A Big Gamble at Auburn
by Jay Coulter on Jun 6, 2011 2:00 AM CDT
in Football
Email
Print
Expansion at Jordan-Hare Stadium has been a hot topic for several years among Auburn fans. After taking a peek at this year's ticket prices that may not be an issue any longer. Despite having the SEC's highest ticket prices a year ago, school officials seem determined to cash in on its national championship this season.
A quick price check shows seat prices ranging from $50 for small games to a whopping $80 each for home games with Florida and Alabama. Throw in the mandatory Tigers Unlimited donation and suddenly fans are paying almost $100 a game for the privilege of watching Auburn pound Utah State, Florida Atlantic and Samford.
Want to check out games against Miss State and Ole Miss? Those tickets will run you $70 each - before your TUF donation.
The question is, has Auburn has out-flanked its market? Despite having its best season ever, finding tickets to home games last season was hardly a chore. Needing a couple of extra for the Arkansas game, I picked up a pair for $50 an hour before kickoff.
With the combination of a struggling economy, six returning starters and every game televised, school officials are rolling the dice big-time by instituting yet another price increase this year.
While it's near impossible to get information on the number of Auburn season ticket holders, outside signs point to a struggle this year. In recent days, Auburn has taken to the internet and newspapers to advertise available seats.
Sitting at a movie theater this weekend waiting for The Hangover II to start, there was a flashy, 30-second commercial aired urging fans to buy tickets. Admittedly, economics was never my strong subject in college, but it seems this price increase may be poised to backfire.
On a positive note, many other conference schools have not followed Auburn's lead. If you are planning to make the trip to Fayetteville for the Arkansas contest, tickets are available for $55 each or $25 cheaper than they would be if the Razorbacks were visiting Auburn.
According to this season's Tigers Unlimited brochure, a family of four wishing to sit in the nosebleed sections of Jordan-Hare, tickets prices and donations will run $2,740 for seven games. This includes home contests with Utah State, Miss State, Florida Atlantic, Florida, Ole Miss, Samford and Alabama.
Don't want to sit 5,000 feet up? You can upgrade to the Blue Zone or Orange Zone. Blue Zone tickets for a family of four will set you back $3,400. And for the really good seats, if you can get them (and no, you can't), will run you $4,200 including the Tigers Unlimited donation.
Winning national championships don't come cheap. I get it. You simply can't argue with the success of Jay Jacobs and Gene Chizik. Time and time again, Jacobs has proved us all wrong. So I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt with these ticket prices.
Personally, it's hard to justify forking over that kind of money when tickets for the lesser games can likely be had for $20 or less before kickoff. Even if you pay $200 per ticket for Alabama and $100 each for Florida, you are coming out way ahead by simply waiting for game day.
Just two years ago, Auburn had the eighth largest on-campus stadium in America. Today it ranks 12th nationally. My guess is your going to see a lot of empty seats in the upper decks this year. Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt it. This will likely put expansion talk on-hold indefinitely.
There's no better sight in college football than a full house at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Will that be a thing of the past this year? I sure hope not, but right now it certainly looks that way.
41 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Season ticket packages were still available up until the LSU game last year.
At least you guys are raising ticket prices after a MNC.
LSU basketball raised ticket prices after the worst season in LSU basketball history (2009-2010 season). Then we followed that up with a repeat performance this season.
But yeah, I agree. If you can’t sell out a stadium during a NC run with awesome home games, what makes you think you can sell out a stadium with higher prices, in a down year with a crappy home game slate?
"I know the quarterback has a strong arm, but...I mean the ball's not gonna outrun ME" --PP7
a few things
As a student I have noticed a few things change since I started
1. They are now letting students sit in the upperdeck. They started this last year during the Clemson game when they oversold the student section. It worked out so well that I belive they plan on letting this policy continue. Freshmen at Auburn rarely get student tickets. This could change if the student section is expanded to the upper deck.
2. The library parking deck will now be CLOSED to tailgaters. I remember reading about this in the Plainsmen this past fall. The library is trying to raise funds so they are going to charge for spots to park in the parking deck. To get a spot there is a donation to the library required much like buying football tickets.
3. Do you remember what tickets were going for in Arizona this past January? They were in the thousands and Auburn fans were willing to pay the price. I realize playing the NCG is not the same as playing Utah State but after seeing what happend in Arizona the Auburn administration has got to be wondering how high they could go.
4. The first 3 games are before 12. Who would want to buy a $50 seat to just fry? There should be a price reduction for day games just because….
