I’ve chosen to revisit the subject of the season ticket price hike, for a couple of reasons. One, since my initial posts on the matter, I’ve received a number of emails from folks expressing anger with the way the athletic department implemented the increase, and, even more interesting, a number of those emails were from fans who simply copied me with the emails they’d sent Greg McGarity on the topic.
Two, I’m not sure I’ve emphasized sufficiently that my problem lies not with the amount of the raise, or even that the school raised prices at all, as it is the steady stream of misrepresentations Butts-Mehre has made in the process of garnering more funds from the fan base as its excitement over the football program’s progress grew.
The worst of that was, as I’ve posted before, the cynical bait-and-switch tactic used by the athletic department to entice fans motivated to buy SECCG tickets to increase their 2017 contributions. This offer was made despite that most would be misled by its terms, such that the additional contributions would be insufficient to meet a stated target — what was a cutoff in the minds of potential contributors was merely a proposed target by the athletic office — and, to make matters worse, any such contributions paid would be dead money, unable to be applied towards any 2018 targets.
The current version of that misdirection is the sales job McGarity would have us accept that for all these years, we season ticket purchasers have gotten a relative bargain on our loyalties, compared with what other SEC fan bases were paying for the same privilege. Bill King has a typical example here:
UGA athletic officials also were at pains to point out that the football program’s average ticket price of $50 last year ranked 12th out of 14 schools in the SEC. The new average price ($66.42) will put UGA fifth in the league, behind LSU ($70.83), Texas A&M ($70), Auburn ($67.85) and Alabama ($66.57).
They have a valid point about Georgia historically ranking in the bottom third of the conference in ticket prices…
See? You shouldn’t be angry about the price increase. You should feel guilty about how little you’ve paid for years! The best defense is a good offense, and all that.
The only problem is that it’s sheer fiction.
I don’t want you to take my word for that, either. It’s at this point in the post that I’d like to introduce you to StatDawg82. She’s a Dawg boasting two degrees from UGA (BS Statistics – UGA 2005; MS Statistics – UGA 2007) with, as you can see, a background in statistics. Like me, the “you fans don’t realize you’ve never had it so good” shtick didn’t sit particularly well with her. Unlike me, though, she decided to research the matter thoroughly.
What she found moved her to email the athletic director. With her permission, what follows is the text of what she sent him.
As a Double Dawg from the University of Georgia Statistics department, I am upset not only by the sudden huge increase in football ticket prices, but moreover for the gross misrepresentation of information. The numbers presented in the charts about ticket prices for peer schools are misleading.
Over the last three days, since Tuesday’s announcement, I looked at each school’s website, and contacted many of their ticket offices to collect data. The biggest concern with the numbers you presented is that you excluded the per-seat donation. As this is a requirement to obtain tickets, it is only fair to include this in the actual price of the tickets.
This analysis looks at the least expensive way to obtain season tickets, as this is what I personally purchase. The following chart shows the cheapest option to purchase season tickets at each school. I used 2017 data, to stay comparable to your chart. You will notice that Georgia comes in at the very TOP of the list. The very most expensive ticket in the ENTIRE Southeastern Conference. And this is before the price increase you announced on Tuesday. After contacting ticket offices this week, most SEC schools are not increasing their prices next year.
The required minimum donation and increased price will put us at $105.71 per ticket, when the next highest price (including minimum donation) is $82.14 per ticket. The average per-ticket price (of the minimum price available) for all of the other SEC schools is $54.42. Your new pricing has the lowest price available for Georgia tickets at almost double the average!
You will also note that we have the very highest minimum donation in the SEC. Florida is the next highest, and at $150, our minimum requirement is nearly double that amount!
School Minimum ticket price Minimum donation Per ticket price with donation UGA reported per ticket price Georgia $300.00 $275.00 $95.83 $50.00 Auburn $475.00 $100.00 $82.14 $67.86 Florida $380.00 $150.00 $75.71 $54.29 Texas A&M $490.00 $30.00 $74.29 $70.00 Alabama $445.00 $60.00 $72.14 $63.57 South Carolina $415.00 $87.50 $71.79 $52.14 Ole Miss $400.00 $50.00 $64.29 $57.14 Tennessee $420.00 $0.00 $60.00 $60.00 LSU $360.00 $0.00 $60.00 $70.83 Arkansas $250.00 $0.00 $41.67 $60.00 Kentucky $240.00 $0.00 $34.29 $44.29 Mississippi St $200.00 $0.00 $28.57 $53.57 Missouri $150.00 $0.00 $21.43 $54.14 Vanderbilt $148.00 $0.00 $21.14 $42.86 Your second chart that shows ticket prices from Peer Institutions from around the nation is equally misleading. Other than Notre Dame (which has superior facilities and an excellent customer service mindset, as well as wealthier graduates), Georgia is again atop the list in both per-ticket price and also minimum donation.
