We didn't built it big enough.

[Go Budaw]

And we would have played home games in 2018 in pearl, or Starkville HS.

Pearl would have been great. And we would have had a pretty badass RPI too from no home games. Bama was able to work it out when they gutted their existing stadium....we could have figured something out.

 

[SheltonChoked]

Pearl would have been great. And we would have had a pretty badass RPI too from no home games. Bama was able to work it out when they gutted their existing stadium....we could have figured something out.

I'm sure a 2 hour commute to the ball park for 23 games would have been great.****

Probably, would have made our "Home" record at least 3 games worse.

 

[SheltonChoked]

But baseball, unlike football, you can buy tickets to watch any game. You just may not have a seat. We had that in Football as well and no one was on here clamoring for an 80,000 seat stadium. We had in in Basketball a few times and only once or twice talked about expanding the Hump.

Until COVID, you could even buy a season GA ticket for baseball(that's what you get to sit in the Lounge).

And the Athletic department was pretty clear they there would be few "GA" seats built into the stadium.

 

[campshelbydog842003]

But baseball, unlike football, you can buy tickets to watch any game. You just may not have a seat. We had that in Football as well and no one was on here clamoring for an 80,000 seat stadium. We had in in Basketball a few times and only once or twice talked about expanding the Hump.

Until COVID, you could even buy a season GA ticket for baseball(that's what you get to sit in the Lounge).

And the Athletic department was pretty clear they there would be few "GA" seats built into the stadium.

We have expanded our football stadium multiple times in the past 30 years. When I was growing up we had a 45K seat stadium. That was in the 90s. Our fanbase grew and so did the stadium. We have a better baseball program now than we did even 4 years ago. The fanbase is growing. When you are good people show up and you expand the stadium.

 

[Xenomorph]

Everett say... ****, bout an hour fifteen.

 

[patdog]

That's a very small minded way of doing it. You have to know there are going to be a lot of people who will buy season tickets when they're available who aren't going to put up a deposit to buy tickets in 2 years. And you have to plan for that.

 

[SheltonChoked]

We have expanded our football stadium multiple times in the past 30 years. When I was growing up we had a 45K seat stadium. That was in the 90s. Our fanbase grew and so did the stadium. We have a better baseball program now than we did even 4 years ago. The fanbase is growing. When you are good people show up and you expand the stadium.

We did. To the areas that matter. The high revenue areas are 1000x larger than the old stadium.

But you don't build 14,000 chairbacks for one weekend a year.

Same as we don't have an 80,000 seat football stadium, or a 20,000 seat Basketball arena.

That this pops up after super bulldog weekend every year, and not after we play Kent State in February tells me we are doing great.

And next time we build a new arena, I expect o see the post where you donated to make it bigger.

 

[campshelbydog842003]

We did. To the areas that matter. The high revenue areas are 1000x larger than the old stadium.

But you don't build 14,000 chairbacks for one weekend a year.

Same as we don't have an 80,000 seat football stadium, or a 20,000 seat Basketball arena.

That this pops up after super bulldog weekend every year, and not after we play Kent State in February tells me we are doing great.

And next time we build a new arena, I expect o see the post where you donated to make it bigger.

I didn’t say we should build 14,000 chairbacks. The last expansion to Davis Wade increased the capacity by the same % that an extra 2K seats to Dudy Noble would increase its % by, which is about what we need to add on at this point. And I do what I can do to fund the DW expansion. I’ve been in the scoreboard club buying 4 tickets a year since 2019. I would do that same thing for an expansion to the baseball stadium. It’s not much but I would donate the required amount and buy the tickets.

