I mean really, its still a saturday night game, the 2015 opener, first game in the new CWS, and one of the better non power 5 teams we have played in awhile. Am I missing something?
Why is thers till so many ULL tickets left?
- Thread starter TTU/UK fan
- Start date
Significant portion of the UK football fanbase were irrevocably broken by the Joker years. Large numbers of UK fans gave up on the program and ain't coming back no matter what. UK knows this better than we do, hence the stadium capacity contraction.
Thats no excuse. the UF game is already about sold out. Im making the 4 hour drive for the opener, so can alot of others. It makes the games less fun with such a sparse crowd.
well you are asking why, IMO that is why there are tickets available for ULL. Buncha UK fans gave up on the program/sport and have not yet come back, and may never come back. Remember ULL probably did not buy many visitor tickets whereas Florida fans are planning on making the trip en mass.
Oh give me a break, not this blame Joker shatzu again! How about blaming probation of Hal Mumme first? And then work chronologically to Joker?
My work knows to give me my Saturdays off in fall
That used to be the case for me. Now I work at a hotel that is 2 miles away from Commonwealth. They don't want me taking those days off
But we have 2 big tvs in the lobby so I still get to watch.That used to be the case for me. Now I work at a hotel that is 2 miles away from Commonwealth. They don't want me taking those days off
Dang that stinks but hey you get paid to watch it
Joker doesn't have anything to do with it at this point. There was a huge surge of interest when Stoops was first hired that brought casual fans into the stadium. 3 years later that surge of interest is going drop off. To keep the casual fans coming in you need to give them something else namely wins. There just hasn't been enough of that at this point. It is vital we go bowling this year or the stadium will be even more empty a year from now.
It also shows that UK did this expansion right. Everyone wringing their hands over the loss of a mere 4,000 seats now look silly since we may not fill those seats anyway. Sure we could have crammed 100k into a fish bowl if we wanted to but I'd rather have the improvements we do have instead of the 4000 seats we lost and still have the old stadium. Making Commonwealth a better venue should be the focus instead of just making it bigger and still not fill it.
At the end of the Rich Brooks era some people stopped showing up especially for non-marquee games, and our program was decent then. The cost of attendance plus the 4 hour game time with only 18-20 minutes of real action is a turnoff particularly young people. Attendance dropping all over the country in many sports unless it's a huge game and or the team is very good.
So you're telling me these people were upset because UK wasn't investing in UK football so UK invests in football and they still don't show up? Doubt we'll miss those fans. In a few years, gonna be a lot harder to get tickets.
Yep. I doubt we've sold out a game at Commonwealth against a non-Power 5 school in a long, long time ... and that's even with huge free ticket giveaways (like "Military Appreciation Day").
Im not expecting a sellout. Just a better turnout than im seeing right now. I went to Jokers home opener against wku and there was a very good amount there. Why cant we do that for Stoops in probably his best year with a improved stadium and team? No reason.
Student allotment has been reduced to 4,000 seats so I am pretty sure it is not possible for them to get to 5,000.
Personally, I can't wait!
And, JHB is right - there were huge numbers of long-time season ticket holders that were put-off and alienated by the Joker years (and by Barnhart's edicts and actions at that time), that have found because of age, HD TV, cost and comfy sofas that they aren't interested in re-upping. And, yes, winning will help cure all ills, but Stoops was left with as little talent as I have seen on a UK team since I started following in the mid-70's. But, no need to re-hash that now.
Just bring on the season...
And, JHB is right - there were huge numbers of long-time season ticket holders that were put-off and alienated by the Joker years (and by Barnhart's edicts and actions at that time), that have found because of age, HD TV, cost and comfy sofas that they aren't interested in re-upping. And, yes, winning will help cure all ills, but Stoops was left with as little talent as I have seen on a UK team since I started following in the mid-70's. But, no need to re-hash that now.
Just bring on the season...
I looked on TM this morning and it looked like there were about 1,450 tickets left for the opener.
sorry, facts are facts. Season ticket sales declined from 2009 to 2010 - the time of Brooks retirement & Joker's assention. That was with a team returning Cobb, Locke, Chris Matthews, Mike Hartline, and coming off what 4 bowls in a row + 4 winning seasons in a row.
bunch of UK fans weathered it through Mumme, Morriss, probation, & Brooks years. We averaged over 66K attendance in the Brooks winning run of 06-09. the Joker hire combined with the piddling way UK supported the program as compared to the rest of the SEC & UL broke a significant portion of the fanbase. Plenty of people learned to do different things with their money & their time on Saturdays. Maybe they like sitting at home watching every game on their 55 in bigscreens all day . Maybe have funneled time/money into spending on Calipari's November/December neutral site trips to Bahamas/NY/Chicago/Miami. I don't know the why but that it has happened is undeniable unless you chose to ignore the facts.