School Minimum ticket price Minimum donation Per ticket price with donation UGA reported per ticket price Notre Dame $400.00 $750.00 $164.29 $57.14 Georgia $300.00 $275.00 $95.83 $50.00 Oklahoma $455.00 $100.00 $92.50 $65.00 Michigan $430.00 $78.00 $84.67 $71.67 Clemson $385.00 $100.00 $69.29 $55.00 Virginia Tech $350.00 $0.00 $58.33 $58.33 Florida St $295.00 $35.00 $55.00 $42.14 Penn State $385.00 $0.00 $55.00 $60.00 TCU $300.00 $0.00 $50.00 $50.00 Michigan St $343.00 $0.00 $49.00 $49.00 Louisville $210.00 $0.00 $35.00 $59.00 Texas $199.00 $0.00 $33.17 $59.17 I know that it takes money to run a great organization. But it’s not fair to create a system that leaves out loyal fans who are not super-rich. Raising prices is one thing. But your minimum is too high. Raise the prices on the better seats. Raise the donation for the better seats. Raise the prices for new ticket purchasers. But, like Georgia’s peer institutions have all done, leave a way for the “regular people” to get in the door. You’re pushing us out, and I’m disheartened, to say the least. I have been a season ticket holder since I graduated in 2007, and have not missed a home game since I started school at UGA in 2001. I fear the day is coming when I will have to make the financially responsible decision to no longer experience something I so very much enjoy.
Georgia is not in the bottom 3rd of ticket prices, as you claim. You owe it to the Georgia faithful to be honest and transparent with them about the true price of tickets.
To his credit, McGarity responded. I won’t post his reply, since I don’t have his permission to do so. but you should know he didn’t quibble with her base data. As for the rest of his response, I’ll leave it to you to fill in the gaps based on StatDawg82’s follow-up to him.
You were inconsistent in which ticket price you chose to present for each school. You say that you chose the lowest ticket price.
– For Missouri and Kentucky, you did not use the lowest ticket price.
– For LSU, Arkansas, and Mississippi State you actually used the highest available ticket price. Not the lowest.
– For South Carolina and Vanderbilt, the values you chose are not listed as an option for 2017 prices.
School UGA Reported Season Ticket Price Actual Minimum Season Ticket Price Missouri $379 $150 Kentucky $310 $240 LSU $425 $360 Arkansas $360 $250 Mississippi St $375 $200 South Carolina $365 $415 Vanderbilt $300 $148 Also, the SEC chart says that Mississippi State and Kentucky had 6 home games when they actually had 7, though the per-ticket price is correct using 7 games.
The peer chart states that Oklahoma and Florida State had 7 home games, when they actually had 6. This makes the per-ticket calculation in the chart incorrect.
It’s embarrassing that you published inaccurate, misleading information while trying to justify your ticket price increase. As you know, most people will just believe what they see in a chart.
While it would be time consuming to conduct a full seat-by-seat analysis across 14 SEC stadiums, it could certainly be done. Since you are not conducting that study at this time, the easiest way that I can compare across the board is to look at the cheapest way to get into each stadium. In 2017, it was not possible to purchase Georgia tickets at $50 each. It is a dishonest representation to pretend that they could be purchased for that amount. You should make a public correction so that your supporters have the real numbers. It is the only honorable thing to do.
It’s hard to say if the misinformation we’ve received is the result of sloppiness, ignorance or a deliberate fudging of the facts. What’s not hard to say is that Butts-Mehre didn’t much care either way about accuracy. Which really translates into not caring about being straight with the bulk of the fan base.
That’s what chaps my derrière here. Had they merely come out with some variation of “we’re doing this because we can” as justification, I’d have grumbled some, but in the end, recognized it’s a sign of the times we live in, stroked the check to ‘da Man and moved on. Instead, we’re fed this “it’s not us, it’s you” garbage. McGarity can’t bring himself to own fully what he’s doing here. (Not that accountability has ever been Butts-Mehre’s strong suit.) This isn’t how an athletic administration should treat a devoted fan base.
I want to share a couple of final notes on this with you. StatDawg82, to her credit, stands by her research, and, as such, is willing to make herself available during the day to answer questions any of you may have about how she compiled her information. Please keep any comments or questions you may have for her on point. To the extent any of you see this as an opportunity to take advantage of her good nature, rest assured I won’t let that go very far.
