T$$AA

[innocent bystander]

Seems like every year, we have this discussion....and still every year the T$$AA's response seems to be "raise the price". It was noted that both Blackman and Riverdale had less than optimal crowds. I know I stayed home instead of making a trip somewhere. I don't think it had anything to do with the weather.

 

The T$$AA has continually raised the price of tickets for the playoffs. They now get $4 for EVERY ticket sold and the schools (who need it) only get $2 a piece. I imagine teams that had to travel lost money. I thought that this new playoff system was to cut down on travel. We had Farragut traveling to Murfreesboro, Dickson Co traveling to Memphis.....cutting down on travel, right? It was all an effort to get more money by adding a playoff division. That is 15 extra games - you do the math.....the T$$AA did.

 

Basic business sense tells you that if customers aren't buying your product, you lower the price. I guess the T$$AA doesn't have basic sense. I guess we probably already knew that.

[ORidgeKat]

I doubt the crowds would be much different at $7 a ticket. If people care about their team, then they will go to the game 6,7,8 dollars regardless. I do agree that the 6 classifications was all about money for sure. We have 1-9 and 2-8, 3-7 teams traveling hundreds of miles to get blown out and probably paying to do so. Makes no sense.

[blazeburnin]

Seems like every year, we have this discussion....and still every year the T$$AA's response seems to be "raise the price". It was noted that both Blackman and Riverdale had less than optimal crowds. I know I stayed home instead of making a trip somewhere. I don't think it had anything to do with the weather.

 

The T$$AA has continually raised the price of tickets for the playoffs. They now get $4 for EVERY ticket sold and the schools (who need it) only get $2 a piece. I imagine teams that had to travel lost money. I thought that this new playoff system was to cut down on travel. We had Farragut traveling to Murfreesboro, Dickson Co traveling to Memphis.....cutting down on travel, right? It was all an effort to get more money by adding a playoff division. That is 15 extra games - you do the math.....the T$$AA did.

 

Basic business sense tells you that if customers aren't buying your product, you lower the price. I guess the T$$AA doesn't have basic sense. I guess we probably already knew that.

 

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Sports/article.php?id=95599

 

I think you are right on the money. I was at the Blackman game and the crowd was the worst it has been all year. I am not considering the crowd Farragut brought, as I wouldn't expect a lot to travel 3 hours. Why else would it be. Blackman normally charges $6. The weather wasnt' that bad. I agree with the author of the artical....make it a blanket $5. They would never go for it, I'm afraid. I think I read where the tssaa was bragging about the Championships increasing by 9 or 10 percent the last couple of years. What they failed to say or realize is the # of championship games increased by 20%, so they lost money per game....so they responded by raising the price.....again. I guess it will be $9 next year and $10 the next.

[Riverdale06]

Hm I personally don't think it had alot to do with the money. I mean I'm pretty sure I pay 7 to get in to Riverdale normally so the extra $1 each for me and my 6yr old doesn't really bother me.

 

I know some kids parents don't want to come off $8 for a game when they could go see a movie for the same price but I bet that's probably not very many. So yea the money does take away from the crowd but I'd hope any real fan would be there no matter what. I think there were several factors contributing to our low attendance this past week.

The weather, it was just to cold at the Oakland game the week before and I think some people realized that so because they dont even know who coffee county is it wasn't worth them to come.

I saw several people on twitter write.. I'm not going to the game if it's going to get colder.

 

Also yes we know no playoff game is a given but I know no one really thought Riverdale was going to lose to CC. Like for me my dad was like great I'm off this weekend I can make this game. I was like ok cool so all week he planned on it and then on Friday I made a comment about it being a blowout, he said what, tell about who y'all are playing so I did and he said ohh I'm good I don't want to see that game. So I'm sure some people didn't come because of our opponent.

 

Like they hype the games up at school like the big ones, so your going to see a huge turnout at all Rutherford county game (with the exception of Lavergne) because the school makes students all week want to go to that game. We would do fun things, we would get shirts, we would have the biggest pep rally but not just a normal one like the staff would go all out. That made the students want to come. Other weeks it's like oh it's a football game... Cool. So students who aren't like big football fans aren't like hey mom I want to go to this game.

 

I will certainly hope and expect that the attendance should be up similar to what it was at the earlier Riverdale Blackman match. That game was a cold one and had the rain mixed in for the people who got their super early such as myself. it was also a Thursday game so I think that took away from some of the attendance and since the weather was bad I know of quite a few people who just watched it on tv. With that being said I believe maybe a few, not a ton, but a few Oakland people and maybe even a few Smyrna people might make this trip to the game. So it should go up as the stakes get higher.. But no matter who wins Riverdale or Blackman I expect attendance to drop for the 3rd round of the playoffs for reasons mentioned above!!

[tandem]

Worst crowd of the year at Beech too.

[Indian]

The goal of less travel was for regular season, district matchups. When you go from 5 to 3 regular season classes of course they will not be as spread out, so that goal was achieved. There will always be playoff travel even if you have neighboring districts/regions play the first two or three rounds-the district here would be paired with Smith County, etc.

[QBClubPrez]

Worst crowd of the year at Beech too.

 

Tandem..I was wondering about the crowds at Beech, Hendersonville, and Gallatin...we too at Henry County had our worst home crowd of the season. A home side that usually sees 2,500+ saw a crowd between 1,600-1,800. It is apparent that the price of playoff tickets is negatively affecting the attendence! We've seen it for the last 5+ years!

[DaBlueRaider]

If the TSSAA has their way... We'll have 10 class championship games (plus 10 private school championship games) and $10 playoff tickets next year. It's all about the money. Isn't that the reason the championship games are being played in Cookville instead of in the center of the state (Murfreesboro). It's all about the money.

[davidlimbaugh]

I have begged and pleaded with the TSSAA for years to change their admission policy for championship events to this format:

 

$8 for adults.

$1 for their children under high school age

$2 for high school students

 

Get the kids in the gates. Concessions will help the host sites make up the money TSSAA is taking from them for their share. This will help families afford to come to the games. A lot of high school students currently can't afford events with multiple dates like the basketball championships at their current prices.

[sampwt]

I have begged and pleaded with the TSSAA for years to change their admission policy for championship events to this format:

 

$8 for adults.

$1 for their children under high school age

$2 for high school students

 

Get the kids in the gates. Concessions will help the host sites make up the money TSSAA is taking from them for their share. This will help families afford to come to the games. A lot of high school students currently can't afford events with multiple dates like the basketball championships at their current prices.

TSSAA takes 50% off the top and then the two schools split the rest.

[davidlimbaugh]

TSSAA takes 50% off the top and then the two schools split the rest.

 

TSAAA only takes 50% of ticket sales. Concession revenues are home team's to keep.

 

http://www.tssaa.org/Forms/Financial/fb01.pdf

 

My argument for over a decade is that if you have graduated prices you will make money because more people will come to the games, not less.

[GWAVE1]

Tandem..I was wondering about the crowds at Beech, Hendersonville, and Gallatin...we too at Henry County had our worst home crowd of the season. A home side that usually sees 2,500+ saw a crowd between 1,600-1,800. It is apparent that the price of playoff tickets is negatively affecting the attendence! We've seen it for the last 5+ years!

Smaller crowd than normal for Gallatin too. It was almost expected though with Glencliff. They did not bring a band, had about 6 cheerleaders, and had about 15 to 20 fans. The visitor side was sparse. It looks like all across the state the attendance was down but I think the weather more than the ticket prices had something to do with it.

 

Beech and Gallatin will both have full stadiums this week. If it is a decent night they both will be overflowing.