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No single game tickets means not ever!!

The biggest effect will not be on Iowa fans.

It will be on donors who in the past have bought 2, 4, 6 (etc) season tickets, and then the 4 extra Iowa single tickets.

While the donors in the past probably did not use up all of the extra, and it will also effect Iowa fans, the first group impacted is the donors.

So, they are shouldering the change first.

Not saying it is right, or wrong, it is what it is.

And, Pollard has always meant what he said. He has directly said they may go empty. So do not be suprised when they are

Quote from an email:
"As we stated in our letter, the only single game tickets will be the tickets we have to contractually provide Iowa and the tickets we need for our own tent parties. The rest will either be sold as a season ticket or will go empty."
 
I think out of anything we've learned during our time with JP at the helm is to expect the unexpected. When we think he's going one way, he ends up going another. I don't think any of us have the foggiest idea what will actually happen with the Iowa game tickets yet I think we call can agree we need the seats filled.

So for now, I'm going to let this thing go from my end, reserve further judgment and wait to see how it all actually plays out. I'll renew my season tickets in the time frame suggested, enjoy the basketball season and impatiently await the 2007 football season - and the Chizik-led Cyclone era - to begin.
 
I understand everybody arguments against this, and am also a little apprehensive about leaving seats empty, especially in a nationally televised contest. However, I get kind of irritated by the people out of state or people with tighter budgets using this as an excuse that they can't support the cyclones. If you live out of state, or live in a box, and can only afford or work out your schedules to come to one game a year, you can still come see ISU vs Texas, or OU, or maybe CU or KSU... you can still support your team. If you only want to support the team against Iowa, find the extra cash and buy a season ticket. Maybe it will mean driving out for the game instead of flying.

I'm one who happens to be out of state, and don't mind the policy at all. I buy season tickets every year anyway, and the games I can't make it to, I make sure there's another cyclone fan in my seat who wouldn't have gone otherwise. I applaud ambition. If it doesn't work, he wont do it again in a few years, but if we're not trying things, how will we know?

By the way, the language in "Pollards Views on ISU: Window of Opportunity is Open" says that the only way to guarantee a ticket to the Iowa game is to buy a season ticket. Does that sound to anyone else like if you don't buy season tickets you may be able to get a ticket, and you may not?
 
Good move. The venting is good, as is most of the discussion. I think we're on about round 4 of rehashing the same ideas and thoughts.

We aren't going to know until we know.

We got a basketball game tomorrow night!
 
DaddyMac said:
Buy a $350 season ticket to attend one game - a be "thankful" for it. I love this "Pony up" crap. There is no more idiotic statement that could be uttered. I already "pony" plenty, as do most here. And the stadium remains half empty. And not eveybody has cash falling out of their pockets. I'm starting to wonder if somebody making 250K a year like JP realizes that?

If they're not available after season ticket sales - fine. That's the way it should be. But to hold it hostage....

I just don't think some of you realize how DUMB this is and how bad it looks.
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For those that don't have cash "falling out of their pockets" you have less expensive alternatives (i.e. $125 option) to get in the door.

Listen folks...all you hear is about getting to the next level and then when an attempt is made to get there everyone gripes. There are VERY economical season ticket packages available. Purchase one of those and quit your bitchin'.

I'll use myself as an example. Last year I "teamed up" with a friend at the $250 donation level, shared a parking pass, and got season tickets.

This year I donated $1500 at gold plus and I am sending in my season ticket renewal $410 today. Now I know everyone can't afford that and I'm lucky I can, but then just purchase hillsides or end zones and deal.

If you only plan to attend a game or two then get season tickets and sell the others you won't be going to. Hell you might get lucky and make a profit (yes I realize you could lose some money as well).

I, for one, am buying what JP is selling. Call me silly if you like, but having been a fan for 20yrs, I can see quite clearly that if regular success is going to come in football, it is now or never given all the investments we are making.

By the way, at $350 you are paying less than $1/day for the year to go see the Cyclones. I can almost guarantee that for those of you with tight budgets I could find something you are paying for that you could easily give up in lieu of opting for a season ticket package. It's all about priorities in life. If you sit down and actually draw up a budget for yourself, I'm betting there is an easy way to get it done IN MOST CASES.

My two cents...
 
DaddyMac said:
Buy a $350 season ticket to attend one game - a be "thankful" for it. I love this "Pony up" crap. There is no more idiotic statement that could be uttered. I already "pony" plenty, as do most here. And the stadium remains half empty. And not eveybody has cash falling out of their pockets. I'm starting to wonder if somebody making 250K a year like JP realizes that?
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I'm pretty sure I could come up with a more "idiotic" statement than that if you really want...:rolleyes5cz:

I already gave you a different way to see just the Iowa game for $125 (which will also allow you to see the other 6 homes games as well). If you want to ***** about not wanting to sit in the endzone, then open your wallet because that's what it's going to take. I want a house on the beach but I only want to pay $50,000 for it....that's what you sound like to me.