In the end Auburn football supports all the other sports Auburn fields (even mens basketball). This has got to be expenisive and Auburn is trying to remain competive in all areas. We will see what happens…
by redheadcheme on Jun 6, 2011 7:47 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
Good points...
I didn’t realize students had begun sitting in the upper deck. That’s good. I firmly believe every student should have first shot at tickets. No student should ever be turned away from games, especially when season ticket packages remain unsold.
The only issue is:
Student tickets are a fraction of the price of regular seats, so ideally, they would like keep as many seats open to the public as possible. Student tickets have to be purchased in July, so there isn’t an opportunity to re-sell seats that were designated for season tickets in the current system. I’d also venture out on a limb and say that 20-25% of the students that buy tickets end up re-selling them (to freshman, mostly) for a profit.
I would like to see a scenario in which unsold tickets (in a part of the upper deck, for example) could be purchased by students a few days before the game. This way, the athletic department makes some revenue off of those seats, and more people get to watch the game.
The university wouldn't exist if it weren't for the students.
I think it is pretty ridiculous that a school with a stadium the size of Auburn’s can’t gaurantee tickets to full time freshman…
"I know the quarterback has a strong arm, but...I mean the ball's not gonna outrun ME" --PP7
by LSU Jonno on Jun 6, 2011 11:22 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
agreed
My freshmen year (2008) i would say that a good 70% of my friends did not get full season tickets. Now, they did get what Auburn called the mini-season packs which included the smaller games but none of the larger SEC games. This was Auburn’s way of making sure the student section was full for the smaller home games. However…..I agree with everyone here that students have a right to tickets first. I think the idea is reasonable to sell upper deck tickets to students (at student prices) a few days before the games for students that do not have tickets.I also think that the SGA at Auburn needs an attendance policy for games if students are not going to use them. If you are going to buy student season tickets and dont show to a more than a few games and your seat goes to waste I think their should be some sort of loss of tickets for the rest of the season. I know several friends of mine skipped the South Carolina game or Clemson game because they wanted to go home or do one last beach trip before the winter.. There were plenty of students who wanted in the stadium for those games but couldnt…It just seemed very unfair at the time.
I agree
Students should definitely get precedence. Yes student tickets are less, but hell are they reallllly that much less considering what you are paying for tuition rates ?? that should be a damned perk of going to any university. I’m not a student ( for awhile ) and wasnt a football junkie when I went to bama ( thank god seeing as how it was in 2001 )… but as much as I would love to see a game now… it sure as hell shouldnt come at the expense of a student being able to see their school.
RTR
I had season student tickets every year was at AU.....
and I was there for quite a while. But I agree that the AU students should get any tickets not sold within a certain amount of time before the game…..of course if that happens unless they stamp the tickets in a way that the students can’t scalp them it will be hard to do without some enterprising youngsters turning it into a lucrative scalping business.
I don't troll so I reserve the right to berate trolls as I see fit.
Just so you know I won't forget.....LSU Jonno predicted we would finish 5th in the west in '11.
My girl
Graduated from UNC and the basketball games ( i mean what other big time claim to fame does unc have ?? … besides having the most suspended players…. although OSU is giving them a run now ) they would give the students a tic…. then they also had to show a student I.D. to go with the student ticket. The only way I found around it is that if you ( not a student ) can get some students ticket and a Student ID that looks semi like you… then paint the HELL out of your face in spirit .. lol ( which I did twice )then you can get in.
Thats the way it was for the student section at AU....
but what we are referring to are unsold regular tickets which are outside the student section.
I don't troll so I reserve the right to berate trolls as I see fit.
Just so you know I won't forget.....LSU Jonno predicted we would finish 5th in the west in '11.
The tickets are'nt free.....
but they are cheap and you have to show a Student ID with the Student Ticket to get in.
I don't troll so I reserve the right to berate trolls as I see fit.
Just so you know I won't forget.....LSU Jonno predicted we would finish 5th in the west in '11.
Todd,
I think you should change the quote in your signature
FROM:
Just so you know I won’t forget…..LSU Jonno predicted we would finish 5th in the west in ’11
TO:
Just so you know I won’t forget…..LSU Jonno predicted we would finish 5th in the west in ’11 (one position higher than Phil Steele)
"I know the quarterback has a strong arm, but...I mean the ball's not gonna outrun ME" --PP7
by LSU Jonno on Jun 6, 2011 9:07 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
Slick.
It gives your cloudy forecast for Auburn’s season some cred, by showing that Steele was thinking along the same lines.
At the same time, you get to hedge your bet a bit — if the season goes well, you’ve got, “Hey, at least I didn’t say they’d finish DEAD LAST.”
