Well ... it looks like ...

[DT_PITT]

... I picked a pretty good time to retire the post game dribbles for a while.

Truth be told, I actually could have come up with a fair amount of material. The best would have been this ... for the second straight game ... unbelievably ... a scalper has paid me $10 for my extra pair of tickets.

Otherwise, anything else that could be said about this game would probably just seem like unnecessarily piling on.

Within the last 10 days, we have seen our Panthers play a pretty darn good half against a pretty good team, and a terrible half against a really, really bad team.

Hopefully, we'll see much more of the former against Towson.

 

[WillFerrell]

I will miss the dribbles DT. No pun intended

 

[steel_curtain]

... I picked a pretty good time to retire the post game dribbles for a while.

Truth be told, I actually could have come up with a fair amount of material. The best would have been this ... for the second straight game ... unbelievably ... a scalper has paid me $10 for my extra pair of tickets.

Otherwise, anything else that could be said about this game would probably just seem like unnecessarily piling on.

Within the last 10 days, we have seen our Panthers play a pretty darn good half against a pretty good team, and a terrible half against a really, really bad team.

Hopefully, we'll see much more of the former against Towson.

-I honestly dont know how Stallings will survive if we continue to lose and attendance sinks or stays similar to tonight. It was ugly on the video stream. I mean ugly and that is a kind word to use from what I watched. You cant have a building with no one in it. And if the losses pile on, its going to get worse, much worse.

Pulled this from an article in a Pitt paper.

"Through the first four home games this season, Pitt’s average attendance is 2,876, which is less than 25 percent of capacity and less than half of last season’s lackluster average turnout through the same period, which was 6,192"

 

[DT_PITT]

-I honestly dont know how Stallings will survive if we continue to lose and attendance sinks or stays similar to tonight. It was ugly on the video stream. I mean ugly and that is a kind word to use from what I watched. You cant have a building with no one in it. And if the losses pile on, its going to get worse, much worse.

Pulled this from an article in a Pitt paper.

"Through the first four home games this season, Pitt’s average attendance is 2,876, which is less than 25 percent of capacity and less than half of last season’s lackluster average turnout through the same period, which was 6,192"

The announced attendance was 2,372, but I honestly don't see how there could have been more than 1,000 in the seats.

 

[steel_curtain]

The announced attendance was 2,372, but I honestly don't see how there could have been more than 1,000 in the seats.

-I posted in another thread, the crowd was lifeless. I cant ever remember watching a basketball game in college with zero crowd atmosphere. I literally listened to 2 people chant lets go Pitt and maybe a total of 10 people tops clap. It was downright embarrassing to watch the crowd since there wasnt one. To me that was even worse then the score.

 

[4Mark_Marty]

-I posted in another thread, the crowd was lifeless. I cant ever remember watching a basketball game in college with zero crowd atmosphere. I literally listened to 2 people chant lets go Pitt and maybe a total of 10 people tops clap. It was downright embarrassing to watch the crowd since there wasnt one. To me that was even worse then the score.

I was there. I sat in the Zoo with my two daughters. There were roughly 11 Student zoo members tops. I was the loudest one there. My voice echoed at times.

Those kids came out firing on all cylinders, but sports are all about passion and emotion. There was none in that building. I felt sad for the players.

At one time I thought I was an extra in one of the early civic arena scenes in the Fish that saved Pittsburgh, or a fan character in Major League.

Can we play at the field house?

 

[4Mark_Marty]

The announced attendance was 2,372, but I honestly don't see how there could have been more than 1,000 in the seats.

Who’s accountable for the terrible attendance? Admin, coach, students, alumni, players, non alumni fans?

 

[DT_PITT]

Who’s accountable for the terrible attendance? Admin, coach, students, alumni, players, non alumni fans?

Not me!!

 

[pittman71]

I still wonder about Pitt's future in the ACC with this unbelievable lack of fan support from the city of Pittsburgh in the two most high profile sports

 

[4Mark_Marty]

Not me!!

Right. All we can do is show up.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

-I honestly dont know how Stallings will survive if we continue to lose and attendance sinks or stays similar to tonight. It was ugly on the video stream. I mean ugly and that is a kind word to use from what I watched. You cant have a building with no one in it. And if the losses pile on, its going to get worse, much worse.

Pulled this from an article in a Pitt paper.

