Schwartz article on Season ticket drop

[Tfunkhawkeye]

Thank you for writing the article and hi-lighting this trend.
Such a drop in tickets once had a significant meaning, now it gets lip service.

 

[okeefe4prez]

http://hawkeyenation.com/football/schwartz-angry-fans

Who the hell is this clown? Our ticket renewal did go right in the trash. It wasn't the biennial loss to ISU or the predictable losses to Wisconsin or Nebraska that did it, either. It was the re-seating coupled with trying to stomach Greg Davis's offense.

 

[djwoody98]

The powers that be in the stale Iowa Athletic Department have always been arrogant and don't really doesn't care about the fans at all. This is the final year of the Kirk Ferentz era at Iowa...and hopefully the final year of Gary Barta as well. We need new leadership.

 

[HuckFinn]

If, as another thread has proposed, ISU sells more season tickets than Iowa... Barta and Ferentz should both be gone. Immediately

Please supply the evidence to support this contention. Thank you. (The poster does NOT quote a source for his allegation.)

 

[Hawkfnntn]

LOL...........at the Barta critics.

IOWA Women's Hoop has best year in 2 decades.
IOWA MEN's Hoop is back in the National conversation and just got tourney win
IOWA Wrestling really struggling...........2nd place in Nation..........unreal expectations
IOWA Baseball on a meteroric RISE.............

Not interested ??
Call Jamey Pullard, then

That's all well and good.... If Kinnick is half empty and the revenue stream drops significantly that'll trump everything else cause what pays for most of the womens sports?? Plus you figure in there will be a new president and they all like to hire their own people (much like ADs want to hire their coaches etc) And that's not to mention what may become of the whole field hockey fiasco... To me regardless of what he did there whatever new president coming in may want nothing to do with defending him on that and want to have a clean slate... So all those other sports doing well are great PR wise. But won't save Bartas job. He's on the clock and he knows it. Wouldn't surprise me if he's looking for the back door now and trying to find a soft landing somewhere else.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Please supply the evidence to support this contention. Thank you. (The poster does NOT quote a source for his allegation.)

I'd like to see the evidence as well...thus the word "IF"... at the beginning of my post.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Who the hell is this clown? Our ticket renewal did go right in the trash. It wasn't the biennial loss to ISU or the predictable losses to Wisconsin or Nebraska that did it, either. It was the re-seating coupled with trying to stomach Greg Davis's offense.

For some I know the reseating a few yrs back really ticked off some people..... Yet that was a while ago they started/did that so those that still stayed on did. At the time that started the demand for tickets was pretty high and the school had the power to pull such a stunt. Not too many dropped off because of it and those that did were replaced with the people willing to pony up more. Now I guarantee you they wouldn't attempt such a thing. (I know they still currently are doing it what I mean is that if say they weren't and wanted to start such a thing now that there's no way they'd do it do to the current state of everything)
I think it's just the culmination of it all. The overall mediocrity of the program and having a coach with a contract that pretty much makes him untouchable and unaccountable is just no position for any school to be in. There's a fine line between how long coaches should be at a school and I think it's between 10-15 yrs just depending....

 

[ChosenChildren]

I'd like to see the evidence as well...thus the word "IF"... at the beginning of my post.

I did post my evidence in the other thread. You have to do the math, guys. Iowa will sell 30,000 public season tickets this year (recent Des Moines Register article) and probably no more than 6 to 7 thousand student season tickets. That is a maximum of 37,000. Iowa State sold over 42,000 total in 2013 and over 40,000 in 2014, according to Randy Peterson of the Des Moines Register. They will go over 40,000 again this year with their student sales included. It is not even that close. If Pollard is running promotions to get butts in the seats, more power to him.....the whole point is to get fans to the games. Iowa is failing miserably at that goal this year. All of these stats come from articles written by Rick Brown and Randy Peterson in the Des Moines Register. Do your own research and you'll come to the same conclusion.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

