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Why is Louisville basketball attendance down? Pricing is among the woes
Tim Sullivan, Louisville Courier Journal Published 6:40 a.m. ET Jan. 15, 2019 | Updated 9:51 p.m. ET Jan. 15, 2019
Louisville handed UNC its worst home loss in 16 seasons. Now the Cardinals put themselves in a great position to make the NCAA Tournament Dominique Yates, Courier Journal, Louisville Courier Journal
Vince Tyra is looking for an antidote to apathy. With men’s basketball attendance in steep decline, the University of Louisville’s athletic director has implemented several initiatives and continues to solicit suggestions.
Chris Mack, meanwhile, says the solution is simple.
“I’m no dummy,” the Cardinals’ coach said. “If you win games, people come.”
Hard on the (Tar) heels of Saturday’s stunning upset of North Carolina, Mack’s attendance assumptions will be tested Wednesday night when U of L returns to the KFC Yum Center for a 7 p.m. game against Boston College. The Cardinals come home with an 11-5 record, only one spot removed from the Associated Press Top 25, but are averaging 26 percent fewer fans than they drew during their 2013 NCAA Championship season.
Just two years after Rick Pitino’s last U of L team averaged announced crowds of 20,846 at home, Mack’s first season has produced an average of 15,816 through 10 home games.
Courier Journal readers have responded to Tyra’s search for answers with a variety of ideas, complaints and concerns. Predictably, many of them center on pricing.
“To put it in a nutshell, the ticket prices are exorbitant,” Mark Clark said via email. “Combine that with the number of basketball games along with the fact that most games are televised, as well as the incidental costs of attending i.e., parking, high concession prices and you see why attendance is down.”
Prices, plainly, have risen, in part because of a facility fee imposed to cover the cost of arena lease concessions. Season tickets that cost $880 for a 19-game schedule in 2015-16 ($46.31 per game) were priced at $1,042 for this season’s 20-game home schedule ($52.10 per game).
“Offer lower ticket prices for the really bad seats,” suggested Steve Fitts of Jeffersonville, Indiana. "I paid $85 for a ticket in the nosebleed section of the UK-U of L football game in November and $90 for a ticket in the nosebleed section of the UK-U of L basketball game in December. I can see charging these prices for the good seats, but for the bad seats, it seems a bit excessive to me.”
While financial considerations are always a factor in ticket sales, recently exacerbated by tax reform that has eliminated the deductibility of seat donations, viewing U of L’s attendance decline in a dollar-dominated vacuum is to ignore national trends affecting numerous sports and certain off-the-court problems peculiar to U of L’s basketball program.
Consider: Though the University of Kentucky’s basketball attendance decline has been less steep than Louisville’s, the Wildcats are drawing 12 percent fewer fans at Rupp Arena so far this season than they did two years ago. And that’s without all the background noise that has permeated U of L’s program: a stripper scandal, the alleged bribery scheme behind Brian Bowen’s recruitment, FBI and NCAA investigations, the friction arising from the firings of Rick Pitino and Tom Jurich, etc.
“The U of L administration is getting what it deserves,” wrote Rick Barrack, a former Louisvillian now of Short Hills, New Jersey. “You can’t decide to put U of L sports ‘in its place’ and then complain about attendance. ... Attendance is down because they unjustly fired Pitino/Jurich and brought in a no-name unproven coach. Haven’t watched a single game or press conference since the school rushed to judgment.”
To Paul Murray of Lexington, Indiana, the attendance decline has less to do with spectator backlash than with an aging audience.
“U of L's core fan base is the baby boomer who grew up with Denny Crum and matured with Pitino,” Murray said. “The transition group from Peck Hickman to Crum (were) the boomers' parents who raised their kids on U of L sports, primarily basketball. Pitino's shenanigans didn't help, but the demographic of those who will pay unquestioningly today's outrageous prices is shrinking and shrinking fast. Many haven't merely dropped out; they're in the graveyard.
“Today's Gen-Xers and the Millennials have less interest in sports in general, much less in attending live at enormous cost and inconvenience, when it all can be streamed on demand. As Mr. (Aldous) Huxley said, it's a brave new world.”
