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Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: WTF? Upper Bowl Reserved Seating Eliminated
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giacomo
8/1/2018 2:11 PM
I had a similar situation with a jazz non profit. I bought 4 tickets to each show for 20 years, hosted a dinner for 25 with their culinary program before a show and advertised in their program. We had great seats, as you can imagine. Then two years ago they informed me that a board member wanted my seats and they gave me different ones. I was at the point where I was going to give even more support. Now my wife and I attend a few shows and buy last minute.
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OU_Country
8/1/2018 2:26 PM
FanInTheStands wrote:expand_more
I am heart broken. I've had the same front row seats in the upper bowl for about 10 years, watched my kids go from diapers to outgrowing their Mother in those same seats. And like others said, got to know some of the neighboring ticketholders.

But just because it is a tough pill to swallow selfishly...doesn't mean I can't see the reasoning and have to get mad at the decision. Especially if attendance stays on the lower side, it makes sense to just give people the flexibility of GA. There are pluses...I know in the past when we wanted to bring friends it was difficult, now it is easy to add and subtract people as needed. It could make people show up a little earlier too.

I'm extremely disappointed. I'm sorry, but in my mind, this is a bad business move by Ohio Athletics. As some said, some of us have had the same seats, next to the same people in the upper bowl for years, and have established relationships with those seat neighbors. I've had first two row seats in the upper bowl since 2011. I've sat next to the same guy and his wife (or son/daughter) since 2013. Two years ago, I added two more seats to make it easy to bring friends on the weekends, and also gave away tickets to people, or gave them to seat neighbors when they had the need. I'm pissed, and perilously close to eliminating my Bobcat Club donations and season football tickets already. While my donations aren't huge, if others like me feel the same way, this is a move in the wrong direction.

Out of touch doesn't begin to explain this move. Make the first 5 rows season tickets, charge a bit more than you have been charging for those people to retain those seats. It's not that hard - they're just not willing to try a different approach that's a little bit more complex.
I'm with you. Same situation with many seasons sitting with the same folks. My family is pretty disappointed in the change.
It's a terrible decision to move to making ALL reserved seats donation required seats. Terrible.

If it's gonna be GA only, I'll go to two seats instead of six, one each for the wife and I, I'll quit giving BC donations, and give up football season tickets. If they're gonna treat me like they don't care, I can respond in kind, and use my fall weekends to go to a racetrack that treats fans like they're important to them. And, I can bring my beverages and snacks into the track from my fridge at home for free.

Now that I put it this way, maybe I should thank OU Athletics for making my weekends better. ;)
I finally got my "official" mailing today from the Ohio ticket office. I find it interesting when I look at the cost for "general admission tickets" this year that were "reserved seat tickets" last year. Last year I paid $32.50 per seat and purchased 4 in the lower area of the upper bowl. Now, Ohio ticketing is telling me I can have "general admission tickets" in the upper bowl for $40. What the ticket office failed to take into consideration is that I bought the family pack for 4 seats but rarely used all 4. I'd often offer them to friends or others needing seats at the games but more often than not only 2 (and sometimes 3) of those tickets were used. Since they've decided to increase the cost of those seats by over 20% from what they were last year I'll be buying fewer tickets since it is only general admission. I'm quite sure I would have paid the $40 per ticket this year had they still been "reserved seats" because we do/did enjoy our gameday experiences with our friends sitting around us. Not only did we talk about the Bobcats but we could and would talk about their families, grandkids, etc. Now that I have no guarantee of those reserved seats the ticket office is going to find that I will not be buying 4 seats this year, but only 2. So, instead of getting $130 for me for my reserved seats (or potentially $160 if the new price were in place) they'll get only $80. I honestly don't believe that this university can afford to take hits like this when it comes to ticketing.
This was obviously not well thought-out change by the ticketing office.
I look at it in a very similar way, which is why it seems to me a better route would have been to compress all those season ticket holders in the upper level with reserved seats into the first (as an example) five rows, and then make the rest GA. They could have bumped the price up even more that $40 per seat as well, to something like $70-$80 per seat for the right to have a reserved seat, but a reserved seat that doesn't require a "donation". Then everything else could have been GA. It would have created a bridge from cheap seats to good seats with donations necessary. Instead, they just yanked reserved seats from 1000 or 2000 tickets, giving the look and feel that they don't give a damn about those ticket holders. Definitely not a good look in my eyes.