Second, and back to the fan base for a moment, make sure you take note of an observation Bill King made in that linked post. It may be more depressing that what I’ve already posted here.
As part of making a case for the price hikes, a fact sheet put together by UGA notes that secondary market data shows that demand for Georgia football tickets far exceeds the face value of the ticket. Last season, the average price on StubHub was $113.43 per game.
The athletic association also hinted it could have been worse: “Many schools charge a premium for higher-demand seats above the base season-ticket price, which is not being recommended at this time.”
Yeah, at this time.
They’re just getting started. This is our future. It’s a real shame that they can’t spend half the effort and energy they’re using to find new ways to wring an extra dollar out of us to make the game day experience better for us slobs. But it’s not a surprise.
Get The Picture 
ouch ouch and ouch.
I was too lazy to look at other schools policies but this is all very damning.
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Same for me … my gut told me something wasn’t right with the assertion. The tone at which it was delivered was downright condescending.
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This reminds me of the time I got a copy of the spring football media guide, and noticed there were literally hundreds of mistakes in it.
I took the time to highlight every mistake I could find, counted the number of people listed in the staff box in the publication, and wrote a letter to Felton, copied to Dooley (AD at the time) pointing out the mistakes, the fact that he had a staff of 20 something, and how it was embarrassing as a fan and graduate of the University that this was what was being produced. I also pointed out that some of the errors had been in there for years.
Felton’s reply….
Thank you for your interest in Georgia football, This publication was not meant for public view, and only 3 staff members worked on it.
Claude.
Same tone, same arrogance.
Now, I will give Dooley some credit. While I never heard from him, I understand from sources he was not happy about it, and every error was corrected by the fall guide.
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McGarity and B-M know they have an addicted customer base and can have at it. I can’t bring myself to gripe because I know I can walk away IF I WANT TO or worse yet, if I have to. That may be what has the angry ones angry. They don’t want to walk away. I too pay the least I can to get in and fully realize that B-M would love for me to walk because for somebody new to take my place they would have to pay more to get started. We’re gonna pay da’ man, especially now.
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I can deal with the cost. It’s the thinly disguised contempt that’s irritating.
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I would go one step further and say the intentional or unintentional misleading ticks me off.
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If I were a ticket holder I would agree
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What’s ironic or sad about the whole situation is that their arguments have been blown apart in less than a week by people with a gut feeling supported by data. The fact that the AA didn’t expect this kind of blow back should tell us all we need to know about the people running the show.
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I get your point about the subterfuge but B-M does that and raise prices for the same reason, we’re a flock of sheep and they know it.
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Not sure I buy that. If we’re a flock of sheep, why the need to resort to subterfuge?
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Because they are arrogant pricks?
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Exactly. The norm is to have all the pain at once and parcel out benefits over time. They have had 3 huge ticket increases and a large donation increase over 3-4 years, with no real benefit to the customer. Certainly not the crappy over-priced food and pathetic, overly loud video sh*t. He has it all backwards. He is either dumb as a brick, which I doubt, or completely contemptuous of the fan base, which fits the facts on the ground. Machiagarity is a tool.
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This is terrific and needs a bigger audience. It’s deliberate misinformation and a public shaming is in order.
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Everybody thinks they’re clever.
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So they are gouging us now and next year when Notre Dame comes extra to pay out of the nose for that game.
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*expect to pay not extra
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This was a trial balloon to make the ND a $100+ ticket.
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I understand where everybody is coming from but IMO this is not price gouging. Tickets are not gasoline to drive to work, medicine or food. We have the option to quit and I tell myself that every Feb. 15 and still keep on keepin’ on.
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It may not be price gouging, but it’s certainly not honest.
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I did think it was ridiculous that the Vanderbilt game was going into the $75 tier. I also thought the same thing about the tech ticket based on the number of tickets available on the street and due to nerd returns.
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In a strict, Adam Smith style economic analylsis, they’re charging what the market will apparently bear. The dishonest part is them selling loyalty to school, we’re all part of the UGA family, support the program! BS. You want to find out how much you mean to “the UGA family” or how loyal the UGA AD is to the season ticket holder of 40 years, try not sending a check by the deadline in February. You are out, and not only out, forgotten. Go to the back of the line, we have plenty of new suckers we can squeeze.
If they were being honest about what they were doing, it would still sting, but getting squeezed AND lectured at the same time, all while being lied to about the underlying facts, is a little much.
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They are being disingenuous about the price by not factoring in the contribution. Adam Smith would suggest the market works when there is transparency. This is definitely not transparency.
