My Take on Ticket prices

[CoachOSU]

First off I want to state that this is my opinion.. and that in no way do I feel everyone should agree with me...

I think the almighty dollar is overshadowing the university's loyality to the fans. OSU has always prided itself on being "a family university"... which I usually would agree...there is a love and common respect between all OSU grads....

But if you look at the OSU fan base it isn't like OU, where a good percentage of the fan base never actually attended anything on campus but the football games (yes I have been to several OU games and sadly have several examples within my own family)... a lot of OSU fans are actual alumni ... Good ole country boys coming from the farm or the factories... good folk who don't have the money to pay every year for raising ticket prices.

Don't make the mistake of questioning someone's loyality who complains about the ticket hike... loyality and can't afford something are two different things..

I love OSU and usually everything it stands for.. but raising ticket prices only hurts the majority of the OSU fan bases... how can we "show off our new stadium" if it is nearly empty every game because people can't afford to go anymore...

I don't see the family connection that OSU promotes in this case... I realize the university has to make money but realize that when you push the most loyal fans away then it can only hurt from now on...

The university is in such a hurry to compete and be like OU/Texas/Texas A&M... I kind of like our own identity... I don't want OSU to be like them...I want us to be us....

JUST MY THOUGHTS..TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK

This also doesn't not include the problems it raises for students either... whole different subject.

[bleedorange]

All I know is that "the way we've always done it", has brought us 40 years of football mediocrity, with rarely an exception. THAT, I know.

I'm willing to give change a chance.

[CowboyJD]

You can get a package of 4 season tickets for less than a $1000.....for 7 games this year. You can get a single season ticket for 7 games for less than $300.

That seems INCREDIBLY reasonable to me.

[MajorMike]

I have paid relatively the same price to see a 4-7 team and a 9-5 team and I would pay the same if they were a 2-9 team, which they won't be again, but the sentiment is still there. All this money bitching is extremely petty. The whine about the home game on Thurs has more merit.

[wickerbill]

I have paid relatively the same price to see a 4-7 team and a 9-5 team and I would pay the same if they were a 2-9 team, which they won't be again, but the sentiment is still there. All this money bitching is extremely petty. The whine about the home game on Thurs has more merit.


Does anybody have any idea when the decision will be made about the A&M game on Thursday? That would make this more of a 6.5 game schedule for me as there will be no tailgating or any of the other festivities that make football games enjoyable for us.

[CaliforniaCowboy]

JUST MY THOUGHTS..TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK





1) Your premise for the whole agument is wrong. "IF" we assume what you say that most OSU fans are alumni, then they are both a) higher educated on average, and b) higher paid on average.... so I'm not sure where you're getting the poor 'ol me off the farm nonsense.

Using you're own argument, the goons would be poorer, less educated and less able to afford tickets to Gaylord Stadium.

2) Tickets prices actually went down for the first time in years, so I'm doubly confused as to why you're writing this post. Last year the cheapest season ticket was $365, this year you can get one for $295, and that includes ONE ADDITIONAL home game.


I'm not really sure why you started the thread, it doesn't seem to be based on factual information.

[wickerbill]

2) Tickets prices actually went down for the first time in years, so I'm doubly confused as to why you're writing this post. Last year the cheapest season ticket was $365, this year you can get one for $295, and that includes ONE ADDITIONAL home game.


WRONG. There were seats available in the end sections (A and the other one on the far west side of the south side) for $255 last season. Ticket prices basically stayed the same as the base ticket price for regular seats went up $60, which is the regular price of a non-conference game. The cheap seats went up $40, which is about what the average was last year per game.

[CoachOSU]

just my opinion CaliforniaCowboy.. you can bash it all you want... thank you for yours

Let me ask you this though.... How many times you sit through a student council meeting where students complained about ticket prices? How many times you ever wish you could go to the game but couldn't afford it? Ticket prices have gone up and some people just can afford it... and more and more have to scrape together too pay for ticket packages... This is not fact? People's complaints are not based on fact?

By the way the OU not having any alumni and OSU fan base... was a tongue and cheek thing.. sorry if it was not taken properly...

