B1G 2015 // On Iowa & the B1G's Season Tickets

I think it was September of 2012 when people started talking about it again. The year was off to a bad start for the Hawkeyes. They'd escaped Northern Illinois 18-17 at Soldier Field (a game that I had the horror of sitting through), dropped a laugher to Iowa State at Kinnick Stadium by a score of 6-9 and beaten Northern Iowa 27-16 in a game that was far closer than the final score suggested. Then there was Central Michigan. Oh man. You might've forgotten but Iowa actually lost to Central Michigan at Kinnick 31-32 on a last second field goal. Kirk Ferentz's response was about what you'd expect.

Following the incredible embarrassment of losing to a MAC team on our own field Iowa fans started asking the question. The question an athletic department doesn't want to ever hear. The question is: What if we stopped buying tickets? Attendance has always been an area of pride for Iowa fans. Even when the teams were bad we would show up. During the dark ages of the 1960's-1970's, we'd show up (well not me I wasn't born). Selling out Kinnick is no small task considering Iowa City proper has a little over 70,000 people and the metro area is at an estimated 161,000. Yet and still...we'd show up and quite often we'd sell out.

But what if we didn't? What if we stopped buying season tickets? In September of 2012 we were tired of it. We were tired of losing to supposedly lesser opponents at home. We were certainly tired of losing to Iowa State. Ferentz fatigue had started up again and it only bred as the year got progressively worse. By the end of November the writing was on the wall. We were sick of it. Up to that point Kinnick Stadium had announced sell outs every game but it was a farce to actually consider the stadium "sold out." There were empty seats everywhere. And on November 23rd when our "rival" Nebraska came to town it was no surprise that for the first time all season Kinnick wasn't sold out.

The chatter subsided a bit in 2013 when Iowa finished the regular season 8-4 but on September 13th, 2014 it was back at full force. Why do we keep losing to Iowa State? Why do we keep paying to see this? I asked myself the same exact question as I sat in my season ticket seat and watched Iowa State kick a game winning field goal. I mean, when is it going to change? Following that, Kinnick Stadium didn't have an announced sell out the remainder of the season.

We all knew why.

That's the short version but it should almost bring you up to speed. And now, what was talked about in 2012 is coming to life in 2015. Iowa fans aren't buying season tickets like they used to. I'm not buying season tickets for 2015. This is our resistance. This is what we can do to illustrate our anger. And at this point, when I say "we" I'm not referring to Iowa fans in general. I'm referring to Iowa fans, such as myself, who are no longer happy with the current state of Iowa football and are advocating for change.

The only thing the Iowa Athletic Department seems to understand is money. After all, sports are a business and businesses exist to profit. So we'll hit them in the pocketbook. We're tired of nothing changing, we're tired of failing to meet expectations and we're tired of "that's football" so we'll just stop showing up and see what happens.

Iowa responded to their disgruntled fanbase with this press-release. The sub-heading reads "UI Athletics Department acting on feedback, rewarding season ticket customers." Rewarding. Like a dog. Like "THAT'S A GOOD BOY IOWA SEASON TICKET HOLDER." And the reward? Freezing the price of season tickets at $395, offering $70 worth of concessions (or $10 per game) and giving you a one-time 30% coupon to use at Herky's Locker Room (Iowa's official team store) that has to be used prior to the beginning of the season.

HOO BOY. LOOK OUT NOW. TEN DOLLARS? I CAN BUY A POP. MAYBE TWO IF I GET THE SMALL ONES. OH WAIT I HAVE TO USE THAT COUPON BEFORE THE SEASON STARTS WELP IT'S TOO LATE NOW. Heaven forbid that they actually lower the price of the tickets which, by the way, are too damn expensive to begin with.

In May, Marc Morehouse of the Cedar Rapids Gazette wrote a piece on how, shockingly, the Iowa Athletic Department expected a "down tick" in football season tickets. From the article:

For the 2015* season, Barta said Iowa has sold in the neighborhood of 30,000 general public season tickets and has another 500 new buyers waiting for orders to be served. In 2014, Iowa sold 37,823 season tickets to the general public, its lowest number since selling 37,125 in 2009.

