Ticket prices

Athletics was handing out flyers to every freshman at Registration today, with details on season ticket sales. The date is Saturday, October 2nd (no mention of when the line starts ) and the price is a whopping $144 for undergrads! Below this, it says the price increase is due to the addition of the ECAC home playoff games as part of the season package, as well as the reduction of the undergraduate activity fee. More details to come on CornellBigRed.com ...

Seem a little iffy to anyone else?

[q]Seem a little iffy to anyone else?[/q]
Nope. There are 14 RS games, plus one exhibition and up to three playoff games. At $8 per ticket, that's $144. Not surprising, and not really that unreasonable.
Including the playoff games is annoying (or would be if I was likely to have season tickets this year) but sondiering the playoff format it's pretty likely that there will be playoff games at Lynah next March.

What's this: Students back on campus with a third of August yet left? Did Professor Maas have to come back early from vacation to check out the freshman women? So unfair!

Cornell MUST go to a quarterly system: fall, winter, spring, and summer semesters. Like Dartmouth. You have to do one of each over your four (or so) years, the rest is up to you. If you have a reason not to, like say athletics, I suppose you get a waiver. Or take advantage of the system.

The fall semester can start *after* Labor Day and still end nicely before Xmas. You carry four courses in each of three terms rather than five or six in two. If you have a bad semester, you only flunk four courses, not three. (Why I like it.)

It also means an athlete can back off by one course in his heaviest season. Four down to three is a bigger improvement than six down to five. Or if you're a hockey/baskdtball player, you could take off the winter semester entirely and be in school in the summer.

I spent one glorius summer at Cornell and can't believe how nice it was. That was when you could sort of legally swim in the reservoir and clothing was optional.

It would be nicer still if Cornell air-conditioned the dorms. If my Google stock skyrockets, I'm going to endow the Carrier chair of air conditioned dorms.

In the adult world the raising of ticket prices and including extras into the gross price (playoff games that may come to pass) is called yield management.

Disney uses yield management. Disney finds that once you've paid a mess of money to fly to Orlando and pay for the hotel (ka-ching if it's a Disney property), it doesn't matter if the Magic Kingdom ticket costs $39, $42, or $47 a day, but it it costs $70 a day, you will squawk. So they raise prices to $47 a day and people bitch but they still come. I think our last trip, Disney tapped us for close to $750 a day if you consider Disney to incllude the airfare and tickets and hotels and the breakfast with the Disney characters. For the kids, it was the second best experience in their life.

Why Disney is called the "happiest place on earth" turns out to be an accounting term.

[q]Cornell MUST go to a quarterly system[/q]Quarters? Ewwwwwwwww.

Freshmen arriving on 8/20 isn't really that early. I'd rather arrive on campus a little before Labor Day (without looking I assume classes start next Thursday 8/26) and get out in early May than have to be in school until June.

Yes, summer in Ithaca can be great. But you can do summers and summer classes without having a quarter system.

You do summer clases without the quarter system, it feels like you're on an island. No Cornell Sun, no student activities, no major Cornell activities, shorter hours for the campus store, your frat house is closed. Not the same. OK, the campus store hours are not a big thing.

God created Labor Day as a barricade against going back to campus in August unless you were on the Miami or Nebraska football team.

Plus in case you do still have a family (if you're a student), it means you can't plan the last 2 weeks of August for a whole-family vacation. This is good if you have a disfunctional family, and I'd argue most of us do, or believe we do (did). Otherwise it's bad.

[q]You do summer clases without the quarter system, it feels like you're on an island. No Cornell Sun, no student activities, no major Cornell activities, shorter hours for the campus store, your frat house is closed. Not the same. OK, the campus store hours are not a big thing. [/q]Not having the usual list of Cornell activities was part of what made summer at Cornell particularly enjoyable. Not that I'd have wanted to spend all of my time on the hill under those conditions - far from it. But the difference was a good thing.

I thought God created Labor Day so we could celebrate work by playing all day...

I have a friend who's paying about $1500/year for prime seats at BU's new arena. Makes $144 seem downright reasonable to me.

