Southern Cal charges $30 to attend Spring Game?!

[ysubuck]

Heard this on...gulp...espin radio today.

Pretty ballsy if you ask me.

Charging fans $30 to watch a scrimmage?

 

[Jaxbuck]

So how much did they make? $210

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

So how much did they make? $210

 

[sandgk]

If it was the Spring Huddle, then I believe it was the cost of a package, the ticket included a catered lunch courtesy of In-N-Out.

In-N-Out of yer wallet that is.

And Oh yes, they had 15,000 in attendance.

Opinions at WeAreSc are pretty mixed (up) about this as you might imaging.

There was even this quote from one of the posters on WeAreSC.com -- pretty candid and definitely apropos for this site:

mothkiller
Registered User
Posts: 197
(4/12/05 10:59:55 am)
Reply It's great without the autographs <hr size="1"> I had no interest in the autograph session....

For me just watching the players during the off season was well worth the $25

BTW... I saw on the Ohio State board that they had about 70,000 last year at their spring game and that the tickets were only $5 Also, it is televised on a local channel......

With continued success on the field, perhaps someday our support will grow to such a level...

He's telling us that one AP NC annointing and one undisputed NC doesn't cut it with folks in LaLa land.

Man -- and I thought New York was a touch town to please.

 

[USCTrojans]

Tickets were $25 advanced, $30 at gate. Plus $6 for parking which is normal for area. Add on $2.67 gallon for regular unleaded gas and it seems everything is going up in price nowadays.

You do get an In and Out Burger and drink with your ticket, but your gonna wait 30 minutes in line. We drew 15k this year, down from about 20k last year. Plus it seemed like more ebay hawkers than usual looking to make buck during autograph sessions leaving kids out. It's unfortunate, but just fact of life things are getting more expensive. Remember when Carl's Jr. combos were only $5-6 bucks? Now you're looking at $6-$7 bucks for a combo. When you think about it, the "Huddle" was about price of a night out at movies for two people so in that context not so bad. Still, pricewise, I agree it's all pretty ridiculous, but what are you going to do if you're a hardcore fan?

Good luck to you guys.

 

[AirForceBuck]

Speaking about authograph sessions:

Are the Buckeyes holding an autograph session next Saturday? Also, any news if they will be going to Buckeye Corner or City Center to hold sessions? I would love to have sum auto's for this years class. When I was in the hospital in 2002, my mother went to City Center for their autograph session and got everyone to sign an OState Football for the team to sign it -great players too (doss, gamble, grant, baily, krenzel, and maybe about 25 others) and I cherish it and would love to add more to my collections. Any word on it would be great, thanks.

 

[sandgk]

Tickets were $25 advanced, $30 at gate. Plus $6 for parking which is normal for area. Add on $2.67 gallon for regular unleaded gas and it seems everything is going up in price nowadays.

You do get an In and Out Burger and drink with your ticket, but your gonna wait 30 minutes in line. We drew 15k this year, down from about 20k last year. Plus it seemed like more ebay hawkers than usual looking to make buck during autograph sessions leaving kids out. It's unfortunate, but just fact of life things are getting more expensive. Remember when Carl's Jr. combos were only $5-6 bucks? Now you're looking at $6-$7 bucks for a combo. When you think about it, the "Huddle" was about price of a night out at movies for two people so in that context not so bad. Still, pricewise, I agree it's all pretty ridiculous, but what are you going to do if you're a hardcore fan?

Good luck to you guys.

USCTrojans --
Just for perspective -- the 15K paid minimum $25 a head. That's $375,000.
The 70,000 who will attend the Spring game next weekend in Columbus pay $5 per head -- that $350,000. Plus there is parking, plus the other frills.
Plus the stadium gets all the soda and dog sales on top of that take.
Assume a measly $6 a head in refreshments past the gate --
Thats an additional $420,000 in the till.
Seems to me that this a simple case of supply and demand per Econ 101.
The SC Spring Huddle tickets are priced ABOVE market.
(And I might add the Buckeyes Spring Game price is an absolute bargain -- tOSU could easily double the ticket with few batting an eye-lid).
If SC were to lower the price hurdle and bring in more fans to the Spring Game would it not be a great boost to the spirits of all those Blue Chippers PC brings to LA?
Would it not be a bigger boon to the local hotels?
Down from 20K to 15K this year, on the heels of an undisputed, uncontested National Championship blow-out of huge proportions. At this rate they will have fewer in attendance than some Friday night High School games...
I'm not surprised at the complaints I read over at WeAreSC.com, someone in the Trojans Athletic Dept needs their head examined.