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they’re being disingenuous, or outright dishonest, in a lot of ways, simply because it’s convenient to them and most people will just take what they say at face value, because we all love UGA
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I didn’t call it gouging. I’m just saying I think the AD and his chief revenue officer are planning to put the ND game in a “super-premium” tier next year. If people are willing to accept a 50% increase, let’s see if they are willing to accept it for possibly the most anticipated out-of-conference home game in our lifetimes (and possibly in the history of the program). If they can do that, I would bet Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, LSU and Texas A&M will go into that tier in the near future.
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I am fine with that…..but tell us now, right now. Not after all the smoke and mirrors and 2 weeks before Hartman Funds are due….many of which were already paid.
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Excellent point as well!
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To be fair, there’s no such thing as price gouging. There are simply sellers pricing goods at a market price to avoid buyers hoarding short supply. But even “price gougers” are honest enough to state that they’re simply making a buck by charging what the market will bear. If McGarity were selling bottled water during a hurricane for $5 a bottle, he would argue that he was a victim of circumstance.
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“I’m not forcing you to buy the water, pal….”
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Martin Shkreli would like a word.
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He had a government license to be the sole manufacturer of the pill he raised the price for. If there was one government source for bottled water or hotel rooms during hurricanes, I would expect to see similar misconduct. Fortunately, competition abounds at such times, as long as government doesn’t intervene to keep supply low by enforcing “price gouging” laws.
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Any chance the AJC would publish? HAHAHAHA
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Well, we published the Carroll Minick letter, didn’t we?
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Touché, sir.
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I missed it obviously. My apologies Seth.
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But I agree that the deceit is the issue. I’m still paying because I can. And I still enjoy the experience, despite the crappy bathrooms, concessions and gestapo type tactics on tailgating.
But i also don’t see it changing anytime soon.
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Thank you
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Boom goes the dynamite!
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Haha I almost posted this same thing!
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For what it’s worth, Seth Emerson hit me up on Twitter indicating he’s on it.
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Way to go, StatDawg82. All of your research confirmed exactly what my gut was telling me. I just wish the AA would be honest about the motivation for this rather than try to deliver this BS line about the bargain we receive. The AA is passing the entire increased cost to the season ticket holder. They are blatant about the fact we are only wallets to be exploited rather than patrons to be served. Yes, I used the word “patrons” intentionally.
That BS about StubHub is exactly that. People who put their tickets up price with the intent of recouping a part of their Hartman contribution. Also, the price on StubHub reflects the value of the seat location. If the AA wants to use that as a way to justify tiered pricing based on location, feel free, but to use it to justify a price increase for a seat in the corner of the upper deck is trash.
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I work with a guy who has been buying extra tickets for years and reselling them on the secondary market. He pretty much gets his tickets for free after profiting from the sale of his extras, and he is building his Hartman numbers as well. The poor OOC scheduling has hurt his bottom line the last couple of years but he still comes out in the black.
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I did this for many years and can assure you that your friend isn’t “coming out in the black” by much and not enough to cover his Hartman Fund + ticket expenses. When I was doing this same thing 8-10 years ago, I could cover my costs by selling some or all of my 8 tickets on eBay/Stubhub along with away game tickets. However, after the multiple donation/ticket price increases 3-4 years ago combined with the dramatic price increases for certain away games (Auburn, Tech) and neutral site games (Florida, CFA Kick-off), much of the profit margins have been sucked out by the UGAA (or other schools for away games). After paying the listing and transaction fees, the “profits” have diminished considerably to the point where you are selling the tickets for a profit, but not nearly enough to cover your annual donation and ticket costs.
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I’m sure he embellished a bit and probably took into account the donation portion of the cost was tax deductible, but he swears he was making money. He tried to get me to go on ebay once and bid on tickets to create a bidding war but i wouldn’t do it.
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Having season tix for 25 years in the highest donation section, this used to be possible and may be, but it takes too much effort in my mind!. To be honest though, add in years like ’94, ’95 when we couldn’t give away even UF or AL tix ( I gave many a ticket to “Make a Wish”) it all comes out in the wash for sure.
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In my experience, any angry messages should go to Jere. If Jere has to deal with it, then that’s what the AD with respond to. Just my 2 cents.
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Throw in a weak home schedule and the out of state fan has a decision to make. Considering the price per ticket for games actually attended, the long drive, the noon kickoff and the 65″ hd and the decision becomes a lot easier. I made mine in 2010.
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Off topic, but kudos to StatDawg for conquering the world of statistics. That was without question the most difficult course I ever took, and I took it at another university at night in a much more personal environment. Without a very patient professor, I would not have survived it, much less earned a passing grade.