[q] Cornell MUST go to a quarterly system: fall, winter, spring, and summer semesters. Like Dartmouth. You have to do one of each over your four (or so) years, the rest is up to you. If you have a reason not to, like say athletics, I suppose you get a waiver. Or take advantage of the system.[/q]

Stanford has quarters, so everyone should transfer out there. Including the hockey team. Especially the hockey team. Then I wouldnt be stuck hundreds of miles from the nearest D-I college hockey team.

Back to the ticket info, and just out of curiosity... to anyone who got one of those flyers, does it give any information on what happens with the playoff tickets if Cornell does NOT host an ECAC playoff series this year? I just read a post on USCHO about Union's season ticket package, which includes playoff tickets ( ). If Union somehow fails to host a playoff series, the buyer has the option of either applying the cost of those tix to the season ticket package the following year, or just donating the cost to Union hockey. Wondering if Cornell has done something similar...

Not that Cornell (or Brown or whoever) isn't a worthy charity, but usually a mail in ticket order has a pre-filled line adding $5 to the athletic fund and you can cross it out.

I'll bet Cornell's is some kind of affirmative action required for rebate, eg if no playoffs, you get your money back so long as you ask by June 30 and if you forget, thanks for the cash. If it isn't, they'll think of it next year.

Mandatory voluntary contributions are annoying. To this day I won't donate to PIRG because they were such putzes freshman year. They forced a voluntary contribution onto and top of the student fee because they were a "good" organization and how could anyone not agree, and if you didn't like that, you could go down to the Straight and apply for your money back. I only have 30 or 40 years left, so maybe they can get money from my grandkids.

I can't speak for the student tickets, but the notice I received from the ticket office states that money will "automatically" be refunded if there aren't any home playoff games.

And, I think the total price for 2 Section C tickets is actually a little lower this year (I assumed that there are fewer home games this season).

Was up on campus over the last few days and noticed that the season ticket prices for grad students was $128. With 14 RS games and the presumed minimum of two playoff games, that's a total of 16 games so it looks like grad students remain at $7 a game while undergrads go up $1 a game to $8 a game.

Also noticed that the ice surface was already down in Lynah and the team appeared to be practicing. I don't in the past recall the ice going down until September so besides talking about classes with a chunk of August still to go, how about ice in Lynah in August. Maybe the ice was there in other years too but I definitely remember my freshman year, CIT was having a computer demonstration and sale on the Lynah floor during orientation week.

It's 18 games - 14 RS, 1 Ex. and 3 playoff (if they're going to bother to make you pay for 2 playoff games in advance they're going to go for 3).

Lynah ice in August? Pretty cool. We had initial freshmen registration (ID's, etc.) on the Lynah floor on my first day at Cornell. Fifteen years ago to the day, as a matter of fact (*cringe*). I'll speculate and say that the new cooling system and floor they put in a few years back allows them to maintain ice for a larger portion of the year than in the past. I'm pretty sure the original floor couldn't handle year-round ice.

There were summer youth hockey camps in August. Got to have ice for that.

[Q]billhoward Wrote:

There were summer youth hockey camps in August. Got to have ice for that. [/q]

Last summer as well. It definitely sparks the desire for hockey when you wander over to the rink from biotech and see some action on the ice...

How many days 'til red/white?

[q]How many days 'til red/white?[/q]
51 days until R/W (10/16), 57 until the McGill exhibition (10/22), 64 until they drop the puck against Army (10/29).

I spent 4 summers in Ithaca (including after graduation) for various reasons, and the lack of people around made it SO much better. It definitely felt like home, and the fact that so many of my friends stayed there each summer only helped. The massive amounts of construction (I was there during the lake source cooling construction war zone) were but a minor inconvenience. When the "usual" Cornell grind (freshmen arriving, parking on the slope, ridiculous amounts of traffic and crowding) started up again, I felt like outsiders were invading my space. The redeeming factor was that band was starting up again.

