them on Saturday too.
In my opinion when they took the armatures out of the Olympics it very much cheapened the product and this will be that on steroids.
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tl;dr version: players will receive more compensation. Free markets, ftw!
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The thing is, when and if it happens most that have the pay the players mentality will rue the day that it happened. But it will be to late.
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I’m one who gave up our season tickets a couple of years ago. My wife and I were very reluctant to do so. Now I can’t understand why it was such a difficult decision. At the time things like tailgate tents, chairs, tables, grills, portable speakers, multiple coolers, wagons, parking spots and the like felt like sunk costs. That’s before you start to buy hundreds of dollars worth of booze and food for every home game. Normally once a year we would spend the entire weekend in Athens rather than drive home and that required a substantial investment in hotel rooms. And of course all of this was proceeded by the Hartman Fund contribution. Now, we literally save thousands of dollars every year, still go to the games we want to see and we watch the rest in the comfort of our own home in startlingly clear high definition. So yes, if I were still buying and you were asking me for more money I would damn sure want to know what improvements I’m getting for for my contribution. Last year you slapped a coat of paint on the bathrooms and called them ‘renovated.’ Concession lines are still interminably slow and the ‘food’ ridiculously expensive. I’m still sitting on metal benches next to people I’ve seen get up and move five different times when the real ticket holders showed up yet your ‘ushers’ do nothing to stop it. And you’ve done nothing to improve the game day experience on campus. So, as a consumer, what exactly am I getting that warrants additional outlay of money?
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I don’t disagree with your sentiment, but question your economic theory. What “demands” are you making of B-M when you go along with the price increases? As interest in Georgia football increases (demand) and Sanford stays the same size (supply) there is only one direction for prices to go even without a change in the quality of the product. And let’s face it, the product is the team’s winning, the stadium experience is just packaging. As a more wealthy clientele starts to dominate the acquisition of tickets, then pressure will come for improvements in the game day experience…but that does not happen overnight until the supply/demand equation levels off. Arguably, that was happening a few years ago and some (minor) improvements to Sanford have occurred. Paying the higher prices does give you more standing with B-M to voice concerns, but if there are 5 folks in line waiting to take your seats who are willing to settle for less, I would not expect much of a reaction. I suspect if the team had a run of 3 or more 6 – 5 seasons and could not sell out season tickets, Sanford would see some renovations to the bathrooms just as they will when ticket prices hit the $150 mark IMHO.
Or did you think so of that extra cash from the playoffs would go into the fan experience? Hahahahahaha….
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Which would explain the athletic department’s redoubled fan-friendly, cost-sensitive efforts when teams aren’t winning. Oh, wait…
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Exactly. I’ve been a BEF contributor and basketball season ticket holder for 5 years. I’m curious, why haven’t ticket prices gone down as the product has gotten worse?
Rhetorical questions, ftw…
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People complain about the stadium bath room and concession, but experiences at rival program stadium were much the same, LSU, Neyland, Auburn. Concessions at the Georgia Dome were not quicker outside of club seats.
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I’ve harped on this for years. My family chooses not to get season tickets. We can freeload off of those who pay for season tickets, going only to a couple games a year, even with the scalped prices, and financially come out way ahead.
Ultimately, we made the decision years ago not to give because the potential seats were so bad, the parking was so remote, and the tailgating so restricted where we could park, that it just was not worth the hassle. Once multiple kids entered the picture, we haven’t regretted the decision.
Nothing beats watching a big game live in the stadium. Certainly. Without family nearby to watch our kids on gameday, it’s just a logistical nightmare to go to games. I tip my hat to all you dads who have pulled it off for years.
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UGA football is just their favorite TV show for a lot of the people posting here. They dont have season tickets, they dont attend games, and they dont support the university with any other charitable giving.
A ticket price increase to them is the same as if the star of their favorite show got a raise.
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100% correct. The tickets could go to $1,000 per ticket per game, and parking o $500 per space per game, and it costs them nothing.
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Dawgphan, that is without question one of the most astute things I have ever read on this blog.