 

[Go Budaw]

That’s exactly what I’m saying. I didn’t make the initial comparison between football and baseball. Shelton asked why people weren’t asking for football to be increase based on 1 or 2 hard sellouts per year. In my opinion, like you said, if football had a waiting list for season tickets there would be a plan to increase capacity. Maybe there is or maybe there isn’t a plan to increase baseball but in my opinion it’s incredibly short sighted to build a stadium for exact amount of demand the day you build it. Someone couldn’t get season tickets now if they wanted it and given the capital commitment that someone else outlined earlier, there are very likely not going to be seats open up anytime soon. That’s a problem to me. I’m not saying we needed to build a 50k stadium but it needed to have room for additional season ticket sales.

Exactly. It’s simple deductive reasoning that if we were able to somehow find 5,000 people who would commit $4,500 for every person in their family / group to just get in the stadium and have a seat for 10 years, there is a 100% chance that we have the support for at least another 1,500-2,000 to buy season tickets every year without the commitment. It may not be the same 1,500-2,000 people every year, but those tickets would definitely be sold out every damn year, and they would get the same amount of revenue from those seats as the current ones (minus whatever marginal decrease is associated with the seats being in not as good of a location in the stadium).

 

[johnson86-1]

We literally do that in every single sport. When we play Alabama this year in football we will have non season ticket holders purchase tickets in the same section that season ticket holders reside because those season tickets didn’t sell out. Same thing in basketball. I honestly don’t think we would have a problem selling out 1500 to 2K extra baseball chairbacks at this point. Especially now that it is clear to everyone that if you don’t have a chairback season ticket you literally have nowhere else to sit.

Football and baseball are not equivalent. But do we really not have season ticket holders fill the lower part of the stadium? That's surprising. I thought we had season ticket holders all the way up into the upper decks, in which case they are getting in line for lower tickets if they want to spend the money for it.

 

[johnson86-1]

That's a very small minded way of doing it. You have to know there are going to be a lot of people who will buy season tickets when they're available who aren't going to put up a deposit to buy tickets in 2 years. And you have to plan for that.

You're relying on a lot of goodwill from the fanbase to put up money when they don't have to. Not saying it wouldn't be there in baseball, but it's risky to approach it that way. If the baseball program had his a rough patch, you might have some of that demand disappear, not just for the extra seating, but for some of the ticketholders that would have put up $6k ahead of time.

 

[campshelbydog842003]

Football and baseball are not equivalent. But do we really not have season ticket holders fill the lower part of the stadium? That's surprising. I thought we had season ticket holders all the way up into the upper decks, in which case they are getting in line for lower tickets if they want to spend the money for it.

We have had lower level season tickets available for a few years now. Part of that is Joe Moorhead’s tenure. Provided we are able to have 100 % attendance in football, you should be able to call the ticket office and buy lower level season tickets unless we have had a major increase in people buying them this year.

 

[SheltonChoked]

I didn’t say we should build 14,000 chairbacks. The last expansion to Davis Wade increased the capacity by the same % that an extra 2K seats to Dudy Noble would increase its % by, which is about what we need to add on at this point. And I do what I can do to fund the DW expansion. I’ve been in the scoreboard club buying 4 tickets a year since 2019. I would do that same thing for an expansion to the baseball stadium. It’s not much but I would donate the required amount and buy the tickets.

I hate to tell you but the last expansion of davis wade added 28 suites, ~1,500 loge seats, the touchdown club and the scoreboard club. That there were GA seats in the end zone upper deck was a bonus, not a feature.

If you want to add 2,000 GA seats by adding 4 more premium seating areas to the Dude, fine by me. I assume that would be 4 more Lofts, with the GA seating in the bottom floors. Now, you just have to sell, 48 lofts at $50,000 a season to pay for the GA seats.

I'm not being a smartass, this is exactly what I'd do to expand GA seating. Put bleachers behind the lounge under/in front of the new lofts. The expanded upper decks will be more loge seating ($$$), and/or Chairbacks. the berms work as intended.

