[Rosiak's Blog] Pre-season scrimmages set

[ToddRosiakSays]

Pre-season scrimmages set
               



As had been talked about last year, the Marquette Golden Eagles will for the first time take part in a pair of pre-season, closed-door workouts against other Division I teams rather than play even one exhibition game at the Bradley Center.

               

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/120987144.html
               

[GGGG]

Wow, for those who wanted to toughen up the schedule, December includes at LSU, at Wisconsin, home against Vandy and a "made-for-television neutral site game against a BCS level team."

[DegenerateDish]

Very interested to see the who/where for the potential neutral site game. I'm just going to guess it's Illinois at United Center.

I'm sure they could get a few butts in the seats for MU/IU in Lucas Oil.

[brewcity77]

Curious to see who that neutral site turns out to be. I figure the neutral site almost has to be the UC, because you'd think it will be somewhere not terribly far from Marquette. Either there or possibly in Indianapolis. Which makes a Big Ten team or possibly SEC most likely. Outside shot of Big 12. Here's hoping for a Northwestern, Tennessee, or Oklahoma State instead of an Ohio State, Kentucky, or Kansas. I'd rather a likely win against a projected 35-60 RPI team than a likely loss against a projected 1-5 RPI team.

Here's hoping for cupcakes in the 225 and better range.

[mu_hilltopper]

Boy .. not having the 2 exhibition games  .. fine by me, but I thought it was all about the $$.  Sure sounds like Buzz simply believes the scrimmages are best for development, and that's that.

All these years, the argument has been made that we can't do 1-and-1s with solid teams because that means we'd have to give up a home date and its precious revenue. 

Well, here we are, trading two home game revenue pots for 2 scrimmages.

[brewcity77]

Boy .. not having the 2 exhibition games  .. fine by me, but I thought it was all about the $$.  Sure sounds like Buzz simply believes the scrimmages are best for development, and that's that.

All these years, the argument has been made that we can't do 1-and-1s with solid teams because that means we'd have to give up a home date and its precious revenue. 

Well, here we are, trading two home game revenue pots for 2 scrimmages.

Out of curiosity, how much did those games draw? I can't imagine Marquette against Eastern Minnesota University of Technical Colleges drew more than a few thousand die-hards. Maybe MATC gets a few more, but still, do they even top 5,000 for those games? Or is it just the money added into the season ticket package?

This is shaping up to be a pretty tough non-con. Three Paradise Jam games, four against high-majors, UWM and UWGB, that only leaves four cupcakes. If we were to schedule all four of those in the 150-200 range, it wouldn't surprise me at all if we ended up with a top 10-15 SOS next year.

[Coleman]

Boy .. not having the 2 exhibition games  .. fine by me, but I thought it was all about the $$.  Sure sounds like Buzz simply believes the scrimmages are best for development, and that's that.

All these years, the argument has been made that we can't do 1-and-1s with solid teams because that means we'd have to give up a home date and its precious revenue.  

Well, here we are, trading two home game revenue pots for 2 scrimmages.

Can't they just charge the same for season tickets and cut out the exhibition games? How is that lost revenue? I'd imagine you are actually making more because you then don't have to rent out the BC for the game or pay the other team (if they do that for exhibition games).

Sure, you lose maybe 500 people who buy tickets at the door. I can't imagine it being much more than that though. If you care enough to go to an exhibition game you probably already have season tickets.

[Coleman]

I think if they ever resurrect the exhibition game(s), they should do it at the Al. No season tickets. $5 at the door general admission and pack the house. It'd be a fun atmosphere once a year for a game no one would otherwise care about.

[77ncaachamps]

Makes me wonder if Buzz will be picking up some defensive schemes from KO.

[Windyplayer]

Very interested to see the who/where for the potential neutral site game. I'm just going to guess it's Illinois at United Center.

I'm sure they could get a few butts in the seats for MU/IU in Lucas Oil.

Both games would be great (long overdue) match-ups. Have these games really not been considered lately due to the harm it may cause to the losing team's recruiting efforts in the Midwest (or in the case between Marquette and UofI, in Chicago)? I've always been under that assumption, but it seems incredibly far-fetched that a high school player would choose one school over another based on what happened in their match-up the year before. Regardless of outcomes, I think these match-ups draw always-needed media attention for both teams.

[mu_hilltopper]

Out of curiosity, how much did those games draw? I can't imagine Marquette against Eastern Minnesota University of Technical Colleges drew more than a few thousand die-hards. Maybe MATC gets a few more, but still, do they even top 5,000 for those games? Or is it just the money added into the season ticket package?

Bingo.  It's just another game that season ticket holders pay for.   The walk-up for exhibition games is near zero.  It really doesn't matter how much those games are attended, it's all about the STHs paying # of games X cost per game = revenue.

And we've guessed at the revenue before.  The base is about 13,000 seats.   4000 of those are students, which are minimal revenue.  6000 are lower bowl STHs, at $30 a pop = $180k.  3000 are upper bowl people, let's say average $15/ticket = $45k.    So one game is $225k or so.  Minus the buy-game payment, you net $180k-200k or so. 

Can't they just charge the same for season tickets and cut out the exhibition games? How is that lost revenue?

Yes, they could charge the same for season tickets, but they do not.  MU hasn't "raised" STHs in several years (5?) .. the lower bowl remains $30 a pop.  I think the upper has increased a bit .. I think it was $20 for the center sections, now it's $25.  (which is amazing.)

So, reducing the game count and holding the game cost constant = lower revenue.

The exhibition games are somewhat well attended by STHs.  Lots of children at those games.   Students aren't there, but the lower bowl is 90% filled with families.

