Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Skip navigation

2013 Bowl Alignment, Watch, & Discussion Thread

Post

fauowls44 said

Concessions at sporting events cost more money than they are worth…FAU is cheaper than most.  The cost of a soda isn't stopping anyone from coming.  If you don't want to pay, there are water fountains and you can get a drink for free.
Posted On: Dec 1st 2013, 8:38 PM #322909

Death, taxes and high concession prices at every sporting venue and movie theater across the land.  This will never change…My understanding of the concessions contract is they pay us to be there, so we get our money no matter they sell one hotdog or 1 million hotdogs…they assume the risk.  I am guessing if we do hit a certain threshold we probably share in the revenue, but for the most part I am guessing with our attendance so far we got our money.
Back to the top

Post

There is definitely not a lot of competence it seems with our marketing department as far as getting people from the community involved or rewarding season ticket holders, too bad it sheds such a poor light on our school as far as attendance 
Back to the top

Post

If concession prices are too high thats another reason fans stop coming to games. When it costs $32 for 1 soda 1 boiled lukewarm hot dog for a family of 4 your not gonna see people put in the money for FAU games when they can spend same amount and see the Miami Dolphins or UM or just stay home and watch the FAU game on tv.  


 Movie theatres may charge $5 for a large soda but thats a 44 ounce fountain drink with ice in the cup not the same 20 ounce soda you buy at a gas station.


What risk is there? If their bottled soda doesnt sell they can stick it in a vending machine and still make a healthy profit.



Back to the top

Post

I agree that the price of concessions does not inhibit someone from coming to the game, though it may slightly sour them on the experience, sure.

But I sympathize with John Z who is trying to explain that through the current contracts, we don't have control over things like parking or concessions so it's not like Pat Chun is the one who decided that we'll make up lost ticket revenues by charging an ungodly $7 for nachos.

The biggest thing about general attendance, and something that Athletics can't unilaterally address, is the disconnect between the students/alumni and the university. There's a general feeling that's permeated through graduating classes for decades that FAU is nickel-and-diming them to death with fees and tickets and everything else: tuition increases, student fees increases, housing rate increases, etc. They seem to talk about it in the UP at least once a year. And the backlash is because FAU doesn't do a good job of explaining decisions they make; most people don't know WHY such-and-such fee went up, they just knew it went up. The BOT also never really expresses concern about the rise in these prices; their data shows them that we are still on the low end compared to out-of-state colleges and their internal reports (the ones asking for more money) are saying, "Hey, we need this" not "Hey, we want this."

Couple that with parking tickets, the bookstore ripping them off when they try to return books, etc and people feel relieved to graduate because they can finally stop pouring money into the school. Needless to say that when FAU comes around looking for donations, Alumni Association memberships or season tickets, these disgruntled students are saying, "No way, I'm done giving you money." That's what I keep hearing from people.

And that's how you can have over 100k alumni and not fill a 30k seat stadium on a regular basis.
Back to the top

Post

voss749 said

If concession prices are too high thats another reason fans stop coming to games. When it costs $32 for 1 soda 1 boiled lukewarm hot dog for a family of 4 your not gonna see people put in the money for FAU games when they can spend same amount and see the Miami Dolphins or UM or just stay home and watch the FAU game on tv.  


 Movie theatres may charge $5 for a large soda but thats a 44 ounce fountain drink with ice in the cup not the same 20 ounce soda you buy at a gas station.


What risk is there? If their bottled soda doesnt sell they can stick it in a vending machine and still make a healthy profit.




Posted On: Dec 1st 2013, 11:18 PM #322917

My opinion is that our concessions are actually cheaper than Dolphin games…so concession pricing is not an issue.  Of course it's going to be more than 7-11, that's life.  It's not causing people not come to the game.
Back to the top

Post

owl2Doc said

I agree that the price of concessions does not inhibit someone from coming to the game, though it may slightly sour them on the experience, sure.

But I sympathize with John Z who is trying to explain that through the current contracts, we don't have control over things like parking or concessions so it's not like Pat Chun is the one who decided that we'll make up lost ticket revenues by charging an ungodly $7 for nachos.

The biggest thing about general attendance, and something that Athletics can't unilaterally address, is the disconnect between the students/alumni and the university. There's a general feeling that's permeated through graduating classes for decades that FAU is nickel-and-diming them to death with fees and tickets and everything else: tuition increases, student fees increases, housing rate increases, etc. They seem to talk about it in the UP at least once a year. And the backlash is because FAU doesn't do a good job of explaining decisions they make; most people don't know WHY such-and-such fee went up, they just knew it went up. The BOT also never really expresses concern about the rise in these prices; their data shows them that we are still on the low end compared to out-of-state colleges and their internal reports (the ones asking for more money) are saying, "Hey, we need this" not "Hey, we want this."