Maybe you should let the guy making the $250k (because that is his job) make the ticketing decisions.

The price of Iowa State football just went up...it's your decision whether or not to support the program and donate and buy season tickets.
 
Filling the stadium is the most important thing for our program, and I think Jamie is taking he measures that will accomplish that. My bet is that at some point this summer, Iowa single game tickets will be released first to NCC members, and then secondly to ISU season ticket holders not in NCC. His goal is to keep opposing fans out of the stadium and to force us as ISU fans to put our money where our mouths are. If we look at Jamie's past moves, we see a major emphasis on getting butts into Jack Trice at crunch time. I'm very confident that when the dust settles on this one, he'll have been moving that direction the entire time. He will not leave 10K empty seats on national television to prove a point. No good business man is that anal/beligerent.
 
We still are a pretty cheap ticket I think. Even the $350 is less than a lot of Big 12 schools charge and we even give you the option to buy $125 and $150 endzone and hillside season tickets where some schools you may have to pay full price for endzone seats.

We all knew this was coming with the stadium renovations and hiring of what could eventually be a big time coach so why all the shock and anger? If you want to be a premier program you are going to have to start paying to help get it there.
 
My apologies, that came off more heated than I like.

Let me lay it out this way. Here's the problem with the "Pony Up" mentality.

Two years ago, we sold in the neighborhood of 27K season tickets if I recollect. More or less, it makes no difference. We gave our allotment to Iowa, kept what we need for tents and such. The rest were singles and, again if I remember, they never saw the light of day at the ticket office. Why? Because season ticket holders gobbled them up.

Now here's an important point and one where I'll state clearly that I think JP is full of horse-hockey. There's no way, no how that single game order should come ahead of season ticket order as he implies in the email to Aggie and in the DM Register. Don't care if it's you, me, **** Jacobson, Gary Thompson, whoever (as if they are held to the same rules as you and I) If you want to wait and give new ticket holders till Aug 31 before filling singles, fine. Makes sense. But to say that they fill 18K in singles requests not leaving any "room" for new season ticket holders is garbage and ISU provided me a better BBA education than to believe that.

But there were no more season ticket purchasers so who got those 18K? The season ticket holders.

So when people say "pony up", who are they telling that too? People who already "pony up", those already supporting the school and the program. Those tickets aren't being bought by people who go to "A" game and that's it. They're being bought by season ticket holders. I just don't get the idea of forcing a season ticket holder to buy more season tickets for single game tickets that go to friends and family who didn't buy season tickets in the first place.

Now if you want to argue about where those tickets went after you, I, **** Jacobsen, Gary Thompson, etc bought them - you have a point. But we still were the ones who bought them. And now you're trying to squeeze more blood out of an already compressed turnip.

Long and short of it, you not going to gain much in the way of new season ticket holders, but rather squeezing more money out of those who already give.
 
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"Pollard knows about numbers and needing to raise money and he won't let empty seats go as wasted opportunities to make money."

That's not what he said. He said he would leave them empty.
 
CLONE2THEBONE said:
"Pollard knows about numbers and needing to raise money and he won't let empty seats go as wasted opportunities to make money."

That's not what he said. He said he would leave them empty.
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My guess is that in 6 months he will "reconsider" his stance.

I like the NCC option...this provides an incentive to donate more. If you give, you can get extra Iowa tickets where the general public and even regular season ticket holders can't.

Jamie says that you can't get an Iowa ticket without purchasing a season ticket. Well if you purchase a season ticket...maybe you will have the option of buying more Iowa tickets. So what he is saying is actually correct.
 
This is a bad idea. The tone of Mr. Pollards comments are even worse. It makes no sense to hijack the fans after a 4-8 season record and one of our best seasons for attendence in years. I understand what he is doing but....I think this will turn alot of people off. Heres an idea...win some games before you before you start to make ultimatums to the fans. If ISU wins season ticket sales will take care of themselves. I live on a budget and I don't like being gouged by anyone ...even the ISU athletic dept.
 
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I don't think if you're not a NCC member/Season ticket holder you would be able to get tickets anyways because they are offered to this group first and they usually gobble them up. If you wanted them otherwise you would have to pay alot to scalp them, so why not just pony up and pay the $125-$250 and get all the games tickets.

You are either in the game or you're not. When there is change there are going to be some people unhappy and some that will fall by the wayside, but the true fans will find a way to support the team. (and not for just one game in september)
 
Wait a minute. This is not a question of being in the game, and those who are not fans falling by the wayside. This hits both groups we need, the casual fan, and the donors.
I can accept the concept of season tickets only, that is fine as a marketing experiment. Yes having empty seats is a risk, but an even greater risk, is going back and changing it to single sales, like DaddyMac just said.

