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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on Sept 19, 2007 15:03:28 GMT -5
Would the ability to process credit carda and GoCards probably make it easier for some students to buy tickets the first time they walk by the Hoya Blue table or see the phonebooth promo? Probably. Is it an actualy barrier to getting tickets before the season starts? I don't really think so because if you are putting $100 on your credit card you or whoever pays the credit card is going to have to pay it off sometime. If you have little money and use your parent's credit card asking them for $100 shouldn't be a huge deal as you already have the ability to charge a used car to them (given what the credit limit is on most student's credit cards). The other point is that if you want to have the tickets sold and the seats filled on a regular basis the way the athletic department and HB are selling the tickets this year makes sense - allowing a students parents to buy the tickets before they set foot on-campus doesn't guarantee that they will want to go to the games later in the season, nor would allowing students to purchase tickets online with a credit card, using their GoCard, or even charging it to their student account (which some schools allow) - actually paying for the tickets with cash or a check is a committment that a student is going to remember and probably means that they will be at a number of the games. That said - it would be nice if McDonough were open later one day for students - the committment of having the ticket window open from 1-7 or 8 wouldn't be as great and would really deflect a lot of criticism that the windows aren't open enough. Thank you for the explanation on how credit cards work. So you're telling me that if I put something on my credit card, eventually I will have to pay for it? WHAT?!?! Oh God! People use credit cards for convenience. The vast majority of retailers use credit cards because they have found that customers are at least a little bit more likely to buy something if they can use a credit card to pay for it. This is not a large segment of the population, but it is significant enough that credit cards are accepted almost everywhere. This was HoyaSpirit's initial point, and no one has provided a valid counter-argument to that point. Further, it's not a question of commitment. This point is ludicrous. Like any business, the Athletic Department is motivated by ticket sales. Getting money in the door is the top priority for the ticket office. The AD should not and does not test the commitment of its customers by making it less convenient to buy tickets. It's time to come to grips with the fact that not everything the Athletic Dept. (namely the ticket office) does makes total sense. You're doing a disservice to yourself and your fellow posters by defending the ticket office by creating a notion that "commitment to the team" is enhanced by paying with cash or check. You'd be better off just acknowledging that HoyaSpirit has made some good points, and the AD (namely the ticket office) could stand to update some of its practices. If you wanted me to put my real point into 1 sentence it would read like this: "Its kind of whiney to say that the same people who are tabling to get you the tickets and are coming up with clever promotions to sell them should do more simply because you had to walk back to your room and grab a check book." I'm sure you know how a credit card works. I really couldn't care less if you do or don't. I'm just saying that its whiney to complain about not being able to use your gold card at a table in red square or leos and you had to pay with a check or cash. Just go get the money. I'm sorry you lots 10 minutes of your day doing that. I think you'll live though. I'm not saying that it was instituted as a policy directly to test your committment, just like holding all the home games in Chinatown isn't to test your committment - but it does. That was my only point with that.
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Post by TrueHoyaBlue on Sept 19, 2007 15:05:47 GMT -5
I hate to bring economics into this, but on some level, there's a very simple calculation as to whether this maximizes revenue.
If athletics receives $100 per season ticket bought with cash/check, and $98.50 for every ticket bought with a credit card ($1.50-2.50 might be a reasonable charge to expect for a $100 purchase), then whether or not restricting the method of payment maximizes revenue depends on the elasticity caused by this restriction.
In other words, if 2,500 students buy tickets at $100 apiece, you're looking at $250,000 in revenue.
If 2,500 students buy with a credit card, with (after-fee) revenue of $98.50 each, the total revenue is $246,250. (Or a net loss of $3,750).
In order to make up that loss, you'd have to assume that 39 additional students would buy tickets with a credit card that would not do so with cash or check.
Given the current demand for tickets, and the high level of buzz on campus for the team, I can see that call going either way.
At the same time (and I don't think Athletics is doing this, but a cold-hearted economist could), one could say that those 40 tickets bought by student fans who don't care enough about going to games to put down money could instead be sold, at a face value of around $30, to at least three sell-out level home games (Louisville? ND? Cuse? Nova?) making up the difference in revenue.
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Hoya06
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Post by Hoya06 on Sept 19, 2007 15:21:50 GMT -5
Don't you realize. If they take credit card then DADDY can pay for it!!
