Wisconsin Pride
By:Jenna Brandl
To all the Badger fans out there, and yes that’s probably most of you reading this, but did you know that this last year or so for the 2017-2018 budget of Wisconsin Athletics was at a profound $132.4 million? I know, it’s shocking! At first I didn’t believe it either, but after reading an article on the Wisconsin State Journal webpage I found out where all of this money has gone too. It’s a mix of things really, $5.8 million of that $41.5 million in media rights revenue from the conference in the coming year will be going towards things such as sports medicine, psychology and academic services. The rest of that 97 percent will be going towards the growing student athletic programs. Though with all the new students and outstanding athletes coming into the school, they’ll need a place to stay that will be growing with these athletes throughout the coming years; that’s why about $10.9 million is being set aside for the campus.
Recently, I got the chance to go to the first UW Wisconsin Men’s Hockey game of the season this past Saturday (October 13th). After going I started to wonder just how much it would be for certain tickets for this one game not including the money from the 2017-2018 budget and if it was worth the amount of money for tickets. To start I found on the the UWBadgers website each of the tickets worth for each section and the amount of games provided. Here is what I found down below.
Group Ticket Levels (Single game)
Cost
15-39 tickets in the Reserved sections (100, 200, & 300 level)
$18.00
15-39 tickets in the Upper Reserved sections (row D and above in the 300 level)
$15.00
40 tickets in the Reserved sections (100, 200, & 300 level)
$13.00
40 tickets in the Upper Reserved sections (row D and above in the 300 level)
$11.00
Season Pass:
Face Off package→ $215, includes nine regular season home games, B1G quarterfinal 1, and the B1G semifinal.
Slap-Shot package → $230 Includes nine regular season home games, B1G quarterfinal 2 and 3, and the B1G Championship.
Contributions
Sections
$50 per seat sections
107, 108, 109, 121, 122, & 123
207, 209, 221, 222, & 223
$25 per seat sections
106, 110, 120, 124
Student Tickets:
Season Pass→ $115 + $20 Processing Fee
Sections: 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, & 316
After looking at these ticket prices a lot changed my thinking about how much these games actually cost. Are these ticket prices worth the games? For example what if you buy tickets and the team has a horrible game or gets crushed by their opponent. According to some ticket purchasers they don’t mind paying to watch the sport,for some students who have to pay alongside their college fees it may not sound like the best idea. This would be an example of an oppertunity cost for a student. They either get to go to the games and live the college life or they save that money for other goods and services like food, student funds, etc. If I was a student going to UW Madison there would be a very high chance of me paying for the season passes to really get to feel like a student at that school. Though I cannot say that about everyone’s decision on these tickets. According to another article on the Wisconsin Sate Journal the price of the UW Women’s Hockey team just got approved to increase the price of tickets, though many people think it won’t be worth the income in the long run. "Women's hockey already has the smallest sign board. It almost never has the band. We do get Bucky," said Viney, a law school professor. "But, otherwise, you're asking people to pay 30 or 60 percent more for their tickets, and they're all going to be asking me, 'What are we getting for that?'"(Wisconsin State Journal). In the end, it all depends on how committed of a Badger fan you are and how much you enjoy seeing them play by watching their games in person, which I certainly love to do.
Works Cited
“Men's Hockey - Ticket Information.” Men's Hockey - Ticket Information - Wisconsin Athletics, uwbadgers.com/sports/2015/8/21/GEN_20140101137.aspx.
Milewski, Todd D. “Badgers Sports: Committee Approves $132.4 Million Wisconsin Athletics Budget for 2017-18.” Madison.com, 9 Feb. 2017, madison.com/wsj/sports/college/badgers-sports-committee-approves-million-wisconsin-athletics-budget-for/article_985308d4-1752-5796-85a6-b4fcc28b087c.html.
