Early rush for Purdue season tickets
In the first hours after opening its doors and phone lines Tuesday, Purdue already had 500 new season-ticket orders, already a quarter of the way toward its goal.
It's a fast start, to say the least.
“That might have been a conservative (goal) for us,”said Nick O'Malley, Purdue's Associate Ticket Manager.
Perhaps one that needs to be reconsidered. Purdue is hoping to get its season ticket totals in the 16,000-range, up from 14,125 in 2017, which was approximately a 2,000-ticket increase from the year before.
Winning helps. In Jeff Brohm's first season, the Boilermakers won seven games, the program's first winning record since 2011, capped by a victory over Arizona in the Foster Farms Bowl.
The ticket office anticipated the uptick Tuesday, when season ticket holders could starting renew existing tickets or adding on, and others could buy new. O'Malley said the office had seven staff members ready to work the ticket window and answer phones, up from three on a typical Tuesday.
When the gate opened at 9 a.m., about eight or so were in line, but many more were calling in.
“We had people waiting in a queue,” he said.
Purdue had already seen a significant jump last season. In addition to its 14,125 season ticket holders, 8,793 students had tickets, plus Purdue saw growth in its individual game sales. The Michigan game, right after Purdue's big early-season win at Missouri, was a catalyst. Ultimately, Purdue averaged 47,884 fans in Ross-Ade Stadium in '17, its most since 2012 and an increase of 13,433 per game, the biggest average increase in the country.
“Last year, when we were getting close to sellouts, we had 14,000 season tickets but then selling well over 30,000 single-game tickets," O'Malley said. "We’re kind of hoping to reverse that trend, where the majority of our tickets out are season tickets or mini-plan tickets, as opposed to selling singles.”
Existing season-ticket holders have until April 30 to renew — they can also now buy up to an additional 10 singles for each game this season — and singles go on sale in early June, O'Malley said.
Purdue has made a couple pricing changes, reducing the cost in the prime and sideline sections, while keeping much of the remaining 70-percent of the stadium the same (the south end zone sees a slight increase). With a seven-game schedule in '18, as opposed to six last season, the total cost for season tickets are an increase, O'Malley notes, but the average is largely the same or slightly lower.
Purdue could also use dynamic pricing for individual game tickets next fall, as it did for Michigan and to a limited extent for Illinois.
O'Malley says he's encouraged, by the renewals and by those who are re-upping after years away.
"I’m hopeful a lot are coming back," he said. "And also our existing season-ticket holders who are adding, they’re going above and beyond what they’ve purchased in recent years or are going back to levels they had been at before.”
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