Empty seats at Lynah

So if you watched on ESPN+ this weekend, sure you saw many empty seats, think due to just being first two games of the season, expected to lose these games, the new complex ticket plans, people just not being much into hockey anymore? Sad to see, but looks like may be a special season after all so hopefully will be packed for our home games going forward!

I think the reason they sold all the seats was the effort to sell packages, as season ticket sales were somewhat down.

STs are crazy expensive now and all the games are on TV for a cheap price.

just looking at upcoming games the Harvard/Dart weekend is pretty much sold out. Other than that is business as usual.

How much do season tickets cost this year? They need to reduce the price. We discussed this topic on here like ten years ago and I think we concluded Cornell hockey games are more expensive on a per game basis than any other college hockey team’s.

At the very least, they need to reduce the price of student tickets. Section A was empty this weekend. When I mentioned this in another thread, someone told me I was making it up.

Cornell reported that attendance was 4,316 for both games last weekend, which must be a sell out or close to it. Obviously some ticket holders don’t make it to the games. Most season tickets cost less than $20/game. Although I support lower ticket prices, I think Cornell hockey tix are a very good value. I doubt Cornell tix are more expensive than at many other colleges. Season tix at less than $20/game is the townie price - student tix prices are lower.

CAS
Cornell reported that attendance was 4,316 for both games last weekend, which must be a sell out or close to it. Obviously some ticket holders don’t make it to the games. Most season tickets cost less than $20/game. Although I support lower ticket prices, I think Cornell hockey tix are a very good value. I doubt Cornell tix are more expensive than at many other colleges.

I believe the conclusion on this forum was that Cornell season tickets were similarly priced to other schools’, but Cornell plays fewer games, meaning Lynah tickets were more expensive on a per game basis than elsewhere. In any case, I completely agree tickets are a great value, but I’m a hopelessly addicted fan, like everyone else here. To a freshman who isn’t a hockey fan, $250 or whatever season tickets cost these days is far too steep a price to be worth considering.

CAS
Cornell reported that attendance was 4,316 for both games last weekend, which must be a sell out or close to it. Obviously some ticket holders don’t make it to the games. Most season tickets cost less than $20/game. Although I support lower ticket prices, I think Cornell hockey tix are a very good value. I doubt Cornell tix are more expensive than at many other colleges. Season tix at less than $20/game is the townie price - student tix prices are lower.

SRO at Yale Fri is eight bucks. Same thing at Harvard last year was 30 I think. It seems to be more varied than in the past.

I thought the crowd, even when it filled in, looked weak this weekend. I don't know the reason but I would guess that Duluth lacks name recognition among casual fans. And if people aren't conditioned to go to every game, it's an easy series to skip for Halloween festivities.

If the games aren’t selling out, Cornell needs to reduce ticket prices. Seems like whoever makes these decisions would rather maximize short term profits than create the best Lynah atmosphere. How many casual hockey fans would spend hundreds of dollars on season tickets? Most students could never afford that.

BearLover
How much do season tickets cost this year? They need to reduce the price. We discussed this topic on here like ten years ago and I think we concluded Cornell hockey games are more expensive on a per game basis than any other college hockey team’s.

At the very least, they need to reduce the price of student tickets. Section A was empty this weekend. When I mentioned this in another thread, someone told me I was making it up.

You were not making it up in regards to Friday's game, (There was a max of 10 people other than the band in section A and they were all sitting down)

However, Saturday's Section A attendance was much more promising looking to be almost 50% full with much more energy and with people standing

(Source: I'm in section B near the AB Aisle)

Dunc
You were not making it up in regards to Friday's game, (There was a max of 10 people other than the band in section A and they were all sitting down)

And the two service dogs. Don't forget the service dogs.

Was anyone else worried for the dogs' welfare, being so close to the band? I googled it, and anything above 85 decibels can damage a dog's hearing. In Section M the band was regularly at 87- 89 decibels pregame, according to an app on my phone. I have to think in Section A they would be significantly louder.

I was pleased to see the service dogs were not in A Saturday night, though there was a different service dog in C.

Townies fill the bldg but student drive the building.. the biggest difference over the last 25 years is that the kids have declined in interest.

Season tickers were in the range of $350. $20 a ticket is more than a movie ticket.

The big deal is demand is down so other than Harvard you can pick and choose to spend the $20 when you want and not worry about seeing any other game. 30 yrs ago when it was sold out if you couldnt get season tickets you had a hard time getting in the building

Now you have easy re-sale tickets to buy with less demand

I had 4 seasons then 2 and I couldnt give them away any more, no one wanted them when i couldnt attend.

