Pitt 5 game plan almost as expensive as Michigan season tickets

[Sean Miller Fan]

I've said many times that Pitt basketball tickets are some of the most expensive in the nation and they remain that way. To give you an idea, a Michigan fan can get crappy upper deck season tickets for $290. It would cost a Pitt fan $205 for only 5 games, with 1 of those being a cupcake game.

http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/2017/6/16/tickets-bkm-season-html.aspx

 

[KiwiJeff]

I'd call that a bargain....or not.

Either way, it never hurts to listen to The Who.

 

[tps48]

Maybe you should buy Michigan tickets.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Maybe you should buy Michigan tickets.

Most major program upper deck season tickets are priced around the $200-$300 mark. I just used Michigan as an example. Pitt continuously charges double that.

 

[levance2]

It's hard to say at this point whether the pricing is simply hubris or rather deep naivete on Lyke's part.

 

[DT_PITT]

It's hard to say at this point whether the pricing is simply hubris or rather deep naivete on Lyke's part.

It's hard to think who would buy that package beyond a couple dozens folks.

 

[levance2]

It's hard to think who would buy that package beyond a couple dozens folks.

Between this and her comments about Stallings (he just needs more exposure to the city!) I really feel like she doesn't understand the magnitude of our current predicament. I assume they know how many STH renewals they've gotten, and the results can't be pretty, yet these offerings are still really insulting.

One could make an argument that these packages are even less of a value than the full season ticket. It will be amusing to see what single game prices are come November.

 

[DT_PITT]

Between this and her comments about Stallings (he just needs more exposure to the city!) I really feel like she doesn't understand the magnitude of our current predicament. I assume they know how many STH renewals they've gotten, and the results can't be pretty, yet these offerings are still really insulting.

One could make an argument that these packages are even less of a value than the full season ticket. It will be amusing to see what single game prices are come November.

I don't have any opinion on Heather at the moment.
For her sake, I hope Coach Narduzzi can have increased success and sustain it because it seems as if her predicessor but almost all of the Pitt eggs in the football basket.

 

[Gorachee]

Does anyone have any sense of how renewals are going? I was moved a couple of sections. I'm not really sure if that will be a better seat.

 

[levance2]

I don't have any opinion on Heather at the moment.
For her sake, I hope Coach Narduzzi can have increased success and sustain it because it seems as if her predicessor but almost all of the Pitt eggs in the football basket.

I'm actually optimistic for her tenure, I just don't think she understands what has happened here over the past two years in the basketball program.

If the goal is to put more butts in seats and earn KS some goodwill, I don't think these packages achieve that goal.

 

[levance2]

Does anyone have any sense of how renewals are going? I was moved a couple of sections. I'm not really sure if that will be a better seat.

One of the mini-plans is for lower level seats, so I'd guess not well.

 

[DT_PITT]

One of the mini-plans is for lower level seats, so I'd guess not well.

I was moved to seats that are better than the original ones I had before re-seating. This is good for me of course, but it can't be a good sign to be able to improve two sections in the lower bowl. The section I'm now in would have seemed unattainable two years ago.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Does anyone have any sense of how renewals are going? I was moved a couple of sections. I'm not really sure if that will be a better seat.

Just a total guess: I'd say less than 5000 season tickets.

 

[DT_PITT]

Just a total guess: I'd say less than 5000 season tickets.

Much will depend upon renewals in the 6 Club sections.

 

[Bethlehemjohn]

She is going to be fine and she probably doesn't realize what a major rebuilding job she has ahead of her because she doesn't believe that it isn't something she can't handle. Eastern Michigan was a much bigger mess than what we have now. It's our spoiled fans who believe that this is the death sentence and the unfortunate thing is that by not showing up at games, it will take us longer to get back to the top.

 

[whirlybird optio]

Just a total guess: I'd say less than 5000 season tickets.

Do we know what that number was last season?

 

[bwh05]

Just a total guess: I'd say less than 5000 season tickets.

I've heard it's substantially lower than that, not counting student tickets. It's not going to be pretty.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Does anyone have any sense of how renewals are going? I was moved a couple of sections. I'm not really sure if that will be a better seat.

Our seats were moved also, more toward center court in the lower bowl. When you look at the seating chart, it looks like most seats in the lower bowl are already sold. That may be true, but I guarantee that most will not have butts in them during the regular season. In the next couple of years for Pitt to just sell seats in prime locations in the lower bowl, they'll have to dramatically lower the per seat contribution from $1500 to something more reasonable and reflective of the value of those prime seats. Maybe in the $300 - $500 per seat area. And upper bowl seats and less desirable seats in the lower bowl will have to have no contribution required at all, if they want them sold.

