I hope that the powers that be realize that it is not the coach or the win/loss percentage that has kept me from renewing my season tickets. IT IS THOSE DAMN NIGHT GAMES. It is impossible for me to attend when I can't get back to Fremont before midnight or 1:00 a.m. For a lot of us that is just too damn late.
It was not the coach that kept me from renewing
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Last: 9 yr ago by mbBear
I got stranded in Berkeley because my car got locked in a lot because it was too late. Uber-ing home across the bay at 2am and then coming back the next day to get my car sucked.
If we start playing better, we'll likely have better scheduling.
If we start playing better, we'll likely have better scheduling.
mdcspe69;842794472 said:
I hope that the powers that be realize that it is not the coach or the win/loss percentage that has kept me from renewing my season tickets. IT IS THOSE DAMN NIGHT GAMES. It is impossible for me to attend when I can't get back to Fremont before midnight or 1:00 a.m. For a lot of us that is just too damn late.
I would let Cal know why your not renewing.
So, see you in 2024 (when the TV contract expires)? I'm not saying you are off base at all here, just that it's likely not changing anytime soon.
If you include weeknight games, I believe about half of the Pac-12 games were at night. And Cal played 3 of 6 home games at night this year. Seems like par for the course.
Obviously scheduling is not optimal. I also believe the late game time announcements are killing single game advance sales. There are a bunch of people that would like to go to a few games a year, but they wait for the game time announcement because why buy something w/o knowing the time commitment. Then, if other events come up in the interim, they just bail on the Cal game, no penalty.
If you include weeknight games, I believe about half of the Pac-12 games were at night. And Cal played 3 of 6 home games at night this year. Seems like par for the course.
Obviously scheduling is not optimal. I also believe the late game time announcements are killing single game advance sales. There are a bunch of people that would like to go to a few games a year, but they wait for the game time announcement because why buy something w/o knowing the time commitment. Then, if other events come up in the interim, they just bail on the Cal game, no penalty.
wifeisafurd;842794479 said:
I would let Cal know why your not renewing.
Cal's AD has no time for my concerns about late games. (There were virtually no night games when we signed up for ESP.) No answer from AD or his office to my email.
Cal AD has similar non response to my email for taking away Hawaii home game so they could make $1 million extra by having the game moved to Australia.
Gosh, you would think they would have someone at least answer my email concerns. But guess my ESP tickets don't matter.
They've got us by the you know whats. The TV contract (with the revenue) isn't going away so we're stuck with night games. Unless, unless we start performing much better. Then we might get better time slots.
I really don't like the night games much especially those that aren't on Saturday. It can get really cold in that stadium. I'm going to renew but I'm not happy about "The Game Day Experience": the piped in music, the ads, the on field promotions, and even the fireworks at the beginning of the game. I'm old school. Going to games was about football, band, and being with friends. All the other crap is a distraction for me.
I'm pretty sure the drop in season ticket sales has sent a message and has got them shaking in their shoes but that debt isn't going away anytime soon so I think we are stuck with all the marketing crap too. And lagging sales will probably mean more ads and promos.
At the end of the day you still gotta say GO BEARS!
I really don't like the night games much especially those that aren't on Saturday. It can get really cold in that stadium. I'm going to renew but I'm not happy about "The Game Day Experience": the piped in music, the ads, the on field promotions, and even the fireworks at the beginning of the game. I'm old school. Going to games was about football, band, and being with friends. All the other crap is a distraction for me.
I'm pretty sure the drop in season ticket sales has sent a message and has got them shaking in their shoes but that debt isn't going away anytime soon so I think we are stuck with all the marketing crap too. And lagging sales will probably mean more ads and promos.
At the end of the day you still gotta say GO BEARS!
There is no system in place to reply to letters or emails.Maybe some day, with the right AD, something will be figured out.
Night games, short notice and no reply to concerns. sounds like a recipe for success.
Night games, short notice and no reply to concerns. sounds like a recipe for success.
I'm down in Morgan Hill. I have a 30 minute drive to my mom's in San Jose where we meet-up. From there about 1 hour 20 to 30 minutes to the garage. With the walk to our CMS seats being about 20 minutes, I figure about 2.5 hours each way. For late games, not uncommon for me to get home at 2 am, or even later.
Married and two littles, they don't join those games, and if I go, there is grief. Sick kid or kids, or wife, I for sure don't go. Crazy rain, team playing like crap, or if I've had it with the HC, those unfortunately become factors for me in deciding if I want to hassle with the consequences of getting home so late... My colleagues are often recipients of such tickets.
As the little ones get older, this will be less problematic for me though.
Married and two littles, they don't join those games, and if I go, there is grief. Sick kid or kids, or wife, I for sure don't go. Crazy rain, team playing like crap, or if I've had it with the HC, those unfortunately become factors for me in deciding if I want to hassle with the consequences of getting home so late... My colleagues are often recipients of such tickets.
As the little ones get older, this will be less problematic for me though.
oskidunker;842794506 said:
There is no system in place to reply to letters or emails.Maybe some day, with the right AD, something will be figured out.
