Attendance vs. Ticket Sales

[ledhed43]

So attendance is falling this season, but I want to know if the tickets are sold. If they sold out the season tickets, then the the AD won't care if you don't go b/c they already have your money. The only way things change is if ticket sales(not attendance) drops. They can't keep pouring money into the stadium if they don't see any return. It's not about winning, it's about making money, and I have a feeling that money is going to start drying up.

 

[VolTopper]

False, they loose money anyway. They make a lot of money off of the concessions and the merchandise. None of which you buy if you're not there.

 

[ledhed43]

Even with the mandatory donation + ticket prices they lose money? Wow I didn't imagine that would be the case. I thought the whole point of the donations would be to at least break even. If that is the case then maybe leaving at halftime will be enough. That and missing bowl games.

 

[VolTopper]

Football props up the rest of the athletic department. Any money lost is hard on everyone, not just the football team.

 

[ledhed43]

I think that is what will bring about change. Having two basketball teams bring in NCAA money has probably bought hamilton some time, but not much. I think it is clear hamilton is ok with the team winning 8 or 9 games and just keeping the cashflow up. Problem is Fulmer can't do that year in year out anymore.

 

[VolsNaughtyDogs]

Led im gonna disagree with ya on the attendance doesnt matter point. attendance is a huge issue. tennessee football is a product and right now the product stinks (i hate to say it but its true). ive said it before and i still believe it. . .put 50,000 people in neyland stadium and there will be shockwaves resonating all the way to the $9.5 million
pockets that can end this non-sense.

 

[ledhed43]

While I was in school there attendance dropped in 2002 and 2003. But the tickets were already sold, so I don't think that the admin. felt it.

Basically my point was that money will be the driving factor in a coaching change, and I wanted to get a feel for how much ticket sales would effect that compared to donations and bowl/tv money. Really it's a question of how much the average fan can facilitate change and is simply not showing up enough.

That said VolTopper made a great point about concession sales. That would be huge loss. I don't know anyone who went to the game and didn't get a smokey dog. Then they went and changed those, so I guess I can't expect much from the leadership that has clearly lost touch with the fans.

 

[TN24]

Yep, tickets are sold...money in the bank. However the supposed 10 year waiting list is long gone...basically at UT if you can donate money you'll get season tickets. And don't kid yourself, the better the Titans do the worse it is for UT. Oddly enough the Titans have impacted UT's ticket sales more than Vandy or MTSU's sales...and it hasn't helped that UT keeps jacking up prices.

The only thing not sold is visiting team ticket allotements...many of the empty seats you see in certain sections are from visiting teams that haven't sold they're tickets, turned the tickets back in to UT and in turn UT couldn't sell them. Seems like for SEC schools the visitors get around 8,000? Non conference around up to 5 thousand if they want them.

Where they're getting hit hard is concessions and souvenirs...huge business there. Make no mistake about it, there is a reason stuff is expensive. Good question would be does UT hire out a company to handle concessions or do they handle it in house. Some schools...take MTSU for example hire out companies to handle concessions etc... If so what's Ut's percentage.

The biggest hit though is perception...an empty Neyland stadium is unacceptable. Perception is the key here. 60,000 in Neyland equals epic fail on the national level.

 

[VolsRule]

UT makes millions on overpriced concessions and merchandise. They need fans to buy this stuff to get more cash for bonuses for fulmer and the AD.

 

[VolsNaughtyDogs]

On the concession question i think they do. . . .i believe its Sodexo

 

[Rasputin_Vol]

False, they loose money anyway. They make a lot of money off of the concessions and the merchandise. None of which you buy if you're not there.

Well, that isn't necessarily true, either. Accoding to what I heard, Sodexho has already paid the university $1 million or so for the concession rights. So the money for this year is already made in concessions as well (if the Sodexho agreement with the UTAD is true).

The only thing is that for next year/the future, I think their agreement is based on 100k plus average attendence for football games over the course of the contract (4-5 years I think???).

Somebody may be able to verify that if that is correct.

 

[volmanic]

It's estimated for every person not in attendance Tennessee is losing about $60 in revenue. That is just if the consumer doesnt buy merchandise. Thats ticket price, and concessions.

 

[JohnnyBall]

One of my fondest memories of games when I was young..just the ticket.NOW..$4 "hotdogs":furious3:

. I don't know anyone who went to the game and didn't get a smokey dog. Then they went and changed those, so I guess I can't expect much from the leadership that has clearly lost touch with the fans.