Fan Fest Sold Out?

CDC1988

Redshirt
Jan 29, 2013
23
30
13
I was looking online this morning, and noticed that Ticket Master shows the "Players First Fan Fest" being sold out. Seems odd considering on Friday evening there was probably 80% of the tickets remaining. Has anyone heard any information, is it canceled, or a major donor bought all of the tickets?

Never mind, it now shows the event was canceled due to it "conflicting with player's schedule"
 
Last edited:

RalphDaltonFan

Heisman
Apr 3, 2002
60,136
41,428
113
If guys want to cash in on NIL, then it's a simple business model that needs to be followed. WIN. Nobody wants to hear anything until they see an improved product (recruiting & on the court). The part of me that is excited for this year is held in caution for the sense of excitement and how Davion Mintz is being "branded" by the program/Cal. Does he get it? There's a faction of UK fans that are excited to see a player return. I understand that. However I believe most of that faction also aligns with those of us who are on the show us an improved product before you reach into my pocket and specifically to market some mediocre holdovers and new guys most fans haven't seen.

Is that fair to the program/players? No. But it's business. You want to get more invested, then produce a product that makes people want to invest.
 

Cawood86_rivals

Heisman
Feb 20, 2005
36,711
64,715
0
If guys want to cash in on NIL, then it's a simple business model that needs to be followed. WIN. Nobody wants to hear anything until they see an improved product (recruiting & on the court). The part of me that is excited for this year is held in caution for the sense of excitement and how Davion Mintz is being "branded" by the program/Cal. Does he get it? There's a faction of UK fans that are excited to see a player return. I understand that. However I believe most of that faction also aligns with those of us who are on the show us an improved product before you reach into my pocket and specifically to market some mediocre holdovers and new guys most fans haven't seen.

Is that fair to the program/players? No. But it's business. You want to get more invested, then produce a product that makes people want to invest.
Exactly....actually ticks me off that Cal and UK think they can just throw something out there like they have in the past and expect fans to gobble it up after last year. Seems tone deaf to me and make me think nothing has really changed, just added some new pieces.

Last year created a lot of doubt. Most are in wait and see mode and that will not change until things are proven. Seems Cal and UK are just expecting foks to pretend last year didn't happen.
 
Apr 13, 2002
44,001
97,152
0
My feeling is it didn't catch on like they thought it would, so they postponed. It's just not a good model imo. They were probably going to lose money.

Imo it was a poor attempt to get the players some nil money. It was poorly conceived, poorly timed, and poorly promoted. In fact, other than here I didn't see it even mentioned.

Back to the drawing board
 

RalphDaltonFan

Heisman
Apr 3, 2002
60,136
41,428
113
Exactly....actually ticks me off that Cal and UK think they can just throw something out there like they have in the past and expect fans to gobble it up after last year. Seems tone deaf to me and make me think nothing has really changed, just added some new pieces.

Last year created a lot of doubt. Most are in wait and see mode and that will not change until things are proven. Seems Cal and UK are just expecting foks to pretend last year didn't happen.
How many sellouts did the highly successful '20 team have? If I remember it was a struggle to get fans to fill Rupp for that team and they went 25-6 and won the SEC by 3 games. Cal's going to have to trot out some new slogans and pitches or more importantly and hopefully land some elite players because fans are tired of being bull****** about "eating first", ""You people are crazy", etc....

Want to "eat first". Make sure Shaedon Sharpe is a Cat. Make sure Lively is a Cat. Cason Wallace. That's a start. But you aren't getting into people's pockets hyping anything until people see results.
 
Apr 13, 2002
44,001
97,152
0
Imo the way better approach would be a split the gate night or split the concessions night. That way there are zero additional costs and an increase in net.

That would be tricky but could absolutely be structured. Instead, now we have a failed attempt that will be hot news on the recruiting trail. Add in all the other restrictions and we'll continue to see UK bball lose on the nil front
 

Cawood86_rivals

Heisman
Feb 20, 2005
36,711
64,715
0
How many sellouts did the highly successful '20 team have? If I remember it was a struggle to get fans to fill Rupp for that team and they went 25-6 and won the SEC by 3 games. Cal's going to have to trot out some new slogans and pitches or more importantly and hopefully land some elite players because fans are tired of being bull****** about "eating first", ""You people are crazy", etc....

Want to "eat first". Make sure Shaedon Sharpe is a Cat. Make sure Lively is a Cat. Cason Wallace. That's a start. But you aren't getting into people's pockets hyping anything until people see results.
That's it. Cal could get away with his cliches when he was winning titles and going to FF'S.