 

[levance2]

they'll have to dramatically lower the per seat contribution from $1500 to something more reasonable and reflective of the value of those prime seats. Maybe in the $300 - $500 per seat area. And upper bowl seats and less desirable seats in the lower bowl will have to have no contribution required at all, if they want them sold.

I really don't think they'll sell 3-5x more tickets by dropping the price that much. The problem is the coach gives little to no hope, and the team will likely be awful. People aren't interested in buying that product regardless of price.

They should try to retain most of the value of the full season plans, but they should be offering much more creative solutions for partial plans and single games. Then, if the program eventually rebounds, you just discontinue those options.

Holy cow. I finally opened the mini-plan page and it is worse than I thought. They are still selling WVU or Duke as part of that package, listed at $80.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

I actually agree with L2 , I don't think that they would sell many more tickets if they dropped the ticket prices substantially .
What's worse an empty arena with high ticket prices or an empty arena with low ticket prices !
Why would anyone on the fence buy season tickets when plenty of good seats will be available for just about every game for 5-10 bucks on stub hub .
In the case they are beyond bad and unwatchable , which is highly possible , you haven't wasted your money .
Low revenue and embarrassing low fan support will be the most effective method fans will have in percipatating a change because we all know that Pitt doesn't want to eat KS contract .

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

I hope they fix football. As for Hoops, I just hope they figure it out by the time Sid and Geno hangs it up.....

 

[Haydman]

I actually agree with L2 , I don't think that they would sell many more tickets if they dropped the ticket prices substantially .
What's worse an empty arena with high ticket prices or an empty arena with low ticket prices !
Why would anyone on the fence buy season tickets when plenty of good seats will be available for just about every game for 5-10 bucks on stub hub .
In the case they are beyond bad and unwatchable , which is highly possible , you haven't wasted your money .
Low revenue and embarrassing low fan support will be the most effective method fans will have in percipatating a change because we all know that Pitt doesn't want to eat KS contract .

Very valid points. I don't know the answer but these full priced mini packages are useless. Why would someone lock themselves into a package when they can buy these tickets on game day? Where's the incentive/hook?

We know we're already heading down the road toward historically low attendance at the Pete so they need to do anything and everything in their power to keep the Zoo full. Lose the interesest of the students and lack of attendance will be even more noticeable.

I'm no group sales expert but maybe they could approach area high schools and offer steeply discounted tickets for just a specific game? Do a different school district for each game? Maybe they have, maybe it's easier said than done......

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Just a total guess: I'd say less than 5000 season tickets.

Do we know what that number was last season?

Well, the lower bowl seats about 7000 including the Zoo Seats. And the lower bowl was mostly full of season ticket holders. Take out the Zoo seats and lets say there were 6000 in lower bowl and maybe 1500 in the upper deck.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

Once you reduce pricing its very difficult to increase pricing unless there's a drastic mega change in the product offered.

An example in football would be adding of the Nitter games which increased the demand for PITT football season tickets when the Nitter game is home.

So in the short term its smart to maintain pricing and see how the next couple basketball seasons work out.

Attendance may not suffer much this season since PITT basketball will be like a new " zoo" animal and fans will come out just to be curious.

Next season could be a completely different story!

 

[Haydman]

Once you reduce pricing its very difficult to increase pricing unless there's a drastic mega change in the product offered.

An example in football would be adding of the Nitter games which increased the demand for PITT football season tickets when the Nitter game is home.

So in the short term its smart to maintain pricing and see how the next couple basketball seasons work out.

Attendance may not suffer much this season since PITT basketball will be like a new " zoo" animal and fans will come out just to be curious.

Next season could be a completely different story!

I agree with your thoughts surrounding the difficulty of increasing prices again in the future. I tend to believe that they need to worry more about the short term attendance problems. Where we disagree is that i think there will be a serious decrease this year. Just basing this on the fact that we saw it happening last season and this year has the potential to be worse.

If they take a wait and see approach it could get to a point that gaining back any casual fans will be even more difficult. Take a hit on prices now and worry about the possible difficulty in raising prices later.
Do anything and everything to keep current levels from dropping even further. Just my take...

