The selection process for men's and women's hoops tickets begins this week. I visited the selection site and while the 3D graphics are great, there's no info on how to make the seat selection. Has anyone else visited the site? Thoughts? Info on process?

If you login to your duke club account there should be a link in there that will take you to the seat selection portal. I received an e-mail about it tonight so I think they just added it.

This link may work:

https://www.seats3d.com/ncaa/james_madis...ketball/#/

The first day of season ticket selection is over and it looks like about 850 tickets have been sold. Some of the seat selections so far are a little surprising, but the shaky seating configuration is driving it. I.e. the corners on the bench side have filled up quickly as they are adjacent to the club seats which are 5X more expensive.

As we’ve discussed over the past 4 years of design and construction, the premium seat options are lacking for an arena built in 2020. Industry studies indicate over 50% of arena revenue comes from only 10% of the attendees. Yet, JMU has signed off on a paltry 2 suites - sold out of course. Also only 44 court side seats - sold out. The second one can be fixed by adding chairs on the hardwood at each baseline, but some fans may have already purchased other seats since the existing inventory sold out. Too late to put the toothpaste back into the tube. Maybe JMU can retrofit some of the terrace seats into junior suites after the fact, but that seems unlikely after the initial construction money is gone.
And this is under COVID uncertainty. Demand for premium seat options would be significantly higher in a “normal” grand opening year.

The arena is looking good and hopefully it actually gets used in 2020 with COVID lingering to potentially spoil the party. We need some good mojo for the program.

I did a quick count of seats purchased so far. Don’t BDK me If I am off by a few.
Suites - 32. Sold out
Courtside 44. Sold out
Loge 44
Club 272
Terrace 6
Reserved lower bowl 450
Reserved upper bowl 10

About 250 premium seats left in the club/loge/terrace
About 7000 seats left for John Q Public and students, neither of which moves the needle for revenue.

The site was offline for a few hours yesterday afternoon, not sure when it came back up but there were definitely some first day people who are picking today.

Yearly Plea:

Hope those who buy the prime lower bowl seats actually use them. Even if they can't make a particular game, it takes so little effort to put them in the hands of kids/fans who would use them and root fer our Dukes.

Versus starting a new thread I thought I would comment on an existing one.


Is it possible JMU could/would sell a weekend club basketball season ticket next year?

No way I could get down to games during the week (as I once did), but if I could buy a club seat for weekends, I think I would likely do that. Like a mini-season club seat for weekends.

I always prefer to sit opposite the benches so I can kind of see what's going on between coaches and teams. I find it more interesting. In the Convo Center I actually sat in General Admission, even though I had season tickets, because I couldn't get seats in the reserved section where I could see properly.

(02-15-2021 10:28 AM)Dukester Wrote:  Versus starting a new thread I thought I would comment on an existing one.


Is it possible JMU could/would sell a weekend club basketball season ticket next year?

No way I could get down to games during the week (as I once did), but if I could buy a club seat for weekends, I think I would likely do that. Like a mini-season club seat for weekends.

The way many arenas handle this is allowing transfer rights for premium seating. I.e Corporation X buys the suite for the season. They can then resell it or gift it to anyone for select dates. I’m always looking for that option in my arena contracts. Our usage rate is often below 50% especially in NBA arenas. Too many midweek games against opponents that nobody cares about. Everyone wants to see Lebron and Steph Curry. Few if any want to see the Hornets host Sacramento on a Wednesday night.

I don’t see why there won’t be a resell market for the Club seats at JMU. However, there may be some unpurchased club seats which I think you are referring to. Seems like there could be an opportunity for weekend plans if the full season package wasn’t sold out.
Some money is better than no money, even moreso when that money is coming from outside the Harrisonburg bubble.

Maybe set up a minimum distance from home to the arena in order to qualify for weekend ticket packages. I know many country clubs have this for those outside of their prime geography.

I would think it would depend on demand. If there's a bunch of club seats open, they may do a second round (or if they're not getting much interest from the beginning, could open it up mid-selection) of mini-plans.

With the way this season has gone, next season is going to be awesome. I may actually hop on board for a couple reserved seats...doubt I'll be able to swing $1,050, but $250 - $450 isn't bad even if I can only make it over the mountain for weekend games. <- and that's assuming they don't up prices for next year

I would say "i doubt it" based on precedent. They don't do it for the football club so I doubt you'd see it for Courtside or Club seats (although courtside was sold out). Some of that probably is complicated by the minimum Proud and True gift and the seat contribution. I get the other side that will be argued about a compromise in jacking up the price for single game options too. I just don't see JMU opening that Pandora Box.

(02-15-2021 01:10 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  

(02-15-2021 10:28 AM)Dukester Wrote:  Versus starting a new thread I thought I would comment on an existing one.


Is it possible JMU could/would sell a weekend club basketball season ticket next year?

No way I could get down to games during the week (as I once did), but if I could buy a club seat for weekends, I think I would likely do that. Like a mini-season club seat for weekends.

The way many arenas handle this is allowing transfer rights for premium seating. I.e Corporation X buys the suite for the season. They can then resell it or gift it to anyone for select dates. I’m always looking for that option in my arena contracts. Our usage rate is often below 50% especially in NBA arenas. Too many midweek games against opponents that nobody cares about. Everyone wants to see Lebron and Steph Curry. Few if any want to see the Hornets host Sacramento on a Wednesday night.

I don’t see why there won’t be a resell market for the Club seats at JMU. However, there may be some unpurchased club seats which I think you are referring to. Seems like there could be an opportunity for weekend plans if the full season package wasn’t sold out.
Some money is better than no money, even moreso when that money is coming from outside the Harrisonburg bubble.

Maybe set up a minimum distance from home to the arena in order to qualify for weekend ticket packages. I know many country clubs have this for those outside of their prime geography.

This is creative thinking. Could we then offer those seats for mid- week games at a reduced price?

(02-15-2021 09:24 PM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  I would say "i doubt it" based on precedent. They don't do it for the football club so I doubt you'd see it for Courtside or Club seats (although courtside was sold out). Some of that probably is complicated by the minimum Proud and True gift and the seat contribution. I get the other side that will be argued about a compromise in jacking up the price for single game options too. I just don't see JMU opening that Pandora Box.

If it is anything like it is for football you will be able to purchase club seats if your Duke Club donation is at the level where you would have been able to purchase season tickets. Not sure what that amount is basketball club but for football it is $2250 a year.

(02-15-2021 09:24 PM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  I would say "i doubt it" based on precedent. They don't do it for the football club so I doubt you'd see it for Courtside or Club seats (although courtside was sold out). Some of that probably is complicated by the minimum Proud and True gift and the seat contribution. I get the other side that will be argued about a compromise in jacking up the price for single game options too. I just don't see JMU opening that Pandora Box.

Not sure it was publicized, but I do think the ticket office sold football club tickets on stud hub. Accordingly the prices were higher. I think I purchased a couple games on there where that was the case.

As others have mentioned, it sucks when people purchase good seats and then don't show. It looks and feels bad.

Certainly would believe demand would be up next year, even on the tail end of Covid which will likely keep some away. Versus buying a season ticket plan, and not using 50% of the tickets, I'll probably just use the second hand market to purchase prime seats for weekend games. Next fall is a long way away in the Convid era.