"Through the first four home games this season, Pitt’s average attendance is 2,876, which is less than 25 percent of capacity and less than half of last season’s lackluster average turnout through the same period, which was 6,192"

The announced attendance was 2,372, but I honestly don't see how there could have been more than 1,000 in the seats.

There definitely weren't 1000. I started counting but decided to quit.

Its really sad that its come to this. I felt like taking a picture and sending it to the Oregon State BOT. What a failure he was and he got promoted.

Speaking of failure, Pitt did not do these kids or Kevin Stallings any favors with their season ticket pricing. These are the worst crowds I ever remember, going back to the Field House days. Pitt needed to do anything it could to sell season tickets and $573 plus the donation wasnt the right price point.

I mean look at football. Tickets are pretty fairly priced and you get a solid core of 20K-30K every game. There's no reason we couldn’t have a core of 4K-5K at every game and 8K-9K for ACC games but when you price out almost everyone, this is what happens. Fans in a pro city aren't going to pay these prices for this. Heck, you can buy lower-level Pirates season tickets for only a few hundred bucks more. Yea, they suck too but that's 81 games.

BTW, why is Dribbles going away? I missed that memo. I enjoy those posts. DT is an optimist by nature but he is pretty fair in his assessments.

 

[Pittfan85]

Who’s accountable for the terrible attendance? Admin, coach, students, alumni, players, non alumni fans?

Barnes, and the current coach.

 

[Pittfan85]

There definitely weren't 1000. I started counting but decided to quit.

Its really sad that its come to this. I felt like taking a picture and sending it to the Oregon State BOT. What a failure he was and he got promoted.

Speaking of failure, Pitt did not do these kids or Kevin Stallings any favors with their season ticket pricing. These are the worst crowds I ever remember, going back to the Field House days. Pitt needed to do anything it could to sell season tickets and $573 plus the donation wasnt the right price point.

I mean look at football. Tickets are pretty fairly priced and you get a solid core of 20K-30K every game. There's no reason we couldn’t have a core of 4K-5K at every game and 8K-9K for ACC games but when you price out almost everyone, this is what happens. Fans in a pro city aren't going to pay these prices for this. Heck, you can buy lower-level Pirates season tickets for only a few hundred bucks more. Yea, they suck too but that's 81 games.

BTW, why is Dribbles going away? I missed that memo. I enjoy those posts. DT is an optimist by nature but he is pretty fair in his assessments.

Dude, come in. If tickets were free people still wouldn’t go. The team is horrible, there is very little hope going forward...until there is a new coach I blame no one for staying away.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

The announced attendance was 2,372, but I honestly don't see how there could have been more than 1,000 in the seats.

Right before tip off the guy who sits behind us said to me "there can't be 1,000 people here" and my response was "no way, there's not 1,000 people here".

That was pathetic.

 

[Sarge25]

Dude, come in. If tickets were free people still wouldn’t go. The team is horrible, there is very little hope going forward...until there is a new coach I blame no one for staying away.

You think people really give a shit who the coach is? Pittsburgh is not a basketball town, never has been, never will be. If they win and the games become an event, then people will go no matter who the coach is. If you think more than 1000 people are protesting due to Stallings being the coach, you’re nuts.

Unless Pitt is playing a top 25 team in hoops, Lyke couldn’t pay me enough to watch an entire game from MY COUCH, let alone drive down to oakland and back.

 

[Pittfan85]

You think people really give a shit who the coach is? Pittsburgh is not a basketball town, never has been, never will be. If they win and the games become an event, then people will go no matter who the coach is. If you think more than 1000 people are protesting due to Stallings being the coach, you’re nuts.

Unless Pitt is playing a top 25 team in hoops, Lyke couldn’t pay me enough to watch an entire game from MY COUCH, let alone drive down to oakland and back.

I don’t think 10k start showing up if they would have hired a young coach that was building a P5 program for the first time, but it would probably be in more the 3-5k range on average.

Stallings is pretty universally despised by the fanbase....and he is not going to help attendance.

I mean really, Duquesne in real numbers is drawing as well as pitt right now, maybe better given the fact it sounds like 1k were there. You really think stallings plays no part in that? Say pitt hired Dambrot 2 years ago, is the mood the same?

 

[316 S Bouquet]

There definitely weren't 1000. I started counting but decided to quit.

