Mizzou Arena: A Sea… err.. A Pond Of Black & Gold
It’s easy to tell when there are A LOT of fans in the Arena that were likely making their first trip. When the video board intro** began, there was a pretty big reaction from the crowd. Including exhibitions, Tiger fans have already had 11 opportunities to see this basketball team this year. Fans were making their FIRST trip to the arena in the 11th opportunity? To see the Missouri square off with arch-nemesis…. Northern Illinois?!
Discounted tickets had a little bit to do with the close to 11,000 in attendance at Mizzou Arena for Mizzou/Northern Illinois last night.
**By the way, in my opinion, that’s the best video intro I’ve seen yet for Missouri basketball. Not gonna lie, the Kim English portion at the very end where he’s looking down on the fans in the arena yelling “Let’s go!” still gets me pumped everytime.**
Whenever Mike Anderson is asked about crowd size in any capacity, generally his answer in the postgame press conference reflects his sales pitch of “we play an exciting brand of basketball”, “these guys work their tails off in practice” and “the fans really take the guys to another level”. Judging by body language and tone in these postgame pressers, what he’s really saying is:
“I don’t know WHY we have a half-empty arena on most nights. I’m giving this state a Top Ten team, and it’s irritating and honestly starting to piss me off a little.”
My plan of action? Cut the non-conference ticket prices to $8-10 in the upper seating and keep an attendance performance chart for the lower bowl/season ticket holders. Make it ridiculously affordable for a family of four (of limited means) to go out to a basketball game for $40. I promise you, they will come to more games, they’ll be VERY enthusiastic, and they’ll buy food & sweatshirts.
Start filling the arena first, THEN raise ticket prices later. I think the Athletic Department forgets sometimes that a lot of the people from small towns in the Columbia-area aren’t making $60,000 a year in combined income. They have all LOVED the Tigers for generations since birth because of their proximity, but are priced out every year.
It’s great to have a lot of StL and KC in the building, but I think more focus needs to go on getting Hallsville, Harrisburg, New Franklin, Boonville, Ashland, and Fayette to fill up Mizzou Arena. These people eat, sleep, and breathe hoops. They’re wearing their Mizzou gear all week, and then make an appointment to go HOME to watch the game. THESE are the fans that will come out to a Tuesday or Thursday night game against a lesser-known opponent. They’ll come because Columbia is a 10 to 30 minute drive and it’s very low maintenance.
Just the six tiny towns I named have a combined population of 15,000 in the city limits. That, of course, doesn’t count the tens of thousands that live in the RURAL areas of Central Missouri.
Even if we’re talking about TEN PERCENT of upwards of 35,000 Columbia-area residents, that’s another three to four thousand gold-clad Tiger fans in the arena on a Tuesday night. It makes a noticeable difference.
It’s not an exact science, but it’s a simple philosophy of:
1. Arena is half full with full-priced tickets
2. Cut ticket prices in half and get close to filling the Arena
3. Whatever revenue is lost by the gate, will be recovered (and then some) by parking, concession and merchandise sales
4. More fans = More attractive atmosphere
5. More attractive atmosphere = More interest in attending games
6. More interest = More season ticket sales
7. More season tickets sales = Even higher demand for season tickets
8. Higher demand = Bump up to ticket prices
It’s easy to say “there’s no reason why fans shouldn’t come support this team”, but in reality there are two primary reasons: travel distance and ticket prices. So…. cut the travel distance and the ticket prices.
Get people through the gates, and the product will sell itself.
