This is absolutely mind blowing! Please reach out to @richlyons and stop this insanity

@CalAthletics these are crazy prices if you want the stadium packed. Just give tickets to burners, remove the tarps and we’ll get this place packed. Students shouldn’t have to pay this much pic.twitter.com/qAQm5kipQh

— Justin Wilcox’s Therapist (@nato_base) September 30, 2024

$43 for a bleacher seat is wild

It's like they are intentionally trying to keep the attendance down…

Sorry, but have you thought this is *NOT* the week to be pushing for free student tickets? Miami is a premium game and the student section will absolutely be full. The bureaucrats will at best ignore call for free tickets and at worse use the call for free ticket as proof they know more than you and then ignore future requests. Furthermore, getting more students to the Miami game will not fill the rest of the stadium, just make a full looking section even more crowded. The athletic department absolutely needs to be focusing on doing whatever it takes to fill in the rest of CMS.

Going forward, the NC State game and Syracuse games will likely have issues with student turnout (and obviously alumni turnout). Those games should have free or $10 student tickets.

colorado, ur marketing instincts r way off, r u employed by the athletic dept & do u live in colorado springs?

the miami game is exactly the right time to offer FREE tixs to all students so they can experience/celebrate the magic of cal football & hopefully become future donors/builders of berkeley

sorry offering a poor as **** student a 43 dollah tix thereby ensuring they will not become cal lifetime football fan is really just dumb as ****, one of those kids whose studying at moffett library because they can't afford a tix is gonna start a high tech company someday & the tens of millions of dollars they might've donated to berkeley is not gonna happen

the miami game with an electric 7:30 pm kickoff is 100% the right time to build/groom lifetime fans particularly when we STORM THE FIELD if we defeat the 7th ranked hurricanes

I think ducky's point is that the price they are charging is too much, especially for students, and especially if you are trying to pack the house to create an electric atmosphere against a premium opponent. This is a night game, so many alums who would want to go may not be able to go for various logistical reasons. Students are already there on campus, so they are the most logical market to address.

If they don't want to give away the tickets for free, charge some small nominal price like $10 and have the ticket stub be good for a $3 discount on a Mendoza burrito at La Burrita or something, a win-win-win situation.

Bottom line is the AD needs to do *something* to get attendance up, and a game like this is a golden opportunity. Once students experience the electric atmosphere of a full stadium, they are more likely to be hooked and attend future games. Not to mention the energy it will give to the team.

What they could do, or what I would do. I'd keep a waitlist of students asking for free tickets and the day before the game give all unsold tickets away for free to them outside the student section. Yes, a lot of them will try to pack in the student section but there's only so many people you can cram in there. That way the rest of the stadium will be full and rowdy and it could even allow us to remove the tarps and not look embarrassing on national TV.

Conversely they could remove the tarps (already making zero dollars on seats that don't exist) and make it a secondary student section and give those seats away for free to students. Best of both worlds, you still get a better atmosphere and you aren't giving away anything of value , or that you hope is of value, for free. In fact, by giving away the currently nonexistent tarp seats for free to students they are actually making money because they would already make $0 from it and now have a couple thousand people in the stadium who will buy food, beer, merch. Win-win

Shocky1 said:

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colorado, ur marketing instincts r way off, r u employed by the athletic dept & do u live in colorado springs?

the miami game is exactly the right time to offer FREE tixs to all students so they can experience/celebrate the magic of cal football & hopefully become future donors/builders of berkeley

sorry offering a poor as **** student a 43 dollah tix thereby ensuring they will not become cal lifetime football fan is really just dumb as ****, one of those kids whose studying at moffett library because they can't afford a tix is gonna start a high tech company someday & the tens of millions of dollars they might've donated to berkeley is not gonna happen

the miami game with an electric 7:30 pm kickoff is 100% the right time to build/groom lifetime fans particularly when we STORM THE FIELD if we defeat the 7th ranked hurricanes

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I'm taking back what I said. This is the great game for all the reasons you stated. Especially if there is a way to get extra students to fill in the low corner/end zone seats on the south side that will look like crap on TV.