The article reads "2016 season" but I checked with Marc and it's a typo. Should be 2015.

Another point of concern is the drop in student ticket sales. In March, Morehouse examined the issues with student ticket sales and wrote "Approximately 7,000 were sold in 2013 and then just more than 6,000 last season." Rick Brown of the Des Moines Register noted in an article that since 2011, "student sales have fallen from 10,513 to 6,440." Most recently, Jon Solomon of CBS Sports found a new way to write a "Kirk Ferentz is overpaid" piece by comparing his contract with the declining ticket sales. In summation: Everyone sees the problem and knows the problem but no one besides disgruntled Iowa fans is doing anything about it.

It's worth noting that Iowa's declining season ticket tales coincides with a national downturn in NCAA football attendance. Solomon also wrote a piece on this back in December titled "Home crowds drop to lowest in 14 years." The NCAA's numbers show that on average, approximately 1,000 less people showed up to home games in 2014. Miraculously, Iowa actually averaged a few hundred more people in 2014 than in 2013 but I would attribute this to a far better home slate.

All of this got me thinking. How do Iowa's season tickets compare to the rest of the Big Ten cost-wise? What about student tickets? What's the average price per game? How does Iowa's ticket system compare to other schools? The answers follow.

Iowa:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $0

It is not necessary to join any sort of "club" when purchasing Iowa football tickets. However, if you want better seats you'll need to make a per-seat donation to the I-Club and need priority points to beat out other I-Club members. Kinnick Stadium is broken into four zones: Zone IV requires a $50 per-seat donation and includes seats between the end zone and 10 yard-line; Zone III requires a $200 per-seat donation and includes seats between the 10 and 30 yard-line; Zone II requires a $400 per-seat donation and includes seats between the 30 and 40 yard-line; and Zone I requires a $600 per-seat donation and includes seats between the 40 yard-lines. The non-donation seats are in the end zones.

Price (High & Low):

$395: Iowa uses a flat rate for tickets.

Average Cost of Ticket: N/A

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $56

Student Season Tickets: $175 ($125 for incoming and transfer students if they purchase by July 31^st)

Illinois:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $0

It is not necessary to join any sort of "club" when purchasing Illinois football tickets.  Nor are there minimum donation levels required to access certain sections or zones of the stadium. Illinois operates their season ticket requests on a priority points scale, so the more money you give to the I FUND the earlier your request will be reviewed by the ticket office.  You must also give to the I FUND to gain access to the suites or club level(s).

Price (High & Low):

$290: For the "prime" price level, you will receive seats between the 20-yard-lines on the home side and between the 30-yard-lines on the away side.

$77: The lowest price level is the "horseshoe", which is self-explanatory when looking at Memorial Stadium.

Average Cost of Ticket: $183.5

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $41 (High), $26 (Average), $11 (Low).

Student Season Tickets: $77

Indiana:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $0

It is not necessary to join any sort of "club" when purchasing Indiana football tickets. Nor are there minimum donation levels required to access certain sections or zones of the stadium. Indiana operates their season ticket requests on a priority points scale, so the more money you give to the Varsity Club the earlier your request will be reviewed by the ticket office. You must also give to the Varsity Club to gain access to the suites or club level(s).

Price (High & Low):

$301: Indiana uses a flat rate for tickets.

Average Cost of Ticket: N/A

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $43

Student Season Tickets: $70

Maryland:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $0

It is not necessary to join any sort of "club" when purchasing Maryland football tickets. However, Maryland explicitly breaks Byrd Stadium's seating into two district groups: Non-Terrapin Scholarship Fund Sections and Terrapin Club Scholarship Fund Sections. Non-TSF Sections are primarily upper deck sections with a few lower level front row sections and two corner sections. TCSF Sections are basically the remainder of the stadium's lower sections and club level seating.

As you can see here, the TCSF Sections are broken into the following levels of giving: $135, $650, $1,300 and $2,200. These giving amounts are in addition to the costs of season tickets.

