Chris Mack hasn't coached a game but he's got his first Yum Center win
Danielle Lerner, Louisville Courier JournalPublished 12:38 p.m. ET Sept. 28, 2018
Six weeks before the University of Louisville men's basketball tip-off, Chris Mack is already putting fans in seats at the Yum Center.
The excitement surrounding the new Louisville men's basketball coach has been enough for the athletic department to stay on pace to hit its ticket sales goal even with the challenges of rebooting the program and bucking a national trend of attendance declines.
The men's basketball program so far has collected $11.9 million in ticket revenue, said athletics spokesman Kenny Klein. And athletic director Vince Tyra told the Courier Journal on Thursday he is "confident" sales will continue to rise to meet, if not exceed, $13.1 million.
"Obviously we expected a drop in season tickets. I just think that's a national trend, not a Louisville trend," Tyra said. "And frankly, the excitement Chris Mack has brought to the fan base and the program certainly helps. Everybody is excited about basketball again and sees where the direction of the program is going."
Louisville has sold 13,681 men's basketball season tickets so far for 2018-19; Tyra said he thinks that figure will grow though it likely will not reach the 16,960 sold in 2017-18.
Tyra is banking on enticing fans to buy bundled and single-game tickets to marquee home games — with
opponents like Michigan State, Kentucky and Duke — in order to close the gap and reach the budget's revenue goal.
"I just think with the schedule we have and a couple more promotions to come, we are going to have in-game, single-game tickets and multi-packs people are going to buy that'll cover any shortfall in season tickets," Tyra said. "We saw that in football with the WKU game, which was terrific in terms of tickets sold. People walked up and got single-game tickets."
The athletic association has budgeted $13.1 million in men's basketball ticket revenue for 2018-19,
a slight drop compared to $13.7 million the year before.
The expected revenue decline was based on the prior season's ticket sales and one less home game on the 2018-19 schedule, as well as a new federal tax bill which made donations for premium seats no longer tax-deductible.
Price points for men's basketball tickets didn't change this season, but donation figures have dropped due in part to the tax law and in part to the scandals that have embroiled the program over the last year.
"It'll be interesting to see when it's all said and done where we end up on season tickets," Tyra said. "Some of that is attributable to what went on in the tax change, and the natural trend in attendance is always going to be a challenge."
National college basketball attendance has been dropping over the past decade. Last season, attendance averages for NCAA Division I men's basketball teams rose slightly for the first time in 10 years.
Louisville's attendance dipped last season, and athletics officials are hoping fans will help the program bounce back this season.
Revenues from men's basketball are budgeted to account for 28 percent of all athletics revenue for 2018 and 24 percent for 2019. Those figures are in line with the actual 26 percent of revenue from 2017.
Tyra said he thinks Louisville is in "pretty good shape" to match its budget on both men's basketball ticket revenue and donations, and Mack's recent success on the recruiting trail can't hurt either.
The Cards have landed
five pledges in the 2019 recruiting class, including four pledges this month.
"I can't really talk about recruiting, but I think it shows the direction the program is going, and it's going to be a bad year to miss out on that," Tyra said.
Danielle Lerner: 502-582-4042; dlerner@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @Danielle_Lerner. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/daniellel.