When did the renewal forms go out? I got the booster supplement but not the form itself. I fear it may have got lost in the mail again.

jtw, got mine around 1st of August and mailed it back late last week. think they are due by some time in 2nd week in Sept.

FYI, according to the season ticket renewal form I received (about a month ago), here are the important dates:

Sept 8 (weds) -- deadline for returning Season Ticket Renewal Form
Sept 16 (thurs) -- current season ticket holders can try to upgrade their seats
Oct 20 (weds) -- single game tickets go on sale

Anne '85

I remember reading about ticket prices awhile ago. A little snooping uncovered this snippet.


[cornellbigred.collegesports.com]


Let the bashing of athletics begin.

Eight bucks a ticket (students) for one of the country's best teams competing in one of the best sports to watch. Odds are two in three you'll go home watching a winner. Compare to that going on a date: the cost, the odds.

Meanwhile, what are students paying for tickets in Boston? At Dartmouth?

FWIW, having sent in my renewal and received my Frozen Four notification in the same week, I noticed that four tickets to the NC$$s cost somewhat more than two season tickets in Section C. Make of that what you will...

I was wondering more about the ethics of including playoff tix in the package. "Union does it, too" doesn't make me feel too much better about it ... anyone know if this is standard for other ECAC teams?

I'm actually shocked that ticket prices are that low. Let's be honest, Cornell could charge a lot more than that and the place would still sell out.

[Q]mjh89 Wrote:

I'm actually shocked that ticket prices are that low. Let's be honest, Cornell could charge a lot more than that and the place would still sell out.[/q]

Shh, don't give them any ideas...

Why include playoff ticets in the season package? Perhaps ...

Based on past performance, odds are good there will be playoffs. In Ithaca.

If the ticket office can handle regular season and playoffs with one mailing, it's more efficient and easier for them. Maybe they're overworked, maybe they think they're overworked.

I bet the majority of people who want season tickets want playoff tickets.

The fan probably likes it that way, too.

... the best of all worlds would be an auto-credit of your credit card if Cornell didn't make the playoffs at home.

Basically, you're floating Cornell a $25 loan for six months.

It also has to do with the ECAC championship schedule and the CU Academic Calendar. According to the CU calendar, spring break begins 3/19, while the second round of the playoffs is March 11-13. So unlike previous years, spring break and playoffs don't clash, more students will be able to attend, and pre-sale makes it easier for everyone.

In order to receive a refund, students (like non-students) must return their playoff tickets to the ticket office where a credit will be issued to the credit card used to purchase the tickets. The ticket office will accept mail-in refunds.

I apologize if this is nearly a month overdue, but I haven't been reading the forums for a while.

Bill Howard,

Do you know Professor Maas? Do you know that he's the faculty advisor to the hockey team? Are you at all aware of what he's contributed to the program? Obviously not. If you're going to post on this public forum, do yourself, as well as the rest of us a favor and have some clue what you're talking about before you do. I assume that you're not actually that childish or stupid, but you certainly come across as such when you post that kind of remark.

-Beau

[Q]Beau Parks Wrote:
Do you know Professor Maas? Do you know that he's the faculty advisor to the hockey team? Are you at all aware of what he's contributed to the program? Obviously not.
-Beau[/q]

Prof Maas' notable contributions to the hockey team are independent of, and in no way excuse any allegated sexual misconduct, if such behavior occurred. Your decision to commingle the two separate, independent issues is disturbing.

While the varacity of the formal allegations against Maas are debatable, he does have a bit of a reputation on campus. I was always willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until a friend told of a very minor incident she personally had with him.

While we could debate the extent of his behavior until the cows come home, I think most of us can agree that his reputation is not entirely above reproach, nor does his contribution to the hockey team in any way speak to his (potential mis?) treatment of female students.

[Q]Beau Parks Wrote:

Do you know that he's the faculty advisor to the hockey team? Are you at all aware of what he's contributed to the program?

-Beau[/q]

I bet Beau Parks is Jim Maas.

Hey Beau, how about you retire you old bastard sex offender.