Cash... now that would come out of Johnny's "recreational" stash.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Sept 19, 2007 15:38:47 GMT -5
or you jsut have mommy and daddy put some money in your account or have mom and dad write you a check. It's not that hard. especially when we're tabling right outside of leos there's an ATM right in side. Just go in and withdraw $100. If you don't have $100s in your account I don't know how you're going to write a check for it or be able to pay off your credit card.
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SoCalHoya
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Post by SoCalHoya on Sept 19, 2007 16:08:56 GMT -5
I demand more dedication from the student body. If you don't have the cash, donate blood, organs, whatever in order to get it to buy the tickets. C'mon people, FILL THE BOOTH!
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kchoya
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Post by kchoya on Sept 19, 2007 17:26:54 GMT -5
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Post by vcjack on Sept 19, 2007 17:48:10 GMT -5
Standard Big Ten/ACC "lets pretend its a highschool gym and everyone will know how great our atmosphere is" ![::)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/eyesroll.png) And HoyaSpirit to one of your points that people havn't adressed yet about mailing it in you "can" mail it in, the only problem is that the AD forgot to send a return address when they mailed out the forms Some guessed and mailed it anyways but the majority were confused as hell
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Hoya06
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Post by Hoya06 on Sept 19, 2007 17:52:12 GMT -5
19,200 in a highschool gym?? where did you go to school?
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Post by vcjack on Sept 19, 2007 17:56:06 GMT -5
19,200 in a highschool gym?? where did you go to school? Highschool as in the ideology behind it (ie making student tix "exclusive") rather than the numbers Its the same throughout the Big Ten (Including Northwestern which really does play in a higschool gym)
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Post by dajuan on Sept 19, 2007 17:57:52 GMT -5
As I understand it, the purpose of this thread was to point out some deficiencies in the way the AD and ticket office do things. HoyaSpirit made a number of valid points in doing this. The only people to deal with these points in an adult and rational manner were those posters who questioned whether or not it would be in the AD's best economic interest to sell ticket via credit cards.
I appreciate what Hoya Bleu has done by helping the AD and the ticket office to sell student season tickets, but that does not an answer to any of HoyaSpirit's concerns about the efficiency of the ticket office -- concerns which many of us share.
So there's no reason for posters to get all up in arms or take anything personally. Hoya Bleu, thank you for selling tickets, but many of us are saying it would be more convenient and arguably financially beneficial if the ticket office would make some technological innovations such as taking a credit cards.
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on Sept 19, 2007 18:16:35 GMT -5
I certainly sympathize with the scheduling problems of students in picking up their tickets by walking just over 50 yards from the quad to McDonough and having to find their check book or $100 cash. Here's a tip: I bought a day planner. It's not like last year where you were penalized for not getting tickets early.
It's September 19th and the first game is on November 10th. If you don't have money you could get a work study job between now and then and earn the $100, much less wait a week for $100 from your parents to clear into your account.
Quit whining. Bring cash. Go Hoyas.
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tal1286
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Post by tal1286 on Sept 19, 2007 19:37:05 GMT -5
Is that phone booth in Leo's accurate? Have only 1000 students really bought tickets?
If so, I'd say the reason ticket sales are lagging behind last year is that there is absolutely no rush to buy them. That's why I haven't bought them yet. That's why at least 5 or 6 of my friends haven't bought them. In fact, of my friends that I've talked to about tickets and aren't in Hoya Blue, none of them have tickets yet specifically because there is no deadline. And don't even bring up commitment or dedication cause it's BS. We didn't miss a game last year.
If Hoya Blue or the AD set a deadline, people wouldn't complain about anything and they would probably sell 2000 more tickets in a week or two.
I think that's the weakness of the promotion.