Its really sad that its come to this. I felt like taking a picture and sending it to the Oregon State BOT. What a failure he was and he got promoted.

Speaking of failure, Pitt did not do these kids or Kevin Stallings any favors with their season ticket pricing. These are the worst crowds I ever remember, going back to the Field House days. Pitt needed to do anything it could to sell season tickets and $573 plus the donation wasnt the right price point.

If they cut the price in half would attendance or sales go up by 50%? I think it’s more likely that attendance would only go up by 50 total fans. It’s a bad team, but more importantly, Stallings lost the fan base.

 

[pitt-girl]

Who’s accountable for the terrible attendance? Admin, coach, students, alumni, players, non alumni fans?

In defense of the Zoo, they're gone on Winter Break. We're past the years of most of the students being local.

 

[4Mark_Marty]

In defense of the Zoo, they're gone on Winter Break. We're past the years of most of the students being local.

I understand. I was in the Zoo with my girls tonight. It felt surreal.

I wasn’t specifically speaking about today, but this year in its entirety.

 

[DT_PITT]

There definitely weren't 1000. I started counting but decided to quit.

Its really sad that its come to this. I felt like taking a picture and sending it to the Oregon State BOT. What a failure he was and he got promoted.

Speaking of failure, Pitt did not do these kids or Kevin Stallings any favors with their season ticket pricing. These are the worst crowds I ever remember, going back to the Field House days. Pitt needed to do anything it could to sell season tickets and $573 plus the donation wasnt the right price point.

I mean look at football. Tickets are pretty fairly priced and you get a solid core of 20K-30K every game. There's no reason we couldn’t have a core of 4K-5K at every game and 8K-9K for ACC games but when you price out almost everyone, this is what happens. Fans in a pro city aren't going to pay these prices for this. Heck, you can buy lower-level Pirates season tickets for only a few hundred bucks more. Yea, they suck too but that's 81 games.

BTW, why is Dribbles going away? I missed that memo. I enjoy those posts. DT is an optimist by nature but he is pretty fair in his assessments.

I am an optimist by nature, but I don't feel optimistic about things right now. It made the entire exercise very hard to accomplish ... a.k.a ... not fun.

 

[pitt-girl]

I understand. I was in the Zoo with my girls tonight. It felt surreal.

I wasn’t specifically speaking about today, but this year in its entirety.

Not sure what you're looking for in regards to the Zoo or even the general pop of the Pete. Something is off.

 

[steel_curtain]

I am an optimist by nature, but I don't feel optimistic about things right now. It made the entire exercise very hard to accomplish ... a.k.a ... not fun.

-If we tank hard this year and Stallings gets the door, it will be fun to talk about who the next possible coach will be.....

 

[gary2]

The announced attendance was 2,372, but I honestly don't see how there could have been more than 1,000 in the seats.

I used to go to Duquesne games at the old Civic Arena and sit level one in a section with no one else. It was very strange.

 

[levance2]

Right before tip off the guy who sits behind us said to me "there can't be 1,000 people here" and my response was "no way, there's not 1,000 people here".

That was pathetic.

I looked around about 7 minutes before tip and felt positive the entire crowd could easily fit within the student section. With all the talk about tarping Heinz, I continue to be surprised that Pitt staffs the entire Pete. Is it really better to have 5-10 people in each section of the building rather than just shove everyone into the lower bowl or Zoo?

 

[Ski11585]

You think people really give a shit who the coach is? Pittsburgh is not a basketball town, never has been, never will be. If they win and the games become an event, then people will go no matter who the coach is. If you think more than 1000 people are protesting due to Stallings being the coach, you’re nuts.

Unless Pitt is playing a top 25 team in hoops, Lyke couldn’t pay me enough to watch an entire game from MY COUCH, let alone drive down to oakland and back.

Which is ironic because weren’t you trying to shame posters earlier this year for not supporting “the kids?”

 

[Delpanther]

Right before tip off the guy who sits behind us said to me "there can't be 1,000 people here" and my response was "no way, there's not 1,000 people here".

That was pathetic.

We know you did a headcount.....

 

[Pittfan85]

Which is ironic because weren’t you trying to shame posters earlier this year for not supporting “the kids?”

Lol...I missed that.

 

[NTOP]

There definitely weren't 1000. I started counting but decided to quit.