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“Stats” courses have treated others as such, but after mastering (?) it, you think you can’t live without it to answer questions you never asked before. Null hypothesis was tough until understood (duh) and ends up being the easiest to formulate for obtaining initial answers in new fields of research. Getting into manufacturing stats that give you the best path to the sought bottom line is plain difficult unless you are a stats major.
My compliments to StatDawg as well and hope she looks more closely at all our stats, including formulating a way to check the ESPN stats that are preached regularly, and then holding it to ourselves here at gtp when we want to approach OUR solutions with OUR StatDawg. Just think of the porn that awaits!
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StatDawg, we need you to test the validity of the WWL’s QBR model, so we can disparage it during the annual trollfest that is G-Day.
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IF enough people think the price is too high, one of two things will happen…
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You don’t get it. This is about the misleading nature of the communication of any of this whether it was the appeal for donations with the empty promise of increasing the likelihood of receiving post-season tickets or now the use of clearly flawed or misrepresented data to rationalize a price increase to a board that had 15 minutes before rubber stamping a decision and then used to tell the buying public you should accept it. The power structure at UGAAA shouldn’t be surprised at that the wallets are pushing back.
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Nobody forced anybody to do anything….
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Hard to see how you can make that point after the SECCG ticket contribution fiasco.
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I was critical last week about the merits of this complaint and your posts on the subject, but man was I totally off base and dead wrong. Good post. Thanks for shedding light and I hope your efforts help create positive change.
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Call me pessimistic but I don’t see anything changing. The only thing that would affect change is people walking, and I don’t see that happening….yet. Even with StatDawg’s fantastic effort to prove what we all suspected, I doubt that makes it any farther than this blog. Hopefully there will come a day when ticket prices hit the tipping point and we’ll be tired of being overlooked and we’ll all do more than just harrumph. Personally, my family is done with all of this. We’d been considering it for awhile, but this was just the last straw. As many have said, the value just isn’t there from an experience standpoint, which is more than just the product on the field. We’ll probably poach a game here and there right after kick from some jokers by the Arch because we love our Dawgs and tailgating with friends, but our ticket money is going to Atlanta United*. A world class facility and service, just as exciting of an on-field product, and field level seats in a sold out stadium with 17! home games for less than half of what we were paying for our (cheapest) seats in Sanford.
[exhale] Sorry, been waiting to get that out.
*not applicable if you don’t like soccer, but still worth it for a one-time experience
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So UGA football is basically a country club. Same dynamics…. guy wants to leave, but he’s already paid all this upfront money. And boy does his wife love tennis.
When are new contributors going to need letters of recommendation from at least 3 season ticket holders in good standing on the lower south side ?
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I hope this is NOT on the horizon because I can’t get anybody to write me a recommendation letter. Well maybe the Alcoholic Genius ,but I doubt he’s in good standing…soooo. . Besides, I’m also not sure I want to be a member of any club that would have me as a member.
Well done Statdawg82! My question for Statdawg is what is the following phenomenon called? I read what your hard work generated and realized that all that information confirmed what most of us who actually write the checks already knew. I want to call it confirmation bias but that doesn’t seem right. Maybe, it’s I already had a theory and your data provided proof of my theory but I like to know what statisticians call this nagging feeling people have that they’re not being told the whole story and your stats prove it. Also please forgive the run on sentence….Jan Kemp taught me English.
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It seems StatDawg did a great job of eliminating confirmation bias from her sample. She went to the source and tried to level out the data as much as possible based on the data available from other institutions. It seems to be a well designed analysis by a well trained statistician.
I’m just surprised the AD didn’t respond by saying, “There are lies, damn lies and statistics.”
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“Raising prices is one thing. But your minimum is too high. Raise the prices on the better seats. Raise the donation for the better seats. Raise the prices for new ticket purchasers.”
I could readily support this and with the tax deduction for Hartman Fund donations going away this does seem to be a fairer way of doing things (and the percentage increase of required donations for better seats was higher than other seats a few years ago IIRC). As eethomaswnfc states above the location of your seat determines how much you can sell for on StubHub, UGAA should be the same
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Ah! A Reverse Republican solution.
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The better seats already are way more expensive. Check minimum donations map on the Hartman Fund page…
http://thegeorgiabulldogclub.com/william-c-hartman-fund/sanford-stadium-seating
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For total cost of ownership (donation minimum +ticket price) yes, you pay more for club level than upper bowl. However, face value for both tickets is the same. But with the loss of tax-deductions for Hartman fund donations a more sustainable way to do this is decrease the donation component of the total cost.