As I said, I have had the same seats since 2011, sitting next to the same folks. After 2012, I gave a Bobcat Club donation that wasn't required to give, but to give a little more because I knew I was getting a steal. Suffice to say that extra donation isn't likely to be given this year out of principle, and the number of seats I buy will certainly be reduced from 6 to fewer. For me, it's not a season ticket experience if I'm sitting in general admission. I'd have given double the money to retain the seats I had, but instead those of us with those kinds of seats are being treated like second class citizens. My investment in Ohio Athletics going forward is absolutely going to change as a result of this. I'd suspect I'm not alone in this regard, and I suspect that loads of people think the chiefs in charge in The Convo have completely dropped the ball.
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Alan Swank
8/1/2018 2:55 PM
giacomo wrote:expand_more
I had a similar situation with a jazz non profit. I bought 4 tickets to each show for 20 years, hosted a dinner for 25 with their culinary program before a show and advertised in their program. We had great seats, as you can imagine. Then two years ago they informed me that a board member wanted my seats and they gave me different ones. I was at the point where I was going to give even more support. Now my wife and I attend a few shows and buy last minute.
Mind boggling. I guess the most disturbing thing for me is that this organization would want or have a board member like that. What an entitled SOB!
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FanInTheStands
8/1/2018 3:42 PM
OU_Country wrote:expand_more
I am heart broken. I've had the same front row seats in the upper bowl for about 10 years, watched my kids go from diapers to outgrowing their Mother in those same seats. And like others said, got to know some of the neighboring ticketholders.

But just because it is a tough pill to swallow selfishly...doesn't mean I can't see the reasoning and have to get mad at the decision. Especially if attendance stays on the lower side, it makes sense to just give people the flexibility of GA. There are pluses...I know in the past when we wanted to bring friends it was difficult, now it is easy to add and subtract people as needed. It could make people show up a little earlier too.

I'm extremely disappointed. I'm sorry, but in my mind, this is a bad business move by Ohio Athletics. As some said, some of us have had the same seats, next to the same people in the upper bowl for years, and have established relationships with those seat neighbors. I've had first two row seats in the upper bowl since 2011. I've sat next to the same guy and his wife (or son/daughter) since 2013. Two years ago, I added two more seats to make it easy to bring friends on the weekends, and also gave away tickets to people, or gave them to seat neighbors when they had the need. I'm pissed, and perilously close to eliminating my Bobcat Club donations and season football tickets already. While my donations aren't huge, if others like me feel the same way, this is a move in the wrong direction.

Out of touch doesn't begin to explain this move. Make the first 5 rows season tickets, charge a bit more than you have been charging for those people to retain those seats. It's not that hard - they're just not willing to try a different approach that's a little bit more complex.
I'm with you. Same situation with many seasons sitting with the same folks. My family is pretty disappointed in the change.
It's a terrible decision to move to making ALL reserved seats donation required seats. Terrible.

If it's gonna be GA only, I'll go to two seats instead of six, one each for the wife and I, I'll quit giving BC donations, and give up football season tickets. If they're gonna treat me like they don't care, I can respond in kind, and use my fall weekends to go to a racetrack that treats fans like they're important to them. And, I can bring my beverages and snacks into the track from my fridge at home for free.

Now that I put it this way, maybe I should thank OU Athletics for making my weekends better. ;)
I finally got my "official" mailing today from the Ohio ticket office. I find it interesting when I look at the cost for "general admission tickets" this year that were "reserved seat tickets" last year. Last year I paid $32.50 per seat and purchased 4 in the lower area of the upper bowl. Now, Ohio ticketing is telling me I can have "general admission tickets" in the upper bowl for $40. What the ticket office failed to take into consideration is that I bought the family pack for 4 seats but rarely used all 4. I'd often offer them to friends or others needing seats at the games but more often than not only 2 (and sometimes 3) of those tickets were used. Since they've decided to increase the cost of those seats by over 20% from what they were last year I'll be buying fewer tickets since it is only general admission. I'm quite sure I would have paid the $40 per ticket this year had they still been "reserved seats" because we do/did enjoy our gameday experiences with our friends sitting around us. Not only did we talk about the Bobcats but we could and would talk about their families, grandkids, etc. Now that I have no guarantee of those reserved seats the ticket office is going to find that I will not be buying 4 seats this year, but only 2. So, instead of getting $130 for me for my reserved seats (or potentially $160 if the new price were in place) they'll get only $80. I honestly don't believe that this university can afford to take hits like this when it comes to ticketing.
This was obviously not well thought-out change by the ticketing office.
I look at it in a very similar way, which is why it seems to me a better route would have been to compress all those season ticket holders in the upper level with reserved seats into the first (as an example) five rows, and then make the rest GA. They could have bumped the price up even more that $40 per seat as well, to something like $70-$80 per seat for the right to have a reserved seat, but a reserved seat that doesn't require a "donation". Then everything else could have been GA. It would have created a bridge from cheap seats to good seats with donations necessary. Instead, they just yanked reserved seats from 1000 or 2000 tickets, giving the look and feel that they don't give a damn about those ticket holders. Definitely not a good look in my eyes.