 

[SheltonChoked]

Exactly. It’s simple deductive reasoning that if we were able to somehow find 5,000 people who would commit $4,500 for every person in their family / group to just get in the stadium and have a seat for 10 years, there is a 100% chance that we have the support for at least another 1,500-2,000 to buy season tickets every year without the commitment. It may not be the same 1,500-2,000 people every year, but those tickets would definitely be sold out every damn year, and they would get the same amount of revenue from those seats as the current ones (minus whatever marginal decrease is associated with the seats being in not as good of a location in the stadium).

And minus the guaranteed revenue (used to finance the construction) of the 10 year donation.

It's like you guys don't have to budget for purchases.

And again, this is only an issue worth bitching about 1-3 weekends a year.

 

[campshelbydog842003]

I hate to tell you but the last expansion of davis wade added 28 suites, ~1,500 loge seats, the touchdown club and the scoreboard club. That there were GA seats in the end zone upper deck was a bonus, not a feature.

If you want to add 2,000 GA seats by adding 4 more premium seating areas to the Dude, fine by me. I assume that would be 4 more Lofts, with the GA seating in the bottom floors. Now, you just have to sell, 48 lofts at $50,000 a season to pay for the GA seats.

I'm not being a smartass, this is exactly what I'd do to expand GA seating. Put bleachers behind the lounge under/in front of the new lofts. The expanded upper decks will be more loge seating ($$$), and/or Chairbacks. the berms work as intended.

I’m not advocating adding GA seating. I’m
Advocating adding chairback seating and selling them as season tickets. Chairback seating is premium seating. We have a waiting list for season tickets in baseball. When people want to give you money and you can’t take it because your venue isn’t big enough you are losing money long term. I think originally we should have made somewhere for GA seating folks to sit, but at this point I would rather just add chairbacks because I think we could sell them out and then the GA berms would not be as cramped, which would alleviate multiple issues. I also like the idea of adding more lounge spots and lofts (if there is a market for the lofts). I know the extra lounge spots would sell but I don’t know exactly where we could put them. We would probably have to move the scoreboard so I don’t know if it’s feasible.

 

[patdog]

Who builds anything only to the demand that you can confirm and get a deposit for 2 years before the project is going to be completed? That's building for the absolute minimum possible demand. Stupid and very short-sighted. Templeton 2.0.

 

[Go Budaw]

And minus the guaranteed revenue (used to finance the construction) of the 10 year donation.

It's like you guys don't have to budget for purchases.

And again, this is only an issue worth bitching about 1-3 weekends a year.

That “guaranteed revenue” is but a small fraction of what is used to finance construction. We built the new stadium with about $25 million in donations (which is exactly what the advanced seat reservations for 10 years were....donations), with the rest being financed by bond issuance. Overall, the total cost got up to almost $80 million. So considerably less than half of the cost was financed by the commitment money and other donations.

Was that 10-year commitment money important to the project? Yes...but it was a brand new stadium. A proposed expansion wouldn’t be nearly the same scale or cost. You’re talking something on the order of $15-$20 million at most of you just did tiered concrete foundation just where the berms are, maybe $25-$35 million if you also extend one or both of the upper decks.

And this isn’t a problem 2-3 weekends per year, it’s a problem 100% of the time because there are multiple people in this thread who want SEASON CHAIRBACK TICKETS, but can’t get them. And there are no doubt a few thousand others in the same boat. The result is not only unrealized revenue and profit for the athletic department, it’s also complete alienation of the 95% of our fan base who just happened to not be personally and professionally settled enough and financially secure enough 3-4 years ago to drop $4500 down for every member of their family in order to get 10 years worth of baseball tickets.

 

[bddawg]

I’m not advocating adding GA seating. I’m
Advocating adding chairback seating and selling them as season tickets. Chairback seating is premium seating. We have a waiting list for season tickets in baseball. When people want to give you money and you can’t take it because your venue isn’t big enough you are losing money long term. I think originally we should have made somewhere for GA seating folks to sit, but at this point I would rather just add chairbacks because I think we could sell them out and then the GA berms would not be as cramped, which would alleviate multiple issues. I also like the idea of adding more lounge spots and lofts (if there is a market for the lofts). I know the extra lounge spots would sell but I don’t know exactly where we could put them. We would probably have to move the scoreboard so I don’t know if it’s feasible.

