Football student tickets remain on sale

[VA Husker Fan]

I don't know how this situation can surprise anyone. The University has treated the student fans poorly for a number of years now, and lots of students now have an "F-off" attitude toward the administration.

This situation really began when the University decided to move virtually the entire student section to BFE South Stadium. This is in contrast to many other large universities, where student sections are closer to the field and/or closer to midfield. Anyone, for example, remember our game at TAMU a few years ago? They brought in extra seats to put at field level so more of their students to come to the game and make it loud. Meanwhile, we moved our students farther away and minimized their impact on the game.

All the friends I have still at UNL decided for the first time this year not to get student tickets due to the inability to validate and transfer tickets to non-students. The inability to do this is essentially pissing money away for many students, and it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

I really think, and have heard, that the new policy on ticket transfers combined with the opportunity to buy some of the worst tickets in the stadium are the primary driving forces of this situation.

This was insanely common when I went to school there. Now they have a digital system and only 250 or so non-students are allowed to attend. It's sad that the athletic department got greedy and ended the students ability to sell their tickets.

I remember having to log into the website in April to reserve student tickets for south stadium my freshmen year. Now their going into game week with some in hand, and will have to find an alternative way to sell them (no doubt they will).

I'm confused, are we trying to get more students into games to make the atmosphere more electric and to create future donors, or are we trying to provide a way for students to make some money by allowing them to sell their tickets?

Allowing them/us to sell our tickets makes it more likely they'll buy them. Maybe there are students who want to or are able to attend only 80% of the home games. If they knew they would be able to sell 1 or 2 tickets instead of being stuck with them, they would be more likely to buy season tickets.

This is exactly what I used to do. I used to sell one or two games and that basically paid for my season tickets. These tended to be games that I couldn't make it to.

Seriously, if I were a student today, I'm not sure I would buy the season tickets. Why not just go to the games you want to and buy a ticket off the street right before kickoff?

They have made it more and more undesirable for a student to buy the season tickets and they arguably are the most broke fans in the stadium. BUT.....they are the FUTURE check writers for the program.

OK, good answers, both of you. Maybe limit the validation to 2 games, or half the games, or something so students aren't just turning around and selling them all for a profit, because that does nothing to actually get the students more involved in the games.

 

[zoogs]

Bear with me, but did anyone see the movie "Finding Neverland" (a chick flick, a tear-jerker for you sensitive types)?

In the movie, the writer of "Peter Pan" demanded that free tickets for his play were given out to children from the orphanage, and the children were distributed all across the theater. The theater owner thought he was crazy because he was just tossing away revenue. Well, when the children saw the play and laughed, it made it more enjoyable for the adults in attendance as well, and the play turned out to be a smash hit, whereas if only the adults had been in the theater alone, it likely would have bombed.

I think having students at a football game is similar. Many universities have larger student sections, cheaper or free tickets for students (at least that was the case quite a few years ago), and have the students in a more prominent location in the stadium, and it makes for a better overall gameday environment. A lot of people talk about Memorial Stadium being a great place to watch the game but rather subdued and dominated by "blue-hairs." That has been the discussion for as long as I can remember (and I went to UNL in the late 90s). If the students were a bigger part of the game, I think the whole environment would be improved.

NU kept moving the students back, and charged for tickets when other universities gave them to students for free, because they could; there was such a high ticket demand and money talks. But now we are having this discussion, they really should find a way to make it better for the students. The college students. For a college football game. I understand those that say the fan base is more statewide than just about the student body, but come on now, the players are students too. This is a collegiate sport on a college campus. It should definitely be better and more accessible to students. I bet the whole stadium experience would be more rocking if the students were treated better, and not just as an afterthought.

Great post, Ulty! Quoting it since it was so far up above. I agree completely.

 

[Landlord]

With how strong our athletic department is as a whole, if I was the AD I would make student tickets free the way almost any small college does. You miss out on a little over a million dollars in ticket revenue, but I feel like that would easily be offset.

If you want to be like a small college football program, do like a small college does. Football tickets to Husker games have a value, don't give them away.

They don't anymore, but you realize that for decades, Duke student basketball tickets were free?

 

[StPaulHusker]

With how strong our athletic department is as a whole, if I was the AD I would make student tickets free the way almost any small college does. You miss out on a little over a million dollars in ticket revenue, but I feel like that would easily be offset.

If you want to be like a small college football program, do like a small college does. Football tickets to Husker games have a value, don't give them away.

They don't anymore, but you realize that for decades, Duke student basketball tickets were free?

They started charging for tickets in the student section because even though the tickets were free, students were not coming to the games. Duke has seen a systematic decline in student attendance for games except for the UNC game for about 7-10 years now.