No no no...this isn't about me being slick...
It’s about letting Todd call me an idiot and Phil Steele and idiot all in one sig quote…
/slicked
"I know the quarterback has a strong arm, but...I mean the ball's not gonna outrun ME" --PP7
Jonno I don't think you're an idiot....
just a bit skewed.
I don't troll so I reserve the right to berate trolls as I see fit.
Just so you know I won't forget.....LSU Jonno predicted we would finish 5th in the west in '11.
He's an LSU fan...
…saying that he’s skewed is redundant.
Must be something in the watergrass down that way.
Truer words have never been spoken.....
I don't troll so I reserve the right to berate trolls as I see fit.
Just so you know I won't forget.....LSU Jonno predicted we would finish 5th in the west in '11.
Was that all eight years you were there, Todd?
:-)
I had season tickets for all five seasons I was there. Don’t remember any talk about students being left out, either, and I don’t think undergrad enrollment has gone up by that much since then.
Toomer's for Tuscaloosa
by War Eagle Atlanta on Jun 6, 2011 8:16 PM CDT up reply actions
ya
True undergrad enrollment has remained mostly steady….,but surprisingly the graduate school has gotten bigger (including vet med.,Nursing, pharmacy, ect). They get seats too. When the economy goes down more kids stay in school. Plus the co-op program has a lot of engineering students pulling an extra year.
by redheadcheme on Jun 6, 2011 10:12 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Not quite...
Undergrad enrollment has been increasing each year.
The 2011 incoming class has 4300 freshmen. Last year’s had just over 4200, and 2009 had approximately 3900 (source: http://blog.al.com/live/2010/09/auburn_sets_enrollment_record.html, among others).
…and believe me, the football tickets is one of the smaller strains that those numbers have been putting on things.
With that said, I do think it’s criminal that some students are getting left out in the cold on tickets, when the upper deck has empty seats.
It’s tough to say what the long-view is on things, when the tickets get priced past what some TU members are willing to pay for them.
At some point, I do plan to take my kids to see a game in person — it’s a shame that the tickets will probably come from a — how shall I put this — “independently contracted sales agent”.
Actually it was 9 including a year after I graduated.....
and started working on gradual school….and if I knew then what I know now I woulda stayed and finished gradual school…..and then gone on to more letters after my name until I could retire from academia….
I don't troll so I reserve the right to berate trolls as I see fit.
Just so you know I won't forget.....LSU Jonno predicted we would finish 5th in the west in '11.
Honorary Degree
awarded you by TET: TB Troll Berator
Toomer's for Tuscaloosa
by War Eagle Atlanta on Jun 9, 2011 10:58 AM CDT up reply actions
I'll take it....
I don't troll so I reserve the right to berate trolls as I see fit.
Just so you know I won't forget.....LSU Jonno predicted we would finish 5th in the west in '11.
Jay I am with you all the way on this.
It seems that the AD is either
A. 100% blind to the fact that ticket prices are outpricing them from their target audience.
or
B. They are raising tickets in part, to prevent them from completely selling out thus staving off expansion talk indefinitley so they don’t have to spend the money to do it.
I’ve felt for a long time that the university enjoys having its football program being extremely competitive, but they don’t exactly love all the on campus attention that it brings. We’ve all seen tailgating restrictions rise exponentially(sp) for years. Maybe this is part of the plan to back people(tailgaters) up and off of campus.
Less seats in the staduim means, ultimately for sake of MY argument, less people hanging around tailgating trying to get tickets and hanging out outside the stadium waiting for the part of their group that DID get tickets.
I’ll take off my tin foil hat and step down off the soap box now.
War Eagle!
War Eagle
maybe
I agree with your A but not sure on point B. Yes I completely agree with you that campus clean up after the game cost the university a good chunk of change. However, as I understand it Auburn Athletics is responsible for campus cleanup after the games and not the University. Im not sure about the legality of it all but it was explained to me that Auburn Athletics is separate from the actual University. I took a class here at Auburn under President Gouge and he informed us that Athletics pays the university for the land that Jordan Hare is on. Kinda of like rent.