As I said, I have had the same seats since 2011, sitting next to the same folks. After 2012, I gave a Bobcat Club donation that wasn't required to give, but to give a little more because I knew I was getting a steal. Suffice to say that extra donation isn't likely to be given this year out of principle, and the number of seats I buy will certainly be reduced from 6 to fewer. For me, it's not a season ticket experience if I'm sitting in general admission. I'd have given double the money to retain the seats I had, but instead those of us with those kinds of seats are being treated like second class citizens. My investment in Ohio Athletics going forward is absolutely going to change as a result of this. I'd suspect I'm not alone in this regard, and I suspect that loads of people think the chiefs in charge in The Convo have completely dropped the ball.
+1
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Deciduous Forest Cat
8/1/2018 3:45 PM
So, out of the 13000 seats in the convo, about 10000 of them are now GA.

It'll be like the 90s. If you want to sit where you want, better get there early. But those were some of the best crowds ever.
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Alan Swank
8/1/2018 8:17 PM
Deciduous Forest Cat wrote:expand_more
So, out of the 13000 seats in the convo, about 10000 of them are now GA.

It'll be like the 90s. If you want to sit where you want, better get there early. But those were some of the best crowds ever.
Yep. When did we switch from double headers to the women and men playing on different nights?
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Deciduous Forest Cat
8/2/2018 10:11 AM
Alan Swank wrote:expand_more
So, out of the 13000 seats in the convo, about 10000 of them are now GA.

It'll be like the 90s. If you want to sit where you want, better get there early. But those were some of the best crowds ever.
Yep. When did we switch from double headers to the women and men playing on different nights?
IIRC, it was the 95-96 season because I was working at the ANews and did a column on it.
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OU_Country
8/2/2018 10:58 AM
Deciduous Forest Cat wrote:expand_more
So, out of the 13000 seats in the convo, about 10000 of them are now GA.

It'll be like the 90s. If you want to sit where you want, better get there early. But those were some of the best crowds ever.
Maybe this is a "sell more beer" strategy by getting folks there earlier?

They'll probably run out before half time. ;)
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FanInTheStands
8/2/2018 2:08 PM
Just a quick follow-up on the general admission seating pricing in the upper bowl. The "Bobcat Value Pack" is $160 for 4 general admission tickets. After speaking with someone at the Bobcat ticket office today I was told that if you want to purchase a season general admission ticket in the upper bowl and do not purchase a value pack of 4 tickets the cost per seat is $50 per ticket. Prices for seating in the lower bowl are: Silver---$200 per seat; Gold---$325 per seat; and Platinum $480 per seat.
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TWT
8/4/2018 1:05 PM
Deciduous Forest Cat wrote:expand_more
So, out of the 13000 seats in the convo, about 10000 of them are now GA.

It'll be like the 90s. If you want to sit where you want, better get there early. But those were some of the best crowds ever.
We didn't play as many games at home and brought better opponents into the Convo. There is so much upside with that capacity with the revenue it can bring into the community that the athletic department needs to do better.
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Recovering Journalist
8/6/2018 2:42 PM
Uncle Wes wrote:expand_more
We didn't play as many games at home and brought better opponents into the Convo. There is so much upside with that capacity with the revenue it can bring into the community that the athletic department needs to do better.
Agree that they can do better in many areas, but those of us who consider ourselves fans need to do better too. This whole thread is sad insofar as it features some of the program's biggest diehards (i.e. those of us on here) wringing their hands about a switch to GA on seats that work out to about $2.50 per game. You can still get in the door to watch what I assume is your favorite D1 basketball team for what a movie cost in 1980, and most of the people on this thread have found a reason to complain about it.