I did post my evidence in the other thread. You have to do the math, guys. Iowa will sell 30,000 public season tickets this year (recent Des Moines Register article) and probably no more than 6 to 7 thousand student season tickets. That is a maximum of 37,000. Iowa State sold over 42,000 total in 2013 and over 40,000 in 2014, according to Randy Peterson of the Des Moines Register. They will go over 40,000 again this year with their student sales included. It is not even that close. If Pollard is running promotions to get butts in the seats, more power to him.....the whole point is to get fans to the games. Iowa is failing miserably at that goal this year. All of these stats come from articles written by Rick Brown and Randy Peterson in the Des Moines Register. Do your own research and you'll come to the same conclusion.

Interesting... Well that only matters till once the season gets here. In May it's just a headline for a slow news cycle. The fact it's even close is embarrassing that's for sure... If Iowa plays bad and or loses either of their first two games that 3rd game at home against Pitt you can probably expect to see a half empty Kinnick with no electricity at all in that place... And that game could be argued to be the best opponent coming to Kinnick this yr. That home schedule of teams is beyond bad. I guess MD may be the best home game opponent but for crying out loud I just think losing this year more then 4 games just isn't an option for KF if he wants to have a job...

 

[docholihawk]

The overall arrogance of Barta and Ferentz are killing this program. It feels like they're so happy with themselves that they don't have anything to prove and whatever they do should be good enough for the fans. By less season tickets being sold the fans are pushing back. We'll see how far that ego carries them in this case.

 

[okeefe4prez]

For some I know the reseating a few yrs back really ticked off some people..... Yet that was a while ago they started/did that so those that still stayed on did. At the time that started the demand for tickets was pretty high and the school had the power to pull such a stunt. Not too many dropped off because of it and those that did were replaced with the people willing to pony up more. Now I guarantee you they wouldn't attempt such a thing. (I know they still currently are doing it what I mean is that if say they weren't and wanted to start such a thing now that there's no way they'd do it do to the current state of everything)
I think it's just the culmination of it all. The overall mediocrity of the program and having a coach with a contract that pretty much makes him untouchable and unaccountable is just no position for any school to be in. There's a fine line between how long coaches should be at a school and I think it's between 10-15 yrs just depending....

They reseated again last year. I benefited from the first reseating (though we didn't bump anyone - we just kept the seats we occupied every year in the student section). In the most recent reseating, my seats were given to a dripping d-nozzle, so I'm out. 38,000 season tix to 30,000 makes me happy.

 

[SmokeTownHawk]

Women's hoops, been in the tourney nearly every year since BOWLSBY hired Bluder. Barta gets zero credit.

Men's bball 1 tourney win. Definitely improving but hardly a powerhouse. (BTW it was Barta who hired the trainwreck named Lickliter that destroyed the program)

Iowa Wrestling has always been great...are you really oblivious to that? I think a guy named Gable deserves the credit.

Baseball's resurgence...great. But far from a major sport.

Football drives the engine, and he couldn't have done much worse in that area. KFz's open-ended contract and the neutering of the game day experience has killed the product.

And spare me the "he's a great fundraiser" angle. Money hasn't been a problem @ IOWA since Hayden shifted the culture 35 years ago. The rehab of Kinnick and plans for a new practice facility were well into planning before anybody in Iowa City had every heard of Gary Barta.

Many called Bowlsby "a suit". Barta is a suit with no ballz. And since you brought up Pollard...much as he acts like a tool, you could argue he's done better than Barta. Fred has Hilton rocking, depite a pathetic football team they're rehabbing the stadium (how DO you raise money to polish a turd?) Pollard's program is way above Barta's in the Sears cup standings. And yeah... somehow Pollard's clown of a football coach has won 3 out of the last 4 against our top 10 compensated guy.

Mason is gone. Barta needs to be next. The final step will take care of itself after that.