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lichoya68
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Post by lichoya68 on Sept 19, 2007 19:49:52 GMT -5
GO HOYA BLUE FILL THE BOOTH OR PACK THE BOOTH OR PACK THE PHONE BOOTH OR WHATEVER YOU WILL DO IT MAKE LICHOYA RIGHT NEED 2750 TO REALLY BREAK THE RECORD GO HOYAS ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Eurostar
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Post by Eurostar on Sept 19, 2007 20:03:09 GMT -5
Let me add one positive thing that I just saw tonight... it might be old news though. On MASN during the Yanks/Orioles game they have a ticker at the bottom with future events and promotions and stuff and one was for our Hoyas - giving out a number and the website guhoyas.com to buy season tickets for the 2007-2008 basketball season.. I thought that was pretty sweet
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Post by vcjack on Sept 19, 2007 20:04:19 GMT -5
I really think either position regarding the credit card acceptance is idefensible unless you have concrete numbers in front of you because it seems like an issue based purely on $$$ not any kind of overall strategy or larger issue (ie not another hoya blue is bad or good debate)
The AD aparently believes that it is financially for the best that it avoids the transaction fees that come with allowing credit card purchases and by whatever price model they use they believe it to outway the potential financial hit of deterring students who would otherwise only use plastic. You or I really can't say if this is the right strategy or not unless we have the necessary data, which no one does besides the AD
Same thing goes for why the ticket windows only opperate from 1-5, that the AD believes that those are the optimal hours to mantain and pay staff to man the windows. If we knew the data, then we could make judgements
In the absence of data that we'll never get, we can really only debate about what we assume students will do. And my interpretation of my direct experiances of selling tickets is that the limitation on payment options is not a big issue. Perhaps my association with Hoya Blue makes me deaf to complaints that other students may have, or its more probable that we're making mountains out of anthills
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on Sept 19, 2007 20:09:03 GMT -5
And don't even bring up commitment or dedication cause it's BS. We didn't miss a game last year. Re-read what I said. I didn't say that any of the students were not dedicated or commited. I said that actually having students pay in person as opposed to buying tickets online, sending mailings to students parents before the year, or allowing students to just put the tickets on their GU Student Account is more likely to encourage that students attend all the games they can make it to. That's all. I'm not saying that's the point of the ticket sales changes this year or that the students aren't dedicated. Just that this way of doing things isn't so terrible (certainly not worth complaining about in a public forum) and it has at least one beneficial side-effect.
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tal1286
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Post by tal1286 on Sept 19, 2007 23:07:39 GMT -5
And don't even bring up commitment or dedication cause it's BS. We didn't miss a game last year. Re-read what I said. I didn't say that any of the students were not dedicated or commited. I said that actually having students pay in person as opposed to buying tickets online, sending mailings to students parents before the year, or allowing students to just put the tickets on their GU Student Account is more likely to encourage that students attend all the games they can make it to. That's all. I'm not saying that's the point of the ticket sales changes this year or that the students aren't dedicated. Just that this way of doing things isn't so terrible (certainly not worth complaining about in a public forum) and it has at least one beneficial side-effect. i wasn't really responding to you...i was just defending myself cause I'd seen people mention it. I'm not interested in debating the pros and cons of credit cards. I was just throwing my 2 cents out there because I saw the advertisement phone booth in leo's barely full of basketballs (just to the 1000 tape mark) and wanted to say that I think that the lack of a deadline is behind the fact that nobody seems to have bought tickets yet. then again, the thing might just be a ploy and more people have bought than I realize.
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Post by HoyaSpirit on Sept 20, 2007 4:48:40 GMT -5
Spirit- Just want to clarify that you get a bracelet when you walk into the stadium on gameday. You do not have to go to McD or anywhere else on a different day "in the middle of winter" to wait on line. Hoya06 - thanks for clarifying that. I used to live about a 15 minute walk from McD - both when I lived on Prospect St. and when I lived in Burleith. And going r/t to McD to get a bracelet would seem to be too much. Thanks also Florida for the word that the lower bowl is only around 8k - it seems like a poor architectural design to have 12k in an upper bowl, but so it goes. Like I said, if there were/are 10k below, it would seem they should be able to make 1/4 for students, but if there are only 8k, it makes more sense because of that. I think it's great that HoyaBlue is working hard to sell tix, though it is still the case the AD should make it a lot easier to get tickets including CC sales, online sales and longer ticket booth hours. Even the most rinky dink places can pull those off. The notion of a 2% fee is tiny when you consider that a) if you lose even 2% of sales as a result of no cc, you've already lost the same amount then b) the extra effort of HoyaBlue counting the money, and submitting it, then someone at the AD counting it, then going to the bank and making a deposit etc. If a sale is made online via CC, the $ is in the bank immediately and the accounting is already done. It's automatic and no effort and therefore less cost to the school. Those are the reasons almost every place takes credit cards.