 

[Fsgolfdr]

The real problem does anyone see Pitt being competitive in the ACC in the near future ? Being optimistic It could be yrs .Will Pitt ever be competitive to Duke or UNC ? How about with Louisville ...Virginia etc ...
For conversation sakes let's say Pitt gives KS two more yrs , how many yrs will it take for the next coach to put a winning exciting team on the court ? How many STH will stick it out ,how many new fans will a team winning 10 games attract .
The only anwsers are hoping somehow KS pulls a rabbit out of his hat or Pitt steps up and grossly overpays it's next head coach . What are the odds that either of those things happens ?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Once you reduce pricing its very difficult to increase pricing unless there's a drastic mega change in the product offered.

An example in football would be adding of the Nitter games which increased the demand for PITT football season tickets when the Nitter game is home.

So in the short term its smart to maintain pricing and see how the next couple basketball seasons work out.

Attendance may not suffer much this season since PITT basketball will be like a new " zoo" animal and fans will come out just to be curious.

Next season could be a completely different story!

I disagree with this a million percent. Pitt basketball tickets are some of the most expensive in college basketball, especially the upper deck ones. In fact, I'd bet there is not a comparative program in the nation that has more expensive upper deck seats. The pricing of those seats is incredibly stupid. Considering the low level of the product this year, I would have sold an entire season if the upper endzone and corners for like $150-$200. Then, if they are selling and the team improves, you can gradually increase prices.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

People will gripe at ticket price increases , but they pony up for a winning team . Empty seats bring in zero revs.

 

[levance2]

One issue I have constantly griped about is that when Pitt advertised their massive "waiting list" they never made any single game tickets (clearly) available. Now that attendance is in the toilet, the market for single game fans just doesn't even exist. In this city, you are basically a STH or you never attend a game, with very little in between.

If anything, this has only strengthened the secondary market, because through it, tickets are always available. I guess Pitt will probably sell their lot "officially" at $20-$80 and then quietly dump thousands more through StubHub at market rate.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

One issue I have constantly griped about is that when Pitt advertised their massive "waiting list" they never made any single game tickets (clearly) available. Now that attendance is in the toilet, the market for single game fans just doesn't even exist. In this city, you are basically a STH or you never attend a game, with very little in between.

If anything, this has only strengthened the secondary market, because through it, tickets are always available. I guess Pitt will probably sell their lot "officially" at $20-$80 and then quietly dump thousands more through StubHub at market rate.

Yea, they haven't dumped bball tickets on Stubhub yet but they dumped several thousand FSU and ND football tickets on there a few years ago.

The advertising of the waiting list was really stupid because they misevaluated Pitt basketball fans during the glory days. They thought that by creating a false demand for something that didn't exist....in a town used to waiting lists (Steelers, Pens), there would be all these people waiting in the wings for tickets. Instead of advertising single-game tickets, which were available for every game either due to students being on break or the visiting BE team returning tickets, they made you believe getting tickets is impossible so dont even try. So, the casual yinzwr sports fan wouldn't even bother.

 

[Haydman]

One issue I have constantly griped about is that when Pitt advertised their massive "waiting list" they never made any single game tickets (clearly) available. Now that attendance is in the toilet, the market for single game fans just doesn't even exist. In this city, you are basically a STH or you never attend a game, with very little in between.

If anything, this has only strengthened the secondary market, because through it, tickets are always available. I guess Pitt will probably sell their lot "officially" at $20-$80 and then quietly dump thousands more through StubHub at market rate.

The funny thing is that last year if you looked at places like StubHub there seemed to be fewer tickets available than in previous years. My only guess is that fewer STH renewed and that meant fewer people trying to dump previously purchased tickets? I was surprised that besides game day scalping you were still looking at somewhat pricey tickets.

 

[bwh05]

Honestly we should have really cut prices this year and maybe created some new fans and demand if and when we get better.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

I disagree with this a million percent. Pitt basketball tickets are some of the most expensive in college basketball, especially the upper deck ones. In fact, I'd bet there is not a comparative program in the nation that has more expensive upper deck seats. The pricing of those seats is incredibly stupid. Considering the low level of the product this year, I would have sold an entire season if the upper endzone and corners for like $150-$200. Then, if they are selling and the team improves, you can gradually increase prices.

I'm talking about the do's and don't's of good marketing.

If the PITT basketball tickets were overpriced for the last ten years given the product offered that's a different issue!

If they were appropriately priced than don't drop the ticket prices until Stalling basketball steadies out! Who knows the guy has some nice players for this season and it should get better in the future the "Blue Light Special" PITT basketball coach might work out!

Now the ticket prices have been the ticket prices for years so someone at PITT including the new AD thinks they're in the right range?