I'm not begrudging the fans who don't have the budget for more -- you can still get in for $2.50 a game and you know that it won't be hard to find a place in that sea of empty upper bowl seating. It's a safe bet that the department is under pressure to find more revenue, and this is a pretty painless step to try to spur lower bowl sales by further differentiating those seats. If you want more, pay more.
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boydhallbobcat
8/8/2018 4:28 PM
Last Edited: 8/9/2018 8:11:11 AM by boydhallbobcat
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Pete Chouteau
8/8/2018 6:56 PM
I'm out.

I had that family pack. Used 2 tickets to one game last year. That was it. Usually, things worked out that I could go to more; but it didn't. I'd have paid more than $160, but lower bowl price point is unrealistic from my distance and discretionary spending.

And I won't start up on the pathetic schedule.

There is no incentive for me to have those seats in my pocket with 9000 of the same ticket available every night.

They would have been a nice view of the scoreboard, too.
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SBH
8/8/2018 8:23 PM
With apologies to LBJ, when you’ve lost the Iceman, you’ve lost Bobcat Nation.
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OU_Country
8/9/2018 11:29 AM
Recovering Journalist wrote:expand_more
We didn't play as many games at home and brought better opponents into the Convo. There is so much upside with that capacity with the revenue it can bring into the community that the athletic department needs to do better.
Agree that they can do better in many areas, but those of us who consider ourselves fans need to do better too. This whole thread is sad insofar as it features some of the program's biggest diehards (i.e. those of us on here) wringing their hands about a switch to GA on seats that work out to about $2.50 per game. You can still get in the door to watch what I assume is your favorite D1 basketball team for what a movie cost in 1980, and most of the people on this thread have found a reason to complain about it.

I'm not begrudging the fans who don't have the budget for more -- you can still get in for $2.50 a game and you know that it won't be hard to find a place in that sea of empty upper bowl seating. It's a safe bet that the department is under pressure to find more revenue, and this is a pretty painless step to try to spur lower bowl sales by further differentiating those seats. If you want more, pay more.
Totally agree with your two lines of thinking: 1) Want more, pay more. 2) This could be a step to spur on lower bowl seating.

Re: #1, many people with these seats, myself included, would have willingly paid more, or at least understood an increase. For a long time, I have felt they've left themselves in a position where the lower bowl keeps going up, and up, and up, and the upper bowl is unchanged. I've always thought since the Sweet 16 that they should have bumped up the cost of the front 3-5 rows of those seats. They have a big gap from donor seats to non-donor seats in terms of fan investment. Instead of bridging the gap, and creating better options, they've just moved everyone to GA seats. For me, it's just not a good look on doing business.

Re: #2, maybe it will spur on lower bowl seating. It seems to me that they could segment the Gold seats to create a larger variety of price points and donation levels, while also evaluating the whole donor structure (levels/options). With this move to Upper Bowl GA, they've totally created a feel of have's vs have not's in terms of seating options and donor options, making those in the upper level seem less significant. That's my perception anyway.

Another thing I've not looked at regard this that's worth looking into is what our peers are doing? What do Toledo, UB, Akron, Kent, Ball State do? What does NKU do? If we're trying to aim higher, what is Butler, UD, UC doing?
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Andrew Ruck
8/10/2018 3:37 PM
Personally, I would have kept the first 5 rows of the upper bowl reserved and increased the price of the family pack from 160 to around 200-240. That would cover the majority of us with long-standing season tickets up there and most would have swallowed the increase. Then turn the rest of the upper bowl as GA and offer a season ticket for $50 or family pack for $160. So those with the pack can elect to keep their good seats for a little more, or more to GA for the same price they've been paying.

I am sure they didn't want the confusion of GA and reserved mixed in the same section but in the 10 years I had my seats, 90% of the games I had to kick someone out of my seats anyway so it wouldn't be anything new.
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OU_Country
8/10/2018 4:00 PM
Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more
Personally, I would have kept the first 5 rows of the upper bowl reserved and increased the price of the family pack from 160 to around 200-240. That would cover the majority of us with long-standing season tickets up there and most would have swallowed the increase. Then turn the rest of the upper bowl as GA and offer a season ticket for $50 or family pack for $160. So those with the pack can elect to keep their good seats for a little more, or more to GA for the same price they've been paying.