Its really sad that its come to this. I felt like taking a picture and sending it to the Oregon State BOT. What a failure he was and he got promoted.

Speaking of failure, Pitt did not do these kids or Kevin Stallings any favors with their season ticket pricing. These are the worst crowds I ever remember, going back to the Field House days. Pitt needed to do anything it could to sell season tickets and $573 plus the donation wasnt the right price point.

I mean look at football. Tickets are pretty fairly priced and you get a solid core of 20K-30K every game. There's no reason we couldn’t have a core of 4K-5K at every game and 8K-9K for ACC games but when you price out almost everyone, this is what happens. Fans in a pro city aren't going to pay these prices for this. Heck, you can buy lower-level Pirates season tickets for only a few hundred bucks more. Yea, they suck too but that's 81 games.

BTW, why is Dribbles going away? I missed that memo. I enjoy those posts. DT is an optimist by nature but he is pretty fair in his assessments.

Corvallis is NOT a promotion. Worst in the PAC12.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

There definitely weren't 1000. I started counting but decided to quit.

Its really sad that its come to this. I felt like taking a picture and sending it to the Oregon State BOT. What a failure he was and he got promoted.

Speaking of failure, Pitt did not do these kids or Kevin Stallings any favors with their season ticket pricing. These are the worst crowds I ever remember, going back to the Field House days. Pitt needed to do anything it could to sell season tickets and $573 plus the donation wasnt the right price point.

If they cut the price in half would attendance or sales go up by 50%? I think it’s more likely that attendance would only go up by 50 total fans. It’s a bad team, but more importantly, Stallings lost the fan base.

If tickets were priced correctly, they could have sold 8K-9K season tickets. 33% of those would have showed up last night.

We are drawing fewer fans than our worst Field House teams. Yes, fans dont like Stallings but price certainly has a ton to do with fewer sales.

The first step to increase butts in the seats is to sell the ticket in the first place.

 

[Pittfan85]

If tickets were priced correctly, they could have sold 8K-9K season tickets. 33% of those would have showed up last night.

We are drawing fewer fans than our worst Field House teams. Yes, fans dont like Stallings but price certainly has a ton to do with fewer sales.

The first step to increase butts in the seats is to sell the ticket in the first place.

Dude, dude, DUDE!!!! In their current state they would not get 8-9k season tickets.

 

[316 S Bouquet]

If tickets were priced correctly, they could have sold 8K-9K season tickets. 33% of those would have showed up last night.

We are drawing fewer fans than our worst Field House teams. Yes, fans dont like Stallings but price certainly has a ton to do with fewer sales.

The first step to increase butts in the seats is to sell the ticket in the first place.

What is that estimate based on? I just don’t see it. Tickets can be had for next to nothing for every game. Yet, no one shows up. There is no evidence that a lower price point would have significantly increased sales or attendance.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

If tickets were priced correctly, they could have sold 8K-9K season tickets. 33% of those would have showed up last night.

We are drawing fewer fans than our worst Field House teams. Yes, fans dont like Stallings but price certainly has a ton to do with fewer sales.

The first step to increase butts in the seats is to sell the ticket in the first place.

What is that estimate based on? I just don’t see it. Tickets can be had for next to nothing for every game. Yet, no one shows up. There is no evidence that a lower price point would have significantly increased sales or attendance.

Basic economics. Price is a huge factor.

If season tickets cost $10 total, they'd sell out. If they cost $100,000 total, they'd sell 0. So using that as a starting point, there is a price point for every ticket sale total. I don't know what it is exactly but there is certainly a price where Pitt would have sold a considerable amount of tickets.

 

[316 S Bouquet]

Basic economics. Price is a huge factor.

If season tickets cost $10 total, they'd sell out. If they cost $100,000 total, they'd sell 0. So using that as a starting point, there is a price point for every ticket sale total. I don't know what it is exactly but there is certainly a price where Pitt would have sold a considerable amount of tickets.

No, that’s not how it works. If they drop the price, they need to make sufficient additional sales to make up the difference. If price is slashed in half, you need a 50% increase in sales for it to make sense or Pitt. Sure, they could maybe sell 12,000 season ticket packages for $1 but they would be losing money.

If tickets and donation are around $800 a seat, does making it $400 increase season ticket sales by 50%? I don’t think it comes close.