Milewski, Todd D. “Committee Approves Wisconsin Badgers Women's Hockey Ticket Price Hike, OKs Wrestling Season Ticket Sales.” Madison.com, 17 May 2018, madison.com/wsj/sports/college/hockey/committee-approves-wisconsin-badgers-women-s-hockey-ticket-price-hike/article_585bedb2-df8a-5789-9add-069d5265683a.html.
Links:
https://madison.com/wsj/sports/college/badgers-sports-committee-approves-million-wisconsin-athletics-budget-for/article_985308d4-1752-5796-85a6-b4fcc28b087c.html
https://uwbadgers.com/sports/2015/8/21/GEN_20140101137.aspx
https://madison.com/wsj/sports/college/hockey/committee-approves-wisconsin-badgers-women-s-hockey-ticket-price-hike/article_585bedb2-df8a-5789-9add-069d5265683a.html
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Well, that’s the risk you take for going to sporting events. Not every single game is going to be the game for we saw yesterday/today. As for the lower attendance teams such as women’s hockey, they will always have that small guaranteed purchasing audience composed of the player’s friends, family and hockey fanatics. This allows them to ratchet up the price a bit, so they can still try and turn a profit on a low attendance club sport.
ReplyDeleteThese are some very expensive tickets but also look at how much people have to pay for the brewers or the packers, it’s so much more. It’s saddening if they lose but at least you get the experience of going there and it’s not like it’s a bad place. The place is really nice looking so it’s reasonable for those prices. It’s surprising those solo tickets don’t cost anymore than they do. Otherwise, that is a lot of money going to them and a lot of that going towards their living area. Some people have to sleep in like 8x8 feet rooms and they are putting 10.9 million dollars just for them to sleep and stuff, that’s insane. This can go either way but I accept those prices since it helps make the team better so they can get more wins and get better.
ReplyDeleteAs a person who loves attending sporting events like the hockey games you described I definitely have thought about the price of tickets and if they are really worth it. It is really a let down in any sport when the team has a bad game and you basically “lost” the price of your ticket. Your point about the opportunity cost for students of the university buying the tickets is a very good point. Many college students are facing a tight budget because of the high price of tuition, therefore spending the 100+ dollars on tickets and the time may not be the best option. I think that the increase in ticket prices may cause the student attendance at games to decrease, but I believe that the players families and true dedicated fans will still attend the games no matter how high the price rises because they want to support their players.
ReplyDeletePeople who enjoy attending these games will be more willing to pay for these tickets. If people spend the money on tickets and the team they are there for ends up losing its unfortunate but they made the decision to buy those tickets, hopefully they still enjoy the experience and don't let the loss get to them too much. Overall if someone is a sports adict and they love sports, they will pay the larger amount for the tickets because to them its worth it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with buying the season pass because of the love of the sport. I believe it is still worth going to games even if your team get blown out or losses. People may leave the game angry, but would be angry if they lost and watched at home also.
ReplyDeleteIt truly is interesting how much ticket prices have increased in the last couple years, and you raise a good point showing how it can be risky to pay this much to possibly witness a bad game. Never would I have thought of this as opportunity cost, but this is a fascinating way to look at it, as you not only lose money if you were to see a bad sporting event, but other possible events you could have attended instead.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the market for college sports tickets has a steadier demand than the market for professional sport tickets? Colleges should have a pretty constant flow of new fans because they get new students every year: guaranteed new fans. Even if the teams do poorly for a few years, there should be students who come to support their teams. After graduation, alumni usually still support their college team. However with professional sports, there seems to be less of a structured/consistent system for adding fans besides population growth in areas around the team.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting to think about where all the money goes from ticket prices. However, I don’t think it matters if the team wins or loses it’s all about the memories. I think a lot of students go for fun with friends and to be apart of the student body. It’s about waiting in the snow storm for five hours just to watch a game. So no matter the outcome of the team it’s still fun! Also, where the money gets distributed I think is fair and equal. It goes to good services like education, psychology, and housing for the growing athletic interest. Therefore, I think the price of the tickets are worth it and fair.
ReplyDelete-Anika