"Maas had repeatedly behaved unprofessionally and inappropriately in his relationships with the complainants ... his behavior constituted sexual harassment." Maas v. Cornell University, 94 N.Y. 2d. 87, 90 (1999).

But I guess we should take it easy on him because he is the team's faculty advisor.

Why not post the outcome of the lawsuit?

You should take it easy on him because he's a good guy and because you obviously have no idea what you're talking about.

It's disappointing that you've turned a forum for hockey fans into a theater for your brainless attacks.


[www.cir-usa.org]

[www.cir-usa.org]

"THE CASE READS LIKE A TWISTED VERSION OF THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS, ONLY THIS TIME THE 'WITCH' IS A PROFESSOR AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY AND HIS ACCUSERS ARE FORMER STUDENTS EGGED ON BY SOME MEMBERS OF THE WOMEN'S STUDIES PROGRAM."

LINDA CHAVEZ, USA TODAY

I apologize to all of the fans who are having to sift through this nonsense to find some news about Cornell hockey, but Dr. Maas is a friend and I believe he deserves some defense.

[Q]Beau Parks Wrote:

It's disappointing that you've turned a forum for hockey fans into a theater for your brainless attacks.
[/q]

Yet you are the one quoting from USA Today and providing articles from the Center for Individual Rights.

Yes. And you're the one anonymously posting dismissed law suits and attacking people you obviously lack the credentials to attack. That takes real guts, my anonymous friend. Real guts.

When I was a freshman in 1992 BEFORE the lawsuit, I heard about Maas' reputation. Most of his TAs were women and as I recall, they were very attractive. Much of the reputation that I knew of was speculation and third hand stories.

[Q]Beau Parks Wrote:

Yes. And you're the one anonymously posting dismissed law suits and attacking people you obviously lack the credentials to attack. That takes real guts, my anonymous friend. Real guts.[/q]

Maas was the Plaintiff alleging breach of contract against the University. When the suit was dismissed, Maas was the loser. I guess the Center for Individual Rights didn't summarize that part of the case for you.

As for me, we can debate my credentials at a later time.

IIRC, Maas' female associates and former TAs were virtually unanimous in their vociferous support of him and dismissal of the charges. Although we'll never really know, in the end it looked like he'd been railroaded by somebody with an unrelated grudge against him.

Frankly I'm not a fan of the quarter system. Maybe it's cause I spent 13 years (including Kindergarten) on semesters, but even after all 4 years the Dartmouth schedule is just odd.

Freshmen are just now showing up, graduation isn't until mid-June, and Christmas Break is basically the month of December with only 2-3 days off in January depending on what day of the week New Year's falls.

Sophomore summer was fun, but I'll always remember my freshman and senior years more. And it's not like the campus was its regular self - everything ran on reduced hours, the class schedule was limited (though History of Baseball was the best class ever), the paper only printed twice a week (not that anyone read it), etc. Oh, and the standard class load at Dartmouth was 3 a term, and you were able to take up to 3 terms each with +/- 1 class (my senior spring I only took the two history classes I needed for the double major). General agreement among the student body was that taking 4 classes in a 10-week quarter was painful, never did it myself though had plenty of friends who did.

Basically, I'd stick with the semesters.

But that has nothing to do with ticket prices. FWIW, Dartmouth students, grad and undergrad both, get in free to all home athletic events by showing their ID. A minimum of 400 are guaranteed to get into the student sections, then they keep admitting students til the SRO's are gone (ie, the 401st student will get in as long as there is are SRO tickets left - if SRO's are gone then that student is SOL). A few hockey games (usually Harvard and Princeton, sometimes Vermont too) they had to turn away late arriving students at the door, but it hasn't become a regular phenomenon. It'll be interesting to see how many games sellout at Thompson Arena this year.

Course it'd be amazing to see the fire marshall turn the other way and let em keep coming. Last year's Harvard game could've had 5000+ easily. It would've been sweet to see a crowd like that, which was allowed back in the old days (Thompson Arena record is 5,048 against Brown in 1981)