However, that point aside. Remember about a year ago where Auburn decided not to play UCLA in one of these first game of the season awesome match ups ESPN seems to like to make? Largely as I understand it the university wanted to go but understood if they did the local businesses in Auburn would really hurt. So in the end we stayed at home. I think Auburn is very happy to have as big of home games as possible because it helps the local economy so much around here.
stadium
As I understand it, only the upper deck of the Library parking deck will be for rent this fall. We have always used that parking deck and our tailgate spot is at the entrance. We got the flyer last fall that we would have to pay for the priviledge of parking on the top deck starting in Sept. of 2011. I am sure it is just a matter of time before the entire parking structure is closed for public parking. There was much discussion last fall about Auburn’s tailgating tradition going the way of “The Grove” in Mississippi. Just hope and pray that this new greed does not ruin all the wonderful traditions at Auburn.
by Susan Runge Allen on Jun 6, 2011 10:04 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
most likely
that area of campus will get shut down to campus tailgating in the future. I have a feeling we will see an increased push for tailgating at the green space outside the stadium (cost money), in the parking lot in front of the Auburn Arena toward JHS, and over in the outside theater. You are right that a good bit of the issue here is money. However, another thing to consider is campus safety and security by maintaining a tailgating “area”.
And don't forget...
The university also promotes that tailgating service run by some alums, where you pay for certain “packages”, and they handle the set-up and clean-up.
Just to play devil's advocate...
As I understand it, only the upper deck of the Library parking deck will be for rent this fall. We have always used that parking deck and our tailgate spot is at the entrance….I am sure it is just a matter of time before the entire parking structure is closed for public parking.
There may be practical considerations at play here, as well.
The university allows tailgaters to set up before the workday is over. There’s nothing like having to navigate an orange-rope obstacle course to get to your car at the end of the day; and then getting angry looks for moving a chair aside in order to get out of your parking spot.
I'm with you Susan.
Your concern is not without merit. It seems every year we see the removing of more free sites. As a long time tail gaiter I am very concerned about the University’s continued encroachment on this major Auburn tradition.
AubTigerman
"The reason you come to Auburn is because of Auburn people.This is a special place, from the coaches all the way to the fans" - Andrew McCain OT
It's quickly coming up on thirty years...
since I was a freshman at Auburn, but I know I bought season tickets every year I was there, and I don’t remember it being a problem. I’m with Jonno…to not give every student an opportunity to go to the football game is just about a crime.
I sold one ticket the whole time I was there, and that was an Alabama ticket, to another student, because I couldn’t get to the game anyway (home over thanksgiving).
I think our priorities are screwed up.
I need a cold shower and a copy of the Auburn Creed
The nail has been struck....
Squarely upon the head,
with a mighty blow,
delivered with extreme accuracy
from the Mighty “UglyJoe”
Come and join me at http://trackemtigers.com
Thats beautiful....almost like poetry
I need a cold shower and a copy of the Auburn Creed
I was just talking
the other day to a guy up here who is a big (Oregon) duck fan and he was saying that there are a lot of tickets given away free to people out in the parking lot even with their success. They usually make people dance for them. I don’t know if he was pulling my leg or what but apparently its not difficult or expensive to go to a game in Eugene.
I have to say this is the time I would expect them to raise ticket prices. Strike while the iron is hot, right? Like all AU fans, I want to see the stadium full, but in the end, the athletics are a business and this is what business does. I don’t like it and some priorities are out of whack, definitely.
well...
How much would you pay to cheer guys in yellow?
by redheadcheme on Jun 6, 2011 10:14 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Thanks Jay for a very needed and timely piece.
I’ve just got back in town after two weeks in a non internet location at the beach. I read this editorial and said “right-on!” I’ve received several emails and phone calls this spring from folks that tail gait or sit around us in the stadium … all expressing concern about the price increase. So thanks for covering it.
The required contribution to be allowed to purchase season tickets also went up this year. So our (6) season tickets cost us cost us $4,135.00 – and it was due in full around the same time our taxes are due. It’s getting harder each year to come up with the dough. When you add gas and food, our cost to have seats in the corner of the end zone will be over $5,000.00
I must say of equal concern to me at present is the University’s continued encroachment on this oldest Auburn Family tradition – namely the uniquely Auburn tail- gaiting tradition.
Our published concerns may not stop the University’s continual attempt at making more money off the fans game day experience or the further displacement of Tail Gaiters but we need to sound the alarm anyway.
Anyone that has read my thoughts on this subject before, knows how I feel about it. And I hope that our concerns will at least be noticed by someone in the decision making loop.
Thanks again for voicing the concerns of so many.
AubTigerman
"The reason you come to Auburn is because of Auburn people.This is a special place, from the coaches all the way to the fans" - Andrew McCain OT
by aubtigerman on Jun 7, 2011 7:27 PM CDT reply actions 3 recs
I had no idea that season tickets for end zone or nose bleed cost so much.
I agree it would seem that rising prices might keep stadium expansion from happening.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Track Em Tigers
Related FanShots on Track Em Tigers
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