U of L spokesman Kenny Klein says fan feedback indicates the attendance issues are largely attributable to temporary conditions like tax reform and scandal fatigue and that culture change, fan outreach and reviving the basketball program’s competitiveness should lead to larger crowds.
Shorter-term, a Cards Rewards loyalty program encourages repeat business with prizes and in-game experiences. Fans who have tickets scanned to at least 15 home games are also eligible for rewards and discounts on future season ticket packages.
To eliminate the need for in-person transactions, a GO CARDS application enables fans to sell, transfer or donate tickets from a cell phone.
Technology, of course, has its limits. So long as there are quasi-captive audiences, there will be customers complaining about the price of food and beverages.
“The concession prices are outrageous,” wrote Brock Roberts, an assistant football coach at Collins High School in Shelbyville. “Just to go to a game and enjoy yourself you are going to spend an arm & leg. I am not sure the cure for this epidemic, but it is much easier to watch from my recliner. I also have a better view and beer is much cheaper.”
The NFL’s Atlanta Falcons found that cutting concession prices by 50 percent in moving to Mercedes-Benz Stadium resulted in a 16 percent increase in food and beverage sales. With attendance in decline in many major sports, though, trading per-item profit for increased volume can make for a complex calculation.
“The pricing’s difficult because it’s not cheap for (Centerplate) either,” Klein said. “Everything goes up (including) their costs for the people they hire. They’ve made an investment in the arena with all the equipment that they’ve put in.
“You’re trying to find a happy medium for everybody. It’s not to gouge anybody by any stretch.”
Doug Dukes, who has held season tickets since 1981, objects to concession prices, to the advertising onslaught that leaves him feeling as if “I was in the middle of a video game,” and to season ticket holders “getting hosed” by prime non-conference games being played at neutral sites.
“If Chris Mack hadn’t come on board, I would have given up my season tickets this year,” Dukes wrote. “... In spite of my rambling on about the state of affairs, I can’t help but look forward to Coach Mack bringing in that great crop of recruits next year.”
Therein lies an antidote to apathy: anticipation.
Tim Sullivan: 502-582-4650, tsullivan@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @TimSullivan714. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/tims.
Why is Louisville basketball attendance down? Pricing is among the woes
Tim Sullivan, Louisville Courier Journal Published 6:40 a.m. ET Jan. 15, 2019 | Updated 9:51 p.m. ET Jan. 15, 2019
Louisville handed UNC its worst home loss in 16 seasons. Now the Cardinals put themselves in a great position to make the NCAA Tournament Dominique Yates, Courier Journal, Louisville Courier Journal
Vince Tyra is looking for an antidote to apathy. With men’s basketball attendance in steep decline, the University of Louisville’s athletic director has implemented several initiatives and continues to solicit suggestions.
Chris Mack, meanwhile, says the solution is simple.
“I’m no dummy,” the Cardinals’ coach said. “If you win games, people come.”
Hard on the (Tar) heels of Saturday’s stunning upset of North Carolina, Mack’s attendance assumptions will be tested Wednesday night when U of L returns to the KFC Yum Center for a 7 p.m. game against Boston College. The Cardinals come home with an 11-5 record, only one spot removed from the Associated Press Top 25, but are averaging 26 percent fewer fans than they drew during their 2013 NCAA Championship season.
Just two years after Rick Pitino’s last U of L team averaged announced crowds of 20,846 at home, Mack’s first season has produced an average of 15,816 through 10 home games.
Courier Journal readers have responded to Tyra’s search for answers with a variety of ideas, complaints and concerns. Predictably, many of them center on pricing.
“To put it in a nutshell, the ticket prices are exorbitant,” Mark Clark said via email. “Combine that with the number of basketball games along with the fact that most games are televised, as well as the incidental costs of attending i.e., parking, high concession prices and you see why attendance is down.”
Prices, plainly, have risen, in part because of a facility fee imposed to cover the cost of arena lease concessions. Season tickets that cost $880 for a 19-game schedule in 2015-16 ($46.31 per game) were priced at $1,042 for this season’s 20-game home schedule ($52.10 per game).