If and when we add more chairbacks, they will be pre sold and sold out, just like now. Still won't be any change in people that want a single game ticket. There are tickets available now for single game its just that people don't want to pay that for them. That's a personal choice. I'm sorry if they cost too much. Also, that does nothing to lessen the strain on the berms. Fact is, there are never going to be enough places to sit for GA people, is what it is. Guess we could limit the number of tickets sold that match an approximate number of GA seats(berms). Would that make people happy? No. There are people that don't mind standing. Fact is the tickets said SRO wasn't like anyone was lied too.

 

[bddawg]

I hate to tell you but the last expansion of davis wade added 28 suites, ~1,500 loge seats, the touchdown club and the scoreboard club. That there were GA seats in the end zone upper deck was a bonus, not a feature.

If you want to add 2,000 GA seats by adding 4 more premium seating areas to the Dude, fine by me. I assume that would be 4 more Lofts, with the GA seating in the bottom floors. Now, you just have to sell, 48 lofts at $50,000 a season to pay for the GA seats.

I'm not being a smartass, this is exactly what I'd do to expand GA seating. Put bleachers behind the lounge under/in front of the new lofts. The expanded upper decks will be more loge seating ($$$), and/or Chairbacks. the berms work as intended.

There is no room to put seats behind the lounge and in front of the lofts. You clearly haven't been out there and looked. And we aren't going to had bleachers and we aren't going to add GA seats when we can add on and sell them and pay for the cost of construction, whenever that happens.

 

[Xenomorph]

>>>Now you're just talking out of your ***. Let me lay some factoids on you..

These are weekend numbers since the new Dude was finished.

S. Miss '19.. 50 degrees, Rain.. (BTW, they aren't an SEC school)
Fri.. 7,051.. terrible crowd in Feb. rain
Sat.. 9,376.. packed house
Sun.. 9,449.. packed house

Auburn '19
Fri.. 10,029.. packed house
Sat.. 12,343..stupid packed house
Sun.. 9,886.. packed house

LSU '19
Fri.. 9,797.. packed house
Sat.. 11,262.. stupid packed house
Sun.. 11,648.. stupid packed house

Alabama '19
Fri.. 10,386.. packed house
Sat.. 11,112.. stupid packed house
Sun.. 8,593..only extremely crowded

Georgia '19 (after being swept by AR)
Fri.. 9,061.. packed house
Sat.. 9,572.. packed house
Sun.. 8,204.. only extremely crowded

S. Carolina '19
Fri.. 8,094.. only extremely crowded
Sat.. 9,235 ..packed house
Sun.. 10,461.. packed house

Regional and Super Regional '19
Do we really need to look at those numbers??

Wright State.. Feb '20.. 45 degree game temps (BTW.. they aren't an SEC school)
Fri.. 9,509... packed house
Sat.. 11,006.. stupid packed house
Sun.. 8,173.. only extremely crowded

Oregon State.. Feb '20.. cold as balls (BTW. they aren't an SEC school either)
Fri.. 8,297... only extremely crowded
Sat.. 12,034... stupid packed house
Sun.. 8,209.. only extremely crowded

COVID HIT

This is the time when you are correct.. The Dude was not a packed house.

COVID IS OVER

Sharks '21
Fri.. 10,291.. packed house
Sat.. 13,338.. stupid packed house
Sun.. 10,522.. packed house


It ain't 1-3 weekends a year, brah.. it's EVERY weekend.. regardless of the opponent.

 

[Go Budaw]

If and when we add more chairbacks, they will be pre sold and sold out, just like now. Still won't be any change in people that want a single game ticket. There are tickets available now for single game its just that people don't want to pay that for them. That's a personal choice. I'm sorry if they cost too much. Also, that does nothing to lessen the strain on the berms. Fact is, there are never going to be enough places to sit for GA people, is what it is. Guess we could limit the number of tickets sold that match an approximate number of GA seats(berms). Would that make people happy? No. There are people that don't mind standing. Fact is the tickets said SRO wasn't like anyone was lied too.