$350, can that really be true? That is $27/game. Way too expensive for a college hockey game. The money doesn’t even go to the hockey team.

15 games at $20 is $300.. but the Harvard game was more than $20. it also includes the playoff games which is controlled by ECAC pricing.

Season tix also include the 2 exhibition games (&
a Cornell cap this year). With ECAC playoff tix, that’s 17 or 18 home games. The best reason
though to buy season tix is that it supports Cornell Big Red hockey.

CAS
Season tix also include the 2 exhibition games (&
a Cornell cap this year). With ECAC playoff tix, that’s 17 or 18 home games. The best reason
though to buy season tix is that it supports Cornell Big Red hockey.

I thought the money goes to the athletic department, not directly to the hockey team. If it went directly to the hockey team I’d at least feel the justification for maximizing profits made sense.

I, someone who regularly posts on a Cornell Hockey forum, would certainly pay more than $300 for season tickets. That is not the point of this conversation, though—the point is what an average person would be willing to pay. Lynah has plenty of empty seats, and those need to be filled. Most glaringly, student attendance is weak and has been for years at this point. Cornell needs to reduce the price of season tickets, specifically student tickets.

Who is in charge of this stuff?

this was the announcement back in April

Premium Seating: $469
Premium Seating includes reserved seats in the balcony area, with access to alcoholic beverage purchases at games.
Tier One: $399
Tier One seating includes Section M, all seats located in the top row of Sections L and N, and Balcony Standing Room. Tier One tickets located in the Balcony Standing Room area also include access to alcoholic beverage purchases at games.
Tier Two: $359
Tier Two seating includes rows 1-13 in Sections L and N, and all seats located in the top row and on the glass of Sections G, H, J, K and O.
Tier Three: $329
Tier Three seating includes all remaining seats (rows 2-13) in Sections G, H, J, K and O, and all of Section F (a general admission section).

No idea how much student prices were.

I saw Penn state was about $175 for students

Since the cornell announced a sell out basically maybe the students bought the tickets but dont always show up?

BearLover
$350, can that really be true? That is $27/game. Way too expensive for a college hockey game. The money doesn’t even go to the hockey team.

I don't know that it is any more expensive than tickets in our day.

$27 now equals $8.28 of purchasing power 40 years ago with an average inflation rate of 3%.

That looks exactly on beam.

I’m not arguing against lowering ticket prices, which I support. My point is I believe Cornell hockey tickets at less than $20/game for townies (& cheaper for students) - with no seat more than 14 rows from the ice - is a great value.

Trotsky

BearLover
$350, can that really be true? That is $27/game. Way too expensive for a college hockey game. The money doesn’t even go to the hockey team.

I don't know that it is any more expensive than tickets in our day.

$27 now equals $8.28 of purchasing power 40 years ago with an average inflation rate of 3%.

That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day." In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Trotsky

BearLover
$350, can that really be true? That is $27/game. Way too expensive for a college hockey game. The money doesn’t even go to the hockey team.

I don't know that it is any more expensive than tickets in our day.

$27 now equals $8.28 of purchasing power 40 years ago with an average inflation rate of 3%.

That looks exactly on beam.

To me its because things have changed.. in the 80s I had cost to live/gas/food etc.

Now I have cell phones/internet/cable/streaming Give me back that 3-400 a month and 5000 a yr can be spent on fun stuff..

Finding $60-100 to buy season tickets in the 80-90s no big deal even when not making much.. finding $700 now, even when i make a ton more doesnt feel the same

I don't know why we are having this discussion, since according to the Cornell Athletics Department there were no unsold tickets for the opening weekend.
"Senior forward Gabriel Seger and junior goaltender Ian Shane have both been recognized by ECAC Hockey for their performances in the Big Red's sweep of No. 11-ranked Minnesota Duluth last weekend in front of a pair of over-capacity crowds at Lynah Rink."

Reported attendance of 4,316 for both games is actually higher than what was the prior Lynah capacity of 4,267 (maybe the balcony standing room?).

Check out Section A in these pics:

[www.cornellhockeyassociation.com]

Doesn’t look “over capacity” to me.

BearLover
Check out Section A in these pics:

[www.cornellhockeyassociation.com]

Doesn’t look “over capacity” to me.