 

[Yertle]

Maybe some of the USC fans can tell me if this is true or not, but I was in LA right before the 2003 season started. USC just finished kicking some Irish and Hawkeye tail in the 2002 season, and everything I was reading was counting on the Trojans to make some big noise in 2003 (which they did).

I was hanging out with a group of 25-30 LA-ers, and none of them knew a damn thing about the Trojan football team. NONE! I think a couple knew they were supposed to be good, but couldn't tell me the coach's name, the starting tailback, or even the departed Heisman winner. These guys aren't basket-cases either. They follow the Lakers, Dodgers, and most were 49-ers fans, but that's where it ended.

The four things I definitely took away from that trip:
1. LA weather is very nice. We were there in August and it wasn't too hot and humid and sweaty and sticky and yuck! Much better than Ohio.
2. LA is huge and confusing. It dwarfs Cleveland and Columbus (the two cities that I've lived).
3. LA is expensive. We went to a buddy's parents house. It was a 3-bedroom ranch in a small neighborhood with NO YARD. He estimated its value at $900,000. Holy fuck!
4. LA is not the football town C-bus is. Then again, I haven't been to a town as into football as C-bus. Sure, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Boston all claim to be. They are WAY wrong. Doesn't even compare. But, those three cities blow LA out of the water. It's no wonder the 2nd biggest city in the country doesn't have an NFL team.

Just my observations. I could be off, but I doubt it.

 

[methomps]

USCTrojans --
Just for perspective -- the 15K paid minimum $25 a head. That's $375,000.
The 70,000 who will attend the Spring game next weekend in Columbus pay $5 per head -- that $350,000. Plus there is parking, plus the other frills.
Plus the stadium gets all the soda and dog sales on top of that take.
Assume a measly $6 a head in refreshments past the gate --
Thats an additional $420,000 in the till.
Seems to me that this a simple case of supply and demand per Econ 101.
The SC Spring Huddle tickets are priced ABOVE market.
(And I might add the Buckeyes Spring Game price is an absolute bargain -- tOSU could easily double the ticket with few batting an eye-lid).
If SC were to lower the price hurdle and bring in more fans to the Spring Game would it not be a great boost to the spirits of all those Blue Chippers PC brings to LA?
Would it not be a bigger boon to the local hotels?
Down from 20K to 15K this year, on the heels of an undisputed, uncontested National Championship blow-out of huge proportions. At this rate they will have fewer in attendance than some Friday night High School games...
I'm not surprised at the complaints I read over at WeAreSC.com, someone in the Trojans Athletic Dept needs their head examined.

I don't think the Spring game is enough of a cash cow for the hotels to care. It's actually kinda nice to have about 15k because the players are only out there for an hour to sign autographs. The game was held on a Sunday for some reason, so that stunts attendance.

I could be wrong, but I don't think the Spring game is much of a recruiting tool. Garry at WeAreSC keeps us informed of most of the recruits that visit practices and games, and I don't think he mentioned anyone being in attendance (except those who had already signed). I think the Spring Game serves its purpose as-is.

I was hanging out with a group of 25-30 LA-ers, and none of them knew a damn thing about the Trojan football team. NONE! I think a couple knew they were supposed to be good, but couldn't tell me the coach's name, the starting tailback, or even the departed Heisman winner. These guys aren't basket-cases either. They follow the Lakers, Dodgers, and most were 49-ers fans, but that's where it ended.

It's odd to find Dodger fans who are also 49er fans, but I don't doubt that there are some. I think there are a lot of factors at play. The culture is certainly different, but I think some people put too much emphasis on that (usually taking a jab at "LA fans"). But you have to remember that there are other things involved. First, we aren't even the only college team in our city. More importantly, USC is a private institution with a relatively small alumni base. We don't pump out as many graduates every year as state schools. We also have a large international contingency. I bet our attendance figures are the highest of any private, city-based university.

Yes, the NFL left LA, but they are fighting hard to get back in for a reason.

 

[sandgk]

I could be wrong, but I don't think the Spring game is much of a recruiting tool. Garry at WeAreSC keeps us informed of most of the recruits that visit practices and games, and I don't think he mentioned anyone being in attendance (except those who had already signed). I think the Spring Game serves its purpose as-is.

Oh, to be clear, I was talking more of the newly annointed Trojans, rather than any HS Blue Chippers visiting to see if they might like to be PC's numero uno recruit for 2006 for one day.