Couple that with parking tickets, the bookstore ripping them off when they try to return books, etc and people feel relieved to graduate because they can finally stop pouring money into the school. Needless to say that when FAU comes around looking for donations, Alumni Association memberships or season tickets, these disgruntled students are saying, "No way, I'm done giving you money." That's what I keep hearing from people.

And that's how you can have over 100k alumni and not fill a 30k seat stadium on a regular basis.
Posted On: Dec 1st 2013, 11:57 PM #322919
I agree with this to a degree those students who thought book prices were to high now do not but season tickets were most likely not going to buy tickets anyways.
FAU has only had Undergrad since 1988 so most of FAU's alum who went to school for all four years are not out of there 40's.
You must also considered none of those Alum saw a football team.
FAU now is last 4 years really are pushing away from just taking the kid from Broward and Palm beach who live with mom and dad and had to go to FAU as 4.3 thousand kids who live on campus begin to graduate and who are from out of state or other places in the state like tampa, orlando, etc you will see higher percent of those kids coming back as alum because they most likely chose to go to FAU and have more love for the school.

If FAU now graduates about 5k a year you hope 500-1000 of those kids are strong alum with that number you plus and solid student section and a couple thousand fans from the city you could see 20k strong or more at every game in about 10 years.
FAU is heading in the right direction when it comes to creating a good alumni base it is just going to take time.
To me FAU should really be counting alum to graduated in the last 4 years because those students went to a completely different school then a student who finished in 1995. Any alum we get from those early days are a bonus.
Back to the top

Post

Tim FAU98 said

voss749 said

If concession prices are too high thats another reason fans stop coming to games. When it costs $32 for 1 soda 1 boiled lukewarm hot dog for a family of 4 your not gonna see people put in the money for FAU games when they can spend same amount and see the Miami Dolphins or UM or just stay home and watch the FAU game on tv.  


 Movie theatres may charge $5 for a large soda but thats a 44 ounce fountain drink with ice in the cup not the same 20 ounce soda you buy at a gas station.


What risk is there? If their bottled soda doesnt sell they can stick it in a vending machine and still make a healthy profit.




Posted On: Dec 1st 2013, 11:18 PM #322917

My opinion is that our concessions are actually cheaper than Dolphin games…so concession pricing is not an issue.  Of course it's going to be more than 7-11, that's life.  It's not causing people not come to the game.
Posted On: Dec 2nd 2013, 12:12 AM #322920

 Exactly, I have not noticed our prices being overly high either. Go to any pro sports game, heck go to a county fair, and compared we are on the low end IMO
Back to the top

Post

Well you know, they can't just lower the price of nachos at the games…that would devalue the product…

 :Laughing:

So we are now going to complain about the price of food at the stadium?!?  That's just another excuse not to show up.  Nobody is forcing you to pay for food at games.  If you don't want to pay for it, eat before or after the game.  If you get thirsty, go to a water fountain.  The food at sporting events is expensive because it can be.  They have a captive audience who will pay $4 for a soda.  That's just capitalism. If they couldn't get people to buy it at that price, they'd be charging less.  FAU is actually a whole lot cheaper than most stadiums.  
Back to the top

Post

owl2Doc said

<br />
<br />
And that's how you can have over 100k alumni and not fill a 30k seat stadium on a regular basis.
Posted On: Dec 1st 2013, 11:57 PM #322919

Scary fact about that is MOST of those people live in the tri county area.

OC40s point is right on, if you went to FAU before 2000 you don't know football at your school, and those first few years only produced a handful of fans and connected alum. The last 5 years are when we've started to see a significant change in the campus culture, those are the alum that will come back in force.
Back to the top

Post

Even pro franchises recognize the need to make it easier for families.  This has run for the last several years at the Marlins stadium.

"The Pepsi 4-for-$54 on Family Sundays includes four tickets, four hot dogs and four Pepsi drinks."

Not the greatest seats, but at least they are not empty seats and they give them a chance to try it out while knowing there is a cap on what they will have to spend for the kids.  Except for parking, of course.

I submit that, yes, we know it will be expensive to go and participate, however, there are things that can be done without breaking the bank that will entice people to come.
Back to the top
Control functions: