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PreecherJenkins · Junior Joined: 26 Dec 2003 Posts: 263

NBA games are still being covered, radio and TV revenues are not down because we have moved the broadcasters (esp) radio to the far reaches of the radio. put in additional inventory for money we can measure. I am not sure how you can measure publicity

I am sure Dewey, Chem, Mauer, Timmy Collins and other will not be happy about relocating but we dont need media sitting in our best seats.

InnervisionsUMASS · Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 3:10 pm Post subject:

Dewey and Chem sit at the scorers tabler 90% of the time. Mauer and the broadcast teams sit on the opposite side, where I do believe some of those seats are sold at a higher price, or are used as give away seats to famous people who come to the games (Lou Roe, Victor Cruz).
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Dickie Dunn · Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 3:57 pm Post subject:

Might as well get rid of the band, too. They're just taking up seats that might be sold to the paying public. Same with the students ... why let them in for free when there are plenty of people who will pay for those end zone seats.

Or, why not prove that we can get more than 5K "bankers with basketballs on their heads" -- as Cal used to affectionally call them -- to show up on a regular basis before we start trying to turn UMass basketball into the WWE-light spectacle that the NBA has become.
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Big Chief · Freshman Joined: 08 Feb 2012 Posts: 18

its been a while, but when there was a nationally televised espn game at mullins; doesn't espn take the tv visible signage? that's how it works in most sporting venues

MikeUMA · Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 4:36 pm Post subject:

UMass87 · Hall of Fame Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Posts: 7361

Don't you get courtside seats too, Mike?

Dickie Dunn · Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 5:19 pm Post subject:

Not to mention that "shrinking the scorer's table" also causes logistical issues for the stats crew, official scorebook (which needs to be courtside for access from the officiating crew and teams) and PA announcer, all of which need to be in close proximity to be accurate/successful. Also, you have the media relations people and usually the ADs from both schools sitting closest to their benches. You'd be upsetting a lot more than that useless, dreaded "fourth estate."

As for the opposite side of the court, I would be OK with shrinking those tables as demand dictates and putting in more seats. The problem is that, the more likely the program gets successful to the point of driving interest from the "high rollers," the more likely the national media returns. Show me a venue other than Cameron Indoor Stadium where ESPN broadcasts from any place other than mid-court.

But my overall point remains: Show me that we actually are going to have high rollers on a regular basis before we start coddling them at the expense of others that have been with the program through thick and thin.
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MikeUMA · Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 8:33 pm Post subject:

Marty Peretz · Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 12:14 am Post subject:

Bunch of thoughts on this one...

Internally, the UMass AD and staff should set an ambitious but feasible goal of how much ticket revenue they'd need to bring in to ensure that the program can compete in the top quartile of the conference (not expecting us to be Xavier, but say, 3rd or 4th). Then, figure out how many seats would have to be sold at X amount to ensure that goal is hit. Start by putting in incentives aimed at upping your base of season ticket holders. If you can hit the goal doing that, stick with it because those are customers you're less likely to lose long-term. If you can't hit the goal that way, seek out alternative ways of finding revenue (bigger bucks for some select seats, maybe even court side tickets--though the thought sort of disgusts me).

But my broader point is, don't be shortsighted about this because what Preacher Jenkins is missing is the reality that as appealing an idea as it might be to sell some seats for more cash to high rollers, those same high rollers are the first ones to go when the program has a down year. And the number of people who might have been driven out of their seats in favor of the bandwagon jumper high rollers might not come back. So as a department, UMass has to figure out with some degree of perceptive estimation skills just how many die hards they could afford to lose long-term while remaining on good footing financially.

I will say this, however. I have a family friend in the Pioneer Valley who allowed me to get my first season tickets due to a donation to the department (we split them, but said family friend only charged my old man face value, despite putting forth a considerable donation to obtain access to the seats--quite nice of the friend, since it allowed me to become addicted to UMass basketball at age nine or so). Anyway, I could be making this up, but I almost vividly remember the total amount donated being accidentally leaked in front of me at age nine or ten and I never forgot it, since it was one of those memories that made me kinda see how the world of big time college sports really worked. That amount? A cool 20K.

