Ramblermania.net

New here… Big fan of this message board and the certain, uh, personalities that inhibit this space. Last year, I attended 5 games and was just flat-out impressed with this basketball team. Do you guys realize how close we were to truly having a magical season?

On to the discussion at hand - I am a soon-to-be new season ticket holder and have a few thoughts on the subject along with some thoughts concerning last year.

Regarding single game ticket prices from last year, yes, they were expensive. While I see the argument in questioning what constitutes a “premium” game, I understand and accept the premium game model as a whole simply because this is how the college basketball landscape is currently. For Loyola to make the next step, they need to catch up to other comparable universities who have been doing this for years now.

With all that being said, however, to have four “premium-priced” games last year was risky on many different levels (all cited here in past posts). Nonetheless, I have the full trust that the administration will do a better job communicating this policy to fans that can’t commit to a season ticket package this upcoming year.

Cigar, I appreciate you sharing the pricing for next year for those who did not receive the letter because, quite honestly, I thought ticket prices were going to go through the roof (MVC switch, Milton Doyle, and, with all things considered season ticket prices were dirt cheap last year.)

I am relived to see, from what you are reporting, that ticket prices are going to be that much in 2013 and nothing higher. Think about it – If a family of 4 wanted to attend any of the 4 premium games last year. The total cost would have been $90 just to get in the door! (General Admission) Now, Ask yourself, how much was a GA season ticket last year? $100 for Adults and I believe $50 for kids. My regret? Not knowing this information going into the season. This is why, I assume, they want to continue to use Get Real Sports Sales.

What do you guys think? Like many of you, I was certainly was unhappy with some elements that came with last season and I fully expect that those issues will be addressed and improved upon.

Lastly, I fully support this Get Real Sports campaign. Raising awareness about this great basketball team and our new arena is essential. The fact that Loyola is making this investment shows that they are serious in getting some butts in the seats! Me personally, I am looking forward to hearing from the person at the Ticket Office who treated my family and I so well last year. I believe he was apart of this group and is one of the reasons I will be a new season ticket holder in 2013.

FYI: My kids will have their faces painted at every game. Don’t tell the wife.

GO RAMBLERS!!

P,S. – Guys, Milton Doyle alone will be worth the price of admission. CAN’T WAIT!

Welcome, TurkFan. Maybe your name should be DoyleFan?

The AD dept needs to be self sufficient. The University wants to end the subsidy given to the dept and to do that they need to generate some type of revenue. If the AD does not show an increase from year to year her tenure will surely end. The real problem with this is that ticket sales alone will not get the job done. The more you upset the apple cart the less likely you are to bring the type of support needed on a yearly basis if and when things turn around. The only way I see generating 11-15 million a year is through corporate sponsorship and TV. None of that is even remotely possible without a consistently winning program. The other revenue stream would be some type of endowment but I'm really unsure if that is permissible under NCAA rules. To build donations you really need a people person that truly seems vested in the university and mission, I’m not sure if that is what is going on. We all have to remember that we will be here long after these coaches and administrators are gone.
This is our program and they are caretakers of it. They cannot survive without our support

Sorry folks--but $250 for season tickets is not something we should be complaining about. I understand that times have been tough for some people; however, you can't expect to have a championship caliber program and then gripe about about spending an additional hundred dollars or so. Just skip out on your Comcast bill for a month if you have to. I will be purchasing season tickets for this upcoming season.

Go Ramblers!

Yo tambien!

12 - that's kind of the point. They've not put a good product on the floor, so raising prices doesn't make sense. Do so after they win 20 games and compete in league play. They've struggled to draw and have few loyal (season ticket holding) followers. Why push them away?

I've thought all along they should use season ticket holders to recruit more. My buddy had the idea to offer every season ticket holder the idea to purchase a GA ticket for cheap to bring more people out. A PSL is the opposite direction.

I think this is quite different from a Personal Seat License. As I understand it, a PSL is like a leasing fee for a seat that lasts for as long as you continue to renew your tickets each year. This is a per-year donation/fee. My guess is the $50 donation/fee is a way to (perhaps) build an endowment or handle some one-time expenses, and a way to do so within budgeting projections and/or NCAA rules.