So the seats are empty, but apparently still sold according to the reported attendance figures. Assuming it's students buying the tickets for unfilled seats, it's not really a question of lowering tickets prices to attract student buyers. The real question is how to convert them into attending fans.

andyw2100

And the two service dogs. Don't forget the service dogs.

Was anyone else worried for the dogs' welfare, being so close to the band? I googled it, and anything above 85 decibels can damage a dog's hearing. In Section M the band was regularly at 87- 89 decibels pregame, according to an app on my phone. I have to think in Section A they would be significantly louder.

One of the two service dogs I was worried about: (photo by Ned Dykes)

I think $350 is a lot of money to a lot of students, but I also think it's very little money to a lot of students. And I suspect those students are also more likely to buy tickets and not bother going because a) the investment is so little to them that they don't feel like they have to go in order to not waste the money and b) they're more likely to afford other things to do on hockey nights.

If dropping prices got more interest and better student fans, I'd be for it. And I do think, on average, students for whom ticket prices are a big commitment are more likely to go to every game than those who don't care about the prices. But it's not like the tickets aren't selling.

Will

BearLover
Check out Section A in these pics:

[www.cornellhockeyassociation.com]

Doesn’t look “over capacity” to me.

So the seats are empty, but apparently still sold according to the reported attendance figures. Assuming it's students buying the tickets for unfilled seats, it's not really a question of lowering tickets prices to attract student buyers. The real question is how to convert them into attending fans.

I agree with you, assuming that’s the case. But in my opinion the fact one of the most hotly desired sections (A) is almost completely empty, while two others (C and D) appear to be almost half empty, calls into question whether these tickets were really sold. Maybe I’m wrong, but seems a lot of attendance figures manage to fudge the numbers to make tickers sales appear higher than they really are. I guess we’ll have to see what attendance looks like going forward.

it is a good question on where all the students were in section A sold or not. Its not like it was randomly empty.

This is Lynah Rink for Minnesota-Duluth, 5 minutes past the start time. So the "over-capacity crowd of 4,316" (per Cornell PR) is, ah, still filing in. Photos from Section M, the townie-faculty-old alumni section at center ice behind the visitor bench.

The crowd certainly filled in somewhat, as the game got going. Both nights. Section B, the second section in on the Cornell-bench side, was definitely well filled in, as per usual. Could it be a lot of students were dining with the parents since this was Parents or Family Weekend?

Panorama: 7:04 pm Friday. Second photo: 7:22 pm, first Cornell goal.

It's possible the fire marshall cleared out the over part of the capacity crowd and got a little overzealous.

Just as anytime a country is called the Peoples' Democratic / Free / Independent Republic it most certainly is not any of them, when the home team's stories talk about over-capacity, maybe there's an under-capacity issue. Perhaps Cornell counts tickets sold but not used?

For any other ECAC school this would be an excellent turnout.

Al DeFlorio
That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day." In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked. Supply and demand. Do we still just give free football tix to students?

Trotsky

Al DeFlorio
That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day." In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked. Supply and demand. Do we still just give free football tix to students?

I had a CUAA book 64-68. Harkness years when we SO did not suck. Don't know how they handled overflow, I'm sure there were times when that happened.

Football was not included in the book if I recall corectly, but the coupon was good for a discount. Might be time to resurrect the CUAA Book (which only students could buy) and do the same thing for hockey.

And yeah, give free football tix to students. Pizza too.

andyw2100

andyw2100

And the two service dogs. Don't forget the service dogs.

Was anyone else worried for the dogs' welfare, being so close to the band? I googled it, and anything above 85 decibels can damage a dog's hearing. In Section M the band was regularly at 87- 89 decibels pregame, according to an app on my phone. I have to think in Section A they would be significantly louder.

One of the two service dogs I was worried about: (photo by Ned Dykes)

Could you tell if they got their "Service Dog" uniforms on FleaBay or were they the Amazon variety?

If students are going to the fit-rec center instead of Cornell basketball, hockey or football, that seems okay. Sportsing rather than watch others sportsing.

Maybe there needs to be stronger WiFi in Lynah, Bartels, etcetera so you're not bored waiting for the puck drop.

The lack of cell/wifi in lynah is amazing. Even on empty day its bad.

upprdeck
The lack of cell/wifi in lynah is amazing.

It is one of the best things about it.

TimV

Trotsky

Al DeFlorio
That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day." In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked. Supply and demand. Do we still just give free football tix to students?

I had a CUAA book 64-68. Harkness years when we SO did not suck. Don't know how they handled overflow, I'm sure there were times when that happened.