Then build them and sell them. They won’t sell anything for a 10-year commitment, that demand is already tapped out as everyone who wanted that assurance got it from the initial build. If they want to do a 5-year commitment or 3-year commitment or whatever else makes the supply meet the demand, they can do it whenever they want. If its 2,000 or less, they absolutely will sell out every year even with no commitment requirement.

 

[SheltonChoked]

I’m not advocating adding GA seating. I’m
Advocating adding chairback seating and selling them as season tickets. Chairback seating is premium seating. We have a waiting list for season tickets in baseball. When people want to give you money and you can’t take it because your venue isn’t big enough you are losing money long term. I think originally we should have made somewhere for GA seating folks to sit, but at this point I would rather just add chairbacks because I think we could sell them out and then the GA berms would not be as cramped, which would alleviate multiple issues. I also like the idea of adding more lounge spots and lofts (if there is a market for the lofts). I know the extra lounge spots would sell but I don’t know exactly where we could put them. We would probably have to move the scoreboard so I don’t know if it’s feasible.

My bad. I agree 100%. They should plan on extending the upper decks to the foul poles and they should announce it soon. get commitments/fundraise for 2 years then start it in 2023-24.

And you'd have to move the road behind right, and the scoreboard, but we have room for 3 more lofts with GA seating or lounge spots on the bottom floor.

 

[SheltonChoked]

If and when we add more chairbacks, they will be pre sold and sold out, just like now. Still won't be any change in people that want a single game ticket. There are tickets available now for single game its just that people don't want to pay that for them. That's a personal choice. I'm sorry if they cost too much. Also, that does nothing to lessen the strain on the berms. Fact is, there are never going to be enough places to sit for GA people, is what it is. Guess we could limit the number of tickets sold that match an approximate number of GA seats(berms). Would that make people happy? No. There are people that don't mind standing. Fact is the tickets said SRO wasn't like anyone was lied too.

We could build it for 60,000 and still have 1-3 weekends a year where there were not seats.

And you would have the same guys on here bitching about not being able to show up in the 2nd inning and sit in the lower level.

 

[bddawg]

>>>Now you're just talking out of your ***. Let me lay some factoids on you..

These are weekend numbers since the new Dude was finished.

S. Miss '19.. 50 degrees, Rain.. (BTW, they aren't an SEC school)
Fri.. 7,051.. terrible crowd in Feb. rain
Sat.. 9,376.. packed house
Sun.. 9,449.. packed house

Auburn '19
Fri.. 10,029.. packed house
Sat.. 12,343..stupid packed house
Sun.. 9,886.. packed house

LSU '19
Fri.. 9,797.. packed house
Sat.. 11,262.. stupid packed house
Sun.. 11,648.. stupid packed house

Alabama '19
Fri.. 10,386.. packed house
Sat.. 11,112.. stupid packed house
Sun.. 8,593..only extremely crowded

Georgia '19 (after being swept by AR)
Fri.. 9,061.. packed house
Sat.. 9,572.. packed house
Sun.. 8,204.. only extremely crowded

S. Carolina '19
Fri.. 8,094.. only extremely crowded
Sat.. 9,235 ..packed house
Sun.. 10,461.. packed house

Regional and Super Regional '19
Do we really need to look at those numbers??

Wright State.. Feb '20.. 45 degree game temps (BTW.. they aren't an SEC school)
Fri.. 9,509... packed house
Sat.. 11,006.. stupid packed house
Sun.. 8,173.. only extremely crowded

Oregon State.. Feb '20.. cold as balls (BTW. they aren't an SEC school either)
Fri.. 8,297... only extremely crowded
Sat.. 12,034... stupid packed house
Sun.. 8,209.. only extremely crowded

COVID HIT

This is the time when you are correct.. The Dude was not a packed house.

