I bought 3 extra tickets for Saturday... but the athletic department is messing this up

[Dointhatrag]

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Ultimately, the real problem is that there are too many seats for Pitt's fanbase. The price almost doesn't matter. They could be $10 and there would still be an issue filling all of those upper sections.

The solution is a new smaller stadium, or tarping sections of HF.

For this game and only this game, they'd probably sell an extra 10K tickets if uppers were $10. For anyone else, they might sell a few dozen.

 

[PittGuy00]

This reminds me of when they charged like $100 for the cheapest Duke ticket for bball. What should have been a sellout crowd was about 2K short and mostly Duke fans since casual Pitt fans werent paying $100 to watch a bad Pitt team.

Speaking of basketball, how about the cheapest lowers for season tickets costing $630? GT won the ACC last year and their cheapeat lowers are $560. Pitt basketball is at the point where they needed to drastically reduce prices because no one is going. Like $300 for lowers and $150 for uppers. The place is going to be a morgue

especially if they continue to require masks

 

[pittjas]

Yes... but for Clemson this week you could get over 60k in that stadium with better pricing.

Part of the issue which you’re ignoring is that if you just price to sell and fill - which I somewhat support - you risk alienating your season ticket holders - and those are the people you need to keep happy.

Why buy season tickets if you can get tickets to the Clemson game for $20 by just waiting til Thursday or Friday.

What Pitt is doing is what literally every big time school and every pro team in America does.

And most fanbases would LOVE to be able to get tickets for $65 to their team’s biggest game of the season.

If we had a 45k seat stadium, the secondary market prices would be $100 minimum.

 

[pitt90seven]

A. The Steelers don't have a perception problem about fan support.

B. If a band can't sell enough seats at a venue, they either move to a smaller venue, cancel the concert, or tarp/curtain off seats. And yes, if promoters are having trouble selling out shows, they lower the prices.

C. I already gave you an example: Cruise ships. They don't want to ever leave port with any empty cabins - so they'll offer sometimes up to 90% discount the morning of the launch to get people in those cabins.

D. Bowl games do this all the time. If they are having trouble filling a stadium, they practically give tickets away in the final week before the game to the locals to get the stadium more full.



Pitt's problem here is that they priced the upper deck seats too high for this game. That was a mistake. The upper deck seats should've been priced at $30-$40 all along - and then the sales for this game would be much more crisp.

No casual fan is paying $65 to sit in bleacher endzone nosebleeds. They just aren't. And we don't have enough more-than-casual fans like me who will pay $210 for 3 extra seats to the game above my season tickets.

i'll give you this: i don't know how they do pricing but in my head, $35-40 seems about the right price for those seats.

 

[UPitt '89]

Part of the issue which you’re ignoring is that if you just price to sell and fill - which I somewhat support - you risk alienating your season ticket holders - and those are the people you need to keep happy.

Why buy season tickets if you can get tickets to the Clemson game for $20 by just waiting til Thursday or Friday.

What Pitt is doing is what literally every big time school and every pro team in America does.

And most fanbases would LOVE to be able to get tickets for $65 to their team’s biggest game of the season.

If we had a 45k seat stadium, the secondary market prices would be $100 minimum.

I'm a season ticket holder - and I pay the donations necessary for club seats.

I would be THRILLED if they sold the upper deck end zone and corners for $20 each if it resulted in a packed house on Saturday. I'm not saying to sell the lower bowl or club seats cheaper - those are largely sold out anyway. It doesn't diminish my experience at all if some young, or none-as-well-off finanically, fans are getting into the stadium cheaply.

When Heinz opened in 2001... I got a season ticket package for an entire season in the upper deck for $99. Now that I'm better off financially, I buy the expensive seats. That's how you grow a fan base.

If they're worried about keeping people like me happy, they should be trying to fill the stadium to make the experience electric.

 

[pittjas]

I'm a season ticket holder - and I pay the donations necessary for club seats.

I would be THRILLED if they sold the upper deck end zone and corners for $20 each if it resulted in a packed house on Saturday. I'm not saying to sell the lower bowl or club seats cheaper - those are largely sold out anyway. It doesn't diminish my experience at all if some young, or none-as-well-off finanically, fans are getting into the stadium cheaply.

When Heinz opened in 2001... I got a season ticket package for an entire season in the upper deck for $99. Now that I'm better off financially, I buy the expensive seats. That's how you grow a fan base.

If they're worried about keeping people like me happy, they should be trying to fill the stadium to make the experience electric.

What they really should do is e-mail season ticket holders an offer to buy upper deck seats for say $20.

That way you get more fans and keep STH happy.

I get what you’re saying and agree with most of it, but what Pitt is doing is standard operating procedure.

 

[UPitt '89]

What they really should do is e-mail season ticket holders an offer to buy upper deck seats for say $20.

That way you get more fans and keep STH happy.

I get what you’re saying and agree with most of it, but what Pitt is doing is standard operating procedure.

I agree whole heartedly with your first sentence. I might've bought 10 extra instead of 3 extra if they were $20 each instead of $70. I would've found people to use them.

As for your last sentence.... "S.O.P." is fine when you have a large enough fan base and no perception problem concerning fan support. When you are trying to build that fan base, you have to go beyond S.O.P.

 

[pittjas]

I agree whole heartedly with your first sentence. I might've bought 10 extra instead of 3 extra if they were $20 each instead of $70. I would've found people to use them.

As for your last sentence.... "S.O.P." is fine when you have a large enough fan base and no perception problem concerning fan support. When you are trying to build that fan base, you have to go beyond S.O.P.

Agreed.