Football was not included in the book if I recall corectly, but the coupon was good for a discount. Might be time to resurrect the CUAA Book (which only students could buy) and do the same thing for hockey.

And yeah, give free football tix to students. Pizza too.

The fact that back then one had to camp out overnight to get season tickets made them more valuable. Adding the value of one's time to the price made season tickets something that one would not want to waste. Moreover, if one had some other event, it was easy to find someone to take the ticket. So real attendance, as opposed to formal attendance (tickets sold), was never an issue.

Trotsky

upprdeck
The lack of cell/wifi in lynah is amazing.

It is one of the best things about it.

not if you actually need to be on call when in the bldg or work there.

not being able to track out of town scores or watch replays or stream another event like a cornell BBALL game thats important.

andyw2100

andyw2100

And the two service dogs. Don't forget the service dogs.

Was anyone else worried for the dogs' welfare, being so close to the band? I googled it, and anything above 85 decibels can damage a dog's hearing. In Section M the band was regularly at 87- 89 decibels pregame, according to an app on my phone. I have to think in Section A they would be significantly louder.

One of the two service dogs I was worried about: (photo by Ned Dykes)

The dog seems more focused on the game than many of the fans

scoop85

andyw2100

andyw2100

And the two service dogs. Don't forget the service dogs.

Was anyone else worried for the dogs' welfare, being so close to the band? I googled it, and anything above 85 decibels can damage a dog's hearing. In Section M the band was regularly at 87- 89 decibels pregame, according to an app on my phone. I have to think in Section A they would be significantly louder.

One of the two service dogs I was worried about: (photo by Ned Dykes)

The dog seems more focused on the game than many of the fans

I kinda wanna see more dogs in the front row. Moreso if they run along the glass back and forth trying to get after the puck.

Call the studio. "There's no rule that a dog can't be the goalie!"

French Rage
I kinda wanna see more dogs in the front row. Moreso if they run along the glass back and forth trying to get after the puck.

IINM I have seen this at Houston Field House.

marty

andyw2100

andyw2100

And the two service dogs. Don't forget the service dogs.

Was anyone else worried for the dogs' welfare, being so close to the band? I googled it, and anything above 85 decibels can damage a dog's hearing. In Section M the band was regularly at 87- 89 decibels pregame, according to an app on my phone. I have to think in Section A they would be significantly louder.

One of the two service dogs I was worried about: (photo by Ned Dykes)

Could you tell if they got their "Service Dog" uniforms on FleaBay or were they the Amazon variety?

I took the attached photo between periods. Guessing those are legit service dogs in training, which makes my concern for their hearing even more of an issue, as a volunteer training a service dog should know better.

andyw2100

marty

andyw2100

andyw2100

And the two service dogs. Don't forget the service dogs.

Was anyone else worried for the dogs' welfare, being so close to the band? I googled it, and anything above 85 decibels can damage a dog's hearing. In Section M the band was regularly at 87- 89 decibels pregame, according to an app on my phone. I have to think in Section A they would be significantly louder.

One of the two service dogs I was worried about: (photo by Ned Dykes)

Could you tell if they got their "Service Dog" uniforms on FleaBay or were they the Amazon variety?

I took the attached photo between periods. Guessing those are legit service dogs in training, which makes my concern for their hearing even more of an issue, as a volunteer training a service dog should know better.

They do look like legit service dogs. I agree that Section A isn't a good choice.

Well, UMD is the Bulldogs. Close enough

billhoward
Well, UMD is the Bulldogs. Close enough

Brown crowd's gonna be tough.

upprdeck
it is a good question on where all the students were in section A sold or not. Its not like it was randomly empty.

To be fair I'm guessing the student section was 50% attendance across B and A and then the ppl sitting in A moved over to B open seats (this happens often)

But yes, I can confirm A and B student seats were sold out

andyw2100

marty

andyw2100

andyw2100

And the two service dogs. Don't forget the service dogs.

Was anyone else worried for the dogs' welfare, being so close to the band? I googled it, and anything above 85 decibels can damage a dog's hearing. In Section M the band was regularly at 87- 89 decibels pregame, according to an app on my phone. I have to think in Section A they would be significantly louder.

One of the two service dogs I was worried about: (photo by Ned Dykes)

Could you tell if they got their "Service Dog" uniforms on FleaBay or were they the Amazon variety?

I took the attached photo between periods. Guessing those are legit service dogs in training, which makes my concern for their hearing even more of an issue, as a volunteer training a service dog should know better.