I am one of the guys you speak of. We gave up season tickets after 2015. Got Sr. and I very nearly quit UGA football altogether after that season, and I am not ashamed of nor over my frustration as to where the program was at that time. Since then my donations have gone to Terry. If I’m a fair weather fan, so be it. I’ll not take it personally. To be honest, It’s a more enjoyable experience anymore to watch at home, or sometimes at a local pub. I have much less time and money invested, and I can usually score tickets to whatever games I want to see off a vendor. But since 2015, mostly I give those to my kids, and they do the cheering now.
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I have got to an age where I refuse to pay money for experiences where I will be inconvenienced. Unless BM is willing to chauffeur me to and from home to Sanford Stadium, house me in club level or skybox seating, guarantee I will not stand in any lines or have to interact with drunks, there is no way I will spend a $ on UGA football. I’ll stay home and enjoy the experience from Section HD.
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So a person who traffics in drugs/pills/narcotics doesn’t want to deal with us drunks and being inconvenienced. At some point it sounds like getting out of bed maybe too much of an inconvenience . And the answer to your question senator is actually in your question. The reason the rules of economics don’t apply for many of us is because the rules of economics seldom apply in affairs of the heart. Why don’t rich people have prenuptial agreements? Because few people involved in either of these transactions are using logic ….its emotions and love and asking about paying players in this context is some serious conflation of issues..IMHO
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Again, you miss my point. I don’t question that some are attracted to the romance. What I ask about is the “do as I say, not as I do” hypocrisy of both positions I mentioned. That I can’t get straight answers from the vast majority of you is an answer in itself, I guess.
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Fire Mark Fox
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Dilly dilly!
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The horse is dead.
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It is the dead period of college football so it is a most appropriate topic
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I don’t have much of an opinion. I’d always thought the donation (as opposed to the fake face value of the ticket) was the thing to get heart palpitations over….however, having gone up 66% in 10 years, it has become a factor.
Couple Georgia’s surging program momentum, our demonstrated ability to throw down $$ and travel for 4 MEGA games this year…….yet all in a year with a tax change that, on paper, is said to sap ticket demand, and good luck gleaning ANYTHING in the near future on the behavior of Georgia fans. If B-M wants to see how the continuum of donations vs. face value consideration plays out with the new laws, best to look at some combination of LSU, Auburn and maybe Texas A&M to get a better picture on rational behavior.
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My son and I only make one game a year. I will pay the inflated price no problem. The tickets I buy are scalped anyway so they (tickets) are always expensive. Another five or ten dollars on the face is no real concern to me.
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I’m not a season ticket holder. The reason why I’m not a season ticket holder is that I’ve decided they aren’t worth the cost.
With that in mind, I guess your post wasn’t directed at me, but I’ll still comment. You said the enjoyment you get is worth the cost to you, so I’m not sure what this is all about. Your tickets are either worth the cost to you, or they aren’t. You have a popular blog, so you have influence that most of your readers don’t have. I don’t blame you for complaining and trying to get a better deal, but your ultimate power is your power of choice not to buy the them.
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…and then talking about that choice on your blog.
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So that means I relinquish my ability to provide what I see as constructive criticism?
This gets back to my main point. Since when do people accept “shut up and live with it ” as the standard approach to financial decisions in other areas of their lives?
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“I don’t blame you for complaining and trying to get a better deal.”
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That wasn’t directed at you, but at the people who responded to last night’s post.
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Ah. Gotcha.
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“Shut up and live with it” is kind of how I view our whole country. Federal Government all the way down to people letting trash blow out of their trucks on the road. People suck.
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If this ticket price increase does take effect this year (2018), that’s a deceitful way of doing business. They didn’t even hint at anything like this until they had received almost all of their Hartman Fund donations for the year. Pricing should be laid out ahead of time so that people know what they’re buying into.
The whole fucking business model is a joke.
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You can complain about it to your heart’s content, but the economic rule that seems best to apply to this is basic supply and demand. There is a seemingly endless demand for tickets to college football games at most major programs, and they’ve yet to hit a ceiling on the price that makes it less profitable. They’ll keep upping the price until enough people stop paying, and that they provide customer service in any form is a minor miracle, as there isn’t really any incentive to do so at this point.
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Please read my post again. I get supply and demand just fine.