Night games, short notice and no reply to concerns. sounds like a recipe for success.
It's insane but true. I've sent one or two emails to Mike myself and they just disappear into the void. Can't remember if it was similar with Sandy but I would at least speak with her periodically by phone. Communication with donors is not their strongest suit.
mdcspe69;842794472 said:
I hope that the powers that be realize that it is not the coach or the win/loss percentage that has kept me from renewing my season tickets. IT IS THOSE DAMN NIGHT GAMES. It is impossible for me to attend when I can't get back to Fremont before midnight or 1:00 a.m. For a lot of us that is just too damn late.
Even later from Grass Valley. We kept our season tickets through the very low lows and never thought of giving them up, even when we spent a couple of years in Pennsylvania (our friends got to use them) and 11 years in SoCal. The losing never bothered us that much. But now the night games and the overall experience just makes it too much. Getting home at 2 or 2:30 and driving at night have brought our 45 year run to an end. We'll pick and choose our games now, day games only, plus Big Game.
oskidunker;842794506 said:
There is no system in place to reply to letters or emails.Maybe some day, with the right AD, something will be figured out.
Night games, short notice and no reply to concerns. sounds like a recipe for success.
What a joke operation at the AD. Basic communication with fans/ donors is a MINIMUM. No wonder they can't sell season tickets when they treat current ticket holders like dirt. Very unprofessional.
did you relay this while canceling tickets?Cal Geek;842794487 said:
Cal's AD has no time for my concerns about late games. (There were virtually no night games when we signed up for ESP.) No answer from AD or his office to my email.
Cal AD has similar non response to my email for taking away Hawaii home game so they could make $1 million extra by having the game moved to Australia.
Gosh, you would think they would have someone at least answer my email concerns. But guess my ESP tickets don't matter.
Sebastabear;842794519 said:
It's insane but true. I've sent one or two emails to Mike myself and they just disappear into the void. Can't remember if it was similar with Sandy but I would at least speak with her periodically by phone. Communication with donors is not their strongest suit.
.
At least some emails to Sandy got a reply. Right now no emails to AD get replies. NONE.
wifeisafurd;842794538 said:
did you relay this while canceling tickets?
Yes, I told ATO I was not renewing because of these issues. And no reply from emails to AD. Message I get is they don't care about my ESP seats. Strange, since they are not sold out. And stranger still since renewals are down.
If possible, I'd like to see the conference structure the TV contracts so that the night games get distributed evenly among teams in the conference and an upper limit be placed on the number of night home games a team is scheduled to play. Also, I don't understand why the schedule can't be set in stone at the start of the season like in basketball. Things have gotten way out of hand and TV has much too much control over scheduling.
They are still agonizing over the start time of The Cal Arizona basketball game. No game time set. Basketball will be next as they seek to squeeze every dollar.
Dont like basketball week day games that start at 6pm? When they wont tell you until 6 days before you will like it less. But the fans are an afterthought.
Dont like basketball week day games that start at 6pm? When they wont tell you until 6 days before you will like it less. But the fans are an afterthought.
I just left a voicemail with my ATO rep saying that I wasn't renewing because of too many night games. It won't make a difference, but at least they know.
No, they don't. Vote with your feet.CalBearForever;842794505 said:
They've got us by the you know whats.
Somebody here recently mentioned the Oregon game 8-10 years ago... maybe the first night game? The one where we broke out the yellow unis. That was a blast! One night game a year is a special event. Two is bearable (no pun intended... well, maybe). More than two is a deal-breaker for many of us.
This must be an issue at ALL the schools in the conference. Why can't we all go to whomever-the-hell and say hey, we tried this, but it's ruining the product for our fans and we we want to renegotiate to one night game a year, per school or, compromise position, two night games?
I know, contract, blah, blah, blah, but contracts can be renegotiated. All the schools together, we must have SOME leverage, don't we? How naive am I being here?
Probably very naive, no doubt. I'm guessing that we're using the $$$ from TV to expand our coach's salary pool, so that we can win more games, so that we can draw more fans, so that... looks like a never-ending cycle upward, in terms of money.
Okay, I get it, but between this and the football head injuries situation, how is college football going to survive?
This must be an issue at ALL the schools in the conference. Why can't we all go to whomever-the-hell and say hey, we tried this, but it's ruining the product for our fans and we we want to renegotiate to one night game a year, per school or, compromise position, two night games?
I know, contract, blah, blah, blah, but contracts can be renegotiated. All the schools together, we must have SOME leverage, don't we? How naive am I being here?
Probably very naive, no doubt. I'm guessing that we're using the $$$ from TV to expand our coach's salary pool, so that we can win more games, so that we can draw more fans, so that... looks like a never-ending cycle upward, in terms of money.
Okay, I get it, but between this and the football head injuries situation, how is college football going to survive?
Big C_Cal;842794778 said:
Somebody here recently mentioned the Oregon game 8-10 years ago... maybe the first night game? The one where we broke out the yellow unis. That was a blast! One night game a year is a special event. Two is bearable (no pun intended... well, maybe). More than two is a deal-breaker for many of us.