UK doesnt know what to do either FWIW, read on another thread how last week UK cold called someone offering prime midfield season tickets.
That's due to way more FL fans coming than ULL fans coming, not more UK fans. Just watch. FL fans are numerous & have plenty of dough.
OK, you don't like it. But he's right. Way easier to keep someone buying your product than to get them to buy again after stopping. You don't stop buying something because you're happy. Really, it's basic marketing.
BTW, It's not Joker who caused that. It's the person who hired him. Not real smart.
Agree it is ridiculous to blame Joker since this is Stoops' 3rd season in Lexington. Also, because some games on our schedule are much closer to being sold out than others, it just looks like some fans feel less interest or urgency for this particular game. Could be that some fans will be traveling over Labor Day weekend and unable or unwilling to change plans to see Kentucky play a Sun Belt team. Or could be that some people are just waiting. I assume the game will sell out before kickoff.
No, as of right now they have too little value, but they're not too expensive (relatively):
Ticket Value = (Number of Wins)/(Cost of Tickets)
They need to increase the numerator, not decrease the denominator.
I am in total agreement with your post . Another way of saying it is habits are hard to break . But when you do it is almost impossible to get fans back who found other alternatives they enjoy more or as much for less money.
I firmly believe that but for the Joker years we would still be 66,000 strong. UK broke the program . Will be very hard to fix it. By fix it I mean to be once again consistently in the top 25 nationally in attendance . MB has made a great effort to repair the damage but time will tell if he can attract enough new fans to replace the disgusted ones.
In truth, minus the K-Fund, tickets are about the same as they have been for several years. I have my invoices for 2012 - 2015:
2012 Season Tix were 272.00 for 7 games. $39 per game. Parking was 275.00
2013 tix were 277.00 for 7 games. $39.50 per game. Parking was 275.00
2014 tix were 277.00 for 7 games. $39.50 per game. parking was again 275.00
2015 tix are 320.00 for 8 games......and parking was up a bit for an additional game as well. Average cost $40 per game
You can get public seating for no K-Fund donation. So you really cannot say they are "too expensive" if you used to go and don't now.
Why? Season tickets fell drastically under Joker's watch and have not rebounded. It wasn't Stoops that caused them to give up their tickets. It wasn't Stoops that left the team with less than Sunbelt-level talent. The love-child of Vince Lombardi,Bear Bryant, and Knute Rockne wasn't going to do any better than what Stoops has in his first two years given the roster he inherited.
I bought a ticket just to have one and I live in New Mexico!
I agree it will probably be a sellout by kickoff, would love to have the ability to walk up and try to get a ticket never failed in the past, sometimes a little more and sometimes a lot less (free sometimes), it will probably be less for this game if you get there early. The empty seats will be from ticket holders that don't make sure someone gets their tickets to use, either from selling them or giving them away if necessary. Still a lot of late minute changes of plans will leave some seats empty.
I'm not gonna pay above face value for that game. I would assume that is why tickets are left. $122 for Florida tickets are one thing but I'm not paying $70 for ull.
I'm going to be there with my whole family and I can't wait! As far as sell outs, if they win this year, the seats will be filled. It's that simple.
I'm always confused by posts like this. There are tickets still available through UK ($50.25). Why would you pay anyone "above face value?"
That's all? I thought we had a lot left or something from the discussion. A week and a half out and we are just 1450 short I say don't worry about it. You sell 1400 in a 2 hour window prior to the start of the game. They'll certainly be gone by kick off.
You are off onto a tangent, and your biases are showing. This has nothing to do with a minority of season ticket holders who gave up season tickets in the past, which happens from time to time at every school. They are a tiny segment of the market for Kentucky football tickets. When people purchase a product, they make their decision based on the present value of the product, not on their feelings about a former employee of the company who was fired 3 years ago. Since Joker was fired, Kentucky has brought in 3 new recruiting classes and played 24 football games. In the internet age, every Kentucky fan understands that a different coach is pushing to get this team to a bowl with his own recruits. On the Kentucky team that will take the field in September, 65 players were signed by Stoops. All the tickets for this game will probably be sold by the kickoff. Only the most obsessed and those in need of anger management would base their decisions on things that happened 3 years ago.
When I went to the UK ticket site I was redirected to ticket master and they tacked on a $25 or so fee/ticket.
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