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But there is no economic incentive for the school to listen to your complaints or address them. You are going to pay them, or if you don’t, someone else will. It seems to me that people are blase about ticket price increases or the stadium experience or the rest of of it because there’s little they can do about it short of the one thing they are unwilling to do: stop purchasing tickets. Personally, I don’t think attending games is anywhere near as valuable as many fans do, but until a hell of a lot more people are as indifferent to attending games as I am, nothing much is going to change.
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Ask anyy AD and conference commissioner if they’re concerned about the long-term of where the fan base will be, and they’ll cite you study after study about it.
But my post isn’t about what they’re thinking. It’s about what some of us are thinking.
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I guess my weather analogy struck a nerve? Well, as far as not having skin in this game, I admit I do not have as much as you. For various reasons, mostly job and family related, I do not hold season tickets. I typically get tickets from the secondary market and go to Athens when I can, so yes I do feel the pain of ticket increases and will also feel the pain from the inevitable secondary market increase next year. I do find it amusing that a guy who could afford to go see the game at ND, the Rose Bowl, and CFP NC is out here on the street bitching about an increase on ticket face value. Whatever. Stay in or get out, but crying to the public about the price of a sporting event that YOU have helped drive up the cost of is pretty lame. I hear the world’s smallest violin playing for you just now……
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Spectacular job of missing my point. I specifically said I wasn’t moaning about the increase. My question is why so many are fatalities about college football economics.
Sorry about your deep pain…
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Uh Huh, yep…you are not complaining about prices….got it. No way are YOU complaining about how much this whole endeavor costs.
At times, you are really bad at this. You make basic statements and then when you get called out by readers, try to shift the discussion to some philosophical bullshit to cover your ass. Anyone who argues with you “misses your point” or has “bad reading comprehension.” Laughable really…..
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My question is why people give college football a pass. As even you note, I am able and willing to pay the freight.
If I were complaining about ticket prices being too high, I would be much more direct about complaining.
You have it in your mind about what I meant by my post and apparently it’s bad form on my part to object. Not much more for me to say in my defense, then.
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I don’t think it is just football, look at the price of concerts, which I also rarely go to.
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Gotta love the people who think that if you aren’t happy with a product/service, you should either stop paying for it or shut up. No criticism allowed! Imagine if our society actually worked that way.
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You may be the only commenter in this thread who got the point of my post. Thanks.
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You can certainly complain. I thought you asked why most just grin and bear it.
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Because at the end of the day I want to consume the product on which the University of Georgia has a complete monopoly. Its not indifference. There are lots of things the UGAA does that I don’t like. I’m not in a position to change them.
I wouldn’t work for no pay. I don’t think players should. Do I believe this with sufficient intensity not to buy tickets? No.
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Well, there are a couple of factors at play. I’ll speak as someone who has missed about 12 or 13 games (home or away) in the last 23 years. There’s something about being there. The games don’t happen on TV, they happen on a field in a stadium, and the mood of the stadium impacts the game. The TV announcers don’t. No one in the stadium knows what the TV announcers are saying and no one cares. The announcers created narratives about games that are make-believe and don’t exist, because they can’t read minds and have no idea what is going to happen next. And the players and coaches aren’t listening to them.
That’s why I love going to the games. They are where the action is. I’m sure I would have enjoyed the Rose Bowl watching it on TV, but the experience in that stadium was nigh unto euphoria. I’ve been to nearly around 250 games. It was unbelievable, inexplicable and pure magic.
For me, part of the fan experience is the investment in it all. The movie, FEVER PITCH, made perfect sense to me. The magic of the Rose Bowl, for me, was that that I sat in the rain against Nebraska and the brutal overtimes against Michigan State. I’ve seen every loss in person for over two decades. It was almost a coming of full circle.
I don’t begrudge people who choose to save money or don’t like the crowds. I just think it’s different. The University is selling an experience you can only get in one place: Saturdays in Athens.
I would like to see improvements. UNC is adding chairback seats throughout all of Keenan Stadium this off-season. I’d be delighted to see that and I’d pay $5-10 more per ticket to make it happen. That would eliminate cushions, seat rentals, and people squeezing in. Plus, when you stand up, the seat pops up, actually creating more room to stand. And it would look awesome.
