It's the ticket prices

Just want to get on the record about the empty seats at UConn basketball games. If you are under a rock, here's Courant columnist Jeff Jacobs' take on no shows at UConn-Hartford women. 


Now, as a football writer I don't like to talk about the other teams because I don't cover them. But, I do watch the teams closely and have watched every important UConn men's basketball game since, oh, 1989. I stayed up late in elementary school to listen on the radio to the NIT title in 1988. I had season tickets when I was a student, and when the games are big I try to get into the building (had great seats when Jerome Dyson was hurt against Syracuse last year). 


I looked for tickets for a game already this year, mainly UConn-Pitt, and started to crunch the math. It's been a topic at the office for much of the season even before Jacobs' article. Two tickets $30 each, plus a $6 convenience fee (outrageous. What happens if I wanted a family of 4. $24 in convenience charges? Is there an inconvenience no-charge? I'll take it).  


These are second level 200 level tickets at the civic center. So, to get into the building with someone is $72. Now, let's be fair and say parking is $15.  Add in a hot dog and a beverage -- who doesn't eat or drink at games? -- and we are into a $100 territory for a game.  


Are we supposed to pay that every game? Against Colgate or Maine? When the Huskies go Monday-Saturday, do I really have to spend $200 to watch basketball from the nosebleeds?


These are pro prices. The Rock Cats seem to have no trouble attracting 5000 every day in the summer. Why? Because I can bring my wife and children and grab a beer. As owner Bill Dowling likes to say, you can't spend $100 here if you tried. 


If you haven't been paying attention, wages adjusted for inflation have been flat since the year 2000. That mean's even before this historic recession the population as a whole hasn't functionally had a tangible raise in a decade as a purchasing group. Think about gas, taxes, utilities, insurance and health care costs that have nipped at disposable income. Now, look at the increased cost of UConn ticket prices. A one year $2 bump is nothing. But, how does the prices rise $10 per game in a decade when disposable income has flatlined? 


You do without.


The women exploded because they were good, but also because in the 90s the men's tickets started to price families out. I think I went to a women's game in school for $10. Now, I have to pay $29 (with the convenience charge) for a single ticket? 


Here is the problem though -- the math. I understand it's a lot more complicated formula to get to a ticket price and it's cut many different way, but, for the sake of argument,  would the businessman rather sell 12,000 tickets at $30 or 16,000 tickets at $15? 12,000 is 2/3 capacity, and 16000 is a raucous sellout. If those are your choices it's $360,000 or $240,000 in revenue, what does the businessman choose? 


At $15 a ticket in the upper deck the Huskies become  a bargain. At this price, with some marketing, you will sell out once the goodwill with the fan is repaired (people don't like being gouged). 


Is your goal a sellout and fostering a home field advantage? Or is it maximizing revenue? That's the question that needs to be asked.


Here's the danger going the maximization of revenue route. YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO BE GOOD. People critique the Yankees for their payroll, but the Yankees' payroll is the direct result of HAVING to be good every year to sell those tickets at those prices and charge what they have to for advertising rates on YES.  


Unlike the Yankees, it's against the rules to buy players at UConn. So, Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma can't have an off year. The men's team in particular. Calhoun has had some down years, but they always follow that back up with a good team. Now, what would happen when Calhoun retires (it's coming eventually) and the program takes a mild step back. Instead of top 10, they become a 20-40 school. When you have a premium priced ticket, and your team isn't premium, the attendance will collapse.


I don't think the love of the Huskies has waned much in state. The reason the seats are empty is it costs too much to get into the building. 


If you are interested in selling out the building, lower ticket prices, and do in house ticketing that eliminates ticketmaster and those odious convenience charges. I would say $18 per ticket out the door would do the trick. But what do I know, I only watch the games.