After a historic run to the women’s national championship game, the University of Iowa’s athletic department has paused ticket sales for next season after soaring demand, according to a report from Chad Leistikow of the Des Moines Register.
Click here to read the story at si.com.
Discussion Questions:
- What are ticket sales?
- Why are ticket sales important to collegiate athletic programs?
- What are season tickets?
- Why are season tickets, in particular, important to an athletics program like Iowa?
- What are some other ticket sales strategies a program like Iowa might use to attract more fans to home games?
- In sports, why is the quality of the product important to ticket sales?
- What is fandom?
- The Hawkeyes’ women’s basketball program has historically been very competitive. What led to an increase in levels of fandom this year?
- What is a season ticket renewal?
- Why are renewals important to a collegiate athletics program?
- The program expects to renew 100% of its women’s basketball season tickets. It also has the potential to sell another 6,700 season tickets. However, the program has decided to pause season ticket sales. Why would the program’s leadership team decide to do that?
- Do you think the interest in season tickets will still be there once Caitlin Clark moves on to the WNBA? Why or why not?
- What is a frequency escalator as it relates to ticket sales?
- How might the Hawkeyes program apply that concept to its ticket sales strategy moving forward?
- What can the program do now to help ensure the stands will continue to be filled even after Clark moves on? Be prepared to discuss your ideas in class.