For those who say the students show up at games... Link to article about attendance

TheRealPokeChop

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mods need to hit this thread hard. People need to back off the personal stuff.

I went to UA and the next person telling me they helped pay my tution will be getting a bill for my student loans.
 

KrAzY3

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I went to UA and the next person telling me they helped pay my tution will be getting a bill for my student loans.
Seriously? This isn't personal stuff, it is fact. I am a taxpayer in the state of Alabama. So were my parents. If I didn't help pay for your tuition, my parents did. That's just reality and frankly I'm tired of people who reach into my pocket not being aware they were there. I'm not being political, or trying to be at least but this is the truth. Someone else brought up tuition, and I won't even get into student loans...

"State appropriations made up 29 percent of the University's revenue"
 

KrAzY3

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I think that's all very valid as it gives us insight to a group of people, some of which that take a heck of a lot for granted, including being able to go to Alabama games.

As to the rest of what you said, taxpayers in the state of Alabama do fund the University. That's just how it is, there's nothing political or personal in stating this incontrovertible fact. I think it's easy to take things for granted when you don't think about the entire issue, and I think that's exactly what Alex was doing.
 
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JDCrimson

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The allotment was increased almost entirely because Dr. Witt didnt want to short change the students during the stadium as enrollment was growing exponentially since his arrival. The AD agreed that student seating needed to be increased during the expansion. I my mind this was a goodwill gesture to the students that was not fully accepted. Its apparent with a 30k average enrollment less than half of the students have of the students actually have an interest in attending the games.

Personally, now with the scanning of tickets, I think students and TP members both should receive an additional point(s) for that ticket being used at every game. While not as much as money, I think the AD should incentivize attendance.

Lower the student allotment to 12k (maybe add some standing room only allotments on a game by game basis). Now that we have maxed out our expansion the students have unfortunately set a precedent for their demand over tickets. Going forward the students will have to deal with how those tickets get allocated. But put me in the corner of not continually providing the greeks priority over seating.

Reduce the waiting list with the newly available seating with again a attendance incentive attached to the ticket. Personally, i wish they would go ahead and put a staying incentive on the ticket as well, where all tickets are scanned that exit prior to the start of the 4th quarter (scanned tickets would get no point(s)).
 

Snuffy Smith

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The allotment was increased almost entirely because Dr. Witt didnt want to short change the students during the stadium as enrollment was growing exponentially since his arrival. The AD agreed that student seating needed to be increased during the expansion. I my mind this was a goodwill gesture to the students that was not fully accepted. Its apparent with a 30k average enrollment less than half of the students have of the students actually have an interest in attending the games.

Personally, now with the scanning of tickets, I think students and TP members both should receive an additional point(s) for that ticket being used at every game. While not as much as money, I think the AD should incentivize attendance.

Lower the student allotment to 12k (maybe add some standing room only allotments on a game by game basis). Now that we have maxed out our expansion the students have unfortunately set a precedent for their demand over tickets. Going forward the students will have to deal with how those tickets get allocated. But put me in the corner of not continually providing the greeks priority over seating.

Reduce the waiting list with the newly available seating with again a attendance incentive attached to the ticket. Personally, i wish they would go ahead and put a staying incentive on the ticket as well, where all tickets are scanned that exit prior to the start of the 4th quarter (scanned tickets would get no point(s)).
I disagree with the Tide Pride incentive statement. I have Tide Pride in the upper deck. I sell those and buy season lower deck because that is where I choose to sit. Once I have sold the tickets that are "tagged" to my Tide Pride I have no control over whether or not they are used.


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CrimsonNagus

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The last thing I will say is that the article clearly states that the student section averaged just over 12,000 students a game in 2008 and never got above 13,000 on average. So why did Alabama increase the student section to 17,000? If we didn't fill up 15,000 we aren't gonna fill up 17,000. They should have left it alone and moved block seating over one section like they did. The university should get a lot of blame for adding student seats that the data clearly shows there was no demand for.
I can agree with this but, I also think you missed the part of the article that said that all 17,000 student tickets were sold out for every home game this season. The average student attendance per game for this season was 11,803 which means, on average, 5197 students did not show. Sorry but that's pathetic. Students need to stop buying the tickets if they aren't going to use them. I agree, the number of tickets should probably be reduced but, UA sees that all 17,000 sell out (probably pretty fast) and concludes that there is a demand for all 17000... then 5000 just never show up. I'm glad you go to the games and I wish there were another 5000 students like you. With your help, maybe we can convince those 5000 to just not buy the tickets. UA will see that only 12,000 get sold and then open the rest up to the public/Tide Pride.

