One of the first things I did when I transitioned away from working with UA Athletics was to make sure I was a season ticket holder. As a staff member for the last 10-plus years, I received two “comp” tickets to UA football games, though I usually purchased an additional one or two season tickets along with a tailgating pass. But knowing my access to the pair of freebies was coming, I wanted to make sure I remained an Arizona Football season ticket holder and that’s exactly what I did this summer.
Quite simply, being a football season ticket holder is the single most important thing any fan of Arizona Athletics can do. In addition to the obvious support of the football program, the purchase of season tickets ensures the successful operations for all 20 Division I programs at the UA. If you’re a fan of golf or tennis or swimming and diving (non-ticket sports), buy a football season ticket. If you’re a softball or baseball or women’s basketball fan, you can support those programs significantly by purchasing football season tickets.
Coaches like Mike Candrea and Lute Olson have said as much over the years, and I wish more coaches in the athletic department would make this push. Every program uses a home football game as an opportunity to host recruits, and part of that visit includes being on the field pregame at Arizona Stadium. When the stadium is full of fans displaying their pride and passion for the Wildcats, it helps every single program recruit as young men and women want to come be a part of this wonderful place. Beyond that, when recruits (of any sport) are sitting at home with their friends and families and they turn on an Arizona football game with a tremendous crowd, it’s another great recruiting tool to make recruits want to be here. If 55,000 red and blue-clad fans are yelling and screaming, it shows this place is special.
That is part of the reason why in a world of college athletics where billion dollar television contracts, 100-million dollar facility projects and multi-million dollar coaching contracts make the headlines, it is the average season ticket holders that make the biggest difference in the lives of the student-athletes at a particular institution. Revenues from season tickets don’t build new buildings and often don’t cover the hiring or firing of a new football coach. Revenues from season tickets pay the utility bills, keep facilities clean and put money in the budgets for recruiting and travel of the Olympic sport programs that don’t generate revenue on their own. And most importantly, season ticket holders represent the foundation of the fan base that make recruits want to come be a part of our university.
Down the road, I may go more in depth into some of the financial impacts season tickets have on an athletic department. For now, I’ll keep it brief by acknowledging that recently national writers have highlighted a decline in attendance nationally by looking at it through percentage decline as much as raw numbers. I take it a step further and consider the impact ticket revenue has as a percentage of total athletic department revenues. While total revenues continue to climb (due significantly to TV contracts), places like Arizona are severely hurting because ticket revenues are not growing at the same rate resulting in a chunk of “missing” revenue. The story is the same at many schools around the country, but especially in the Pac-12 and that is “missing” revenue that cannot be blamed on the Pac-12 TV deal, unless you attribute everything to late start times (which is not solely to blame).
So from that end, fans do have an opportunity to help support the entire athletics department with the purchase of football season tickets. And that does not mean you have to pay $1,000 per seat. Arizona has some of the lowest entry level season ticket prices ($70!) among all Power 5 teams. Even if 8 p.m. games, over three-hour long games, poor in-stadium amenities in certain areas and other reasons are deterrents to going to the actual game, purchasing season tickets even at those entry level prices can help Arizona continue to improve not only as a football program, but as an entire athletic department.
Many UA fans are from Phoenix or live elsewhere around the country. Many have families that make it difficult to attend all the late night games. But I believe an Arizona football fan can support Arizona football with the purchase of a season ticket. If you can be in the stadium, be there. If you can’t make it, sell your ticket, give it to a neighbor or donate it to a charity or youth group.
From this standpoint, I wish Arizona Athletics made it easier for fans to purchase tickets and donate them, especially to the military. Yes, there is an annual Salute to Service game in which tickets can be purchased and donated, but in my opinion this should be a season-long effort as well. If I was an Arizona alum working in New York, I would love nothing more than to be able to buy a pair of season tickets and have them donated to a Tucson youth group or Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. That way every game I watched at home from across the country, I would feel an even deeper connection to my favorite team knowing I helped put someone in the stadium that day.
The bottom line, season tickets are twofold for the fan. First, it financially supports the entire athletic department. Second, it should help fill the stadium on a consistent basis. And ultimately when I make the pitch to be a season ticket holder, I want the stadium full. It is the single best way for a fan to impact the future and direction of our favorite teams.
I had the fortune to be around the UA football team for every single home and road game since 2008. It will surprise no one when I say that players know when a big game is coming and that they feed off a raucous crowd. But just as they get a sense for the enthusiasm and excitement of a looming big game, they know when the stadium is going to be half-empty and the energy non-existent. And when that happens, it’s easier said than done to just show up and take care of business week in and week out.
Think of Arizona basketball over the last three decades. How many sleepwalk games have there been in McKale against the likes of lowly Oregon State or other conference teams when the Wildcats have been favored by double-digits. McKale may not seem like a tough place to play when you walk in to those games, but there have always been 14,000 people in the arena ready to lift up the Cats. There have been dozens of games over the years when a team comes out of halftime, goes on a mini-run to tie or even take the lead and forcing Lute Olson or Sean Miller to call a timeout. It’s in those moments when McKale has responded, rising up and almost single-handedly taking control of the game while Richard Jefferson throws down a dunk or Salim Stoudamire erupts with a barrage of threes.
Arizona Stadium is much different. It’s actually a very good “big game” venue because when 55,000 are engaged, it does get incredibly loud on the field. The upper deck on the east side seems endless when you look up into a sea of red. But the problem with Wildcat football is when it’s not a big game and the crowd is sparse, there’s nothing to pick up the team if the Cats come out sluggish (that’s the nature of sports sometimes). And at the majority of games, it’s a wait-and-see crowd.
That resonates with players who will commonly ask staffers around the program about what to expect at an upcoming game. While these things should not matter, they absolutely do. Home field advantage (or lack thereof) is a major part of sports, especially football. Players want to play in front of the best crowds (doesn’t have to be biggest), and that’s one reason Arizona basketball has been able to recruit so successfully for so long.
With that said, one of the most critical factors to lure big-time recruits is the in-game atmosphere. When recruits visit and they see a packed stadium overflowing with energy and passion for a university, they are drawn to it. They want to be a part of that. Until Arizona Stadium is like that consistently, it will be difficult to fill up recruiting classes with four and five-star players because some will eliminate a school based on that lack of pageantry and tradition before looking any further.
Being there matters to players. Every single fan in the stadium can help flip the momentum of a game on a key third down defensive stop or big play to ignite an offense drive. Every single fan can show recruits what a special place the UofA is. But you can’t do those things from the comfort of your couch or at your local watering hole. If you want Arizona football to reach new heights, you have to be there. And the best way to be there is to be a season ticket holder. It does make a difference.
Bear Down and get your season tickets, if you haven’t already.
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