Quote:Rice Athletics has announced a new ticket subscription plan today for all fans under the age of 30. Owl-Access can be obtained for just $9.99 a month, offering Owls fans an hassle free, on-demand ticketing option. A new way to think about tickets, members will receive a digital ticket to attend all live sporting events hosted by Rice. The service gives customers the ability to sign up and easily go to any athletic event they choose, each month, at their discretion.

https://riceowls.com/news/2018/8/15/gene...today.aspx

Excellent plan! Hope it’s as well-received as I expect!

I’m surprised there aren’t more comments on this. I think this is the best marketing idea I’ve ever seen for Rice athletics.

Maybe if more of this board was under 30

Agree - this is one of the best things to come out of Rice marketing in a long time. I would have used this extensively when I was under 30.

A year too late for me.

I think it's a great idea and value, even for young alumni that only come to Houston for games a handful of time per year - I personally have zero desire to attend every (or even half) of men's/women's basketball / baseball games since there are so many of them, but this makes it easy to pick and choose the ones I want to go to.

Amazing idea. They need to push this hard on the young alumni.

Great idea. Please let the public know someway and not just Owl followers. Maybe advertise at an Astros game.

Wait, you can't just save your student ID and hope the ticket-takers didn't notice it was a couple of years old? Worked for me pretty well in the mid-90's. Seriously though, I do think it's a really good idea. The price is right, comparable to a Netflix or Spotify subscription.

Yes, good idea. Now . . . more, please.

Interesting that you don't need to be an alum to qualify. And seeing as we probably have been drawing next to zero younger-than-30 nonalumni anyway, I certainly applaud taking a flyer on giving this cohort near-free tickets and seeing what happens.

I frankly think butts in seats are more valuable to us than dollars at this point. Any potential future conference upgrade will surely be influenced far more by actual attendance (i.e., the perception of our popularity) than by how that translates into our own private revenue (that we wouldn't be sharing anyway). So one pass a month for $10 is fine as a starting point, but if we see no appreciable impact, I hope we don't hesitate to get more aggressive. Sort of like the reverse of MoviePass, haha.

What other discrete groups of nonalumni that currently basically don't come to Rice events could we expand this to? Med Center workers? Vets? Cops & firefighters?

Med Center plan - or something like this.

Also, can a similar plan cross the divide between athletics and some of the other on-campus presentations or performances. Maybe with the Shepherd School, with a free ticket to a Shepherd School performance (each semester or season (fall, winter, spring)) as part of the package. I don't know if any other activities on-campus charge for entry, but you could pair things up, too.

For that matter, reverse it. A Shepherd School season package, and include an opportunity to redeem for a ticket each season (fall, winter, spring) to a sporting event.

Another idea - have a midweek baseball game or two during the afternoon (or late afternoon), and try to get various medical practices close a little early and have a group outing to a baseball game. I know it requires another college team to be able to support the timing (getting there earlier than normal), but give them a good experience that they want to come back to.