[Mr. Nielsen]

The pre-season games are about between 12,000 to 13,000 in the paid attendance. The lower bowl is $30 per tickets, but some spots are $500 seat donations. So, you are really talking about $56 per ticket.

Here is the map in how the donations break down.
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/marq/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/MBBPrices1213.pdf

[Mr. Nielsen]

Bingo.  It's just another game that season ticket holders pay for.   The walk-up for exhibition games is near zero.  

Two years ago, MSOE had alot fans at the game.

Correct, in most years it's near zero.

[cheebs09]

Could the neutral site game be part of a Big East-SEC tournament like we had against Tenn? I thought there was talk of expanding that. Might be what the made-for-tv part means.

[Skatastrophy]

Could the neutral site game be part of a Big East-SEC tournament like we had against Tenn? I thought there was talk of expanding that. Might be what the made-for-tv part means.

You remember the expansion correctly

ESPN, the BIG EAST Conference and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) have reached an agreement for 12 members from each of the two premier conferences to play each other in a men's college basketball inter-conference Challenge the week after Thanksgiving starting in 2011. ESPN will provide exclusive coverage of all 12 games across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. The new BIG EAST/SEC Challenge will mark an expansion and modification of the SEC/BIG EAST Invitational, a four-year event from 2007 to 2010 that featured four matchups between the two conferences from two neutral sites.

[Mr. Nielsen]

The schedule is not adding up for me. Is Marquette going to only have 16 home games this season. They always have between 17 to 19 games with the exhibition game in there.

Big East games= 18 games

@ LSU, @Wisconsin, 3 games in the Par. Jam and BCS/Neutral site game=6 games

Home versus, Milwaukee, Green Bay & Vandy=3 games

That's only four home games left to fill to get up to 31 games on the schedule. Which would mean only 16 games at the Bradley Center.

[Husker4MU]

The Paradise Jam only counts as one game since it is an exempt tournament.

[Mr. Nielsen]

The Paradise Jam only counts as one game since it is an exempt tournament.

Correct, that gives the chance to play 31 games.

[NCMUFan]

The money from getting to the Sweet 16 is pretty phenomenal.  Maybe that is what Buzz has his eyes on.  Advancing in the tournament because that is where the real money is.

[brewcity77]

The Paradise Jam only counts as one game since it is an exempt tournament.

So how many games can you play? I thought it was 13, which was what we played last year. But we played 4 CBE games (Bucknell, UW-GB, Duke, Gonzaga), if those count as one game, does that mean the maximum is 9 + 1*, with the 1* being the tournament? So basically, 10 non-con games, but one is the undetermined number of exempt tourney games? Or is it different because of two dates being at home, so it's 11 + 1*, with the one being the number of neutral-site tourney games?

So currently, we have...

3 Home: UW-M, UW-GB, Vanderbilt
2 Road: LSU, Wisconsin
2* Neutral Site: Paradise Jam, Unnamed BCS (4 actual games)

Leaving us with either three remaining home cupcakes if it's the former, or five if it's the latter (for a total of either 12 or 14 games). Of course, if we play the 13 we played last year, that means four cupcakes.

And that gives us a total of either 15 or 17 home games. Or 16, if the 13 non-con games were static.

Does anyone know the actual number of games you can play, and how it works with the neutral site tournament?

[Mr. Nielsen]

31 total games, if you are in an exempt toury.

[brewcity77]

So three home cupcakes. As long as UW-M and UW-GB stay in the top 200 RPI (probably both will be top 150) and LSU has a notable improvement, we should have a very solid SOS. At most, only three crapcakes to drag us down, as opposed to six last year.

[wojosdojo]

Just out of curiosity how often will MU be part of the Thanksgiving Tournaments? Do they skip it every 3 years or so? Also is there a real possibility of Marquette playing Illinois as the BCS team?

[mu_hilltopper]

The pre-season games are about between 12,000 to 13,000 in the paid attendance. The lower bowl is $30 per tickets, but some spots are $500 seat donations. So, you are really talking about $56 per ticket.

Here is the map in how the donations break down.
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/marq/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/MBBPrices1213.pdf

Wow .. indeed.  I hadn't looked at the center sections' seat donation levels in a few years.  $500 per seat for 2012-13?  Anyone know what that was this year, last year?    I swear it was far lower, like $200.   Did they just jack it up for next season season?

Boy, no wonder it's so freaking hard to climb the priority point list.  You mandate the people in the middle donate $1000 a year, it means if you are NOT in those sections, you need to donate 14 points ($1400) per reseating cycle to tread water, more if you want to gain on them.  WOW.

[brewcity77]

Wow .. indeed.  I hadn't looked at the center sections' seat donation levels in a few years.  $500 per seat for 2012-13?  Anyone know what that was this year, last year?    I swear it was far lower, like $200.   Did they just jack it up for next season season?

Boy, no wonder it's so freaking hard to climb the priority point list.  You mandate the people in the middle donate $1000 a year, it means if you are NOT in those sections, you need to donate 14 points ($1400) per reseating cycle to tread water, more if you want to gain on them.  WOW.

Pretty sure those prices were the same in 2010-11 as well. I had seats in 425 last year and spent $550 on the pair, and was mulling the brown sections, but balked because I didn't want to double my price. Looking at the scale, I have a feeling I'll probably only upgrade my level twice over the next decade or so. The inner-level uppers aren't worth it because you are spending $900-1100 for marginally better seats, whereas you can get to the lower corners for $1340. $120 per seat isn't cheap, but when you're already spending $1100, it's a pretty small jump compared to going from $550 to even $900.

And from $1340, I'll probably jump past the $1740 range right to $2140. But something tells me that's at least 8 years away, just like the lower corners are probably at least 2-3 years away for me.