I'm assuming the AD is too lazy to do anything on short notice though. So I'd say continue the push and double down for NC State and Syracuse.

Totally agree. Our current way of operating reminds me of the A's. I never understood why the A's, drawing like 8k fans, never thought to lower their ticket prices. If they had lowered the prices, I'm sure they would have drawn way more fans. I think they ran a $1 ticket promotion and the house was packed.

You make just as much from ticket sales by selling more tickets at a lower price, as selling fewer tickets at a higher price, but you create a home crowd advantage.

my apologies cb for the over the top response, apparently my 9:30 am yoga/meditation class with master teach anton didn't chill me the **** out!!

my daughter shay is graduating from denver law this year & gonna work for the largest big law firm in downtown denver, do u got any opinions on living in cherry creek vs highland park for her & her fianc?

ColoradoBear said:

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Sorry, but have you thought this is *NOT* the week to be pushing for free student tickets? Miami is a premium game and the student section will absolutely be full. The bureaucrats will at best ignore call for free tickets and at worse use the call for free ticket as proof they know more than you and then ignore future requests. Furthermore, getting more students to the Miami game will not fill the rest of the stadium, just make a full looking section even more crowded. The athletic department absolutely needs to be focusing on doing whatever it takes to fill in the rest of CMS.

Going forward, the NC State game and Syracuse games will likely have issues with student turnout (and obviously alumni turnout). Those games should have free or $10 student tickets.

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This type of "squeeze our consumers" thinking is so short sighted. Our students already pay the university tens of thousands of dollars. We don't have a good enough product to nickel and dime our student. They are the lifeblood for all future fans and donations.

There is a reason that people posting on this board are all in the 50s, 60s, and 70s+ .

Plus concessions alone will be worth it if they come in for $10.

Shocky1 said:

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STORM THE FIELD

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Does the ACC have any of the asinine rules/fines about rushing onto the field that he P12 did?

TedfordTheGreat said:

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ColoradoBear said:

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Sorry, but have you thought this is *NOT* the week to be pushing for free student tickets? Miami is a premium game and the student section will absolutely be full. The bureaucrats will at best ignore call for free tickets and at worse use the call for free ticket as proof they know more than you and then ignore future requests. Furthermore, getting more students to the Miami game will not fill the rest of the stadium, just make a full looking section even more crowded. The athletic department absolutely needs to be focusing on doing whatever it takes to fill in the rest of CMS.

Going forward, the NC State game and Syracuse games will likely have issues with student turnout (and obviously alumni turnout). Those games should have free or $10 student tickets.

---

This type of "squeeze our consumers" thinking is so short sighted. Our students already pay the university tens of thousands of dollars. We don't have a good enough product to nickel and dime our student. They are the lifeblood for all future fans and donations.

There is a reason that people posting on this board are all in the 50s, 60s, and 70s+ .

Plus concessions alone will be worth it if they come in for $10.

---

I guess it's somewhat justifiable to squeeze us donors for a few extra dollars. But trying to squeeze the students. *** are we going here.

If a student wants to go to a game, they should NEVER EVER be priced out. EVER

I'd challenge anyone to find another school charging $43 for an individual student ticket. It's ****ing insane.

They AD really needs to hire somebody from the airline industry who understands that once the flight takes off, or the game begins, every unsold $43 seat is now worth . . . zero.

HearstMining said:

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They AD really needs to hire somebody from the airline industry who understands that once the flight takes off, or the game begins, every unsold $43 seat is now worth . . . zero.

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The AD needs to be sent packing and replaced by someone with professional sports management and marketing experience. He learned none of that in his career in the Army. Why anyone thought a retired Army officer, whose only D1 AD experience was 3 years at a U.S. government funded military academy, would make a good AD for UC Berkeley, especially at this critical time in our history, is beyond me. And worse, he is paid $1.3 million a year and was given an 8 year extension. And even more ridiculous, there are still people on this board who defend this disaster.

ducky23 said:

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TedfordTheGreat said:

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ColoradoBear said:

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Sorry, but have you thought this is *NOT* the week to be pushing for free student tickets? Miami is a premium game and the student section will absolutely be full. The bureaucrats will at best ignore call for free tickets and at worse use the call for free ticket as proof they know more than you and then ignore future requests. Furthermore, getting more students to the Miami game will not fill the rest of the stadium, just make a full looking section even more crowded. The athletic department absolutely needs to be focusing on doing whatever it takes to fill in the rest of CMS.