 

[Mavric]

Brian Christopherson ‏@HuskerExtraBC 52m
On the ticket front, less than 150 student tickets remaining now... http://bit.ly/1vNwAUk

 

[hskrfan4life]

Would students spend the money for these tickets if they were the same price but midfield behind the visitors?

 

[Mierin]

Would students spend the money for these tickets if they were the same price but midfield behind the visitors?

The East stadium tickets always sell first, so probably.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Good luck gettin the AD to move them 3500/seat donors though.

Edit.

Check that. It was lowered to 2500 and 2000. LOL

 

[BigRedBuster]

Would students spend the money for these tickets if they were the same price but midfield behind the visitors?

That's where they used to be.

 

[The Dude]

Now, it is almost like the administration thinks the students are an after thought and really don't matter. What they don't understand is that these are their future donors. These are the next generation of fans who instill in THEIR kids what it's like to be a Husker fan.

Not to mention, at least in my opinion, that the team belongs to the students more than it belongs to anyone else. No students = no university = no football team.

The team belongs to the university. There are students at the university who are fans of that team, and students who are not.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

Now, it is almost like the administration thinks the students are an after thought and really don't matter. What they don't understand is that these are their future donors. These are the next generation of fans who instill in THEIR kids what it's like to be a Husker fan.

Not to mention, at least in my opinion, that the team belongs to the students more than it belongs to anyone else. No students = no university = no football team.

The team belongs to the university. There are students at the university who are fans of that team, and students who are not.

 

[knapplc]

Until Elliot walks in.

 

[huskerswrkhavoc]

Now, it is almost like the administration thinks the students are an after thought and really don't matter. What they don't understand is that these are their future donors. These are the next generation of fans who instill in THEIR kids what it's like to be a Husker fan.

Not to mention, at least in my opinion, that the team belongs to the students more than it belongs to anyone else. No students = no university = no football team.

The team belongs to the university. There are students at the university who are fans of that team, and students who are not.

And if there are no students to attend said university, there would be no university. Therefore, without the students, you don't have a football team.

This argument can be made that the students don't matter, but it isn't logical. You can have a football team without the generic fan. You need a school for them to attend, making them student athletes. They could play a game in front of nobody if they had to. There are schools do (figuratively) that. However, you would not have a product to watch on the field without students. Therefore, the students are most important and it would, more than anything else, belong to them.

Now, obviously others matter, but if you were to move the students closer, you would get faster sell outs and better attendance.

 

[GSG]

At College Football Games, Student Sections Likely to Have Empty Seats

Declining Attendance Reflects Soaring Ticket Prices, Increase in Televised Games

Football stadiums will be packed this weekend for the kickoff of the college season. But many of the student sections are likely to have empty seats.

Average student attendance at college football games is down 7.1% since 2009, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal of stadium turnstile records from about 50 public colleges with top-division football teams. The decline was 5.6% at colleges in the five richest conferences.

The decrease even at schools with entrenched football traditions and national championships stands in contrast to college football's overall popularity. Total turnout at home games of top-tier teams hit a record in 2013, while average attendance has slipped just 0.8% since 2009. (Explore the interactive on college football attendance since 2009.)

The growing number of empty seats in student sections across the U.S. is a sign of soaring ticket prices, more lopsided games and fewer matchups against longtime rivals, and the proliferation of televised games that make it easier than ever for students to keep tailgating long after kickoff.

 

[knapplc]

Now, it is almost like the administration thinks the students are an after thought and really don't matter. What they don't understand is that these are their future donors. These are the next generation of fans who instill in THEIR kids what it's like to be a Husker fan.

Not to mention, at least in my opinion, that the team belongs to the students more than it belongs to anyone else. No students = no university = no football team.

The team belongs to the university. There are students at the university who are fans of that team, and students who are not.

And if there are no students to attend said university, there would be no university. Therefore, without the students, you don't have a football team.

This argument can be made that the students don't matter, but it isn't logical. You can have a football team without the generic fan. You need a school for them to attend, making them student athletes. They could play a game in front of nobody if they had to. There are schools do (figuratively) that. However, you would not have a product to watch on the field without students. Therefore, the students are most important and it would, more than anything else, belong to them.

Now, obviously others matter, but if you were to move the students closer, you would get faster sell outs and better attendance.

And if there were no instructors there'd be no university, either. The equation Landlord made plays the same without instructors. We could go down that rabbit hole forever, and the students still wouldn't be the ONLY thing that matters, or the sole claimant to ownership of the school's sports teams.

Nobody is saying the students "don't matter." Landlord is saying the students are what matters most, and that's wrong, and The Dude & I have shown why.

It's tremendously simple. Teams that rely solely on student support don't turn into a Pillar of College Football. Examples are Doane, or Drake, or Central Lakes College. Nebraska would rank right up there with Arkansas State or McNeese State if the only people they could rely on to support sports was the students.