 

[Franb]

What they really should do is e-mail season ticket holders an offer to buy upper deck seats for say $20.

That way you get more fans and keep STH happy.

I get what you’re saying and agree with most of it, but what Pitt is doing is standard operating procedure.

SOP for others does not mean that it should be for Pitt. If Pitt can sell an extra 10,000 tickets for $20 each, they are missing out on a nice piece of revenue by not doing so. Not to mention the chance to have a larger crowd.

 

[Pitt_Boss]

Just for the record, Pitt ticket office is also driving the StubHub market. They sell tickets through there too. Why people buy them from there rather than directly from the Pitt ticket office, I have no idea. But they list tickets on there at higher price points and it inflates the StubHub market.

 

[joeydavid]

I have two season tickets in Club 206.

I bought 3 extra tickets through the Pitt ticket office for friends in the upper deck for Clemson. $70 each. But I'm a die-hard and so are my friends.

The *CHEAPEST* ticket in the building for Saturday is $65.

That's ridiculously high, especially for the upper deck end zone and corner sections.

Pitt should be doing everything they can to get as much walk-up sale as possible for this game to fill the building.

The casual fan ain't paying $65 to sit in the nosebleeds, folks.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. We're going to get 55k.....but it would be 65k if they offered the nosebleeds at say $30-$35.

My tickets are a few rows off the field on the 47. Face value is $96.

 

[UPitt '89]

My tickets are a few rows off the field on the 47. Face value is $96.

Exactly. So why should upper deck end zone seats be $65-70? That's nuts. Way too high priced for those seats.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

What they really should do is e-mail season ticket holders an offer to buy upper deck seats for say $20.

That way you get more fans and keep STH happy.

I get what you’re saying and agree with most of it, but what Pitt is doing is standard operating procedure.

That will be coming later in the week. Has to. Too many unsold seats. Might as well make them free to season ticket holders like they've done in the past.

 

[joeydavid]

Exactly. So why should upper deck end zone seats be $65-70? That's nuts. Way too high priced for those seats.

Not really. My seats require a donation as well.

 

[kma0043]

The game will be over at 7 or a bit after. It’ll be dark, so offer fireworks and a free shirt and it’ll be a near sell out

 

[GlennEM]

FWIW I have 2 tickets in the Club Sec 234 on about 45 yd line.
The printed price on my ticket is $233 each.
NC, Miami & VA are $140 each.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Again, the issue is too many seats. Clemson and Pitt could both be ranked in the top 10 and a sellout is still questionable.

 

[LivinWell]

We have 4 home games left which are all dynamite given the team we have this year. Pitt should be pushing the 4 game package for $100. Maybe retain some as new season ticket holders next year. Also, Thursday they should email recent graduates (last 5 years) and offer them $10 tickets in the barren upper deck end zone.

 

[upj87]

We have 4 home games left which are all dynamite given the team we have this year. Pitt should be pushing the 4 game package for $100. Maybe retain some as new season ticket holders next year. Also, Thursday they should email recent graduates (last 5 years) and offer them $10 tickets in the barren upper deck end zone.

We have 4 home games left which are all dynamite given the team we have this year....

We have 2 days until we dock in New York which we can make in 1 1/2 given the ship we have this trip....Edward Smith, Captain, RMS Titanic.

Younger Pitt fans, God love em

 

[LivinWell]

Appears like you (and Pitt) have no marketing skills.

 

[NKSplitter]

Yes... but for Clemson this week you could get over 60k in that stadium with better pricing.

Agree. I wouldn't want to see the Athletic Department making a habit of slashing ticket prices ahead of a game to move tickets; but the prices for this game were clearly set with the expectation that Clemson would be coming to town as a top 5 team in the country, not an unranked(AP) or barely ranked(Coaches) team. Pricing corrective action should have been considered the moment N.C. State handed Clemson their 2nd loss.

I'm still disappointed in how bad the crowd was for WMU. I was naive enough to think the win in Knoxville had maybe generated enough excitement around the program that the crowd for the game would equal what was there for the opener vs. UMass. Instead it was one of the most poorly attended games I can recall at Heinz and I'd bet that was incredibly deflating for the players after the packed and raucous visitors section that was at the Tennessee game. We're coming off a season where there were no/few fans in the stadium for the entire home slate and because of circumstances that were in place that year many people's habits for traveling and entertainment may well have shifted permanently. Perhaps ticket prices this year should be more "Welcome back" type pricing and not "I forgot how expensive this is. Is it worth it?" type pricing.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Agree. I wouldn't want to see the Athletic Department making a habit of slashing ticket prices ahead of a game to move tickets; but the prices for this game were clearly set with the expectation that Clemson would be coming to town as a top 5 team in the country, not an unranked(AP) or barely ranked(Coaches) team. Pricing corrective action should have been considered the moment N.C. State handed Clemson their 2nd loss.

I'm still disappointed in how bad the crowd was for WMU. I was naive enough to think the win in Knoxville had maybe generated enough excitement around the program that the crowd for the game would equal what was there for the opener vs. UMass. Instead it was one of the most poorly attended games I can recall at Heinz and I'd bet that was incredibly deflating for the players after the packed and raucous visitors section that was at the Tennessee game. We're coming off a season where there were no/few fans in the stadium for the entire home slate and because of circumstances that were in place that year many people's habits for traveling and entertainment may well have shifted permanently. Perhaps ticket prices this year should be more "Welcome back" type pricing and not "I forgot how expensive this is. Is it worth it?" type pricing.

What's interesting is there were probably 3K fans in Knoxville but you come home and there's only about 15K. Not a huge difference between a game 7 hours away and 20 minutes away