Something has to be done IMO because it was sad to see the upper deck section empty during the Iron Bowl. I'm sure there were other seats throughout the stadium that were empty but, on TV, the place looked pretty full... except for this one section in the upper deck. Guess who sits there... not Tide Pride... not the general public... but students. Who else are we suppose to blame? 17,000 student tickets were sold and 6,149 were no shows for the IB. That's not the university's fault, that's the fault of the students who decided to not come. I would have loved to pay $10 to sit there but, I had to sit in Montgomery.
 

cbi1972

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I can agree with this but, I also think you missed the part of the article that said that all 17,000 student tickets were sold out for every home game this season. The average student attendance per game for this season was 11,803 which means, on average, 5197 students did not show. Sorry but that's pathetic. Students need to stop buying the tickets if they aren't going to use them. I agree, the number of tickets should probably be reduced but, UA sees that all 17,000 sell out (probably pretty fast) and concludes that there is a demand for all 17000... then 5000 just never show up. I'm glad you go to the games and I wish there were another 5000 students like you. With your help, maybe we can convince those 5000 to just not buy the tickets. UA will see that only 12,000 get sold and then open the rest up to the public/Tide Pride.

Something has to be done IMO because it was sad to see the upper deck section empty during the Iron Bowl. I'm sure there were other seats throughout the stadium that were empty but, on TV, the place looked pretty full... except for this one section in the upper deck. Guess who sits there... not Tide Pride... not the general public... but students. Who else are we suppose to blame? 17,000 student tickets were sold and 6,149 were no shows for the IB. That's not the university's fault, that's the fault of the students who decided to not come. I would have loved to pay $10 to sit there but, I had to sit in Montgomery.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Thomas Paine
 

KrAzY3

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I absolutely think that the amount of student tickets should be lowered. But, I think you could probably get away with making it about 15K if you find a way to drive up demand. Part of that might be insuring all students have some sort of a shot at those tickets and then if they are not being used you can put scanning data to use and figure out alternatives. I know UNC students stand in line for days to get big game tickets, it's just really hard to imagine why Auburn tickets are going to waste...

I don't think moving tickets from students to season tickets is the best way to go. I'd like to see some competition amongst the general admission tickets and student tickets. For instance, Western Carolina was not sold out. So, both the students and the regular fans let the team down on that one. If you have some sort of sliding scale which says based on performance for X number of games students get X amount of tickets and X amount ends up being allotted for general admission. If both don't come though, then I think you start moving those over to season tickets.
 

Snuffy Smith

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I absolutely think that the amount of student tickets should be lowered. But, I think you could probably get away with making it about 15K if you find a way to drive up demand. Part of that might be insuring all students have some sort of a shot at those tickets and then if they are not being used you can put scanning data to use and figure out alternatives. I know UNC students stand in line for days to get big game tickets, it's just really hard to imagine why Auburn tickets are going to waste...

I don't think moving tickets from students to season tickets is the best way to go. I'd like to see some competition amongst the general admission tickets and student tickets. For instance, Western Carolina was not sold out. So, both the students and the regular fans let the team down on that one. If you have some sort of sliding scale which says based on performance for X number of games students get X amount of tickets and X amount ends up being allotted for general admission. If both don't come though, then I think you start moving those over to season tickets.
The only games that are not sold out are the ones where the opponent returns part of their allotment & it doesn't get sold. Other than that I don't see any "general admission" or game day tickets ever being sold. UA has too much to gain by sending them into Tide Pride.


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Snuffy Smith

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Just because the info bimbo said it was not sold out doesn't mean it wasn't. I guarantee you that every ticket available to that game was sold - doesn't mean they were all used.