 

[levance2]

No, that’s not how it works. If they drop the price, they need to make sufficient additional sales to make up the difference. If price is slashed in half, you need a 50% increase in sales for it to make sense or Pitt. Sure, they could maybe sell 12,000 season ticket packages for $1 but they would be losing money.

If tickets and donation are around $800 a seat, does making it $400 increase season ticket sales by 50%? I don’t think it comes close.

On a micro level, yes. On a macro level, they need to keep fans engaged for future seasons. Having 1000 fans attend a game in December is a really bad omen for how this program will fare over the next decade. There's no point in trying to maximize revenue in a season where you could go 0-18. The difference between good or bad revenue this year is meaningless compared to a 5- or 10-year plan.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Basic economics. Price is a huge factor.

If season tickets cost $10 total, they'd sell out. If they cost $100,000 total, they'd sell 0. So using that as a starting point, there is a price point for every ticket sale total. I don't know what it is exactly but there is certainly a price where Pitt would have sold a considerable amount of tickets.

No, that’s not how it works. If they drop the price, they need to make sufficient additional sales to make up the difference. If price is slashed in half, you need a 50% increase in sales for it to make sense or Pitt. Sure, they could maybe sell 12,000 season ticket packages for $1 but they would be losing money.

If tickets and donation are around $800 a seat, does making it $400 increase season ticket sales by 50%? I don’t think it comes close.

I am not arguing what will be profitable or what wouldn't be. I agree with your last post but that isn't what I am saying. I am simply saying that there is a price where Pitt would have sold a considerable amount of season tickets. Perhaps it would have been too low and they would rather sell 2K-3K tickets at above market proces than 8K-9K tickets at low prices. Price matters is all I'm saying.

 

[316 S Bouquet]

On a micro level, yes. On a macro level, they need to keep fans engaged for future seasons. Having 1000 fans attend a game in December is a really bad omen for how this program will fare over the next decade. There's no point in trying to maximize revenue in a season where you could go 0-18. The difference between good or bad revenue this year is meaningless compared to a 5- or 10-year plan.

I agree with your general premise, but no matter what price you made tickets this season, no non-diehards will be renewing for next year after paying to watch a team that will likely go 0-18 in the ACC.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

On a micro level, yes. On a macro level, they need to keep fans engaged for future seasons. Having 1000 fans attend a game in December is a really bad omen for how this program will fare over the next decade. There's no point in trying to maximize revenue in a season where you could go 0-18. The difference between good or bad revenue this year is meaningless compared to a 5- or 10-year plan.

I agree with your general premise, but no matter what price you made tickets this season, no non-diehards will be renewing for next year after paying to watch a team that will likely go 0-18 in the ACC.

Again, yes they will. It depends on how low they made the price.

If Pitt made all upper deck tickets $99 for the season next year, would they honestly sell 0? No. They'd sell all of them. Sure, you'd have a ton of no-shows but from a pure sales standpoint, they'd all be sold. And I'm not suggesting they get lowered to that point but there IS always a point where they'd sell a lot of tickets

 

[levance2]

I agree with your general premise, but no matter what price you made tickets this season, no non-diehards will be renewing for next year after paying to watch a team that will likely go 0-18 in the ACC.

Pitt needs to offer some reason for fans to view these terrible seasons as an investment that will payoff later. I'm not sure in what ways that is feasible, but you are correct that selling the current product at market value is a losing proposition.

 

[NTOP]

I am not arguing what will be profitable or what wouldn't be. I agree with your last post but that isn't what I am saying. I am simply saying that there is a price where Pitt would have sold a considerable amount of season tickets. Perhaps it would have been too low and they would rather sell 2K-3K tickets at above market proces than 8K-9K tickets at low prices. Price matters is all I'm saying.

Price matters less if no one wants the product. Would you buy a new Yugo at $50?? People can't give away Pitt hoops tix. Those that bought season tix did it more by habit/loyalty than enthusiasm for the product.
I doubt Heather Lyke had any input on price....she started just a couple weeks before they started selling packages.
Pitt needs to send a message that they want to compete.

 

[Pittfan85]

If season tickets were 10 dollars I’d buy them, but honestly anything over 50 dollars I simply would not do it at this point...it is not worth it.

I will probably go to an ACC game or two, but why if I only go to two games would I pay 50 dollars even when I can spend 12-15 on them.