I understand that CAL and the atheltic department are struggling financially. I am a moderate level Bear Backer and my experience over the last several years is "less for more".
For several years I was invited to a breakfast with Sandy. Not so the last few years even though my donation has gone up. We used to have a Coaches Tour. No more. I am sure when we go back to Memorial my seats will be moved as much because the unsold ESP tickets will be saved for the big donors to purchase as well as because of the fewer seats in the ESP sections. I also hear more and more about gatherings with high end donors. Ticket prices keep going up, donor levels keep going up, product on the field has gone down. Timing wise it seems to me better to raise prices when you have a better product on the field not when you have a poorer product.
One of my pet peeves has been why has there been far better food choices on the east side of Memorial than on the west side. It seems to me that the Athletic Department has not thought about the experience of the loyal fans.
It seems to me a short sighted strategy to ignore the less than big time donor fan base. With the new TV contract we may well see many CAL fans watching the games on tv and a half full Memorial Stadium. From a revenue point of view we will have 10,000 less seats in the new Memorial. At $60 per ticket that is $600,000 less revenue per game and approximately $3,600,000 less revenue per year. I heard from an inside sourcethat the rationale for fewer seats was to make a ticket to a CAL football game the hotest ticket in the Bay Area.
To make up the short fall, ticket prices have to go up by more than $10 per seat considering that the students probably won't ( at least I hope not) won't have to pay $10 more per game.
3 or 4 years from now we can look back and see if from a bear backer perspective the changes were positive or not.
For several years I was invited to a breakfast with Sandy. Not so the last few years even though my donation has gone up. We used to have a Coaches Tour. No more. I am sure when we go back to Memorial my seats will be moved as much because the unsold ESP tickets will be saved for the big donors to purchase as well as because of the fewer seats in the ESP sections. I also hear more and more about gatherings with high end donors. Ticket prices keep going up, donor levels keep going up, product on the field has gone down. Timing wise it seems to me better to raise prices when you have a better product on the field not when you have a poorer product.
One of my pet peeves has been why has there been far better food choices on the east side of Memorial than on the west side. It seems to me that the Athletic Department has not thought about the experience of the loyal fans.
It seems to me a short sighted strategy to ignore the less than big time donor fan base. With the new TV contract we may well see many CAL fans watching the games on tv and a half full Memorial Stadium. From a revenue point of view we will have 10,000 less seats in the new Memorial. At $60 per ticket that is $600,000 less revenue per game and approximately $3,600,000 less revenue per year. I heard from an inside sourcethat the rationale for fewer seats was to make a ticket to a CAL football game the hotest ticket in the Bay Area.
To make up the short fall, ticket prices have to go up by more than $10 per seat considering that the students probably won't ( at least I hope not) won't have to pay $10 more per game.
3 or 4 years from now we can look back and see if from a bear backer perspective the changes were positive or not.