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And tie the face value of the ticket to where the seat is
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BREAKING NEWS; According to an anonymous source, commencing with the 2019 academic year, UGA will no longer be offering degrees in Statistics. According to the source, the B-M crowd finds statistics too difficult for them, as well as the average ticket holder, to comprehend. Consequently elimination of the statistics degree is the only logical alternative.
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Oh, No! It’s back to the Republican solution.
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Well done Statdawg82!
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The stubhub comparison isn’t fair either. Fans who go to a game or two per year will gladly fork over $100 or $200 per ticket knowing they’re paying for a single game. It’s like taking your wife to a fancy resturant for your anniversary. It’s fun to splurge for a big event. But forcing season ticket holders to fork up over $100 per ticket for every fucking game including all 3 cupcakes on the schedule next year is ridiculous.
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100% agree. With TV nowadays, every game is in HD in your living room. Why are they crapping all over the truly loyal fans (The season ticket holders)?
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Because they can’t increase the value of the media rights
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Yes – AND – there are other problems with StubHub analysis too.
1. StubHub is going to represent the top of the market. It doesn’t include the transactions happening around the stadium on game day which are almost always less.
They’re looking at a fringe case reselling a small supply of tickets to sold out events. Drop all 92000 seats on StubHub and see how much you make on Austin Peay and MTSU. Then Mizzou and Vandy and Kentucky. C’mon – you’re looking at one or two games a year where the per game price is even close to “market”.
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I dropped my season tickets after the 2013 season more so due to my kids sports schedules than a financial issue. That being said I don’t miss it a bit. We were at the point where we screeched into Athens an hour or two before the game, parked in our assigned deck on the other side of campus, grabbed a quick bite at Snelling, went to the game and left to go home.
Asking the average fan to pay that much to attend a weak home schedule, coupled with a less than enjoyable game day experience. No thanks. Section HD 4K is much more comfortable and makes more financial sense.
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ESPN thanks you.
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And next year, B-M will raise the required contribution amounts and claim credit for not raising ticket prices.
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I’m glad she took a crack at this. I knew it was wrong but wasn’t sure on specifics. The only area where we are a legit pricing laggard is on the ultra premium non-skybox seats.
Senator and I both have 108 seats. Those at other schools would have a contribution of 2-3x current price.
Club level is also very cheap relatively speaking.
I’m glad it isn’t higher. I’m thankful.
But it doesn’t make sense for them to flat out lie about the rest of the stadium’s relative price vs the market.
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Would McGarity have to honor a FOIA request to get a number on how much was raised before the SECCG game from people who still didn’t qualify for tickets to that game?
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He would probably try to use a donor privacy defense.
He’ll tell you in 90 days … thanks, General Assembly.
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It doesn’t take a masters in statistics to figure out McGoo was lying, a pretty good grasp of middle school math is all that is needed.
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It never pays to piss off a smart person.
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I’m a programmer that has a lot of interaction with our Stats dept. Whenever I’m in a meeting with them, I’m often reminded that they are the smartest folks in the room.
Thanks for your hard work and for speaking up StatDawg82!
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I saw what you did there, Raleighwood. I have been in those meetings too.
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Wow! Nice work StatDawg82! Thanks for posting, Senator.
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First I want to thank Stat Dog for doing my homework for me. Truly thanks.
I am not in the minimum section but am now retired and on a fixed income. I have calculated my seats to actually cost $127.14 per ticket. That is where it hits home. Using the Stub Hub data could be misleading because outside of 1 game I saw numerous empty seating. As this progresses I actually see the possibility of prices going down because less will continue to buy tix at the exorbitant prices making more available. I’m quite convinced that Jere Morehead is driving this bus since the same thing (pressure to give more to UGA) is happening in general giving. It’s sad to say but my pool is limited so my giving will fall off somewhere to offset this. McGoofy is a pawn in a Queen’s game.
I’m disgusted like you Senator. LSU tix require 75,000 points to order. 35 years of giving and I can’t get them. At least I have been there already. People are buying tickets of prime value just to offset some costs. I know I am rambling but in the end Stat Dogs stats don’t lie. We (loyal fans) are the horse chasing the carrot and we ain’t ever gonna get it.
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prices on stub hub will go up as more people move to the aftermarket for tickets. . That means existing season ticket holders will buy extras to offset their current financial burden in the aftermarket. So thE university will feel no pain from this either way.
Until the team stumbles. And then the fall will be more painful for everyone.
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Honestly, with the change in tax law, why not just go to a PSL model and sell them for $15K-$20K each? Get 40 years up front.