Here is why: In the past, the top x number of donors, in order of giving, have bought up most of these tickets. While some were still open, they have been the first purchasers. This starts at the $10k donation level and goes down from there

So, in the past they may have bought 4 season tickets, and 4 extra for Iowa and some other games. The extra tickets were still assigned seating assignments ahead of all other single tickets to the public.

So, you have John Doe donor. Lets say he is Captains or Victory level. John Doe has anted up. He gives a $2,500 donation (or perhaps a little more or less), and buys 4 tickets at $350. Then following the rules he maybe buys 2 lower priced season tickets for the Iowa game. If he is at Captains he is already spending over $4,000 on donation and 4 tickets, if at Victory he is spending over $6,500. So, the extra is on top of a major commitment he has already made

There will be more money, but the net effect is these extra tickets are in worse locations, and they will have to be used for all games. So, where he might have bought 4 more for TU or OU and been in an ok spot in the stadium, now he really cannot because he already bought the seats and needs to use them in the lesser location.

Les say we all can live with that. Fine, we have an experiment, and go just forward.

However, to change later, and make them available at the tail end, after having the donors pony up, would not be good. It may even carry more risk than empty seats.
There are less than 100 giving over $10,000, less than 200 giving $5,000-$10,000, and less an 500 giving over $2,500-$5,000. This is the group this may impact. If they start feeling negative, the dollars add up quick. These are also the most likely targets for the capital campaign.

So I will take Jamie at his word that they will not change. He has rolled the dice and the opportunity cost to change it back could be very high

PS: Please be careful in just telling posters to pony up or buy cheaper tickets. This is one area where it can be very personal, given finances, family situations, etc. It is real easy to make this a response if you are doing 1-2 tickets moderate donation level.

However, when this gets up to taking families, and balancing expenditures, there will be some tough choices made, and no one else is in any position to tell someone else if they are making the right or wrong decisions. It is fine to encourage, but to just blow off others concerns is not fair.

For the record, I have upped my donation level, have done E2E, will renew 4 tickets, and probably pick up a couple others. I can accept the increases, the other items need to be handled carefully.
 
DaddyMac said:
Only 400? Really? I stand corrected then. I was under the impression that there were several thousand more.
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We were both a little wrong, it was about 1100 more. The corner balcony doesn't account for all of those sales... but lets just say the corner balcony is a lot more full than last year.
 
Good to know - thanks.

Regardless, that's still well above a 10% hike over the previous year and a testament to the excitement surround coach McD, since we were coming off a down, non-post season year.
 
This is a terrible plan, even if JP decides to change his mind over the summer and allow single game tickets to be sold, it's still terrible. I can only make it to one game a year because I'm in Chicago. It's close to 6 hours to drive to Ames, which means I'm spending at least one night, but normally two nights in a hotel. Going to one game is expensive enough, so going to a full season is out of the question.

Last year, I made it to one game, and I believe the tickets cost me about $30 each. The cheapest season tickets available are $125 each. I am not going to pay four times the amount I paid last year to get to one game and to get a worse seat than last year. Some people out there just can't afford to pay for these tickets. Even the Chicago Bears, who could sell out Soldier Field with season ticket holders doesn't do this, because it's just not fair to fans who don't have that kind of money.

If JP does change his mind in mid-summer, then he is a huge jackass. He'd be duping the fan base into buying season tickets out of fear of not getting to any games. Either way, I expect a big fan backlash at this proposal.
 
melt said:
If JP does change his mind in mid-summer, then he is a huge jackass. He'd be duping the fan base into buying season tickets out of fear of not getting to any games. Either way, I expect a big fan backlash at this proposal.
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Who are we to second guess the almighty JP...Don't you know the people on this board have anointed him the second coming of Jesus? They go to church every sunday and pray to him.
 
brianhos said:
Who are we to second guess the almighty JP...Don't you know the people on this board have anointed him the second coming of Jesus? They go to church every sunday and pray to him.
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Yeah, I really hope all this isn't entire true because I think he's done really well so far, but some people are just following him blindly.

I did re-read some stuff, and I may have gotten confused. Does this season-tickets only thing, strictly for the Iowa game or for all games? It seemed like both could be true.
 
Mark my words there will be no big fan backlash at Pollard. The guy knows what is doing and is very smart. Just look at what he has done in the short time he has been here.

He has a plan and the Iowa game will be sold out!

If you want cheap tickets then scalpe them the day of the game. Wait till kickoff and you will be amazed at how cheap they get. We used to do this all the time years ago when we could not afford season tickets.
 
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