If I Owned Basketball LTRs... - StateFans Nation StateFans Nation

Here’s a beauty that was in my home e-mail inbox:

Dear Wolfpack Fan,

THANKSGIVING SPECIAL
Lower Level Tickets – $10 each
Upper Level Tickets – $5 each

NC State Basketball vs. VMI
Wednesday night at 7:30pm
RBC Center

Things Wolfpack Basketball Fans Should Be Thankful For:

1. A 3-0 start to the season

2. A very deep Wolfpack bench – All 13 Wolfpack players scored this past weekend.

3. The Wolfpack Thanksgiving Special – Do you have family and friends coming into town for Thanksgiving and need to get them out of the house.

Take advantage of this great offer to see the undefeated Wolfpack face VMI on Wednesday night.

To take advantage of this offer tickets must be purchased in advance (by 4:30pm on Wednesday) by calling the NC State Ticket Office at (919) 865-1510 or in person at 5400 Trinity Road in Raleigh. Please mention the Thanksgiving Special when ordering.

Tickets going for $5/10. Were they assessed at this price for the season tickets LTR holders had to buy? There’s no doubt that this does represent the market, however (unlike the $32 we tried to extract from folks for the MTSU football game). Either way, it’s going to piss off a portion of the fanbase, but that’s the position you put sports marketing in with such a weak scheduling philiosophy…

31 Responses to If I Owned Basketball LTRs…

Mr. O 11/21/2005 at 6:00 PM #

If you want to hire a coach with more credentials than Amato, then be ready to have your pockets picked again. Amato is at best 10th in the ACC in compensation among his peers. Duke’s coach makes less and BC’s coach makes less.

I don’t think Amato deserves to be fired regardless of what happens Saturday, but I just always find it funny when NC State fans complain about the money we have put into the program compared to our results. We have upgraded our commitment to winning, but IMO it probably is still short of having a championship program in football.
BJD95 11/21/2005 at 6:14 PM #

Trout’s comments are spot on regarding the clueless disregard for creating “shareholder value.” The results are subpar, and the trend is towards creating a higher and higher percentage of product with absolutely no market value.

I don’t think Chuck should be fired for “breaking his promise.” His “this will never happen again” talk is irrelevant. What IS relevant is that he has performed substantially below even reasonable expectations the last three seasons (Years 4-6 of his tenure). I think it’s being pretty gracious to even give him another year at 6-5.
Class of '74 11/22/2005 at 6:17 AM #

If you look at Chuck’s compensation relative to others it is a “bargain”. But if you look at NCSU historically that is true since day one. We have never paid the top tier for our football coaches. We looked for a diamond in the rough and other than Holtz, Rein and Sheridan we got exactly what we paid for!
Chuck is not the answer either IMHO. I will not take the time to list the many reasons only to say the longer he is here the less satisfaction we will see in our football program.
Jeff 11/22/2005 at 8:08 AM #

We offered Bill Cowher a guaranteed $2 million a year for 5 years before we hired Chuck and ponied up for the most expensive coaching staff in the country. How does this fit the presumption that we won’t pay enough for the right coach?
Class of '74 11/22/2005 at 8:25 AM #

Who have we hired in my lifetime for top tier money? Our staff is not the top paid staff in college football that is a grand misconception. By the same toker we are not near the bottom either for the staff monies.
The Cowher deal was not serious as Cowher told NCSU he was not interested in leaving the NFL early on. This was widely reported in Pittsburgh at that time.
Tom 11/23/2005 at 9:54 AM #

Getting back on topic… I happen to think the promotion is a wonderful idea. Giving access to the “general public”, which includes youth, non-natives gives us a foot in the door when building loyalty to a program that competes with two high profile programs in the same market.

From personal experience. I lived in NC briefly as a in the 1960s as a child. I went to several BB games with my dad. Followed the program after moving to the Midwest. When it came time to choose a college, chose NC State. After graduation settled in the area, joined the WPC and still enjoy attending football and basketball games.

Did all this result because I went to the games as a kid? Maybe, maybe not. However, my young son and I will be at the game tonight and I’m hoping that many seats are filled with parents and their children.