Topic: Declining Attendance... It's not just a Marshall problem

[elginherd]

This is not a hard problem to solve.

This is a big problem for all schools but even more so in a city like Huntington.  The population has decreased all but one time since 2000.  We simply do not keep the college graduates and they all move away. 
I moved away in 2007 and have kept season tickets. At first, I’d drive the 8 hours or 4 hours most weeks.  Over the last 3-4 years, it’s just not practical and we only make 2-3 games per year. I’m still the anomaly as many friends haven’t been back in years or go back for one game.

There have been some nice wins for Huntington, but they have to find the industry to keep more students after graduation. For Marshall to thrive, it starts with the city and surrounding areas.

Scotty, I agree with your entire post, except the last sentence...it is a hard problem to solve. Given the demographics (not presently improving, BTW) of the Huntington area, would dropping the prices improve attendance significantly enough for the athletic dept to rake in the same amount of money? IDK, probably you don't know and I'm guessing that the dept doesn't know either. It'd be nice to ask MH if any serious price/cost analysis plus supply/demand analysis have been done. IMO, what '2004 says in his post may be more significant  with attendance MU's FB attendance problems than pricing.

[Scottyo614]

Scotty, I agree with your entire post, except the last sentence...it is a hard problem to solve. Given the demographics (not presently improving, BTW) of the Huntington area, would dropping the prices improve attendance significantly enough for the athletic dept to rake in the same amount of money? IDK, probably you don't know and I'm guessing that the dept doesn't know either. It'd be nice to ask MH if any serious price/cost analysis plus supply/demand analysis have been done. IMO, what '2004 says in his post may be more significant  with attendance MU's FB attendance problems than pricing.

I would hope they would know. You have to evaluate multiple break even points. One thing more butts in the seats would do is generate more concession and beer revenue. Potentially more merchandise revenue. So while dropping the price may only get 2,500-5,000 people it’s still something. You can’t increase pricing then put out promo codes like Marshall did 2013-2016 area (May still but not as locally active) and expect people to pay that full price. You’ve actually set your value on the continuous discount.

With 2004s point this is something I’ve beat a dead horse on. They need business to tie into the area more than $15 an hour jobs. They also need business that allows people off on weekends. But that comes back to Mayor Williams and most on here know my opinion of him. One thing too is community. Back in the day Marshall was the only thing in town on Saturday. With companies like Amazon, other call centers, even now banks people work weekends. You may be losing even 1,000-2,000 or so from that. Community has left college football like it once had. I still think it’s pretty simple if you come at it from a basic business sense than as a college football problem. Then force local leadership to actually invest in the spirit.