COVID IS OVER

Sharks '21
Fri.. 10,291.. packed house
Sat.. 13,338.. stupid packed house
Sun.. 10,522.. packed house


It ain't 1-3 weekends a year, brah.. it's EVERY weekend.. regardless of the opponent.

All those 19 and 20 numbers were tickets sold. So that info is literally worthless. I'm sure some were crowded. But you can't prove it by announced attendance

 

[Xenomorph]

So the 40% of MSU baseball fans who don't want to give more people the opportunity to attend games are going to resort to the liar liar pants on fire defense?

 

[SheltonChoked]

There is no room to put seats behind the lounge and in front of the lofts. You clearly haven't been out there and looked. And we aren't going to had bleachers and we aren't going to add GA seats when we can add on and sell them and pay for the cost of construction, whenever that happens.

I said under the lofts. I know there is not room between the lofts and the lounge. You'd have to make it part of the new building (and the building "inside the park"). And they would have to be tall enough to see over the lounge. You'd either lose a loft floor, or have to make them taller.

And I agree you are not adding GA seating anywhere you could sell chair backs (on the foul line upper or lower decks) or anywhere you could have a premium club (top of the lofts) The only chance would be under the lofts.

 

[ronpolk]

So the 40% of MSU baseball fans who don't want to give more people the opportunity to attend games are going to resort to the liar liar pants on fire defense?

It’s honestly a little mind boggling that current season ticket holders don’t seem to want to have more season ticket holders. I think the majority of people who are advocating expansion are doing so on a season ticket basis. If we can sell 10k season tickets, we probably need to be doing so. We certainly need to be working toward it.

 

[bddawg]

It’s honestly a little mind boggling that current season ticket holders don’t seem to want to have more season ticket holders. I think the majority of people who are advocating expansion are doing so on a season ticket basis. If we can sell 10k season tickets, we probably need to be doing so. We certainly need to be working toward it.

I'm all for having more seats and more season ticket holders. But, on every message board there is tons of complaints about not having more GA room. And if we add more seats that isn't getting one more GA seat. They will all be pre sold.... Nothing is free. Well, change that, nothing should be free, but our government would highly disagree w that thought.

 

[ronpolk]

I'm all for having more seats and more season ticket holders. But, on every message board there is tons of complaints about not having more GA room. And if we add more seats that isn't getting one more GA seat. They will all be pre sold.... Nothing is free. Well, change that, nothing should be free, but our government would highly disagree w that thought.

You also have to take on account that most of us grew up going to games and sitting in those bleachers. I get it’s not having assigned seats but actually having a seat not on the ground is a good thing. But at this point it’s still probably a bit of a shock to someone who has always been able to buy a GA ticket and have a seat to that not being a possibility now.

I don’t know the answer to the GA problem but it is a problem. We will absolutely have kids grow up not going to near as many games because of the GA problem we have. Again, I reiterate, I don’t know the answer to that but season ticket holders shouldn’t bury their head in the sand to that problem if you care about the future popularity of MSU baseball.

We should be working on a plan to expand chairbacks now for new season ticket holders.

If they announce new chairbacks I’d be one trying like hell to get them. I’m lucky that I can afford to pay the price of an occasional chairback for my family but I’ll be the first to admit that if the bleachers were still there, my kids would go more often. I’m not advocating for bringing back bleachers but I will say I did spend a hell of a lot of good times in those bleachers. My first trip to MSU was when I was 11 in 1997. My Dad, 2 brothers and I drove from Tampa to the regional we hosted that year. Sat in those bleachers and had an awesome time. That weekend wouldn’t be possible for me now. It does bother me a little bit.

 

[SheltonChoked]

That “guaranteed revenue” is but a small fraction of what is used to finance construction. We built the new stadium with about $25 million in donations (which is exactly what the advanced seat reservations for 10 years were....donations), with the rest being financed by bond issuance. Overall, the total cost got up to almost $80 million. So considerably less than half of the cost was financed by the commitment money and other donations.

