Badger fans may see an increase in the price of tickets for the 2010-11 athletic season — a change that was described as “inevitable” by a University of Wisconsin Athletic Board committee Tuesday.
While no actual decisions were made at the Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee meeting, according to Phil Brown, committee co-chair and UW professor of geoscience, the issue is still relevant.
“It was mentioned at the end of the meeting [Tuesday] that [a price increase] is sort of inevitable given the fact that it has been three years since football went up and four years since basketball went up,” Brown said.
Brown added the logistics of the increase such as the amount ticket prices will be raised and which teams will be affected have yet to be decided.
UW Associate Athletic Director for Business Operations to the Committee John Jentz said revenue from this increase would benefit the UW Athletic Department and, more specifically, the operational costs of maintaining 23 sports.
The athletic department took a 5 percent budget cut last year to avoid raising ticket prices and will take another 5 percent cut this year, according to Brown.
Brown added despite budget cuts, the Athletic Department must raise ticket prices in order to build a balanced budget.
“I think no one realistically can see how this can progress without some sort of a ticket price increase,” Brown said.
One concern the committee has is about a decrease in the number of ticket sales and renewals as a result of the price hike.
“You can’t ignore the fact that everyone is hurting financially, and that’s the reason why they went through a 5 percent budget cut last year,” Brown said.
Brown also said he believes people will not be driven away by the price hike, but rather by the harsh economy.
Despite the possible drop in ticket sales, Brown said the Athletic Department depends on Badger fans and does not want to alienate them.
“Everyone … is extremely aware of the fact that their funds come from discretionary income of the fans.” Brown said.
The amount of fan-produced revenue is 70 percent of the Athletic Department’s funds and includes ticket sales, merchandise, concessions and monetary gifts.
While the committee is concerned about a decrease in ticket sales, Jentz said not raising prices — such as was done in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons — is actually the path less traveled.
“Not touching ticket prices for each of the last two years was the really unusual approach,” Jentz said. “Now we’re just to the point where we feel we’ve left it alone as long as we can.”
The committee will vote on the increase at their Feb. 16 meeting. Brown said while the committee’s vote is advisory to the athletic board, it would be pertinent to attend because most of the work of the athletic board is done in the committee meetings.
The athletic board will then vote on the issue at their meeting Feb. 19.