The 2006 game, the first yellow uni game, had a 5 pm ABC kickoff.
(The 2008 Oregon game had a 12:30 pm kickoff in the rain.)
[video=youtube;vqicOS7VmUs][/video]
For me it was no transgender bathrooms, no open bar, heated seats, and especially when they changed the cocktail waitresses to waiters...
I admit I renewed in December for tax reasons- little did I know the administration saw renewals as a vote of confidence/no confidence on Dykes.
I admit I renewed in December for tax reasons- little did I know the administration saw renewals as a vote of confidence/no confidence on Dykes.
I still have the little pocket schedule from my senior year (1976) and the latest any game started was 3pm, away at little bro. Things have changed quite a bit since.
This is insane! How much would it cost to staff a low level response team with a student intern or 2 to handle this type of function? Donor/season ticket buyer care and feeding should be a very high priority.
I already did when the kid called me to renew.
Are you guys trying your spam blocker folder? Just an idea.
im one year ahead of the curve. i did not renew last year after 60 years of having season tickets plus esp. i will again not renew this year unless the insanity stops. they want me to watch on tv so will comply.
This times 1,000,000. That's what the networks want and what the Pac-12 and Cal signed on to.calgo430;842795047 said:
im one year ahead of the curve. i did not renew last year after 60 years of having season tickets plus esp. i will again not renew this year unless the insanity stops. they want me to watch on tv so will comply.
"Thank you for your recent comment directed to Mike Williams. Someone will reach out to you soon to address your concerns"
Just an idea that might save a few renewals.😉
Just an idea that might save a few renewals.😉
I feel sorry for the networks.
ESPN especially. If their parent company didn't lose all that money on other properties like Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, Disney resorts and merchandising, they wouldn't feel the need to make a profit by having Cal games on at 1:00 A.M. in New York City.
Come on Cal fans, the fate of entertainment empires rest on your willingness to make a late night mad dash to catch BART with your toddlers & grandparents in tow.
ESPN especially. If their parent company didn't lose all that money on other properties like Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, Disney resorts and merchandising, they wouldn't feel the need to make a profit by having Cal games on at 1:00 A.M. in New York City.
Come on Cal fans, the fate of entertainment empires rest on your willingness to make a late night mad dash to catch BART with your toddlers & grandparents in tow.
This is far too common from what I have heard.
The only thing that matters is winning.
A winning team turns the game into an event, rather than an act of sacrifice and pilgrimage.
Relying on fan loyalty that translates to dollars while putting out a crap product and not listening to your most dedicated customers leads to indifference -- see the former San Diego Chargers.
The crack rock of TV money won't go away however so the only sustainable solution is to go "all in" and build a winning, contending, program. College football is big business now and you either compete like in any other business or you don't bother. The system is certainly flawed and far from any ideals of "amateur sports" but that is the reality.
A winning team turns the game into an event, rather than an act of sacrifice and pilgrimage.
Relying on fan loyalty that translates to dollars while putting out a crap product and not listening to your most dedicated customers leads to indifference -- see the former San Diego Chargers.
The crack rock of TV money won't go away however so the only sustainable solution is to go "all in" and build a winning, contending, program. College football is big business now and you either compete like in any other business or you don't bother. The system is certainly flawed and far from any ideals of "amateur sports" but that is the reality.
technobear;842795111 said:
The only thing that matters is winning.
A winning team turns the game into an event, rather than an act of sacrifice and pilgrimage.
Relying on fan loyalty that translates to dollars while putting out a crap product and not listening to your most dedicated customers leads to indifference -- see the former San Diego Chargers.
The crack rock of TV money won't go away however so the only sustainable solution is to go "all in" and build a winning, contending, program. College football is big business now and you either compete like in any other business or you don't bother. The system is certainly flawed and far from any ideals of "amateur sports" but that is the reality.
I agree from a short-term, pragmatic standpoint. However, long-term, too many night games is going to diminish the product. Cal needs to band together with other schools and form a critical mass that will work to cap the night games to 1-2 per season.
Calbears.com has a live chat option with the ticket office...Likely a low-level/student employee but would probably pass along any concerns.
Big C_Cal;842795117 said:
I agree from a short-term, pragmatic standpoint. However, long-term, too many night games is going to diminish the product. Cal needs to band together with other schools and form a critical mass that will work to cap the night games to 1-2 per season.
Agree as well... didn't mean to imply that night games are a great idea but that audience demand and Cal's leverage would increase -- I suppose those are obvious points... but being deep in debt (desperate for money) and a mediocre program is a rough negotiating position. If other schools in the Pac12 are willing to take the same position, that would be the way.
Big C_Cal;842795117 said:
I agree from a short-term, pragmatic standpoint. However, long-term, too many night games is going to diminish the product. Cal needs to band together with other schools and form a critical mass that will work to cap the night games to 1-2 per season.
Fans are complaining all over the conference about night games. Eventually I believe the networks will deliver and make some concessions
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