Interesting article on trying to increase ticket sales & better fan relations at Iowa

[lightning1]

That whole crack down thing was Sally Mason and Barta could do nothing about that.

I just saw also a tweet from a recent former Hawk mentioning the friendly University Heights traffic police. Nothing Barta can do there either.

Nobody forced Barta to tell lies after the fact, however. Nobody forces him to continue telling lies to Iowa fans. That is 100% on Gutless Gary!

 

[Hawknigh]

Surprised how little bump in ticket sales came from the 2016-17 football season. That was disturbing.

 

[lightning1]

Surprised how little bump in ticket sales came from the 2016-17 football season. That was disturbing.

The only disturbing thing about it is that Barta didn't see it coming. The crackdown of 2010 left a lot of fans with a bad taste in their mouths and the team failed to live up to expectations. The 4-8 season in 2012 was the straw that pushed 10% (roughly) of Iowa fans away. Add to that the diminished tailgating experience (Olive CT, etc) and it's no longer an experience that sells itself.
I sent Gutless Gary an email during the tailgate crackdown, laying out exactly the scenario he would face if he continued down this path. I told him that a bad season or 2 would cost him a bunch of fans that he'll never get back. That's simple business 101. It's easier to keep existing customers happy than attract new ones. He/UofI didn't listen. And it will only get worse as time goes by, due to the simple math of fewer young fans today = fewer big spenders when they reach that 30-50 age range.
College fans are a customer base that self sustains if you treat them right. Take away the experience and raise prices = a recipe for a slow and steady decline in paying customers. It is not a business that can be properly managed with short term thinkers. You have to make decisions based on a 50 year business model. Not a 5 year business model.

 

[EstronHawkKing]

The only disturbing thing about it is that Barta didn't see it coming. The crackdown of 2010 left a lot of fans with a bad taste in their mouths and the team failed to live up to expectations. The 4-8 season in 2012 was the straw that pushed 10% (roughly) of Iowa fans away. Add to that the diminished tailgating experience (Olive CT, etc) and it's no longer an experience that sells itself.
I sent Gutless Gary an email during the tailgate crackdown, laying out exactly the scenario he would face if he continued down this path. I told him that a bad season or 2 would cost him a bunch of fans that he'll never get back. That's simple business 101. It's easier to keep existing customers happy than attract new ones. He/UofI didn't listen. And it will only get worse as time goes by, due to the simple math of fewer young fans today = fewer big spenders when they reach that 30-50 age range.
College fans are a customer base that self sustains if you treat them right. Take away the experience and raise prices = a recipe for a slow and steady decline in paying customers. It is not a business that can be properly managed with short term thinkers. You have to make decisions based on a 50 year busienss model. Not a 5 year business model.

Did Gary respond back to you when you emailed him? I wonder if he even reads his emails from fans? I get the feeling he probably doesn't care what we think or feel.

 

[Hawknigh]

The only disturbing thing about it is that Barta didn't see it coming. The crackdown of 2010 left a lot of fans with a bad taste in their mouths and the team failed to live up to expectations. The 4-8 season in 2012 was the straw that pushed 10% (roughly) of Iowa fans away. Add to that the diminished tailgating experience (Olive CT, etc) and it's no longer an experience that sells itself.
I sent Gutless Gary an email during the tailgate crackdown, laying out exactly the scenario he would face if he continued down this path. I told him that a bad season or 2 would cost him a bunch of fans that he'll never get back. That's simple business 101. It's easier to keep existing customers happy than attract new ones. He/UofI didn't listen. And it will only get worse as time goes by, due to the simple math of fewer young fans today = fewer big spenders when they reach that 30-50 age range.
College fans are a customer base that self sustains if you treat them right. Take away the experience and raise prices = a recipe for a slow and steady decline in paying customers. It is not a business that can be properly managed with short term thinkers. You have to make decisions based on a 50 year busienss model. Not a 5 year business model.

I thought more fans would have come back after the great season, but you were right. They didn't come back.

 

[lightning1]

Did Gary respond back to you when you emailed him? I wonder if he even reads his emails from fans? I get the feeling he probably doesn't care what we think or feel.

Yes he did. He responded with lies. It was embarrassing. He quit responding after the 2012 season, however. I guess he didn't want to hear "I told you so".

