UVA Athletics, this week, rolled out a promotional campaign aiming toward the goal to “Sell Out Scott” for the Aug. 29 UVA Football season opener with NC State.
If they were really serious about it, an AFP reader pointed out to me, “they would make it easier for regular people to afford to come to that one game.”
Hang around for our shocking conclusion.
They might finally be getting it.
“They might entice some people that have never seen a game live before to purchase season tickets. It would create a feeling that they were looking out for regular people, not just monied people. It seems to some that UVA doesn’t look out for regular fans, only those with the financial means to have disposable incomes to buy tickets at high prices,” the reader said.
Actually, from my review of the situation, they’re not doing that bad a job at this – unlike in the past, which I’ve been writing about critically for years.
ICYMI
The get in price for the NC State game at this writing is $25 for an upper-deck seat, but caveat there: each of the sections listing $25 seats notes the availability as being “low.”
That’s good news, I presume, for UVA Athletics, but even the $25 get in price doesn’t account for parking, which can run you $20 to $25 – there are free options, and shuttles from the free and paid lots.
If you’re going the ultra-cheap route, $25 for your ticket, get there early to get a space in one of the free lots, wait for a shuttle or just take a long, leisurely, late-summer stroll.
Factor in that, because you’ve got to be there early to snag a parking space, and then account for getting back after the game, and fight traffic getting out – plus the game, you’re going to be “at the game” for seven hours – you’re going to need to eat something.
If you go cheap, you can probably do a hot dog and a soda for $10.
So, there you go – $35 for seven hours of entertainment.
Well, three and a half hours of entertainment, and three and a half hours of parking, waiting for a bus or walking, and sitting around.
I think this is why a lot of people, and not just in the UVA Football fan base, decide to just watch at home on their 80-inch TVs.
For those who want to see a game in person on a budget, $35 for a ticket, hot dog and soda isn’t bad.
And this doesn’t appear to just be a one-game thing: scanning the tickets website, the get in price for Norfolk State (Sept. 11) and Delaware (Sept. 22) is $18, though the low-end price point increases for our ACC games: Syracuse (Oct. 10) is $39, Duke (Oct. 23) is $55, Cal (Nov. 14) is back to $39, and UNC (Nov. 21) is, gulp, $71.
As long as the squad wins games, they should move enough of those to justify the increase.
I say that, though, and last year, with UVA Football flirting all season with the possibility of earning a berth in the College Football Playoff, we were significantly below capacity (61,500) for Florida State (50,107), and still in the area of 10 percent under capacity for Wake Forest (55,568) and Washington State (56,048), and 5 percent under capacity for Virginia Tech (58,832).
We’re going to need to win some games to make those four high-dollar ACC games meaningful, but that’s something to worry about as the season plays out.
In the here and now, and I can’t believe I’m about to write this, but, UVA Athletics is doing what it needs to do to try to “Sell Out Scott.”
Regular readers know that I’m inclined to want to give the folks over there hell.
I’ll find something, I’m sure.
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Chris Graham