Yes some people would pay no matter what too support OSU... me being one of them... but what about the people who just can't and if ticket prices haven't been going up then why are so many people stating they have to quit buying them this year?

[CoachOSU]

Another thing CaliforniaCowboy... using your example, you are saying that almuni would have more money than non-alumni...

I am an alumni.... are you saying I am gonna make more than every person who didn't go to college?

There are many other things to consider... people who are single with no family to support buying tickets as opposed to family based people who has to consider many options and other commitments before buying season tickets...

Also, consider travel... with tickets prices going up (Dang wickerbill you beat me too it... but thats what I get for taking so long to respond) those travelers can afford to make those trips ... I just wish they had made a better format for the working class which is believe it or not... a big part of the OSU fan base.

[CaliforniaCowboy]

we all want things in life that we can't afford...

ticket prices did not go up this year... I'm not sure what else to tell you.

I'm not trying to be funny; I honestly do not understand why you would bring this up at a time when, FOR ONCE, prices did not go up.

Holder has to pay the bills, what is it you want him to do? Not make the debt payment? Not pay the electric bill? Cut back on team travel? Cut coaches salaries?

[frankeaton]

yea, I do not remember seeing anything about ticket price increases ONLY that to buy tickets to the zerou game you will have to buy the package and that has been going on for 4 years (?) now

the only thing a couple of weeks ago was Holder being quoted as saying we were 9th in Big 12 athletic budgets but if you google the subject you get the following:

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q36/bchapel/618sqbig12.jpg

[CaliforniaCowboy]

Hey frankeaton... doesn't that say 2003 on it? like 5 years ago?

football spending 8th; football profit 8th.

I wonder what our debt is... debt financing comes out of the operating budget and we haven't paid for GIA or the North Side yet to the tune of some 90 million dollars.

[frankeaton]

best I could find, can you find something more recent?

[JimBob]

best I could find, can you find something more recent?


Recent numbers won't be available until they're available, and won't be released when they're available; eat the orange pablum, eat the orange pablum--you're getting mediocre........:D

[MemphisPoke]

Recent numbers won't be available until they're available, and won't be released when they're available; eat the orange pablum, eat the orange pablum--you're getting mediocre........:D


JB, step away from the beer. Put it down slowly and step away from the beer.






:D

[JimBob]

JB, step away from the beer. Put it down slowly and step away from the beer.






:D


The dog and I were "practicing" for the Super Bowl. It won't happen again, until it happens again.:D

[CaliforniaCowboy]

best I could find, can you find something more recent?



Muddled accounting makes comparing finances in college sports nearly impossible.

Universities readily admit that they monitor athletic spending at their peers. After all, you have to know what the Joneses are doing in order to keep up with them. The trouble is, obtaining a clear view of a rival's finances can be all but impossible.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires all schools to submit detailed financial information, but it doesn't release that information to the public or share it with other schools. Instead, it releases aggregated revenue and spending data, organized by conference. Universities are also required by the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) — part of the Title IX gender equality in athletics law — to disclose some financial data to the public. But the EADA requirements (as well as the NCAA's) have few standardized accounting rules. The result makes comparisons among universities very difficult.

"Those numbers can be very misleading," says Eric Ziady, associate athletic director for business operations at Boston College. He says that schools compute their figures differently. For example, some include capital expenditures and debt servicing in the reports; others don't. Some include the cost to manage sports facilities — expenses such as security and maintenance — while others carry those expenses on their general books. "Things included or excluded in gross numbers can sway budgets by tens of millions of dollars," says Ziady.

Efforts are under way to improve the comparability of finances in college sports. Rule changes enacted for the 2006–07 school year require universities to file financial reports using a common set of accounting definitions and have them audited by a third party. The new guidelines also require schools to report capital expenditures and the athletic department's share of costs being picked up by the university. "We believe it will significantly improve the quality and reliability of our data," says Jim Isch, CFO of the NCAA.

From:
The Money Bowl
The real competition in big-time college sports is over who can spend the most.
Joseph McCafferty
CFO Magazine
August 1, 2006

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/7239613/1/c_7242823?f=related