Was that 10-year commitment money important to the project? Yes...but it was a brand new stadium. A proposed expansion wouldn’t be nearly the same scale or cost. You’re talking something on the order of $15-$20 million at most of you just did tiered concrete foundation just where the berms are, maybe $25-$35 million if you also extend one or both of the upper decks.

And this isn’t a problem 2-3 weekends per year, it’s a problem 100% of the time because there are multiple people in this thread who want SEASON CHAIRBACK TICKETS, but can’t get them. And there are no doubt a few thousand others in the same boat. The result is not only unrealized revenue and profit for the athletic department, it’s also complete alienation of the 95% of our fan base who just happened to not be personally and professionally settled enough and financially secure enough 3-4 years ago to drop $4500 down for every member of their family in order to get 10 years worth of baseball tickets.

There are 2 debates in the thread.

One group is calling for GA seating to be built for the 1-3 weekends a year they want to come to games. Those people are not ever going to get what they want.

The other is saying expand the Chairbacks. I agree with this group. We should expand the chairbacks. But I have bad news for you. It's going to require a Donation of $4500 per person and a 10 year commitment. Because they will sell out.

 

[The Usual Suspect]

So much for the "people's" university.

As it stands now, it is a country club for locals with season tickets. If you don't have one, tough, sit on the berm. Sorry not going to do that. As I have said before, in 20 years and a whole generation of lower level income people have never become fans because they could never get in a game, the demand may change. I was a huge fan as a kid, because in the old stadium and in the '86 stadium my dad could walk up and get GA seating to a couple of SEC series a year. I live in Houston, TX and want to come home to a couple of series a year. Not going to happen now.

 

[Go Budaw]

The other is saying expand the Chairbacks. I agree with this group. We should expand the chairbacks. But I have bad news for you. It's going to require a Donation of $4500 per person and a 10 year commitment. Because they will sell out.

If they were only going to add 100 chairbacks, yeah maybe I could see that many people deciding to do the 10-year commitment even if they didn’t think it was a good idea 4 years ago. But if they are aiming to add 1,500 - 2,000 which is what everyone agrees is needed at a minimum, then they aren’t going to get a $4500 / 10 years commitment from that many people, or they would already have it. Zero people who wanted seats at that price point for the original build got turned away....and they were offering way better seats back then too. There’s not suddenly going to be 40% more people that want those terms after just 4 years. If I’m wrong on that? Outstanding....it would mean our fans are far more hungry and bought in than even I imagined. But I don’t think I am.

Bottom line, build the seats and sell the tickets. They will sell out every year with no multi-year commitment. They might even sell out every year with something moderate like a 3 or 5 year commitment required for all seats. In both cases, they’ll bring in the same revenue per seat (more or less) as the current grandstand. But asking for $4500 and a 10-year commitment on chairbacks on the outfield side of the foul lines is probably a bridge too far on the old supply / demand curve.

 

[The Usual Suspect]

It’s honestly a little mind boggling that current season ticket holders don’t seem to want to have more season ticket holders. I think the majority of people who are advocating expansion are doing so on a season ticket basis. If we can sell 10k season tickets, we probably need to be doing so. We certainly need to be working toward it.

The current season ticket holders have a built in demand for their seats if they want to sell them for individual games. They don't want to hurt that demand.

 

[The Peeper]

One group is calling for GA seating to be built for the 1-3 weekends a year

I don't have a dog in this fight, but you are wrong there. Every game that is played, there are no seats for general admission if you don't want to sit on the ground. Good example, my office has a 72 yr old guy w/ a leg brace (not in a wheelchair, just a very weak ankle) that had chairbacks in the old Dude for years. He got priced out of it when we remodeled. He hasn't been to a game since the new Dude was built because he has such a long walk to do w/ a brace and when he gets inside he can't sit on a berm so he doesn't go anymore. There are many like him who are just older and can't stand the whole game. I'm only 60 and I'm not going to stand up for a 19-7 game like last night that lasted 3hrs 45 minutes. If I was younger and had say a 4 year old, I'm not going to chase that kid around the whole game when I could be sitting w/ them in a bleacher.