Yeah that's concerning - definitely too loud there with the band

Dunc

upprdeck
it is a good question on where all the students were in section A sold or not. Its not like it was randomly empty.

To be fair I'm guessing the student section was 50% attendance across B and A and then the ppl sitting in A moved over to B open seats (this happens often)

But yes, I can confirm A and B student seats were sold out

and its good that it was but that also means like 500 kids didnt show up who bought tickets.. That never happened even 10 yrs ago,

Swampy

TimV

Trotsky

Al DeFlorio
That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day." In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked. Supply and demand. Do we still just give free football tix to students?

I had a CUAA book 64-68. Harkness years when we SO did not suck. Don't know how they handled overflow, I'm sure there were times when that happened.

Football was not included in the book if I recall correctly, but the coupon was good for a discount. Might be time to resurrect the CUAA Book (which only students could buy) and do the same thing for hockey.

And yeah, give free football tix to students. Pizza too.

The fact that back then one had to camp out overnight to get season tickets made them more valuable. Adding the value of one's time to the price made season tickets something that one would not want to waste. Moreover, if one had some other event, it was easy to find someone to take the ticket. So real attendance, as opposed to formal attendance (tickets sold), was never an issue.

From 1968, when I entered Cornell, well into the 1970's, a coupon from the CUAA book would get you into a game if you arrived early enough. Freshman year I did standing room for every game. If you wanted season tickets you paid extra after waiting in line for several days, which I did with a group for the next few years. I don't remember paying extra for football, just having to exchange my coupon for a ticket for each game.

Swampy

TimV

Trotsky

Al DeFlorio
That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day." In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked. Supply and demand. Do we still just give free football tix to students?

I had a CUAA book 64-68. Harkness years when we SO did not suck. Don't know how they handled overflow, I'm sure there were times when that happened.

Football was not included in the book if I recall corectly, but the coupon was good for a discount. Might be time to resurrect the CUAA Book (which only students could buy) and do the same thing for hockey.

And yeah, give free football tix to students. Pizza too.

The fact that back then one had to camp out overnight to get season tickets made them more valuable. Adding the value of one's time to the price made season tickets something that one would not want to waste. Moreover, if one had some other event, it was easy to find someone to take the ticket. So real attendance, as opposed to formal attendance (tickets sold), was never an issue.

Yes, Yes Yes!
The fact that you had to camp out to get the tickets meant that you were a diehard fan. As a freshman, the whole ticket line experience made me the diehard fan that I still am today. I don't know how season tickets are distributed today, but if it is some online lottery, then other than the cost of the tickets - which is trivial for a large percentage of the student body - it does nothing to ensure that a devoted fan base is built.

Cornell has figured this out with admissions, where they take a relatively large percentage of ED candidates partly because they want a student body that is happy to be there, rather than kids who didn't get in to HYP.

nshapiro

Swampy

TimV

Trotsky

Al DeFlorio
That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day." In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked. Supply and demand. Do we still just give free football tix to students?

I had a CUAA book 64-68. Harkness years when we SO did not suck. Don't know how they handled overflow, I'm sure there were times when that happened.

Football was not included in the book if I recall corectly, but the coupon was good for a discount. Might be time to resurrect the CUAA Book (which only students could buy) and do the same thing for hockey.

And yeah, give free football tix to students. Pizza too.

The fact that back then one had to camp out overnight to get season tickets made them more valuable. Adding the value of one's time to the price made season tickets something that one would not want to waste. Moreover, if one had some other event, it was easy to find someone to take the ticket. So real attendance, as opposed to formal attendance (tickets sold), was never an issue.

Yes, Yes Yes!
The fact that you had to camp out to get the tickets meant that you were a diehard fan. As a freshman, the whole ticket line experience made me the diehard fan that I still am today. I don't know how season tickets are distributed today, but if it is some online lottery, then other than the cost of the tickets - which is trivial for a large percentage of the student body - it does nothing to ensure that a devoted fan base is built.

nshapiro
The fact that you had to camp out to get the tickets meant that you were a diehard fan. As a freshman, the whole ticket line experience made me the diehard fan that I still am today. I don't know how season tickets are distributed today, but if it is some online lottery, then other than the cost of the tickets - which is trivial for a large percentage of the student body - it does nothing to ensure that a devoted fan base is built.

Correct.