I don't want Barta making any decisions on KF. Barta needs to be the first in the athletic department to go.

 

[shonblatt]

I wouldn't compare season ticket sales to what Iowa State sells.

General Admission, no donation required, season tickets for Cyclone games start at $175.

Hawkeye season tickets start at $395.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

They reseated again last year. I benefited from the first reseating (though we didn't bump anyone - we just kept the seats we occupied every year in the student section). In the most recent reseating, my seats were given to a dripping d-nozzle, so I'm out. 38,000 season tix to 30,000 makes me happy.

Dang that just sucks.... It'll be interesting the closer to the season how many end up buying them or not... And if Iowa struggles early on how many stay home as the season goes on... I sure don't want to see that but what other way do fans have to be heard? It's all about the money.... It just sucks that the program will have to take a few more steps back before being able to get on track...

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

LOL...........at the Barta critics.

IOWA Women's Hoop has best year in 2 decades.
IOWA MEN's Hoop is back in the National conversation and just got tourney win
IOWA Wrestling really struggling...........2nd place in Nation..........unreal expectations
IOWA Baseball on a meteroric RISE.............

Not interested ??
Call Jamey Pullard, then

Let's not get carried away here ... Yes, the Iowa women had a nice season ... Iowa wrestling has not met expectations the last 2-3 seasons ... Iowa men's basketball is fairing okay but nothing to write home about in Year #5 of Fran ... Iowa baseball is having a nice season ... And let's see if they can continue this level of play into next season and beyond ...

Barta flopped with the hiring of Lick ... He flopped again by giving Kirk what many recognize as the "worst coaching contract" in college football ... He has turned off so many Iowa fans and that is never a good thing. Iowa fan apathy toward the football program is the greatest it has been in my 35+ years of being a diehard Hawkeye fan ... Iowa football is Iowa's cash cow ... And Barta is sticking with Kirk because he has to stick with Kirk because of the ridiculous contract he gave Kirk ... Barta and Kirk both need to go ... And hopefully, after this final year of mediocre football, we will at least bring in a new football coach ...

As for Pollard ... well hey, his football team regularly beats or competes with ours ... His basketball coach has far exceeded our bball coach ... ISU always has a good women's team ...

 

[CharlestonHawkeye]

By my math, if you sell 8000 fewer season tickets that is about $3M in lost revenue. Isn't the buyout $3M per year? If Ferentz has another poor season, he might really be on the hot seat.

 

[okeefe4prez]

By my math, if you sell 8000 fewer season tickets that is about $3M in lost revenue. Isn't the buyout $3M per year? If Ferentz has another poor season, he might really be on the hot seat.

Assuming about $400 per ticket, you are correct, that the lost revenue is near $3.2 million. However, you must remember that with the donations, the average ticket is materially more than $400. For instance, our seats were $395 plus $400 per seat donation. Thus, I'll bet the lost revenue is closer to $4 million than $3 million.

 

[GrandpaHawk]

I wouldn't compare season ticket sales to what Iowa State sells.

General Admission, no donation required, season tickets for Cyclone games start at $175.

Hawkeye season tickets start at $395.

I think this is the problem. We live in Iowa and our ticket prices are way to high for a College Football Game.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

I think this is the problem. We live in Iowa and our ticket prices are way to high for a College Football Game.

Yup yup. I've always wondered as I go to games (and I don't go to many one or two a yr tops) How there are so many people that are able & willing to pony up the amount of money they do all season long to tailgate the way they do and attend the games with their suites and high priced seats... I mean more power to them if I could I would. I just think it's getting to be too rich for most peoples budgets. The school can try and make things more tailgate friendly and that type of stuff but if your trying to sell a product that isn't that good their going to have to lower their prices or people will find other ways to spend their time and money...

 

[GrandpaHawk]

I would like to add some of the season ticket holders use to come on here and brag how they sold their extra tickets at a profit. They are eating those tickets now so they don't get extras anymore.