Every game the visitors (which I really don't care too much about) have nowhere to sit other than 1 little dedicated small section down the first base line. In the outfield we hear from them weekly about that being a problem. There's a larger than you think populous that would really like to have and pay for seating .

 

[MedDawg]

Nobody wanted them at the time. Maybe the athletic department should have been a little clearer that without buying tickets, you wouldn't have any seating, and maybe some more people would have ponied up. But if they had just built more with the hope that demand would increase, and then things went south and it got to where you could reasonably find tickets for just the games you wanted to go to, then you'd probably have had plenty of people looking to not renew their contract as soon as they had the chance.

Yep. The last season tickets weren't sold until a couple weeks before the first game.

 

[MedDawg]

What we have now is exactly what the administration wants - demand exceeding supply. This past weekend was maximum demand, but right now, even the minimum demand exceeds supply, which is something they would lose by adding seats.

There is something to be said about having a tough ticket. People never complained about the Hump when it was sold out with season tickets or Davis Wade when it was sold out. I'm sure the AD loves it.

Still, with Dudy Noble's history of unlimited tickets and big game crowds, it feels wrong.

 

[MedDawg]

In the old Dudy Noble what did the bulk of the record crowd of 15,586 do? They stood.

 

[MedDawg]

It’s honestly a little mind boggling that current season ticket holders don’t seem to want to have more season ticket holders. I think the majority of people who are advocating expansion are doing so on a season ticket basis. If we can sell 10k season tickets, we probably need to be doing so. We certainly need to be working toward it.

What I put on another board:

Do we need all three berms? We could build two upper deck sections and one lower deck section of chairbacks to replace just the 3rd baseline berm.

Also, that right field area with the stand-up counters is a little awkward and sort of a waste of space. That could be a student area packed in with more than are there now. Or at least give them bar stools to sit on, then it would become premium general admission.

For that matter, put in bar stools or some sort of built-in tall stools or tall benches along all of the standing counters. Then GA fans would have places to sit and the second row of standing people could see better.

I'm also for letting general admission fans sit in grandstand seats after 1 1/2 innings. Saturday and Sunday I had people sitting in my chairbacks when I came back from the bathroom and again later after I took a lap around the outfield. I got back to my seats and they got up. Simple. My seats are on the aisle second row from the top of the lower section 113, so they are right there enticing people standing in the concourse to jump in.

 

[bddawg]

As it stands now, it is a country club for locals with season tickets. If you don't have one, tough, sit on the berm. Sorry not going to do that. As I have said before, in 20 years and a whole generation of lower level income people have never become fans because they could never get in a game, the demand may change. I was a huge fan as a kid, because in the old stadium and in the '86 stadium my dad could walk up and get GA seating to a couple of SEC series a year. I live in Houston, TX and want to come home to a couple of series a year. Not going to happen now.

You have the following choices, 1-get their early sit on a chair in the berm. 2-buy a chairback on stub hub. 3-don't get there early and stand. 4- pray someone gives you a ticket 5-don't go
1 and 2 are options for everyone. IF you don't have enough money for 2 I get it, well all have to make choices. 1 is an option that determines how important is to you. If it isn't important enough then just choose option 5 and continue to complain. And in1984 and 1985 I had to wait outside the stadium for hours prior to a regional game to sit in the bleachers bc it was the only option. I made that choice. But don't give me there are no seats in the berms or seats in the grandstand, it's how bad do you want them. Sorry you can't get there at game time and pay$10 for a seat.

 

[mcdawg22]

You also had an entire right side where people packed in and some rigs held a lot more people so the people that had a buddy that knew a guy were able to cram in on a corner.