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To be fair, it actually was possible to purchase season tickets in 2017 for $300 each. If you remember, they opened up the singles (there were some “piggyback” also) for sale in June. This is not to say that the Athletic Department has been totally truthful, but one could make a case for the $50 per seat tickets.
My issue is not with the price increase, it’s with the timing. The Bulldog Club went hard for people to donate before 12/31 and then again with the “1st and 10” donations by 1/31. Then after receiving those donations, they raise the ticket prices. The price increase should have been announced in December, or it should have been effective in 2019.
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You have actually hit on my primary concern as well, which is the timing. It was very unfair to ask people to “get donations in now” right before announcing a ticket price increase. I agree, any increase should have taken place for the 2019 season, allowing fans who save up money for this each year to have time to save additional funds.
Florida State is raising their ticket prices for the 2018-2019 season. They made this announcement sometime prior to Dec 1, 2017. Current/loyal season ticket holders had until January 31, 2018 to renew at the previous prices. After that, prices went up, and any new ticket purchasers will pay the new price. Makes a lot of sense.
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Been a season ticket holder since 1979, I graduated in ’77 and have always donated the minimum for my seat locations. I have 2 seats in 331(mine) and two in 119 which I have in my son’s name for he and his family…
My cost per season including Hartman fund donation is going from $2550 to $3210…
And I get to see Austin Peay, UMass, MTSU, UT, Vandy, AU and the nats…
$115 per ticket, $460 per game + $45/game parking pass. Another $200/game for fuel and tailgating expenses…
$700 a game, it’s getting expensive.
I’ll keep these seats even after I relocate to Fl. in a couple of years.
I will keep them for the kids as long as imma around but when I’m gone it’s gonna be hard for my son to be able afford/justify the cost of the ones I have in his name when I’m gone.
They’ll be priced outta the market and it’s a damn shame. My Grandad, my Dad, myself and my son are all alumni and we’ve all raised our sons/daughters to know that Saturday’s in the fall are spent in Athens…
Don’t see the family tradition carrying on…
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Dallasga6 is the post that tells the real story. This isn’t a new car, or boat, this is a tradition that most are being priced out of. When that group goes, so goes the passion and the market may adjust harshly. See current student sections at most schools; Alabama, Michigan, et al, all having horrible student attendance issues. Using my economics degree from UGA Greg, I can tell you what goes up past equilibrium to fast will come back down, often faster.
Prices can keep going up until you kill the passion. Then it is over.
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The people in charge will be long gone when that happens. They don’t care because it will be someone else’s problem.
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Yeah, it’s sad.
My grandparents, parents, brother and I used to make to drive from Savannah, then from Milledgeville after we moved, every home game Saturday. We always went to the Cocktail Party, it was more fun when we won every year.
Grandparents got too old so they sold me their seats for a few years. Parents still came with us. Then I got a job working every weekend and couldn’t come in my 20’s and early 30’s. Parents stopped coming when it was no longer a family outing.
My wife and I were so happy last year when we finally got tickets of our own for the first time. The tickets were terrible, but man! Going was so much fun! We were looking forward to next year when we could bring our son to his first game. My parents were going to get tickets again this year so we could get the tradition going again. Even Papa wants to come to a game or 2 with us.
Now, I don’t know what to say. It’s no longer financially responsible for me to continue to buy tickets. This has been a miserable week.
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College Football power brokers are trying their best to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. They do not understand that if kids do not grow up with college football, especially live and/or in-person games, being part of their lives, these kids will not fork over exorbitant amounts for cable/video subscriptions and tickets when they get older. I live 300 miles from Athens and would love to get back for more games, but the cost is too much. That is my choice, but my kids will not grow up with the Red and Black in their blood like I did. There is only so much I can do without the game day experience.
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I don’t know about you, but venting on here makes me feel better. It won’t really do anything, though. If you want to do more than that:
President@uga.edu
Gmcgarity@sports.uga.edu
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They’ll get my note when I decide what I’m going to do.
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The idea that they are willing to try and manipulate the numbers to mislead donors seems really sketchy.
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Thank you Senator and StatDawg82! Awesome work!
I still can’t believe they kept it quiet and then surprised everyone 2 weeks before the donation deadline. This is also 1-2 months after they were encouraging people to donate before the end of the 2017 calendar year to take advantage of the disappearing tax deduction. They wanted to get those donations and lock people in before hitting them over the head at the last minute with the sizable ticket price increases.
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This is a rhetorical question but how successful would their “1st and 10” campaign have been if people were aware that they would also be facing sizable ticket price increases?
McGarity and his crew are total sleazebags.