“Offer lower ticket prices for the really bad seats,” suggested Steve Fitts of Jeffersonville, Indiana. "I paid $85 for a ticket in the nosebleed section of the UK-U of L football game in November and $90 for a ticket in the nosebleed section of the UK-U of L basketball game in December. I can see charging these prices for the good seats, but for the bad seats, it seems a bit excessive to me.”
While financial considerations are always a factor in ticket sales, recently exacerbated by tax reform that has eliminated the deductibility of seat donations, viewing U of L’s attendance decline in a dollar-dominated vacuum is to ignore national trends affecting numerous sports and certain off-the-court problems peculiar to U of L’s basketball program.
Consider: Though the University of Kentucky’s basketball attendance decline has been less steep than Louisville’s, the Wildcats are drawing 12 percent fewer fans at Rupp Arena so far this season than they did two years ago. And that’s without all the background noise that has permeated U of L’s program: a stripper scandal, the alleged bribery scheme behind Brian Bowen’s recruitment, FBI and NCAA investigations, the friction arising from the firings of Rick Pitino and Tom Jurich, etc.
“The U of L administration is getting what it deserves,” wrote Rick Barrack, a former Louisvillian now of Short Hills, New Jersey. “You can’t decide to put U of L sports ‘in its place’ and then complain about attendance. ... Attendance is down because they unjustly fired Pitino/Jurich and brought in a no-name unproven coach. Haven’t watched a single game or press conference since the school rushed to judgment.”
To Paul Murray of Lexington, Indiana, the attendance decline has less to do with spectator backlash than with an aging audience.
“U of L's core fan base is the baby boomer who grew up with Denny Crum and matured with Pitino,” Murray said. “The transition group from Peck Hickman to Crum (were) the boomers' parents who raised their kids on U of L sports, primarily basketball. Pitino's shenanigans didn't help, but the demographic of those who will pay unquestioningly today's outrageous prices is shrinking and shrinking fast. Many haven't merely dropped out; they're in the graveyard.
“Today's Gen-Xers and the Millennials have less interest in sports in general, much less in attending live at enormous cost and inconvenience, when it all can be streamed on demand. As Mr. (Aldous) Huxley said, it's a brave new world.”
U of L spokesman Kenny Klein says fan feedback indicates the attendance issues are largely attributable to temporary conditions like tax reform and scandal fatigue and that culture change, fan outreach and reviving the basketball program’s competitiveness should lead to larger crowds.
Shorter-term, a Cards Rewards loyalty program encourages repeat business with prizes and in-game experiences. Fans who have tickets scanned to at least 15 home games are also eligible for rewards and discounts on future season ticket packages.
To eliminate the need for in-person transactions, a GO CARDS application enables fans to sell, transfer or donate tickets from a cell phone.
Technology, of course, has its limits. So long as there are quasi-captive audiences, there will be customers complaining about the price of food and beverages.
“The concession prices are outrageous,” wrote Brock Roberts, an assistant football coach at Collins High School in Shelbyville. “Just to go to a game and enjoy yourself you are going to spend an arm & leg. I am not sure the cure for this epidemic, but it is much easier to watch from my recliner. I also have a better view and beer is much cheaper.”
The NFL’s Atlanta Falcons found that cutting concession prices by 50 percent in moving to Mercedes-Benz Stadium resulted in a 16 percent increase in food and beverage sales. With attendance in decline in many major sports, though, trading per-item profit for increased volume can make for a complex calculation.
“The pricing’s difficult because it’s not cheap for (Centerplate) either,” Klein said. “Everything goes up (including) their costs for the people they hire. They’ve made an investment in the arena with all the equipment that they’ve put in.
“You’re trying to find a happy medium for everybody. It’s not to gouge anybody by any stretch.”
Doug Dukes, who has held season tickets since 1981, objects to concession prices, to the advertising onslaught that leaves him feeling as if “I was in the middle of a video game,” and to season ticket holders “getting hosed” by prime non-conference games being played at neutral sites.
“If Chris Mack hadn’t come on board, I would have given up my season tickets this year,” Dukes wrote. “... In spite of my rambling on about the state of affairs, I can’t help but look forward to Coach Mack bringing in that great crop of recruits next year.”
Therein lies an antidote to apathy: anticipation.
Tim Sullivan: 502-582-4650, tsullivan@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @TimSullivan714. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/tims.
