(above) DU students have started a Facebook petition to protest the high cost of gameday hockey ticketsThe long running battle between University of Denver students and the Athletic Department over the student hockey ticket policy instituted this season has escalated to a Facebook Petition. The students are angry that hockey tickets that regularly cost $5 for students rise to $18 on the day of the game.
While its easy to say that the students should buy their tickets early in the week, the fact of the matter is that the students contribute roughly $70,000 to the Athletic Department through the Student Activity Fee.
617 students have joined the group as Tuesday morning.
While its easy to say that the students should buy their tickets early in the week, the fact of the matter is that the students contribute roughly $70,000 to the Athletic Department through the Student Activity Fee.
617 students have joined the group as Tuesday morning.
The DU box office's policy change on student tickets to the hockey games this year is shameful at best. They are losing money charging $18 for tickets we could always get for $5 the day of the game. Students should not have to spend $36 to go to a weekends worth of games for our flagship sport. Not only does it hurt the students but the team as well. Let's show the box office we want change. Let's get the student section back and rowdy as ever. LET'S GO DU.- Facebook Petition
13 comments:
Does anybody know if any other WCHA schools have this policy? That student tickets on game day cost more?
DUH!!! These are college kids who will need planing skills to survive in the real world. If you PLAN to go to the hockey game. BUY YOUR TICKET EARLY IN THE WEEK!!! Don't baby sit the morons. Just because the rest of the country does it doesn't make it right.WAKE UP.
PS DUH= DU HOCKEY
YES! DU HOCKEY IS SERIOUS BUSINESS!
DOWN WITH THE NANNY STATE! DOWN WITH LAZY COLLEGE STUDENTS!
Its not like many of these games are even coming close to selling out. DU has had up to a thousand empty seats for many games this season except the major tilts against MN, VT, UND & BC.
I think if the Athletic Department wants to grab $70,000 from the student activity fee, most other colleges don't have this policy & they want students to come to the games then it would take two seconds to change it.
Maybe the students need to boycott a couple of basketball games to get their point across?
I don't think DU should change the policy - student already have two great opportunities for cheap hockey tickets - once at the beginning of the season, and of course, early each game week.
I'd rather DU made the extra money selling leftovers from lazy students than to eat the student seats that go unpurchased.
The activity fee pays for all the other sports, so students can go for free.
Come on students - spend the $5 earlier in the week and show your real support of the program.
I guess I just don't understand why anybody would be specifically against us students getting $5 tickets on game day. Making it to the box office 3 hours before the game when I have nothing to do on either a friday or saturday is one thing, but when the box office closes at 4, and my classes go until 4, its remarkably hard to end up on friday with a ticket for both games.
It costs an arm and a leg to be able to go to DU for a lot of us, and the awesomeness associated with attending two games every other weekend for the number one ranked team in the nation was a welcome reward at the end of a brutal workweek.
All I'm saying is that I enjoyed the flexibility and informality of the box office with regard to students last year. Bring back the $5 game day tickets, and I'll most definitely be waiting in line to get into Magness an hour before the puck drops.
As the creator of the group, i will not disagree that students should purchase their tickets early on in the week. There is, however, something to be said for the students who wont know if they will be able to attend the games until the day of due to various obligations. Should they have to pay $36 for a weekends worth of games compared to last year's $10?
The biggest problem is the lack of true DU hockey fans that will be there every home game. These fans alone won't fill the stands (sad but true). Its the students that are new to DU hockey and may have never been to a game (which there are plenty of). How are we going to get these students to the games and interested in the team if they decide to go to a game with their friends and have to pay nearly $20? DU hockey enthusiasm needs growth on campus. As a student i can say, its lacking. The raise in ticket price does nothing to help this and will continue to hurt it as many more seats will be purchased on gameday at $5 than at $18.
This is not about "babysitting" college students, but trying to bring back a policy that will bring as many students out to the games as possible.
My point is that the DU student culture should be about making the commitment to buy your hockey tickets early and give yourself the option. Duke Students don't just walk up on game night and get hoops tickets - they are coveted. DU needs to create demand for those tickets
DU would love to have 800 students every week filling the place, and to have that number in advance. If you hold cheap student seats until the last minute, the students says to himself "Why should I buy these tickets in advance when I can just walk up at game time for the same price and save myself the walk? What incentive is there for students to seek tickets early if the lazy kid benefits just as much by waiting?
The point is to create student DEMAND for tickets, not just feed the last-minute student mindset. There are many opportunities for students to get cheap seats, and DU wants to get those kids to take advantage of them. DU Hockey Games should be a priority for students and that means getting tickets early so you don't get shut out.
To me the issue is listening to your students. Clearly they don't like the policy as 661 Facebook responses indicate pretty clearly.
Do you just ignore them like DU ignores us on the Boone Issue?
Surely there's an easy win-win solution in here somewhere. Figure out a solution.
Another advantage of selling $5 tickets until gametime is that students are more likely to arrive at the game earlier to ensure they get tickets. That can lead to a lot more students being in the student section and ready to go before the first puck drop.
Anon at 2:17-
You said, "Just because the rest of the country does it doesn't make it right." Yeah maybe, but in this case you are WRONG. The lack of atmosphere at home hockey games in comparison to the bedlam that is a big game at the Kohl Center or Mariucci or The Ralph (not to mention BU, UNH or Michigan home games) indicates that we should be doing everything we can to model ourselves after them in this aspect of school spirit.
The last thing The Administration should be doing is going out of its way to anger the students. Just bring back the $5 game day tickets, it's simple.
New deadline: noon on Friday. That gives the admin. time to get the unsold tickets back into general admission. If a student can't decide by noon of game day too bad .. How about some personal responsibility students ? Mom isn't here to do everything for you.
How about releasing them row by row to general admission buyers? That way DU can still sell into the student section at $18 a seat and students, assuming they don't sell out (creating demand) can still get $5.00 tickets. Seems easy enough to me...
I agree with Damien- for me it's really more about the way students are treated rather than the rationale behind policies. Same with the Boone issue.
Duke's bball tickets are in demand because of students, the product on the floor, and strong support in the community (people growing up die hard Duke fans), not because of any athletic department strategy. DU doing this is a false and forced way to try to create that demand- poor economic theory.
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