We also built relationships (ahem, but hockey also) on that overnight. We met people and because we were in similar positions in the line we formed blocs, and so you had ready-made friend groups going into ticket selection, and those carried over into games. Even the cheating, where one frat turd would somehow turn into 20 brothers 4 minutes before the door opened, meant there were blocs of comrades in arms. This all helped with the coordination of cheers, and the encouragement of creativity which has been the single greatest casualty of the change.

nshapiro

Swampy

TimV

Trotsky

Al DeFlorio
That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day." In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked. Supply and demand. Do we still just give free football tix to students?

I had a CUAA book 64-68. Harkness years when we SO did not suck. Don't know how they handled overflow, I'm sure there were times when that happened.

Football was not included in the book if I recall corectly, but the coupon was good for a discount. Might be time to resurrect the CUAA Book (which only students could buy) and do the same thing for hockey.

And yeah, give free football tix to students. Pizza too.

The fact that back then one had to camp out overnight to get season tickets made them more valuable. Adding the value of one's time to the price made season tickets something that one would not want to waste. Moreover, if one had some other event, it was easy to find someone to take the ticket. So real attendance, as opposed to formal attendance (tickets sold), was never an issue.

Yes, Yes Yes!
The fact that you had to camp out to get the tickets meant that you were a diehard fan. As a freshman, the whole ticket line experience made me the diehard fan that I still am today. I don't know how season tickets are distributed today, but if it is some online lottery, then other than the cost of the tickets - which is trivial for a large percentage of the student body - it does nothing to ensure that a devoted fan base is built.

Cornell has figured this out with admissions, where they take a relatively large percentage of ED candidates partly because they want a student body that is happy to be there, rather than kids who didn't get in to HYP.

Cost of tickets ($250?) isn’t trivial for most college students. Most of the rich kids for whom that amount is trivial join frats and sororities, i.e. they’re busy with other things on Friday and Saturday nights. Lynah should be more financially accessible to the average student, IMO. And while sure, having to camp out for tickets does build devotion in an ideal world, this is unfortunately not the world we live in anymore. The demand for tickets is nowhere near the level necessary for kids to have to camp out. Until Lynah student seats are selling out, the goal should not be building devotion among the small number of committed hockey fans for whom the season ticket price is trivial. Rather, the goal should be to get more students in the door so demand trends up again.

BearLover

nshapiro

Swampy

TimV

Trotsky

Al DeFlorio
That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day." In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked. Supply and demand. Do we still just give free football tix to students?

I had a CUAA book 64-68. Harkness years when we SO did not suck. Don't know how they handled overflow, I'm sure there were times when that happened.

Football was not included in the book if I recall corectly, but the coupon was good for a discount. Might be time to resurrect the CUAA Book (which only students could buy) and do the same thing for hockey.

And yeah, give free football tix to students. Pizza too.

The fact that back then one had to camp out overnight to get season tickets made them more valuable. Adding the value of one's time to the price made season tickets something that one would not want to waste. Moreover, if one had some other event, it was easy to find someone to take the ticket. So real attendance, as opposed to formal attendance (tickets sold), was never an issue.

Yes, Yes Yes!
The fact that you had to camp out to get the tickets meant that you were a diehard fan. As a freshman, the whole ticket line experience made me the diehard fan that I still am today. I don't know how season tickets are distributed today, but if it is some online lottery, then other than the cost of the tickets - which is trivial for a large percentage of the student body - it does nothing to ensure that a devoted fan base is built.

Cornell has figured this out with admissions, where they take a relatively large percentage of ED candidates partly because they want a student body that is happy to be there, rather than kids who didn't get in to HYP.

Cost of tickets ($250?) isn’t trivial for most college students. Most of the rich kids for whom that amount is trivial join frats and sororities, i.e. they’re busy with other things on Friday and Saturday nights. Lynah should be more financially accessible to the average student, IMO. And while sure, having to camp out for tickets does build devotion in an ideal world, this is unfortunately not the world we live in anymore. The demand for tickets is nowhere near the level necessary for kids to have to camp out. Until Lynah student seats are selling out, the goal should not be building devotion among the small number of committed hockey fans for whom the season ticket price is trivial. Rather, the goal should be to get more students in the door so demand trends up again.

There are 16k undergrads now. I swear in the early 80s it was 12k. I'm surprised hockey hasn't been able to hold onto its status as a golden ticket, given limited supply (the Fenway Effect). The additional seating may have absorbed some of that increase.

I suppose the strong attendance in the 60s and 70s can be ascribed to being a national contender, and the 80s as a Miracle By-product.