At any rate, you can search the sites of other schools and see that Loyola is competitively priced. St. Louis University's season tickets start at $180 for the cheap seats, and go up to $450. The better seats require donations of UP TO $3500 per seat for court side. The donation is 80% tax deductible.

http://www.slubillikens.com/ViewArticle ... =205242113

Drake, which I would say is somewhat comparable to where Loyola is on the competitiveness scale (minus the larger market we're in), last year had General Admission season tickets starting at $129, with the rest of the seats running $248 plus donations between $150 per buyer and $250 per seat.

https://tkt.xosn.com/ViewArticle.dbml?& ... =204968853

WSU fan here. Since comparisons of your season ticket prices to other schools have been made, I thought I would give you a reference point for the cost of season tickets at Wichita State.

The was WSU sets up season tickets sales is that all season tickets require a SASO donation (our scholarship fund) with different levels and number of seats available based on contribution level.

Here is a chart of Koch Arena by donation level:

http://www.wsusaso.com/wp-content/uploa ... _Final.pdf

Here is a table of the benefits of each donation level:

http://www.wsusaso.com/?page_id=18

Then, of course, there is the price of the tickets themselves for each seat:

http://www.nmnathletics.com/fls/7500/Ti ... EM_ID=7500

It will cost more money to buy season tickets as an individual since each donation level gets you at least 2 seats (over $3,025 entitles you to 4 seats, and even more at higher donation levels), so here is the cost of the cheapest season tickets in Koch Arena (non-chairbacks in the top 6 rows of the arena):

As a couple: $325 SASO donation plus $550 for tickets ($275 x2) = $875 per couple /2 = $437.50 per person.
As an individual: $325 SASO donation plus $275 for tickets = $600 per person.

Keep in mind that Koch is over twice as big as Gentile, so the cheap seats in Koch exist higher up than anything in Gentile. If we compare the lower bowl of Koch plus entrance level (which still probably holds quite a bit more than Gentile does), here is what the cheapest equivalent seats look like (and this is the level where you start getting any kind of reserved parking lot access):

As a couple: $1,495 SASO donation plus $630 for tickets ($315 x2) = $2,125 per couple /2 = $1,062.50 per person.
As an individual: $1,495 SASO donation plus $315 for tickets = $1,810 per person.

Thanks for the post, Mad Hatter. Very obviously, college sports is following the trends established in pro sports. Unfortunately for us, we've been more or less sheltered from this trend since our fan base has been so sparse and is subject to so many other competing pro sports attractions. I remember buying season tickets about 10 years ago for 15 home games for something like $90 a seat-- even while a single lower box seat at Wrigley was going for about that much. Those days are long gone.

I know some Loyola season ticket holders who also have season tickets for Northwestern basketball and football, the Cubs, White Sox, Chicago Wolves, and even the Milwaukee Brewers. Maybe they'll just have to consolidate their ticket buying and focus on fewer teams.

The other side of the coin is a principle that's sometimes commonly observed in business-- things are worth (or perceived as worth) what they're priced at. If somebody gives you something free-- or just about free-- studies show you're less likely to value that item, and less likely to participate. I'm sure there's a tipping point at which the higher prices start resulting in lower purchasing, but I don't think Loyola has reached that plateau yet-- especially when the season tickets are combined with a tax deductible donation.

For those few of us that have been rabidly following Loyola basketball even through some lean and hapless seasons, the cost of attending games is one of the least influential factors in attendance. I think that the athletic department could make the cost bite just a little bit before it results in even a substantial decrease in attendance-- in fact, it might even counter intuitively result in slightly higher attendance to have admission to the games perceived as a higher-value proposition.

If they win, they will come. The current prices won't keep people away if the Ramblers start to win. Raising revenue has become a sad and necessary evil in the world of D1 college athletics. If Loyola is serious about becoming a "player" in college hoops then certain sacrifices must be made.