5/15/2018 football Edit

Purdue seeing ticket sales increase with better product, lower prices

Kyle Charters • BoilerUpload

Staff Writer

Purdue’s price reductions are having a desired effect.

After reducing the cost of tickets in the prime and sideline sections of Ross-Ade Stadium, along with the Buchanan Indoor Club and the private luxury suites, Purdue has seen a significant jump in season ticket sales.

They’re trending at an even higher rate than anticipated.

As of Tuesday, when Purdue held a tour of its luxury and club seating areas in the Ross-Ade Pavilion, season ticket sales were approximately 18,200 for general public, up from about 14,100 last season. In January, when renewals started, Purdue had hoped that total, for this year, would jump to about 16,000, a reasonable 2,000 increase. But it’s doubled that projection. And student sales are also trending ahead, at about 3,300 now compared to 2,600 a year ago.

“We had the largest increase in the nation in attendance,” said Chris Peludat, the associate athletics director for marketing and fan experience, referencing Purdue’s 13,433 per game increase last season, up to an average of 47,884 fans. “Our goal is to do that again this year. Whether that happens, our room (to grow), going off the average last year, would leave us about 10 or 11,000 seats we could sell. If we could do that, it would be good. … That’s our goal.”

Purdue wants to bring fans closer to the 50-yard line, a reason why tickets in the prime and sideline areas dropped in price by approximately 30-percent per ticket. Last season, Peludat said, many fans bought in the cheaper end zone areas, leading to empties in the more prime locations and an odd donut feel to the fan allocation in the stadium. But this season, 1-of-every-3 new season ticket purchases came in the legacy locations at Ross-Ade, basically those seats between the 20s.

“We’d like to be in a situation where we fill from the middle out and the last seats are kind of the end (zone) ones,” Peludat said. “But it became one of those challenges where the cheaper ones sell, now you’ve got the higher-priced seats. But if you can get the seats between the 20s fuller, then that makes the overall process smoother.”

Part of Purdue’s push is to incentivize the luxury and club seating in the Pavilion. Shively Club seats, which are staying the same cost this season ($1,290) after being reduced last year, now are all-inclusive, featuring concession-style food and drink (aside from alcohol, which can be purchased). Buchanan Club also is now all-inclusive, with alcohol included plus gourmet food options like apple-roasted pork chops and duck sliders. And its priced is reduced to $3,490 per seat. The luxury suits, at a reduced cost of $48,800 (for 18 seats) come with an ability to purchase food and drink.

Ben Kewman, John Purdue Club director of annual giving and premium seating, says 326 new Shively tickets have been sold for 2018, with a projection of 80 to 100 more to come before the Aug. 30 kickoff. That’ll get Purdue within about 200 of Shively’s capacity of 1,400.

Purdue was looking for ways to upgrade Shively and Buchanan, and figured an all-inclusive approach was the answer.

“With the adding of alcohol to the rest of the stadium (last year), honestly, we wondered what impact that would have in our premium area,” Kewman said. “It’s obviously a big incentive for people to purchase premium. The question was posed, ‘How can we enhance the club spaces?’ It’s in an building that’s 15 years old, and obviously over time, we upgrade, Chris Peludat and I have always thrown around the idea of going all-inclusive in the Shively Club for companies that are bringing clients or customers or family and friends, it’s so nice to be able to show up to a stadium and not have to take out your wallet.

“A major part of it is convenience and not having to worry about it.”

Purdue thinks it can get its season ticket base into the 27,000- to 30,000-range (general and students), after being at 22,918 last season.

It’d be the Boilermakers’ largest season ticket allotment since the 2013, Darrell Hazell’s first year. The problem, though, is that ticket sales dropped precipitously in Hazell’s second year, down to about 21,000. Single-game tickets go on sale May 22 for JPC members, then June 26 for the public.

“We’re excited if we have that bump in Year 2, because that means Year 1 went well,” Peludat said. “We had the bump in ’13 and then we lost all that and more in ’14. So we got the bump last year and have gotten a bump this year. We’re happy with that right now.”

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