Quote:Dear Memphis Football Season Ticket Holder:

It is important to me personally that I communicate directly with you and let me start by saying thank you for being a big part of our success.

Our last football season was a remarkable one; we were showcased several times on national TV, we attended our third-straight bowl game, and we solidified the future of Memphis football with a nationally-ranked recruiting class. Over the past three seasons, we have won 27 football games, the most in program history. We are not done!

In order to ensure that our football program continues on the right trajectory, we took an extensive look at our program, specifically Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, tailgating, parking, traffic flow, concessions, in-game entertainment, and ticketing. As part of that evaluation, we partnered with IMG Ticketing Solutions to look at our current ticketing practices. Our research concluded that we had the lowest ticket prices in the entire American Athletic Conference.

I prefer to never raise ticket prices, but as I looked at where we stand relative to the rest of the conference, coupled with rising programmatic costs, we knew we could not remain stationary. We would like to approach the median prices in our conference in order to continue to provide the resources necessary for our student-athletes to compete at the highest level. We are asking the entire community to join us in this effort to be more competitive from a resource standpoint.

I would also like to announce that Tiger Scholarship Fund members at the $100 level or above are now entitled to exciting benefits, including a discount on season tickets. I ask that you please read through the information attached to this email or visit GoTigersGo.com/footballtickets, especially the section titled “Frequently Asked Questions.” If you still have questions, please feel free to call 901-678-2331 and one of our friendly ticket associates will explain the particulars of the options available to you.

Thank you again for your support of Tiger football, and I can’t wait to see you at the stadium next year. We are confident that this coming season will be one to remember!

Go Tigers Go!

Tom Bowen
Director of Athletics

Not complaining... just providing the info. Still the best deal in town.

2016:


2017:

I'm in regardless of price. Looking forward to more exciting Memphis football this season.

Our University has held the price down long enough. It's time to pay a realistic price to see the Tigers play,.

(02-13-2017 05:26 PM)covingtontiger Wrote:  I'm in regardless of price. Looking forward to more exciting Memphis football this season.

Our University has held the price down long enough. It's time to pay a realistic price to see the Tigers play,.

I'm hoping for a chance to get four chairback seats together this year (instead of the three that we usually get.) I may have to wait until a reseating to get them in the area I want... My dad has been a great sport watching the younger kid when the rest of us go to the game, and I'd like to let him go to all of the games with us.

While I agree that ticket prices should go up, can I just play the devil's advocate for a minute? If we have trouble averaging 40k every year even when we are winning at the cheapest tickets around, what is the attendance going to be like when prices go up? I've seen many "fans" rather watch the game at home, don't you think this will cause them even less to buy a ticket? Not saying I agree with it, I'm still going to purchase my tickets and I think if we are going to think like a P5 school, we will have to make some financial sacrifices as fans to see high level football.

(02-13-2017 05:34 PM)WColt45 Wrote:  While I agree that ticket prices should go up, can I just play the devil's advocate for a minute? If we have trouble averaging 40k every year even when we are winning at the cheapest tickets around, what is the attendance going to be like when prices go up? I've seen many "fans" rather watch the game at home, don't you think this will cause them even less to buy a ticket? Not saying I agree with it, I'm still going to purchase my tickets and I think if we are going to think like a P5 school, we will have to make some financial sacrifices as fans to see high level football.

The guy who is going to quibble over $5 or $10 more per game might stay home now. But, if you stay home, you can't:

1. Tailgate on Tiger Lane
2. Expect the team to hear you cheer
3. Be part of the crowd that goes crazy when the Tigers make a good play
4. Witness the historic games in person (some examples: beating UT 21-17, beating Eli Manning, defeating Houston when they were nationally ranked last year, DeAngelo's many stellar performances).

You can't aim your program at the lowest common denominator. I will tell you that $5 Kroger tickets are well below the price of high school games these days.

(02-13-2017 05:34 PM)WColt45 Wrote:  While I agree that ticket prices should go up, can I just play the devil's advocate for a minute? If we have trouble averaging 40k every year even when we are winning at the cheapest tickets around, what is the attendance going to be like when prices go up? I've seen many "fans" rather watch the game at home, don't you think this will cause them even less to buy a ticket? Not saying I agree with it, I'm still going to purchase my tickets and I think if we are going to think like a P5 school, we will have to make some financial sacrifices as fans to see high level football.

