Thursday, October 11, 2007
So how much money is that?
I was reading Mitch's post that the University of Minnesota still wants to play the University of North Dakota in hockey (just not anything else) and wondered how much money this is they are trying to hang onto.
StubHub shows those tickets cost about $70-$250 each on the secondary market. Certainly some go for less from the box office (face value is $30), but losing UND from the hockey schedule would cost not just the revenue but the benefit of giving those cherished UND tickets away to alums in return for donations. Mariucci has 10,000 seats, so you assume the total ticket revenue and implied revenues (to include the concessions and parking, etc.) are about $1 million per game.
So then you wonder, given UND is a Division II program for every other sport, what is this costing them? UND does not play the Gophers in football or basketball (it already plays North Dakota State and South Dakota State as those two schools jump up to D-I. One is left to conclude that the University has engaged in the ultimate of cheap signaling.
StubHub shows those tickets cost about $70-$250 each on the secondary market. Certainly some go for less from the box office (face value is $30), but losing UND from the hockey schedule would cost not just the revenue but the benefit of giving those cherished UND tickets away to alums in return for donations. Mariucci has 10,000 seats, so you assume the total ticket revenue and implied revenues (to include the concessions and parking, etc.) are about $1 million per game.
So then you wonder, given UND is a Division II program for every other sport, what is this costing them? UND does not play the Gophers in football or basketball (it already plays North Dakota State and South Dakota State as those two schools jump up to D-I. One is left to conclude that the University has engaged in the ultimate of cheap signaling.