I also vividly remember where we sat for 95-96 season...

Section Y, Row 24.

Think about that for a second. That's nuts.

But sure enough that family friend's seats were in something like Section D, Row seven by 2001-2002. And they hadn't donated another dime. They cancelled them shortly thereafter.

The point is, they didn't bitch once when their 20K got them in the building and they waited their turn to move to better seats. Then, they left. No one's going to pay crazy money to get into the Bill if the demand isn't there. So you could argue that no one's going to pay 20K to sit in the front row if the Bill isn't jam packed and yet someone might pay 20K to sit in the second to last row if the demand is high.

Rewarding loyalty can pay off in the long run and the Bill is small enough that if the demand were ever so high as to exceed the number of available seats in the arena, people would pay a pretty penny just to get in while the location of their seats be of secondary concern.

Or maybe I'm missing the point and people who gave 100K were getting seats better than section Y. But I've always wondered what evidence there was of this phenomenon happening. It's been anecdotally discussed a number of times, but can anyone point to hard evidence of people losing their seats altogether (note, this is different than being bumped up six rows) during the glory years? Not saying it's not true, just curious.
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PreecherJenkins · Junior Joined: 26 Dec 2003 Posts: 263

Few points:

1. Why do you care where your favorite sport reporter sits? Again please help me measure the publicity that a DHG or a Masslive.com article produces? Again create a nice area in a section where we are not selling any seats (should be easy to find)

2. I am sure this will be an unpopular move but remove the effing the table across from the benches. We cannot be making much on the static signage that is there? If there is not a table you can sell those seats for a far greater value. I am not sure how many of you have sat courtside for a NCAA D-1 game or an NBA game but there is nothing better in this world then sitting courtside and because of that you can charge accordingly.

Bottom line is I am a revenue guy, we need to produce more revenue so we can keep DK around, the time is coming soon when we might lose him to a school that can simply pay him because they are selling courtside seats at a premium.

Remember its about winning games and making money... If we have that mindset we will be a lot better off.

PreecherJenkins · Junior Joined: 26 Dec 2003 Posts: 263

But my broader point is, don't be shortsighted about this because what Preacher Jenkins is missing is the reality that as appealing an idea as it might be to sell some seats for more cash to high rollers, those same high rollers are the first ones to go when the program has a down year. And the number of people who might have been driven out of their seats in favor of the bandwagon jumper high rollers might not come back. So as a department, UMass has to figure out with some degree of perceptive estimation skills just how many die hards they could afford to lose long-term while remaining on good footing financially.

I get your point about the high rollers being the first to leave but the University, Jon, Tim, et all need to create personal relationships with these ticket holders so they stay season ticket holders. I gurantee in 1995-96 Booby Marcum and his staff thought the Bill would be filled forever and could have cared less who was donating the money

out

InnervisionsUMASS · Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 11:31 am Post subject:

If they make better courtside seats and don't happen to sell them all for a specific game, I'll gladly take a seat upgrade!
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vanmeter · Senior Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Posts: 1265

I am not sure how many courtside seats are for sale (or sold) but it is not many. Most of the seats are for announcers, press, etc. I think in most every facility in the country the press announcers etc. sit at courtside seats as many need the tabble in order to do their job.

The seats that are sold, are sold for a big number in addition to donations to Minuteman Club. (I am not one of the people sitting there) The ones who have these seats are not band wagon people but consistent - day in and day out, supporters of Umass. In addition if there is a band wagon it surely did not start in November of 2011 (maybe November 2012).

Swampy · Hall of Fame Joined: 02 Apr 2003 Posts: 2464

^ Couldn't agree more with vanmeter and I'll believe all this talk about the band wagon filling up when I actually see fans filling what have up to now been a LOT of empty seats. Remember, it was only a short year ago that some "fans" were talking about pulling the plug on Kellogg. With UMass fans it will take more than one 20+ win season to fill the place up again.