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KrAzY3

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The only games that are not sold out are the ones where the opponent returns part of their allotment & it doesn't get sold. Other than that I don't see any "general admission" or game day tickets ever being sold. UA has too much to gain by sending them into Tide Pride.
You're right, but the problem is once they go to Tide Pride, they are pretty much gone, right? It's not like they can easily so ok these are student tickets again. You can do that if you have some general admission tickets. I also think the University could cater to this group of fans that are not capable of funding the University at the level most Tide Pride people do, but have more money and enthusiasm than students. As it is, there's no less represented group than Alabama fans who don't have season tickets or student tickets. I was talking to someone else in Mobile before the A&M game and he agreed it's hard to find people in the area that even want to go to games. A big part of that is as he said the die hards already have season tickets. I think they are missing out on cultivating some more interest, by opening things up more to people like myself who have a lot of interest but a season ticket is far out of reach.

I'm not saying Tide Pride doesn't deserve a shot mind you, but I agree with the basic premise that students play an important role. It's just not viable to move seats back and forth between Tide Pride and students, but you can do that with general admission tickets. That could stimulate the interest from fans in general and students. So, you'd have more cheering, more revenue, and more people at the games.
 

rgw

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Like I said earlier, I hate to see the student seating marginalized but the fact is that students have voted with their feet. They aren't showing up to game amid another national title run. Admittedly, this was a relatively bad crop of home games but the CW article demonstrates that the attendance has even been poor on "odd year" schedules.

The truth of it is that the supply of student seating has out-stripped the demand and it is surprising that a school like Alabama could have this problem. We recruit academically fairly heavily out-of-state these days and I don't think the buy-in for the football team is as high of a percentage of the student body as when we had a smaller student body prior to Witt. Sure, those Texas kids probably like that their school has a good team like their in-state programs...but they might not bleed crimson like in-state students like myself.
 

Rama Jama

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Seems to me that a university that is in the business of turning a profit would be intelligent enough to figure out there's no reason to allot more than 12K seats for students. The student section should never be split - whose stupid idea was that to begin with? Give them 12k in the lower bowl, do away with that stupid Greek block seating, and open that upper deck space to TP participants.

Sheesh! It's so simple! Get it together, UA!
I agree that doing away with the greek sections is a good idea. I am a former greek and I hate to see them leave at halftime including my old frat.

I am not sure if you are aware, but freshman can not order the full package. They can only get split season their 1st year. Either a 3 game package including the Auburn ticket on years they play in T-town and 4 the other years. The SGA had complained for years and said they needed more seats, now that they have them they don't show up. The student section needs to be reduced to about 12,000. It is a privledge to go to games and if kids don't want to go, UA ought to be able to sell the extra tix, not the kids IMO.
 

Snuffy Smith

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You're right, but the problem is once they go to Tide Pride, they are pretty much gone, right? It's not like they can easily so ok these are student tickets again. You can do that if you have some general admission tickets. I also think the University could cater to this group of fans that are not capable of funding the University at the level most Tide Pride people do, but have more money and enthusiasm than students. As it is, there's no less represented group than Alabama fans who don't have season tickets or student tickets. I was talking to someone else in Mobile before the A&M game and he agreed it's hard to find people in the area that even want to go to games. A big part of that is as he said the die hards already have season tickets. I think they are missing out on cultivating some more interest, by opening things up more to people like myself who have a lot of interest but a season ticket is far out of reach.

I'm not saying Tide Pride doesn't deserve a shot mind you, but I agree with the basic premise that students play an important role. It's just not viable to move seats back and forth between Tide Pride and students, but you can do that with general admission tickets. That could stimulate the interest from fans in general and students. So, you'd have more cheering, more revenue, and more people at the games.
I understand now - probably an idea with some merit. They would never do it - makes too much sense.


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rgw

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I mean, it's not like there aren't tons of students in the lower bowl. In fact, I think there's more than are supposed to be down there because they don't want to go up to the upper deck.
That is why I say we just make some "Neyland Stadium seating adjustments" in the student section of the lower bowl...and make the numbers more in line with how many people are in the seats then give the upperdeck to TP donors who want in...
 

CrimsonProf

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How many of y'all are going to complain like this when we're a top 15 basketball team and Coleman is half-empty on a Tuesday night because half of Tuscaloosa is at Cypress Inn eating mediocre catish?
 

Snuffy Smith

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That is why I say we just make some "Neyland Stadium seating adjustments" in the student section of the lower bowl...and make the numbers more in line with how many people are in the seats then give the upperdeck to TP donors who want in...
Hey - are you saying the average width of the Tide Pride behind > the average width of the student behind? I resemble that remark.


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