 

[levance2]

The funny thing is that last year if you looked at places like StubHub there seemed to be fewer tickets available than in previous years. My only guess is that fewer STH renewed and that meant fewer people trying to dump previously purchased tickets? I was surprised that besides game day scalping you were still looking at somewhat pricey tickets.

I'd say the causes could have been, and will be:

1. Fewer STH exist, which means a smaller population selling anything
2. Less demand means slim return on tickets sold (no real markup for profit in ACC season)
3. If average return is low enough, it isn't even worth the hassle to list tickets

I had Pirates season tickets in 2016 and several times when I couldn't use them, I'd try to list them on StubHub. Unless you dump your tickets for the lowest listed cost, you run a pretty significant risk of not selling them at all. I'm not even talking about weeknights. There were times I couldn't get back face value on weekend concert nights. It got to the point that I'd just offer to give them away to friends or family rather than trying to make any money. If nobody ended up using them, I'd just throw them in the trash.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

I know its Pitt and Pittsburgh, but still can't believe its gone in the toilet that fast.
Was hoping at least Pitt bb had evolved into a little different animal. Oh well.

 

[TFloss]

I looked up some season tickets for some schools...

Georgia Tech-360 cheapest. Only 8600 capacity.
WVU-290 cheapest. 14,000 capacity.
Miami-100 plus a 50 dollar donation. 8,000 capacity.
NC State-245. 20,000 capacity.

There is no reason that Pitt should be 573 plus a 150 dollar donation for the worst tickets other than screwing over the loyal customers.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

I looked up some season tickets for some schools...

Georgia Tech-360 cheapest. Only 8600 capacity.
WVU-290 cheapest. 14,000 capacity.
Miami-100 plus a 50 dollar donation. 8,000 capacity.
NC State-245. 20,000 capacity.

There is no reason that Pitt should be 573 plus a 150 dollar donation for the worst tickets other than screwing over the loyal customers.

Keep searching. I'm telling you that I highly doubt any comparable program has more expensive uppers than Pitt, even without a donation.

Pitt is looking at its worst season of all time, maybe one of the worst major D1 seasons of all time and yets its tickets are some of the sport's most expensive.

Pitt should be doing everything it can to simply increase the number of people at the Pete.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

Pitt bb and FB are businesses and Pitt wants to maximize their profits just like any other business . There was no reason to lower bb ticket prices when the Pete was filled , waiting list or no waiting list . They were winning and it was exciting and as far as season tickets prices go they were reasonable . You were definitely getting your monies worth with two number one seeds , but times have changed . Their play the last few yrs has been so far below the level that attracted those full houses and the casual fans have left leaving only the diehearts . Even those fans have limits , there's better things to spend your time and money on if this ineptness continues . ACC money lightens the loss of game revenue , but it's only a matter of time before the cash drain forces Pitt into action if KS can't bring a winner to the Pete . The embarrassment of an empty arena and an inept team combined with decreasing revenues will get their attention . I'm just afraid they'll go find an inexpensive coach and prey they get lucky and they'll justify that approach by saying the bb team doesn't generate enough revenue to justify any other approach .

 

[HailToPitt1985]

The real problem does anyone see Pitt being competitive in the ACC in the near future ? Being optimistic It could be yrs .Will Pitt ever be competitive to Duke or UNC ? How about with Louisville ...Virginia etc ...
For conversation sakes let's say Pitt gives KS two more yrs , how many yrs will it take for the next coach to put a winning exciting team on the court ? How many STH will stick it out ,how many new fans will a team winning 10 games attract .
The only anwsers are hoping somehow KS pulls a rabbit out of his hat or Pitt steps up and grossly overpays it's next head coach . What are the odds that either of those things happens ?

You guys all make very valid points. Pitt will not be competitive in the ACC until we get another coach. There is no hope of that happening with this lump we now have as our coach. And once he is gone, how competitive we become will be dependent on who the next coach is and how quickly he can get some recruits in here that can impact the program quickly. We have none right now and it's not going to get better until lumpy is gone. He can't coach and he can't recruit.

Lumpy pulling a rabbit out of his hat? My chances of winning Powerball are greater than that.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

You guys all make very valid points. Pitt will not be competitive in the ACC until we get another coach. There is no hope of that happening with this lump we now have as our coach. And once he is gone, how competitive we become will be dependent on who the next coach is and how quickly he can get some recruits in here that can impact the program quickly. We have none right now and it's not going to get better until lumpy is gone. He can't coach and he can't recruit.

Lumpy pulling a rabbit out of his hat? My chances of winning Powerball are greater than that.

How bout cutting me in for 1% !