Yep. Simple things like some gear that isn’t available in stores would go a long way, especially for those lower giving levels that they’re trying to build from.
They do offer some kind of discount that never seems to work in the stadium. Every time I’ve tried, the person working the register stared at me like a cow looking at a new gate. I gave up.
Just make it easy and send people a preloaded card for concessions or whatever, kind of like what the Astros do for some of their tickets. Everything about the current set-up is just low-rent, imo.
First Point - I am not surprised by this number at all. Fact is, UH does very little in the way of building bridges with alumni. I told all of you about my experiences as a life member. They bugged me for money, making all sorts of promises, and as far as I can tell, up to this point, they have failed to uphold their end of the bargain. In addition, the school does little to build family traditions. When my son was looking for colleges, I had to beg UH to send him a brochure. Stupid. He got more attention from Iowa, Auburn, Bama, Tennessee and TAMU than he did from UH. Stupid again. This is the sort of crap that burns bridges. It makes alum feel like mere numbers wearing dollar signs. Many alum are going to take that and say, “well if that is how UH is going to treat me, then so be it. Don’t ask me for anything.”
Second point - and this is radical, UH should be making the vast majority of its tickets free, with the rest less than $10. Our goal should be to get butts in seats, and not to make money. Full stadium on TV will do more for UH than any marginal revenue from increased ticket prices. Give free tickets and watch people be more amenable to giving donations.
Third - we just need to win a chip in men’s basketball or football. It’s that simple. If we don’t win then we will just be seen as choke artists. Before anyone starts yelling at me that “finishing number 2 out of 72 teams is an accomplishment”, it doesn’t matter. In today’s world, most people live by the Ricky Bobby mantra, “if you ain’t first, you’re last!” Whether its fair or not, its the reality.
Yet…most here contunue to support us remaining a non-traditional school where our alums send "their " traditional students to other schools because UH is inferior in those metrics and they want better for their children.
Keep holding on to that and this is what we will continue to get, year in and year out
Embarassing for a century old school…even way younger UCF found a way to become a Traditional school.
Holding onto our old mission statement will continue to hold us back in…
College experience
Academic standing
Graduation rates
Reputation and AAU status
Alumni participation/ support after graduation
I’m with Renu’s vision but sadly the overwhelmingly majority is NOT
The very second we accepted a P4 invitation, should was the moment we had to go all-in on becoming a 100% Traditional school.
Having a P4 Athletic department without being a Traditional school is a heavy weight on the University…and every missed fan becomes a financial burden on the University…stealing from the academic side.
We should have NEVER sought a P4 invite without comitting to be a 100% Traditional school
I would not bother trying to get individual donors from large ticket groups. It has the potential to backfire. If it works for the group, leave well enough alone. Trying to squeeze more money from existing ticket payers is a sign of desperation.
Our AD admitted he had to bury our SEASON HOMER OPENER to a Thursday night because he was afraid no one would show up to a weekend game before Labor Day.
For all of the other P4 Programs, the SEASON HOME OPENER IS the holiday they can’t wait for!
He’s getting some bad advice then - I would be more concerned about a Thursday game
Those other schools the families and basically instilling it from the jump - they don’t even worry about the schools yet - the Aggie and Longhorn kids are indoctrinated as youth - why isn’t that stressed at that age?
But let’s be honest - a lot of it has to do with the city itself - full of people from elsewhere who hold on to allegiances and we praise them for that
And let’s also look at things now - the watering down of majors over the years has eroded the former athlete base to donate from. Your not graduating tons of high income technical grads anymore who automatically have a passion for athletics
The high income grad we have now may be a foreigner with no interest in sports
CP threw in that mandatory price per seat when you buy tickets to help make up for money they needed.
So again don’t look at membership numbers but what does CP get when all said and done then compare that money number with other schools if you have to. End of the day it’s total money.
Duce630
(DustinK - Damn it feels good to be a Cougar. -Dwight Davis)
55
Please provide a link or proof for that otherwise I will say you’re lying.
It’s bad no matter how you compare it. Other schools do the same thing with ticket prices and forced donations. If the membership is subpar, the money is, too.
The only way we compare favorably is when you look at money contributed per donor, and that’s largely because we don’t have enough donors. It’s like a high dividend yield on a dead-money stock.
One thing to keep in mind with splitting groups is that it technically allows a new account to jump to better seats than someone who may have been contributing for a long time.
Example: Joe has been buying 10 tickets for 15 years for his group. That accords Joe a higher number of points for seats upgrades. A benefit for the whole group to move to better seats faster. Then Joe splits out the tickets to Mark and Tom who have been in his group for 12 years. Mark and Tom would be new account holders with no points, but are now getting good seats their “first” year.
Someone may have had tickets for 10 years and trying to move into better seats but because the group combined points to one person, they could move ahead.
Also there is no way to verify the split does not go to a new person who may only have been in Joe’s group for one year. That could upset the 10 years ticket holder even more.
Next is parking. UH ties parking to seat donations. Joe might now get relegated to a lower parking rank unless the gap is made up in donations to keep the same level. It would depend on how many tickets and prices to see if it drops parking.
These issues are why many schools have very strict transfer policies of tickets from one person to another.
Mostly, as Kyle said “it’s all about the $$$.” more so than adding a few people to the member numbers.
Again let’s compare actually money overall with other big 12 members then see if we fall short.
It’s been addressed that tge benefits for cougar pride is mainly parking and so they got their money a different way of forced payments in seat costs and our ticket prices with it are comparable.
Our tickets would be dirt cheap if not for the add on by CP.