So presumably the thing to do is to become a perennial national contender again. Purely for attendance purposes, you understand.

BearLover
The demand for tickets is nowhere near the level necessary for kids to have to camp out.

I agree with basically everything you said, especially that prices should be more accessible to all students. However, in regards to camping out, it really was not that long ago where this was still required for the dedicated students to get good tickets they wanted - my sister was here from 2013-2017 and I remember her camping out for tickets every year (except maybe the last iirc? Which I think is when they changed to online or a diff system?)

Perhaps it wasn’t as intensive of a “camp out” as a while ago where if you weren’t in line you wouldn’t get a ticket at all, but it definitely was still important to get in line early in order to secure good seats in the section you wanted (B)…

The reason I bring this up is because there is certainly an equivalent of this “camping out” for todays setup that is perhaps equally if not more painful lol… since tickets release on the site at a random time on a set day, all of the most faithful students spend the entire day reloading the page waiting for the drop. (Our equivalent of a line). In my opinion this is the modern equivalent to standing outside in a line among fellow faithful, but I do have to say standing in a line sounds much more enjoyable as it obviously allows you to build more rapport among the community - but people still buy tickets with others in blocks so I don’t think this new method detracts from that.

Meanwhile most casual faithful end up only securing their season tickets once they see the announcement on big red tix or Cornell men’s hockey social media that the tickets have dropped - by the time they make social media posts a large majority of B is taken and the better seats in the other sections are taken

So I guess my point is I think there would be enough interest in season tickets for people to camp out (or at least in a similar fashion to what “camping out” meant in 2013-17), but I think the larger issue just falls in the fact that yes season ticket prices are higher than most casual fans would be interested in - and that’s what’s limiting the “camping out” for season tickets to be at the same level of farther in the past

Another factor is Covid and the fact we were limiting like 1/4 attendance in student sections for the majority of 21/22 season… which was the right decision for safety but definitely hurt student interest since that right there greatly limits the amount of students who *even can* be interested

Trotsky
There are 16k undergrads now. I swear in the early 80s it was 12k. I'm surprised hockey hasn't been able to hold onto its status as a golden ticket, given limited supply (the Fenway Effect). The additional seating may have absorbed some of that increase.

I suppose the strong attendance in the 60s and 70s can be ascribed to being a national contender, and the 80s as a Miracle By-product.

So presumably the thing to do is to become a perennial national contender again. Purely for attendance purposes, you understand.

Cornell has been a perennial national contender for many years now. Particularly in the past six seasons, Cornell has made the NCAAs 5 out of 6 times, getting a 1-seed twice. In multiple different seasons we’ve been ranked #1 in the country. Clearly team success is not high on the list of variables affecting attendance.

As for camping out, I think people have in mind literally camping out overnight with tents. When I was a student in the early 2010s, there was nothing like that anymore. I remember there being some kind of online lottery with preference to prior season ticket holders and then waiting on line at Bartels for like 30 minutes before we could select tickets. I was able to get really good seats all four years without much hassle at all.

BearLover

Trotsky
So presumably the thing to do is to become a perennial national contender again. Purely for attendance purposes, you understand.

Cornell has been a perennial national contender for many years now. Particularly in the past six seasons, Cornell has made the NCAAs 5 out of 6 times, getting a 1-seed twice. In multiple different seasons we’ve been ranked #1 in the country.

I was more thinking 1 seed every year for 20 years in a row, to test the thesis.

Cornell is just dealing with the same attendance issues almost all sports are. Why the students have decided to go elsewhere is the bigger issue. Its not like they didnt sell the tickets the kids just dont show up consistently any more.

Maybe sports generally are losing their appeal.

Living in the limelight, the universal dream
For those who wish to see;
Those who wish to be, must put aside the alienation
Get on with the fascination
The real relation, the underlying theme

Maybe the little bastids prefer to actually live.

How was attendance in 19-20? That should be the realistic goal. Everything since is upside down and then the chain of tradition was broken by the lost season followed by the semi attendance season.

Everything went down hill once they gave out the "I did my time in the line" shirts. Getting the tickets wasn't supposed to be the accomplishment; showing up to every game afterwards was.

Didn't the student council used to subsidize tickets? Do they still do that?

Trotsky
Maybe sports generally are losing their appeal.

Living in the limelight, the universal dream
For those who wish to see;
Those who wish to be, must put aside the alienation
Get on with the fascination
The real relation, the underlying theme

Maybe the little bastids prefer to actually live.