 

[Hawkfnntn]

I get what you're saying, but (feel free to correct me if my math is wrong, I'm not a season ticket holder), four of the cheapest season tickets in the grandstands will run just over $2,000 with donation on up past $4,000 as you move towards the middle. I think if people were to the point where they could realistically consider a major yearly expense like that, a couple hundred bucks wouldn't sway them one way or another. I know it's around 10% price wise, but I just don't see a couple with two kids saying, we can't spend $2,000, but we can do $1,720. The people buying season tickets generally have plenty of discretionary income to the point where that wouldn't be a make or break. You can't hardly take a family to Red Robin for much less than a hundo these days. Maybe I'm wrong.

I'm sure your right on the money with how that's the type of folks who are purchasing season tickets. 200 bucks here or there isn't going to make or break their decision to continue or not. Their might be some families that are probably strapped to where that is all of their entertainment $ for the year. Without doing a poll of some kind it'd be tough to know for sure to what extent that is the case. I could afford it if I chose to do it but man I just wouldn't be comfortable with it. But that's just me. With the decision being borderline like that I just choose my 70 inch tv and couch with no line to the bathroom.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

People who go to bowl games aren’t price-sensitive people who would hem haw over a couple hundres bucks for a season ticket. They’re the ones already in the stands. The challenge is getting new people to buy tickets, and unless the Hawks start being consistent contenders (i.e. winning) or tickets get a whole lot cheaper, it probably won’t happen.

Very true. Most of those are the absolute die hards and the folks/family of players. Every year there's a roll over of new folks dropping and coming to games. Iowa's fan base has been at the older end of the spectrum if I were to take a guess at it. They really need to look for trying to get the 25 to 45 yr old crowd to get more involved or when the 60 plus crowd starts not being able to climb the steps anymore there'll be way more seats sitting empty.

 

[Fryowa]

I'm sure your right on the money with how that's the type of folks who are purchasing season tickets. 200 bucks here or there isn't going to make or break their decision to continue or not. Their might be some families that are probably strapped to where that is all of their entertainment $ for the year. Without doing a poll of some kind it'd be tough to know for sure to what extent that is the case. I could afford it if I chose to do it but man I just wouldn't be comfortable with it. But that's just me. With the decision being borderline like that I just choose my 70 inch tv and couch with no line to the bathroom.

I could also afford it and if I lived closer would probably buy tickets, at least while my 11 y.o. is at home. I cut out cable last year and that was $1,300 a year which takes care of a big share of it. I live 5 hours plus away from Iowa City, so there's a ton of gas, wear on my vehicle, meals, and a hotel room every time we go. My kid is diehard Hawkeye fan, so to compromise we go to the spring game every year, and catch for sure one B1G game, sometimes two. We are two hours closer to Lincoln than Iowa City, so if it's a year the Hawks play there we try to hit that one. Since we aren't making the drive every other weekend I justify splurging for really good seats at the games we do go to.

Aside from those games, it's just as much fun to get together with my buddy's family and watch games on TV. We make food, take a leak whenever we want, and get to see everything in HD while being warm.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

The only disturbing thing about it is that Barta didn't see it coming. The crackdown of 2010 left a lot of fans with a bad taste in their mouths and the team failed to live up to expectations. The 4-8 season in 2012 was the straw that pushed 10% (roughly) of Iowa fans away. Add to that the diminished tailgating experience (Olive CT, etc) and it's no longer an experience that sells itself.
I sent Gutless Gary an email during the tailgate crackdown, laying out exactly the scenario he would face if he continued down this path. I told him that a bad season or 2 would cost him a bunch of fans that he'll never get back. That's simple business 101. It's easier to keep existing customers happy than attract new ones. He/UofI didn't listen. And it will only get worse as time goes by, due to the simple math of fewer young fans today = fewer big spenders when they reach that 30-50 age range.
College fans are a customer base that self sustains if you treat them right. Take away the experience and raise prices = a recipe for a slow and steady decline in paying customers. It is not a business that can be properly managed with short term thinkers. You have to make decisions based on a 50 year busienss model. Not a 5 year business model.

Dude truer words couldn't have been spoken in regards to this. Existing fans don't want to jump ship. They are just looking for reasons to keep coming. You literally have to scare them away to the point of it being a no brainer for them to decide to stop.
And I think the reason your right about your last sentence is because ADs don't think like that. They don't care what kind of a mess they'll leave at whatever point their last day on the job is. They just don't. They just want to be short term successful during the time in which they want to maintain their gig. Barta is playing with house $ now and has been for awhile. He's always been just a fund raiser and trying to generate the most $ he can (which makes the no beer thing a tad surprising to me but whatever)

 

[Hawkfnntn]

I could also afford it and if I lived closer would probably buy tickets, at least while my 11 y.o. is at home. I cut out cable last year and that was $1,300 a year which takes care of a big share of it. I live 5 hours plus away from Iowa City, so there's a ton of gas, wear on my vehicle, meals, and a hotel room every time we go. My kid is diehard Hawkeye fan, so to compromise we go to the spring game every year, and catch for sure one B1G game, sometimes two. We are two hours closer to Lincoln than Iowa City, so if it's a year the Hawks play there we try to hit that one. Since we aren't making the drive every other weekend I justify splurging for really good seats at the games we do go to.