His results aren't the same but his approach and sayings are. Makes no sense. Time to put up or shut up. Prove it.
 

MegaBlue05

Heisman
Mar 8, 2014
10,747
21,074
66
I didn’t figure this would pan out well. The poster above who mentioned it being “tone deaf” is on the money.

There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and asking fans of a team coming off a 9-win season to pay money to watch them do some drills, comes off as brick thick.

I look at it like this, if UK went to the FF last season and returned a handful of guys, this thing would’ve been sold out already. Instead you have a bunch of unknowns + returnees from the worst team in modern program history. That’s not gonna “move the needle.” Want to earn my money? Win basketball games.
 

Glenn's Take

Heisman
May 20, 2012
12,675
14,868
113
So I'm not only supposed to pay $75 face value for the worst ticket in the house for a conference game (spare me the supply and demand speech, they aren't selling out) and now I am supposed to pay player salaries too. I may have stepped foot in Rupp for the last time. I would guess I have seen close to 200 games there but doubtful I will ever go again. I am getting closer to a football only fan every year.
 

bigsmoothie

All-American
Sep 7, 2004
11,161
8,851
0
So I'm not only supposed to pay $75 face value for the worst ticket in the house for a conference game (spare me the supply and demand speech, they aren't selling out) and now I am supposed to pay player salaries too. I may have stepped foot in Rupp for the last time. I would guess I have seen close to 200 games there but doubtful I will ever go again. I am getting closer to a football only fan every year.
So you are not renewing your tickets?
 

bthaunert

Heisman
Apr 4, 2007
29,518
21,619
0
You have no idea if that true or not. But don’t let that stop you from pushing your agenda
I think it’s pretty obvious that is what happened. Yesterday, prior to the cancellation, there were plenty of seats to be had in every section in the lower level in the first 15 rows. The upper section were closed. The expenses for running a basketball arena for a 2 hour event is not cheap, even if there aren’t a lot of people there.

Trust me, if ticket sales were good, no way players schedules would have been in the way. I wish it would have worked for them, but it was never going to happen.
 

Mastershake1234a

All-Conference
Jul 21, 2020
2,087
4,427
0
I think it’s pretty obvious that is what happened. Yesterday, prior to the cancellation, there were plenty of seats to be had in every section in the lower level in the first 15 rows. The upper section were closed. The expenses for running a basketball arena for a 2 hour event is not cheap, even if there aren’t a lot of people there.

Trust me, if ticket sales were good, no way players schedules would have been in the way. I wish it would have worked for them, but it was never going to happen.
I have no idea what they are going to do to fix things, but it's getting rescheduled for next month apparently
 

kb22stang

All-Conference
Dec 11, 2005
10,902
4,384
0
Exactly....actually ticks me off that Cal and UK think they can just throw something out there like they have in the past and expect fans to gobble it up after last year. Seems tone deaf to me and make me think nothing has really changed, just added some new pieces.

Last year created a lot of doubt. Most are in wait and see mode and that will not change until things are proven. Seems Cal and UK are just expecting foks to pretend last year didn't happen.
So much for being the best most passionate fanbase. Sounds more like fairweather fandom to me
 

Eccain01

All-Conference
Dec 20, 2020
1,511
1,976
0
If this is the common attitude of our fans about Nil as a whole then the best players aren’t going to come here over time. Hopefully it’s just an Age thing.
 
Apr 13, 2002
44,001
97,152
0
Kneeling, poor product on court, & all the political BS that now is pushed on us from the players is enough to turn most off from what we all knew as Kentucky basketball.

Politics and business just doesn't mix. They definitely picked a bad time to engage in some locally unpopular behavior.

That said, this was a failure from conception. Embarrassing and will only empower the negative nil recruiting that's hurting UK right now
 

Yardeth

Heisman
Jan 2, 2007
13,384
17,556
67
How many sellouts did the highly successful '20 team have? If I remember it was a struggle to get fans to fill Rupp for that team and they went 25-6 and won the SEC by 3 games. Cal's going to have to trot out some new slogans and pitches or more importantly and hopefully land some elite players because fans are tired of being bull****** about "eating first", ""You people are crazy", etc....

Want to "eat first". Make sure Shaedon Sharpe is a Cat. Make sure Lively is a Cat. Cason Wallace. That's a start. But you aren't getting into people's pockets hyping anything until people see results.
In Memphis, Cal would personally buy TV’s and would have giveaways to get fans in the stands. Maybe he can do that at UK now, to fill the seats at Rupp.
I agree that you must win to keep the fans in the seats, we shall see what he has up his sleeve this year.
 
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