As for paying players. It’s unrelated to me. I’m not in favor of paying players. I am in favor of players being able to capitalize off their celebrity and image. I don’t see how that can’t be put in trust. Sell jerseys with their number and name, put their portion in a trust that they get when they forego or exhaust their eligibility. That’s not really rocket science.
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If you add seat backs, the capacity will shrink and seat prices will go up substantially more than your amount. Also what is the waiting list to get tickets or perhaps easier to measure how much are UNC tickets on the second hand market? There is a reason why some basketball schools have a nice football stadium.
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Agreed, but I actually think decreasing the size of the capacity is the answer moving forward — for everyone. It will get harder and harder to sell season tickets. Even Bama has a hard time selling out all games. A smaller capacity makes that easier. Or, add seating up top from the top deck to the sky suites to make up the difference.
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“It was unbelievable, inexplicable and pure magic.” Yep, I’ve been sick since we’ve been back but I still won’t let it go one bit! I even painted red trim on my hot rod pickup truck!
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What makes college football different (and I’m not saying supply and demand doesn’t or shouldn’t matter) is the fact it is outside the traditional capitalistic model. It is much more government like than a traditional business.
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I’m not sure how to go about making demands of Butts-Mehre.
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This is where B-M really makes you want to stop. To start with, what I am going to try an tell you is the absolute, right hand to God, truth. In 1975 I paid $100.00/per year and $25.00/year for a parking pass to the old book store. I got 4 season tickets. In whatever year they closed in the RR track end of the stadium I got 4 club level and 2 off club tickets for about $1000.00/year and the $100.00/year parking pass plus the cost of the tickets. Are you with me so far? I also in this package got the right to but 6 Fl. tickets. When they closed in the upper level of the Gator bowl. I got, with out asking, 4 tickets in club level and 2 off club at the Ga/Fl game. Everything is right with the world. Went to the Sugar Bowl with tickets from Ga., won the National Champ. and had a great time. About the next year I no longer got club level tickets at Fl. I was told that people had bought in ahead of me. I complained, but not really raising hell about this. Nothing changed for many years. Went through Ray Goff, losing every year to Fl also losing any other game of importance. Love my University and my football team. Loved going to games and never had a problem ordering SEC playoff or bowl tickets through my school. Through the years the cost had risen to about $2700.00/year donation plus $250.00/year parking pass which was/is now on Williams Street. Still no problem. Get my 6 tickets. 4 club level and 2 off club on the 40 yard line (great tickets). Love my school and team. This year 2017, first game, ND in South Bend, I order just 2 tickets. And I was informed that I did not have enough points to get ND tickets. Are you shitting me? This was my exact question to the ticket office. There answer was, “No” we are not shitting you. You must have 61000 points (whatever a point is) to get ND tickets and you ONLY have 58,324 points. Well guess what happened to SEC Champ tickets, then Rose Bowl tickets and National Champ tickets? I luckily don’t know what the bitching about bathrooms or concession stands is all about because I have been on the club level for so many years. But I know with all my heart and soul what being fucked by your school is all about and I feel the pain. I can’t believe UGA did this to me. For Gods sake, I played there. Coach Dooley recruited me to come live in the athletic dorm, practice 8 hours a day, drink beer 8 hours a day and sleep 8 hours a day. I was very good at two of these things. I gave every penny that was asked. I bought my tickets. I paid for my parking pass. EVER year, win or lose. Then they decided they no longer needed me. They only need people that will pay $20,000.00/year donation, not the $3025.00/year that I now pay. I just don’t pay enough therefore I am no longer needed. In fact I am not just not needed, I am in the way of the big boys because I have those 4 club level and 2 off club level tickets on the 40 yard line that B-M could get $20,000.00/year for if I would stop paying my measly $3025.00/year and let them have the tickets back. What should I do??
I might have some of the years wrong by a year or two, but I am telling you the honest truth.. What would you do? What should I do? Who do you complain too? B-M is a building, you can’t bitch to a building. All of the guys that I once knew in the athletic dept. have retired and are gone.. Should I drop my tickets? Should I up my donation to $20,000.00/year or whatever amount would please the Kings running the AA? (that ain’t going to happen)
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