People aren't staying home because of the price of the ticket. IMO, the prices should have increased even more and used the additional funds to continue to build the program and add entertainment value (aside from the football) to the games.

(02-13-2017 05:49 PM)BigBlueTiger901 Wrote:  

(02-13-2017 05:34 PM)WColt45 Wrote:  While I agree that ticket prices should go up, can I just play the devil's advocate for a minute? If we have trouble averaging 40k every year even when we are winning at the cheapest tickets around, what is the attendance going to be like when prices go up? I've seen many "fans" rather watch the game at home, don't you think this will cause them even less to buy a ticket? Not saying I agree with it, I'm still going to purchase my tickets and I think if we are going to think like a P5 school, we will have to make some financial sacrifices as fans to see high level football.

People aren't staying home because of the price of the ticket. IMO, the prices should have increased even more and used the additional funds to continue to build the program and add entertainment value (aside from the football) to the games.

The PDF that they sent with the email said that it was only 50% of the increase needed to get us on par with the average AAC ticket price for 2016. So, expect it again next year.

This is a healthy sign of a growing program. The fee is nominal when spread out over 7 games. Ex: chairbacks go from $250 to $275. This is only $3.58 per game or half of a beer. Smuggling in 1 beer a game makes this easy. GTG!!

I'm good with it. I don't think the slight increase keeps folks away. Heck, people are willing to pay a high premium for Grizzlies games because 1) they're winning and 2) it's great entertainment.

People will come to Tiger football games because 1) they're winning, and 2) it's great entertainment (especially if you go for the full experience of pregame on Tiger Lane, post-game singing with band/team, etc.).

Both the Grizzlies games and the Tiger football games offer a great atmosphere for partiers and families alike. The University has done a great job of improving the game-day atmosphere and experience.

Here's to averaging 45K next year!
Go Tigers!

Good for the program to be able to go up a few bucks and not really have any push back. On the flip side I wish they would go down on the basketball season tickets. The product doesn't match the price and hasn't for years and it's showing in attendance.

will they do the same study with basketball tickets?

memphis probably has the highest priced bastketball tickets

(the study included donation requirements per seat)

(02-13-2017 06:56 PM)TigerFan386 Wrote:  Good for the program to be able to go up a few bucks and not really have any push back. On the flip side I wish they would go down on the basketball season tickets. The product doesn't match the price and hasn't for years and it's showing in attendance.

season ticket holder in both - you're right. Football is underpriced, basketball is overpriced. We missed the window to sustain the pricing on basketball.

I hope Tiger Lane parking pass does not increase again.

I expected to get this email. It is a good sign and needed. I will proudly pay the extra cost to see our program continue the upward trajectory!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using CSNbbs mobile app

I'm ok with the price hike, but i'm not just going to say they can charge whatever they want.

For me personally, I could care less about tailgating. I do like the live experience of going to a game, but let's all admit they do a piss poor job of showing replays at games. A person watching the games at home has a big time advantage seeing a play from different angles while we show the "chicken dance" on the jumbotron. I hear so many people in the stands complaining about it for years now.

So imo, if you're going to step up prices and dumb down the schedule and still not be in a conference that matters, then you should do the other things to make the game experience more fun for those who WILL come to the games.

Another suggestion would be to fix the sound system. YOu can't even hear the tigers intro video. Everyone is looking up and seeing video and not hearing much at all.

Another suggestion and it's sounds dumb, but it's part of the game experience is to get the food/drink people to get their **** together a little better. Being out of ice for drinks or serving stale popcorn or two day old hot dogs for the first game of the season is not good business. Here's another idea, and it's simple. Souvenir cups. If you have to charge $1 more, so be it. They can't cost that much. Put the schedule on it. Let people take a piece of the game home with them. Really seems like marketing 101 stuff to me. It still amazes me it tok so long for them to start selling alcohol at the games. I bet they make a lot of money off it too.

I will pay $50 more a year. It remains the best deal in town.

(02-13-2017 09:05 PM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  I will pay $50 more a year. It remains the best deal in town.

not really, but close

I know what you mean though

BigTigerChawlie,

What do you make of all this?

(02-13-2017 06:03 PM)aardWolf Wrote:  The PDF that they sent with the email said that it was only 50% of the increase needed to get us on par with the average AAC ticket price for 2016. So, expect it again next year.

So this increase doesn't even take us to the 'average' price.