Going forward, the NC State game and Syracuse games will likely have issues with student turnout (and obviously alumni turnout). Those games should have free or $10 student tickets.

---

This type of "squeeze our consumers" thinking is so short sighted. Our students already pay the university tens of thousands of dollars. We don't have a good enough product to nickel and dime our student. They are the lifeblood for all future fans and donations.

There is a reason that people posting on this board are all in the 50s, 60s, and 70s+ .

Plus concessions alone will be worth it if they come in for $10.

---

I guess it's somewhat justifiable to squeeze us donors for a few extra dollars. But trying to squeeze the students. *** are we going here.

If a student wants to go to a game, they should NEVER EVER be priced out. EVER

I'd challenge anyone to find another school charging $43 for an individual student ticket. It's ****ing insane.

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For example, I know that UofO is charging $30 for an individual ticket to watch the Buckeyes play in Eugene in a couple of weeks (screenshot below). Granted, there likely won't be any individual tickets available because the students who paid for the entire season will claim all of the available tickets.

In what world should our football program be charging more than UofO? Hopefully, someday we get to that point but this is the first weekend in nearly 20 years where we have the national spotlight to show the rest of the country that we care about football. This is a huge marketing opportunity for the school in addition to the program and our genius of an AD decides to be penny wise and pound foolish.

The camera looking across the field from the press box will now likely be looking at a partially empty student section when it should look more like it did against SDSU. Lyons can't get rid of JK and his cronies soon enough
.

Ok so to be fair, the student section will be full. But just because it's full should not give the AD justification to HIKE up the price of individual student tickets. Not only is it financially shortsighted, it's just plain wrong.

It would only take a tiny bit of creativity to either provide free tickets or deeply discounted tickets and take those tarps down. How amazing would it look with the entire end zone packed with students? How much of a possible home field advantage would that have provided?

ducky23 said:

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Ok so to be fair, the student section will be full. But just because it's full should not give the AD justification to HIKE up the price of individual student tickets. Not only is it financially shortsighted, it's just plain wrong.

It would only take a tiny bit of creativity to either provide free tickets or deeply discounted tickets and take those tarps down. How amazing would it look with the entire end zone packed with students? How much of a possible home field advantage would that have provided?

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Are Cal students required to get a ticket for each game if they have a pass? Another question is how many student season tickets have sold at Cal. And how many student does the student section hold (or how many can it 'legally' hold, as the school probably has the legal obligation to ensure there aren't too many tickets sold). Does the AD even try to estimate how many students will show up? Selling extra tickets without extra space will result in overcrowding. But again looking forward, there are games where free tickets won't lead to that.

The Oregon method of ticket distribution ensures that everyone has a ticket reserved so they can fill up the place to capacity. But there won't be surprises on game day where there is no space.

ColoradoBear said:

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ducky23 said:

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Ok so to be fair, the student section will be full. But just because it's full should not give the AD justification to HIKE up the price of individual student tickets. Not only is it financially shortsighted, it's just plain wrong.

It would only take a tiny bit of creativity to either provide free tickets or deeply discounted tickets and take those tarps down. How amazing would it look with the entire end zone packed with students? How much of a possible home field advantage would that have provided?

---

Another question is how many student season tickets are sold at Cal. And how many student does the student section hold (or how many can it 'legally' hold)? Does the AD even try to estimate how many students will show up. Selling extra tickets without extra space will result in overcrowding.

The Oregon method of ticket distribution ensures that everyone has a ticket reserved so they can fill up the place to capacity. But there won't be surprises on game day where there is no space.