At least Geddy still has his Blue Jays tix behind home plate.

Donald Sutherland has no Expos anymore.

The building was full on Saturday. You guys literally complain about everything

Also no one wants to camp out anymore… This isn’t the 80s get used to it

It was sold out every game in 19-20

Big Dingus
Also no one wants to camp out anymore… This isn’t the 80s get used to it

There were people camping out as recently as my freshman year (2010-11). I think it stopped shortly after

Big Dingus
The building was full on Saturday. You guys literally complain about everything

I guess a lot of folks dressed up as empty bleachers for Halloween then.

Big Dingus
You guys literally complain about everything

For a dingus you picked up on the ethos here pretty quick.

Trotsky

nshapiro

Swampy

TimV

Trotsky

Al DeFlorio
That looks exactly on beam.

Depends whose "day" you mean by "our day." In the early 60s it was a $25 CUAA coupon book that got a student into every sports event.

Well, in the early 60s we sucked. Supply and demand. Do we still just give free football tix to students?

I had a CUAA book 64-68. Harkness years when we SO did not suck. Don't know how they handled overflow, I'm sure there were times when that happened.

Football was not included in the book if I recall corectly, but the coupon was good for a discount. Might be time to resurrect the CUAA Book (which only students could buy) and do the same thing for hockey.

And yeah, give free football tix to students. Pizza too.

The fact that back then one had to camp out overnight to get season tickets made them more valuable. Adding the value of one's time to the price made season tickets something that one would not want to waste. Moreover, if one had some other event, it was easy to find someone to take the ticket. So real attendance, as opposed to formal attendance (tickets sold), was never an issue.

Yes, Yes Yes!
The fact that you had to camp out to get the tickets meant that you were a diehard fan. As a freshman, the whole ticket line experience made me the diehard fan that I still am today. I don't know how season tickets are distributed today, but if it is some online lottery, then other than the cost of the tickets - which is trivial for a large percentage of the student body - it does nothing to ensure that a devoted fan base is built.

nshapiro
The fact that you had to camp out to get the tickets meant that you were a diehard fan. As a freshman, the whole ticket line experience made me the diehard fan that I still am today. I don't know how season tickets are distributed today, but if it is some online lottery, then other than the cost of the tickets - which is trivial for a large percentage of the student body - it does nothing to ensure that a devoted fan base is built.

Correct.

We also built relationships (ahem, but hockey also) on that overnight. We met people and because we were in similar positions in the line we formed blocs, and so you had ready-made friend groups going into ticket selection, and those carried over into games. Even the cheating, where one frat turd would somehow turn into 20 brothers 4 minutes before the door opened, meant there were blocs of comrades in arms. This all helped with the coordination of cheers, and the encouragement of creativity which has been the single greatest casualty of the change.

The beginning of the end of Hot Truck was when they started taking phone orders. If you didn’t have to order in person and wait outside on the steps with everyone else, it ceased being a community.

On the Lynah topic, the line is the obvious focal point, but for me, the biggest change was the arrival time. Mid-90s, the student section was decently full for warmups and beginning the heckling. 10 years later, mostly empty until intros. 5 years after that, arriving mid-1st was common. Normalize arriving late, and you normalize not going at all.

The “line” in the ‘00s and ‘10s was a manufactured event, after the announcement of ticket locations produced near stampedes across campus. It became “here, sit in this building for an hour and have a t-shirt.”

01-02 was the last true outdoor camp out for tix. By 02-03 they started moving it indoors IIRC

Iceberg

Big Dingus
Also no one wants to camp out anymore… This isn’t the 80s get used to it

There were people camping out as recently as my freshman year (2010-11). I think it stopped shortly after

What??? I had great seats in B that year, didn’t camp for one second.

Big Dingus
It was sold out every game in 19-20

No it was not…

RichH
Normalize arriving late, and you normalize not going at all.

I've always wished there were a way to "resell" the seats of no-shows.

nshapiro
Cornell has figured this out with admissions, where they take a relatively large percentage of ED candidates partly because they want a student body that is happy to be there, rather than kids who didn't get in to HYP.

And it also helps the yield (admits who choose to attend) which is another factor supposedly showing the school's exclusivity.

RichH
The beginning of the end of Hot Truck was when they started taking phone orders. If you didn’t have to order in person and wait outside on the steps with everyone else, it ceased being a community.

Although even back in the day some of us had the "cheat code" of friends living in the 660 Stewart Ave Co-op, where we could spend part of the wait time out of the elements.