Aside from those games, it's just as much fun to get together with my buddy's family and watch games on TV. We make food, take a leak whenever we want, and get to see everything in HD while being warm.

I hear ya. So your from NW Iowa I take it? I was as from the Cherokee area growing up as a kid. Going to games living that far turns it into no less than 2 day commitment like you say. So it's not even just the $ but time which is more valuable to some.

 

[Fryowa]

I hear ya. So your from NW Iowa I take it? I was as from the Cherokee area growing up as a kid. Going to games living that far turns it into no less than 2 day commitment like you say. So it's not even just the $ but time which is more valuable to some.

Yep. I’m from the part of Iowa that no one knows is there.

I have done the “drive five and a half hours, park at the mall, ride the train, eat street food, go to the Hawk walk, watch a three hour game, ride the train back to Coralville, and drive five and a half hours back home” thing all in one day a couple times, but I don’t recommend it.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Yep. I’m from the part of Iowa that no one knows is there.

I have done the “drive five and a half hours, park at the mall, ride the train, eat street food, go to the Hawk walk, watch a three hour game, ride the train back to Coralville, and drive five and a half hours back home” thing all in one day a couple times, but I don’t recommend it.

Yuck.... the few times I went to games as a kid we got a room the night before for 11 am kickoffs and drove back after. I couldn't imagine doing all that same day... No chance you were mowing the lawn Sunday mornings after that haha.

 

[Hawknigh]

Very true. Most of those are the absolute die hards and the folks/family of players. Every year there's a roll over of new folks dropping and coming to games. Iowa's fan base has been at the older end of the spectrum if I were to take a guess at it. They really need to look for trying to get the 25 to 45 yr old crowd to get more involved or when the 60 plus crowd starts not being able to climb the steps anymore there'll be way more seats sitting empty.

I don't see much happening that is likely to draw in the 25 to 45 year old crowd.

 

[Hawknigh]

How long until we see prices start to drop significantly? Although it hasn't made much of a difference for basketball.

 

[Fryowa]

Yuck.... the few times I went to games as a kid we got a room the night before for 11 am kickoffs and drove back after. I couldn't imagine doing all that same day... No chance you were mowing the lawn Sunday mornings after that haha.

We don't do that unless there's some kind of extenuating circumstance. Normally for morning games we go down the night before and stay in Newton at the Best Western. Awesome prices and good rooms. My kid and I walk down to the Maid Rite downtown to eat and call it a night. We like doing that because it's only a four hour drive, isn't priced high like Coralville or IC, and we only have a 60 minute drive into the game the next day.

We reverse it if it's a night or afternoon game. Drive down the day of, then stop for the night in Newton on the way back. That way it's only an hour drive after you're worn out from the game, and you only have 4 hours left in the morning.

It's still about $400 all in from the time we leave the house until we get back, which with high def is becoming a lot less attractive the older I get. I definitely do it for my kid; when he's gone it might become less frequent because I don't see myself moving any closer.

 

[Fryowa]

How long until we see prices start to drop significantly? Although it hasn't made much of a difference for basketball.

The Hawks could go 0-12 for a decade and Ma and Pa Homerkettle will still fill most of the seats.

Prices will never go down.

 

[HawkGold]

I hear ya. So your from NW Iowa I take it? I was as from the Cherokee area growing up as a kid. Going to games living that far turns it into no less than 2 day commitment like you say. So it's not even just the $ but time which is more valuable to some.

Cherokee, did you know a German guy named Otto Petch?

 

[BEATHARDTEAMS]

Fire the ferentzs. Get Nebraska or northwesterns coach. It's that simple

 

[pythagoras]

The crackdown of 2010 left a lot of fans with a bad taste in their mouths

I'm really currious to know what part of that crackdown to you is leaving a bad taste

Was it no more drinking after the game in lots?
Zero tolerance on public urination or open containers?
Vehicle checkpoints catching drunk drivers?
Cracking down on excessive drinking on game days?