---

Ok once again…:the stadium has an entire area that is available and that we know for a fact no tickets have been sold for. All we need to do is take off the tarps.

This has the added benefit of lessening liability in case the main student section is overcrowded. Once it's full you can then herd all the students to the GA overflow section.

So legally speaking, it's also the smart move.

ducky23 said:

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ColoradoBear said:

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ducky23 said:

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Ok so to be fair, the student section will be full. But just because it's full should not give the AD justification to HIKE up the price of individual student tickets. Not only is it financially shortsighted, it's just plain wrong.

It would only take a tiny bit of creativity to either provide free tickets or deeply discounted tickets and take those tarps down. How amazing would it look with the entire end zone packed with students? How much of a possible home field advantage would that have provided?

---

Another question is how many student season tickets are sold at Cal. And how many student does the student section hold (or how many can it 'legally' hold)? Does the AD even try to estimate how many students will show up. Selling extra tickets without extra space will result in overcrowding.

The Oregon method of ticket distribution ensures that everyone has a ticket reserved so they can fill up the place to capacity. But there won't be surprises on game day where there is no space.

---

Ok once again…:the stadium has an entire area that is available and that we know for a fact no tickets have been sold for. All we need to do is take off the tarps.

This has the added benefit of lessening liability in case the main student section is overcrowded. Once it's full you can then herd all the students to the GA overflow section.

So legally speaking, it's also the smart move.

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Those tarps are about 5 or 6 beers away from becoming slip and slides, too, furthering liability.

TedfordTheGreat said:

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ColoradoBear said:

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Sorry, but have you thought this is *NOT* the week to be pushing for free student tickets? Miami is a premium game and the student section will absolutely be full. The bureaucrats will at best ignore call for free tickets and at worse use the call for free ticket as proof they know more than you and then ignore future requests. Furthermore, getting more students to the Miami game will not fill the rest of the stadium, just make a full looking section even more crowded. The athletic department absolutely needs to be focusing on doing whatever it takes to fill in the rest of CMS.

Going forward, the NC State game and Syracuse games will likely have issues with student turnout (and obviously alumni turnout). Those games should have free or $10 student tickets.

---

This type of "squeeze our consumers" thinking is so short sighted. Our students already pay the university tens of thousands of dollars. We don't have a good enough product to nickel and dime our student. They are the lifeblood for all future fans and donations.

There is a reason that people posting on this board are all in the 50s, 60s, and 70s+ .

Plus concessions alone will be worth it if they come in for $10.

---

I think it has more to do with the fact the younger people don't use forums. The demographics of forum users is even older than FB groups, which is already seen as an "old person" platform.

pingpong2 said:

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TedfordTheGreat said:

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ColoradoBear said:

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Sorry, but have you thought this is *NOT* the week to be pushing for free student tickets? Miami is a premium game and the student section will absolutely be full. The bureaucrats will at best ignore call for free tickets and at worse use the call for free ticket as proof they know more than you and then ignore future requests. Furthermore, getting more students to the Miami game will not fill the rest of the stadium, just make a full looking section even more crowded. The athletic department absolutely needs to be focusing on doing whatever it takes to fill in the rest of CMS.

Going forward, the NC State game and Syracuse games will likely have issues with student turnout (and obviously alumni turnout). Those games should have free or $10 student tickets.

---

This type of "squeeze our consumers" thinking is so short sighted. Our students already pay the university tens of thousands of dollars. We don't have a good enough product to nickel and dime our student. They are the lifeblood for all future fans and donations.

There is a reason that people posting on this board are all in the 50s, 60s, and 70s+ .

Plus concessions alone will be worth it if they come in for $10.

---

I think it has more to do with the fact the younger people don't use forums. The demographics of forum users is even older than FB groups, which is already seen as an "old person" platform.

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I've been hanging out with the burners this year, and let me just say, interacting with a bunch of 25-35 year olds is…..very different than hanging out with some people here. For better and worse.

ColoradoBear said:

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ducky23 said:

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Ok so to be fair, the student section will be full. But just because it's full should not give the AD justification to HIKE up the price of individual student tickets. Not only is it financially shortsighted, it's just plain wrong.