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Post by HoyaSpirit on Sept 20, 2007 5:27:53 GMT -5
I hate to bring economics into this, but on some level, there's a very simple calculation as to whether this maximizes revenue. If athletics receives $100 per season ticket bought with cash/check, and $98.50 for every ticket bought with a credit card ($1.50-2.50 might be a reasonable charge to expect for a $100 purchase), then whether or not restricting the method of payment maximizes revenue depends on the elasticity caused by this restriction. In other words, if 2,500 students buy tickets at $100 apiece, you're looking at $250,000 in revenue. If 2,500 students buy with a credit card, with (after-fee) revenue of $98.50 each, the total revenue is $246,250. (Or a net loss of $3,750). In order to make up that loss, you'd have to assume that 39 additional students would buy tickets with a credit card that would not do so with cash or check. Given the current demand for tickets, and the high level of buzz on campus for the team, I can see that call going either way. At the same time (and I don't think Athletics is doing this, but a cold-hearted economist could), one could say that those 40 tickets bought by student fans who don't care enough about going to games to put down money could instead be sold, at a face value of around $30, to at least three sell-out level home games (Louisville? ND? Cuse? Nova?) making up the difference in revenue. Your CC numbers are correct - I've owned a couple companies - and they are accurate, and I think actually make my point. If there are something like 6,000 undergrads (not counting several thousand grad students who i can't recall if they can buy season tix?) - and about 3,600 of them aren't currently buying tickets. I think you could easily get 50 or more of them by making it a lot easier to get tickets online 24/7, or for their parents to buy them for them as a present online 24 / 7, or at the HB booth with cc, or at the ticket booth with cc. If you even got 2% of the non-buyers to buy, that would be 72 more sales. And those added 72 sales right now are going to be people sitting in the nose-bleeds behind the baskets at the 3 sellouts - and I guarantee you aren't going to get anywhere near $30 a game for such seats. I'd guess $12-$15 for nosebleeds behind the baskets. Anyone talking about - well you just have to walk back to your dorm and get your checkbook, and then over to McDonough etc. - that point is well taken by serious fans, but you're trying to lure the 3,600 who are more casual fans and who might not buy them unless it's easy. They might say "I'll do it later" but a lot of people don't. They get busy and get distracted. Many also later think to themselves (at least this was fairly common when I was there in the late 80s even amongst many people who were fans, not hardcore fans, but fans - when reggie, smitty, zo and deke were there) - they think - why should I pay $100. I only end up going to 6 games (due to exams, and holiday breaks being out of town etc.) and I'll just use the season tickets my friends can't use. I'll save $100. But then they only end up at 2-3 games b/c of the effort of finding unused tickets. But if you get them when they're feeling it and have plastic in hand, the school banks $100 and there are that many more fans at the games. Besides the money, the team is more pumped, the regular fans are more pumped b/c there's more of a real college b-ball experience, and those things translate to some degree to more games won, better tourney seeds (and more tourney revenue when we go deep) and higher tickets prices we can charge to regular fans. And the students who go to 6 games a year versus 2-3 are probably a bit more likely to donate to the school in the future, or buy some Hoya merchandise now or in the future, or similar. They're also out of habit and involvement then more likely to get tickets in the future in years where we're not a preseason top 8 team and there's not as much buzz. Also, in this situation, students are customers and the idea is to provide service to customers, and make things easier for your customers, because that increases their loyalty and makes them more satisfied - and that should be enough to cover all $4,000 in cc fees. That's what - 1/5th of 1 students tuition in the short-term. And what percentage of total alumni donations per year - it would be a droplet. When I look back at Georgetown, I see a school that did not seem that interested in my satisfaction on a whole wide range of things (I won't go into those) and the fact is it certainly effects the level to which I want to donate. While JT3 has made some major strides and I credit him for being different, it "seems" (note the word seems please - I'm not making the case that it's definite overall) the school is still mired in the same philosophy overall - and certainly imo is in this situation, and since hoops is one of the few areas alums remain in contact with the school, you would think they would make this an area they were showing off how they treat students - esp. in an area where it would be incredibly easy (again any rinky dink place can get a CC thing in place, including online - most CC companies will give you an online site for free) to treat them properly.
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lichoya68
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Post by lichoya68 on Sept 20, 2007 7:52:57 GMT -5
kc hoya ohio state 4000 student tix and ohio state has a little larger student body ok gu is like 6500 or so undergrads and the last i checked isnot ohio state undergrads more like 25000 or 30000 huhuh i d like to see the percent of stud season tix for a major college bball program yup might get that national record dfw got any way to find out go hoyas
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