Price (High & Low):

$350: The "high" is a flat rate and will get you access to every part of the stadium. However, you can only sit in the "high class" sections if you donate large amounts of money to the TCSF.

$175: The cheapest seats in the house are in the highest corner of the highest level.

Average Cost of Ticket: $263

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $50 (High), $38 (Average), $25 (Low).

Student Season Tickets: Free

Michigan:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $75

There is a mandatory per-seat donation for anyone who purchases Michigan season tickets. The minimum amount you must give to the U of M Athletic Department is $75, which will get you a seat in the end-zones. The remaining Priority Point levels have names like victors, valiant, maize, etc. They are as follows: blue ($200), maize ($350), valiant ($475) and victors ($600). These giving amounts are in addition to the costs of season tickets.

Price (High & Low):

$455: Michigan uses a flat rate for tickets.

Average Cost of Ticket: N/A

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $65

Student Season Tickets: $185

Michigan State:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $25

There is a mandatory per-seat donation for anyone who purchases Michigan State season tickets. The cheapest is $25, which will get you a seat in the end-zones. The remaining Spartan Fund levels are categorized by zones. They are as follows: Zone E ($50), Zone D ($100), Zone C ($300), Zone B ($400) and Zone A ($600). These giving amounts are in addition to the costs of season tickets.

Price (High & Low):

$308: Michigan State uses a flat rate for tickets.

Average Cost of Ticket: N/A

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $44

Student Season Tickets: $175 (As of last year)

Minnesota:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $0

It is not necessary to join any sort of "club" when purchasing Minnesota football tickets. However, Minnesota only has one zone for those who do not give to the Golden Gopher Fund. Those that do give to the Golden Gopher Fund increase their "Gopher Score" (priority points) and can choose from the five remaining zones (the map can be found on the tickets website by clicking "View Pricing Map"). Zones 1-5 require you to give to the Golden Gopher Fund and their per-seat gift amount is as follows: Zone 5 ($50), Zone 4 ($75), Zone 3 ($150), Zone 2 ($450) and Zone 1 ($650). These giving amounts are in addition to the costs of season tickets.

Price (High & Low):

$330: This price rate will get you access to anywhere in the stadium.

$310: At this price level you don't have to give to the Golden Gopher Fund but you're pretty much in the corners of TCF Bank Stadium.

Average Cost of Ticket: $320

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $47 (High), $46 (Average), $44 (Low).

Student Season Tickets: $99

Nebraska:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $0

It is not necessary to join any sort of "club" when purchasing Nebraska football tickets. However, considering Nebraska season tickets have been sold out since the days of Andrew Johnson it's best for you to give money to the Nebraska Athletic Development Office to increase your standing in the priority points area. Memorial Stadium has 11 different levels of per-seat gift amounts so I'll just give you the link to look at yourself. The highest per-seat giving level is $2,500 and the lowest is $250 for obstructed view.

Price (High & Low):

$399: Nebraska uses a flat rate for tickets.

Average Cost of Ticket: N/A

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $57

Student Season Tickets: $166

Northwestern:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $0

In is not necessary to join any sort of "club" when purchasing Northwestern football tickets. In fact, it looks like the only thing that giving to The Wildcat Fund does for football is get you parking and premium seating (club and box seats).

Price (High & Low):

$299: The Prime Sideline seating will put you between the 35 yard-lines.

$159: The End Zone seating is self-explanatory.

Average Cost of Ticket: $229

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $43 (High), $33 (Average), $23 (Low).

Student Season Tickets: Free

Ohio State:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $250 OR $1,500

There is a mandatory per-seat donation for anyone who purchases Ohio State season tickets and the giving levels are quite substantial. As part of the "Recent Graduate Program", a recent graduate can give the measly amount of $250 to The Buckeye Club in the first couple years following their graduation to be able to purchase season tickets. The increments increase every so often until they get to five years and then they have to give at the Scarlet and Gray level, which is $1,500. So, to put it another way, if you just wanted to up and buy season tickets from Ohio State and you weren't a recent graduate you would have to pay $1,500.

Much like every other school that uses priority points, the more you give to The Buckeye Club the better your seats will be. They even have a formula on the website explaining how you calculate your priority points.