It would only take a tiny bit of creativity to either provide free tickets or deeply discounted tickets and take those tarps down. How amazing would it look with the entire end zone packed with students? How much of a possible home field advantage would that have provided?

---

Are Cal students required to get a ticket for each game if they have a pass? Another question is how many student season tickets have sold at Cal. And how many student does the student section hold (or how many can it 'legally' hold, as the school probably has the legal obligation to ensure there aren't too many tickets sold). Does the AD even try to estimate how many students will show up? Selling extra tickets without extra space will result in overcrowding. But again looking forward, there are games where free tickets won't lead to that.

The Oregon method of ticket distribution ensures that everyone has a ticket reserved so they can fill up the place to capacity. But there won't be surprises on game day where there is no space.

---

When you pay for the student ticket pass at Cal you are guaranteed admission into every home football game. So, it is basically like a regular season ticket and the school has no/limited ability to forecast whether you will actually show up or not.

A lot of schools have the priority pass like Oregon which just grants you early access to claim your free ticket. My guess is that there is some deadline before every game where any unclaimed student tickets are then returned to the school sell on an individual basis.

A lot of the other schools in the country realize that having a full raucous student section is more important than any small monetary gain you may make. I think Georgia has a similar system to Oregon and theirs is $60 for the entire seaon. Given the product we have been putting onto the field for the last 20 years there is no way we should be charging more than either of those 2 schools.

The easy argument is a full student section at least provides some help to the players on the field (assuming they aren't throwing cards). And if they help win games then you will have an easier time selling the tickets that go for real $$$.

ducky23 said:

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ColoradoBear said:

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ducky23 said:

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Ok so to be fair, the student section will be full. But just because it's full should not give the AD justification to HIKE up the price of individual student tickets. Not only is it financially shortsighted, it's just plain wrong.

It would only take a tiny bit of creativity to either provide free tickets or deeply discounted tickets and take those tarps down. How amazing would it look with the entire end zone packed with students? How much of a possible home field advantage would that have provided?

---

Another question is how many student season tickets are sold at Cal. And how many student does the student section hold (or how many can it 'legally' hold)? Does the AD even try to estimate how many students will show up. Selling extra tickets without extra space will result in overcrowding.

The Oregon method of ticket distribution ensures that everyone has a ticket reserved so they can fill up the place to capacity. But there won't be surprises on game day where there is no space.

---

Ok once again…:the stadium has an entire area that is available and that we know for a fact no tickets have been sold for. All we need to do is take off the tarps.

This has the added benefit of lessening liability in case the main student section is overcrowded. Once it's full you can then herd all the students to the GA overflow section.

So legally speaking, it's also the smart move.

---

Would love to see the tarps gone, but they are selling some of terrace box seats on the elevated
platform, and those are sold out for Miami and Furd. That platform blocks most of the seats behind it. So other than the first 15-20 rows, those are
obstructed view seats. Whether it made sense to sell ~80 'premium' seats at $250 each but render 6k seats unusable - not sure what part of the AD decided that one.

It would be great if someone figured out a better use of the south end zone by next year. I liked the old Young Alumni section in the old CMS in that it was basically GA with everyone standing all game. Way more fun. More comfortable too in that no knees in the back and easy to go in and out. I don't think it would hurt to try a GA standing section somewhere just to try it. Soccer clubs and even the clippers are selling end zone seats to the rowdier fans. I think the biggest loss/gap in fandom is young alumni from the last 10 years - feel like the fun of that section quickly went away after the remodel. P and PP are super empty to.

Wear gold! Or don't. What is this marketing dept.

UPDATE: have been informed it’s NOT OFFICIALLY A GOLD OUT, they’re just encouraging students only to wear gold to make the student section pop (am I on a student email listserv still???).

Anyway, feel free to wear your gold, blue or Pop-Tart costumes! https://t.co/SrK8l6w5MZ

— Grant Marek (@Grant_Marek) October 1, 2024