I didn't end up buying season tickets this year for various reasons (had to miss a few games already) and I have been kind of blown away by the lack of cheap tickets on the secondary market from game to game. Right now the cheapest ticket on Stubhub or Seatgeek is $30 + fees or exactly what OSU is charging for Valley View seats.
That lead me to looking at our attendance the last year and a half. Here are the "official" attendance numbers for the past eight Beaver home games:
2018 Arizona: 33,022
2018 Southern Utah: 36,448
2017 Arizona State: 36,063
2017 Stanford: 30,912
2017 Colorado: 33,785
2017 Washington: 37,821
2017 Minnesota: 35,206
2017 Portland State: 34,737
Over our last 8 games we have averaged 34,749 or 80% of our current capacity. And I think it's fair to say our attendance has actually been much lower than that considering they count all purchased tickets and I believe they count the entire student section allotment regardless of how many show up.
So we are probably sitting between 70-80% capacity for most games and it's not looking like it's going to get better yet I can't buy a ticket for less than $40 probably (including fees). If I hypothetically wanted to take a family of four to the game this weekend, I would be looking at around $150 for the worst possible tickets in the stadium (Valley View) to see the Oregon State Beavers who have won 2 of their last 15 games play WSU at 6 pm on a potentially rainy night. And if I'm coming from Portland I probably won't get home until 11 pm or later. I simply don't understand how that is a sustainable model. Yes, I'm sure there is a very complex pricing strategy OSU is using to determine what the value of these seats are but at this point I think that needs to be thrown out.
What is more valuable to the program? Flailing at some invisible break even number on every seat in the stadium or actually getting butts in seats? This problem isn't limited to Oregon State (happens at pro sports, concerts, and lots of other events too) but it's just frustrating to not see the "common" or "casual" fan prioritized at all. It just seems to me that offering $15 tickets or buy-one, get-one, or free tickets for kids under 18, or *something* would be better than what they are currently doing. Unless WSU brings 10,000 fans (possible) we are going to be looking at another game with under 35,000 fans and head in to a tough home stretch to end the year.
So is this just a unsupportive fan griping about an extra $20-30 here and there? Yes... absolutely. I didn't see the value in buying the cheapest season tickets ($100 each) this year when I was already going to have to miss a few games and I would likely be able to get the tickets anyway when I wanted to go. It has exposed me to just how difficult it is to justify buying Oregon State football tickets on a game-to-game basis especially when you're staring down the barrel of another 1-11 season. As someone in their late 20s saving up for a wedding and a house, it just doesn't make sense to spend $75 on Beaver Tickets this weekend and right now that's the only "official" option. Unfortunately, I have seen similar gripes and rants over the last four years and very little has changed.
As I wrote this I got a promotional email from OSU offering the "Terrace Special" for this weekend at $100 per person. A great deal probably for a certain class of fan but not something any casual fan is going to be interested in probably. I hope OSU is eventually able to recognize they need to take more drastic measures to get the everyday fan to Reser. Until then (or until Smith gets this turned around) I think we're going to see 30-35k for every game.
That lead me to looking at our attendance the last year and a half. Here are the "official" attendance numbers for the past eight Beaver home games:
2018 Arizona: 33,022
2018 Southern Utah: 36,448
2017 Arizona State: 36,063
2017 Stanford: 30,912
2017 Colorado: 33,785
2017 Washington: 37,821
2017 Minnesota: 35,206
2017 Portland State: 34,737
Over our last 8 games we have averaged 34,749 or 80% of our current capacity. And I think it's fair to say our attendance has actually been much lower than that considering they count all purchased tickets and I believe they count the entire student section allotment regardless of how many show up.
So we are probably sitting between 70-80% capacity for most games and it's not looking like it's going to get better yet I can't buy a ticket for less than $40 probably (including fees). If I hypothetically wanted to take a family of four to the game this weekend, I would be looking at around $150 for the worst possible tickets in the stadium (Valley View) to see the Oregon State Beavers who have won 2 of their last 15 games play WSU at 6 pm on a potentially rainy night. And if I'm coming from Portland I probably won't get home until 11 pm or later. I simply don't understand how that is a sustainable model. Yes, I'm sure there is a very complex pricing strategy OSU is using to determine what the value of these seats are but at this point I think that needs to be thrown out.
What is more valuable to the program? Flailing at some invisible break even number on every seat in the stadium or actually getting butts in seats? This problem isn't limited to Oregon State (happens at pro sports, concerts, and lots of other events too) but it's just frustrating to not see the "common" or "casual" fan prioritized at all. It just seems to me that offering $15 tickets or buy-one, get-one, or free tickets for kids under 18, or *something* would be better than what they are currently doing. Unless WSU brings 10,000 fans (possible) we are going to be looking at another game with under 35,000 fans and head in to a tough home stretch to end the year.
So is this just a unsupportive fan griping about an extra $20-30 here and there? Yes... absolutely. I didn't see the value in buying the cheapest season tickets ($100 each) this year when I was already going to have to miss a few games and I would likely be able to get the tickets anyway when I wanted to go. It has exposed me to just how difficult it is to justify buying Oregon State football tickets on a game-to-game basis especially when you're staring down the barrel of another 1-11 season. As someone in their late 20s saving up for a wedding and a house, it just doesn't make sense to spend $75 on Beaver Tickets this weekend and right now that's the only "official" option. Unfortunately, I have seen similar gripes and rants over the last four years and very little has changed.
As I wrote this I got a promotional email from OSU offering the "Terrace Special" for this weekend at $100 per person. A great deal probably for a certain class of fan but not something any casual fan is going to be interested in probably. I hope OSU is eventually able to recognize they need to take more drastic measures to get the everyday fan to Reser. Until then (or until Smith gets this turned around) I think we're going to see 30-35k for every game.