Price (High & Low):

$642: Ohio State uses a flat rate for tickets.

Average Cost of Ticket: N/A

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $92

Student Season Tickets: $252. Also, Ohio State uses a ranking system based upon accumulated credit hours to determine who gets first dibs on student tickets as they have assigned seats.

Penn State:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $100

There is a mandatory per-seat donation for anyone who purchases Penn State season tickets. To purchase a season ticket you need to give at least $100 to the Nittany Lion Club. Other seat donation levels are $200 (upper deck 20-yard-line), $400 (lower deck 10-30 yard-line and upper deck 40-yard-line), $600 (40-50 yard-line) and $2,000 (sideline seatbacks).

Price (High & Low):

$483: The highest priced tickets are the sideline seatback seats. In addition to giving $2,000 per-seat you also have to pay this ticket price.

$360: The cheap seats will get you tickets in the upper deck of the west end-zone.

Average Cost of Ticket: $422

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $69 (High), $60 (Average), $51 (Low).

Student Season Tickets: $218. Penn State also puts their tickets up for sale at different times based upon what year the student is.

Purdue:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $0

In is not necessary to join any sort of "club" when purchasing Purdue season tickets. However, if you want to sit anywhere between the 20 yard-lines you need to give at least $100 to the John Purdue Club. If you want to sit between the 30 yard-lines you need to give at least $250. Impressively, giving $250 can get you seats on the 35 or it can get you seats on the 50.

Price (High & Low):

$224: To sit in the "Prime" seats, which looks like anywhere between the 40 yard-lines, you'll need to pay this in addition to the donation to the John Purdue Club.

$119: For this low price you'll be able to sit in the "Value End Zone." As you can imagine, they're bleacher seats in the end zone.

Average Cost of Ticket: $172

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $32 (High), $25 (Average), $17 (Low).

Student Season Tickets: $99. Purdue has an interesting new program called "The Boarding Pass." For $99 dollars you will get a ticket to every Purdue football home game and be able to request tickets to basketball and volleyball games. You'll also be able to get into any other sporting event for free. Specifically, for football, Purdue has the Ross-Ade Brigade for $15. The Ross-Ade Brigade is the "Official Student Section of Purdue Football" (as opposed to the unofficial student section). It's not clear whether or not you need to give an additional $15 on top of the cost of The Boarding Pass.

Rutgers:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $25

There is a mandatory per-seat donation for anyone who purchases Rutgers season tickets. To purchase a season ticket you need to give at least $25 to the Rutger Scholarship Fund. To my surprise, Rutgers has TEN different price levels for season tickets, ranging from the lowest giving level of $25 to the highest giving level of $350. Nearly every sideline section has its own price range.

Price (High & Low):

$385: The highest priced tickets will get you a seat anywhere between the end-zones. However, to sit on say, the 50 yard-line you would need to donate $350.

$210: The lowest priced tickets will get you seats in the upper deck corner sections.

Average Cost of Ticket: $298

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $55 (High), $43 (Average), $30 (Low).

Student Season Tickets: $99.

Wisconsin:

Mandatory Seat Donation: $50

There is a mandatory per-seat donation for anyone who purchases Wisconsin season tickets. To purchase a season ticket you need to give at least $50 to the Walk-On Club. Of course, Wisconsin can't make it easy and provide us with a picture of their stadium giving levels so I'll break it down. To sit on the 50 yard-line you'll need to make a per-seat contribution of $400, to sit on the 40 yard-line it will cost $300, to sit on the 30 it will cost $200 and to sit on the 20-10 it will cost you $100. Anywhere else in the stadium only has the minimum $50 donation.

Price (High & Low):

$336: Wisconsin uses a flat rate for season tickets.

Average Cost of Ticket: N/A

Average Cost Per Game (7 Games): $48.

Student Season Tickets: $168.

At this point you're probably suffering from data overload and wanting me to put everything in a nice table or something. Well, I think I can do that.

Table One: The High-Roller

This table ranks the schools by combining: 1) The most expensive season ticket they offer; and 2) The per-seat donation required to purchase said ticket.