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It seems to me this whole fiasco comes down to a few things:
is the uga athletic association just a business trying to make a buck like Coke or Apple or Budweiser or Malboro?
If so, do we expect any transparency or honesty from any of them?
If they are different, how and why?
I personally have never thought we were anything but wallets to these people. If they act like they care, that’s the marketing department saying caring is good for business.
Capitalism is a soulless enterprise that doesn’t give a rat’s ass about you, just your cash.
We have enterprises that have made money literally killing their own customers and we’re going to pick this as the place to make our stand against greed? I guffaw at the pearl clutching.
Before you write to ears or Moorhead go down to your local pay day loan business and see what they’re up to with folks who truly can’t afford to be getting fucked.
This is not to suggest I am opposed to capitalism. Quite the contrary. What I am opposed to is only concerning ourselves with the harsh realities of the money making process when it hits home.
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I didn’t think it was possible to come in from that far out in left field but you managed to do it.
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And I didn’t think I could ever see vacuousness meet certitude with such a lack of awareness. You did it tho. You really did it. Congrats!
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to play devil’s advocate, this is supposed to be an amateur exhibition of student athletes performing an extra-curricular activity in the name of a non-profit institution. While I realize the realities are probably quite different (worthy of its own discussion), i can’t dismiss the complaints as totally unjustified. The Hartman Fund brochures themselves are in fact marketed to a “customer” with a loftier sense of purpose in supporting Dear-Old-UGA than.. the bottom line.
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I’ve always felt that the market was distorted due to tax breaks and irrational exuberance of fans.
The cheapest ticket in the house costs $95 each, I routinely go to most home games for much less than half of that and often for seats that are not the worst in the stadium.
If I lived closer to home, I would likely have succumbed to the greed of BM and purchased season tickets, as it were, I don’t suffer through the App State/Samford games because of sunk costs
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In all honesty, the 2 games you mention as junk were fun to attend this year because they were at night rather than at noon.
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It’s the Russians fault. No wait, it was the dossier that caused this, no wait….
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Who is the legal outfit representing and defending what B-M does, Dewey , Cheatham and Howe?
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Rest assured, we are in front of this and have already run our own statistics.
It comes down to this:
You step up your #COMMITMENTTOTHEG and we can continue to fund football like everyone else does.
Or you can opt out and we can re-deploy The Georgia Way for football, like we do for every other UGA sport.
The University makes big money either way.
#YOURCHOICE
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Here’s an honest question if any of y’all can help out. As a fairly young Dawg graduate, what can I actually expect to pay if I wanted to get 2 season tix for next year? I get so confused by the Hartman Fund and have had trouble locking down fair estimates. I graduated in 2012 and had one season of Young Alumni tix which were AWESOME. Had to give them up the following year to pay wedding expenses, and now that my wife just graduated I was dismayed to learn that they discontinued that program. I’d love to join the next generation of tix holders as the administration loves to say they’re trying to attract, but I have no idea what is actually a reasonable amount to donate this month to secure tickets. Then what is the lowest per seat price after I make the cut? I just have no idea what my total investment would look like and what it all means and any help y’all could be would be awesome.
Thanks guys!
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Based on Stat’s post, you will need to contribute a minimum of $275 per seat for 2 renewable season tickets ($550) then the price of the tickets will be $465 per seat ($930). If my calculations are correct, you are looking at $1,480 for 2 seats in probably the upper deck corner. That’s only if your Hartman Fund points give you the ability to order. I expect some will try to come in like they did in 2008 where it took much more than the minimum to be eligible to order tickets. Hope this helps you make your decision. Go to georgiadogs.com for more info.
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It all depends on the Hartman cut-off, but with what we were hearing being reported for ticket contributions through January (I feel like the amount had doubled from the same time last year), I think ee is right. The minimum cumulative cutoff score for new season ticket holders in 2008 was like 10,000. It might be pretty steep this year to get in for the first time regardless of the price increase.
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From MountainDAWG……I think the our UGAA Department is completely over estimating that the “younger generation” will pick up and start buying at the overall prices like myself and my fellow over “60” ticketholders are doing now.I say that the vast majority of them will not buy at these prices and will deceide to buy on the after market sites for the big SEC games and stay home for all the others to watch their big screen TVs and party with their friends.
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I’m a little late to this party, but as a twice over UGA statistics department degree holder myself (MS Statistics 1998, PhD Statistics 2000) can I just say this is my favorite post of the blog? haha. Well done, StatDawg82!! Jaxk Reeves would be proud!! (Heck, he probably reads this blog too — and if he doesn’t he should!)
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Every stat Dawg has his or her day. 🙂
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