I am sure they didn't want the confusion of GA and reserved mixed in the same section but in the 10 years I had my seats, 90% of the games I had to kick someone out of my seats anyway so it wouldn't be anything new.
100% Agree. I would have paid the $200-240 without batting an eye. And the other approach could have been to make it $200 this year, and move to $240 next year, while giving the option of a GA seat at the $50 per seat they're at now.

Boy, that was tough to think through. ;)
Last Edited: 8/10/2018 4:01:28 PM by OU_Country
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giacomo
8/11/2018 2:57 PM
If they want to bring in more revenue, upgrade the schedule. To say Bobcat basketball has a monopoly in Athens County in the winter is an understatement. Literally the only game in town most nights. If you can't draw there is something wrong. It's not just winning.
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boydhallbobcat
8/13/2018 9:07 AM
giacomo wrote:expand_more
If they want to bring in more revenue, upgrade the schedule. To say Bobcat basketball has a monopoly in Athens County in the winter is an understatement. Literally the only game in town most nights. If you can't draw there is something wrong. It's not just winning.
I disagree with this. Many of their games switched to Tuesday and even some on Friday nights. With 5 high schools in Athens County, that takes a HUGE toll on attendance bc those are big HS basketball nights. Wednesday/Saturday night games would be ideal, but I'm sure we don't control that.
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giacomo
8/13/2018 3:52 PM
https://suburbanstats.org/population/ohio/how-many-people...

It appears there are 65000 people living in Athens County. I'm not sure if that number includes students. More than enough to draw a decent crowd even on a Friday when the high schools are playing. I would guess that we draw from other counties, as well. If anything, our arena is too large. We would need 20% of the local population to fill the Convo. Highly unlikely. Still, it's not as if there are a plethora of entertainment options in the area on a consistent basis like in a major city.
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RSBobcat
8/13/2018 11:30 PM
giacomo wrote:expand_more
https://suburbanstats.org/population/ohio/how-many-people...

It appears there are 65000 people living in Athens County. I'm not sure if that number includes students. More than enough to draw a decent crowd even on a Friday when the high schools are playing. I would guess that we draw from other counties, as well. If anything, our arena is too large. We would need 20% of the local population to fill the Convo. Highly unlikely. Still, it's not as if there are a plethora of entertainment options in the area on a consistent basis like in a major city.
No way that does not include students....

We do draw from other counties - where....surprise - they also play H.S. basketball

Winning/More would surely help, as well as the scheduled opponents quality

As per the plethora of entertainment options, they are on your phone.....but your mug up on the new scoreboard is not unless you are at the game.....
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OhioCatFan
8/15/2018 10:06 PM
It's a long story, but students are included in the census for Athens, but they are significantly under-counted. My son worked for the census bureau, and he had some interesting first-hand observations about the problem in counting students accurately. Don't have time to go into the details now, but the end result is that the city and county populations are actually somewhat higher than the "official figures" would indicate.
Last Edited: 8/15/2018 10:08:18 PM by OhioCatFan
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giacomo
8/16/2018 6:01 PM
If you look at the numbers for people ages 18-24 you can see they don't include all of the students.

I don't think the entertainment options are "my phone or the convo". If that is the case that's pretty sad.
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SBH
8/17/2018 8:29 AM
While I'm sure the strategy behind the new general admission policy is to increase lower bowl purchases, it's actually had the opposite effect on me. I've had two Gold seats - $670 total investment - that have largely gone unused during the Saul Phillips era. Now that the entire upper bowl is GA, I can reduce my spend to $160 and pretty much ensure seats in the first few rows upstairs if I arrive early enough. I won't be assigned to a corner section as part of the Family Pack. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
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catfan28
8/17/2018 8:34 AM
SBH wrote:expand_more
While I'm sure the strategy behind the new general admission policy is to increase lower bowl purchases, it's actually had the opposite effect on me. I've had two Gold seats - $670 total investment - that have largely gone unused during the Saul Phillips era. Now that the entire upper bowl is GA, I can reduce my spend to $160 and pretty much ensure seats in the first few rows upstairs if I arrive early enough. I won't be assigned to a corner section as part of the Family Pack. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
The law of unintended consequences. I'm sure you're not the only one.

Same thing for making the entire student side GA at football. Dropped our Phillips Club seats and will be sitting in the same seats on the other side for family pack pricing. Several friends did this too.

It's hard to justify such a large investment in basketball right now. May end up following your lead.
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