Rank	School	Ticket Cost	Donation Required	Total
1.	Nebraska	$399	$2,500	$2,899
2.	Maryland	$350	$2,200	$2,550
3.	Penn State	$483	$2,000	$2,483
4.	Ohio State	$642	$1,500*	$2,142
5.	Michigan	$455	$600	$1,055
6.	Iowa	$395	$600	$995
7.	Minnesota	$330	$650	$980
8.	Michigan State	$308	$600	$908
9.	Wisconsin	$336	$400	$736
10.	Rutgers	$385	$350	$735
11.	Purdue	$224	$250	$474
12.	Indiana	$301	$0	$301
13.	Northwestern	$299	$0	$299
14.	Illinois	$290	$0	$290

* - The Ohio State number is deceiving as they don't have any mandatory minimum donation per-seat other than the $1,500 you have to give to even be eligible for season tickets. The Buckeyes use a pure priority points system, so you need a total amount of priority points to be eligible for a section. I did the math and to get the 4,500 priority points needed to sit on the 50 you would to give a total of over $60,000.

Table Two: The Bargain Shopper

This table ranks the schools by combining: 1) The lowest cost season ticket they offer; and 2) The per-seat donation required to purchase said ticket.

Rank	School	Ticket Cost	Donation Required	Total
1.	Illinois	$77	$0	$77
2.	Purdue	$119	$0	$119
3.	Northwestern	$159	$0	$159
4.	Maryland	$175	$0	$175
5.	Rutgers	$210	$25	$235
6.	Indiana	$301	$0	$301
7.	Minnesota	$310	$0	$310
8.	Michigan State	$308	$25	$333
9.	Wisconsin	$336	$50	$386
10.	Iowa	$395	$0	$395
11.	Nebraska	$399	$0	$399
12.	Penn State	$360	$100	$460
13.	Michigan	$455	$75	$530
14.	Ohio State	$642	$1,500	$2,142

Table Three: The Students

Simple enough. The schools are ranked by the price of their student tickets from highest to lowest.

Rank	School	Student Ticket Cost
1.	Ohio State	$252
2.	Penn State	$218
3.	Michigan	$185
4.	Iowa	$175
4.	Michigan State	$175
6.	Wisconsin	$168
7.	Nebraska	$166
8.	Minnesota	$99
9.	Purdue	$99
10.	Rutgers	$99
11.	Illinois	$77
12.	Indiana	$70
13.	Maryland	$0
14.	Northwestern	$0

So?

• If you want to go to an Ohio State football game you have to spend a bonkers amount of money. To even get in the door you need to spend over $2,000 per ticket and probably need to give a couple more thousand dollars to accumulate enough priority points to even garner consideration.
• Same goes for Nebraska who, because of the waiting list, requires an absurd amount of priority points to get tickets.
• Maryland appears to have the greatest contrast in price levels. You can either get in the door at $175 or splurge and spend up to $2,550.
• The costs for Penn State and Michigan shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
• Nor should the costs for Illinois or Purdue.
• Honestly, Indiana's tickets seem a little pricey for the product that they put on the field. $301?
• Teams like Michigan State and Wisconsin are fairly priced considering their recent success.

That brings us to Iowa, who continues to price their tickets in the upper half of the Big Ten despite often finishing in the lower half of their division. Or, they finish in the middle. Their base level ticket cost is higher than Michigan State and Wisconsin, programs who have been far more successful in recent years and Minnesota, who appears to be on the upswing. It's also disappointing to see that Iowa has the fourth highest student ticket costs in the conference. More than Nebraska? I mean, I know Wisconsin students don't show up anyway but c'mon.

The old saying is that "winning cures all." Iowa fans and fans of most programs have no issue splurging on season tickets if their team delivers the goods. As of late, Iowa hasn't done so. It's a tough for an athletic department to sell the same thing they've been marketing for nearly sixteen years: three yards and a cloud of punt. It wouldn't surprise me come September 5th if the corners of Kinnick Stadium were devoid of fans because a great number of the Hawkeye faithful are worn out. And honestly, can you blame them?