Men's basketball ticket price drops to lure fans

OU’s men’s basketball ticket revenue dropped 14 percent from the 2008-2009 season to the 2010-2011 season, with the number of tickets sold falling by 33.9 percent.

For the 2010-2011 season, OU sold 116,074 tickets, but in 2008-2009, the university sold 175,630.

To address the situation, the student season-ticket price was reduced to $40 this year from $140 last year thanks to a sponsorship from The Reserve on Stinson.

There are 1,400 seats reserved exclusively for students out of a total of 12,000 available seats in Lloyd Noble Center, said Michael Houck, OU athletic media relations associate director.

“Our fans are very important to the team,” men’s basketball coach Lon Kruger said. “I want to say students are our priority, and we will do everything we can to make sure everybody enjoys a good time.”

The Reserve on Stinson Student Apartments also has agreed to offer a number of additional benefits. Students will be entered to win a $100 prize in each game, an iPad and a night of Pizza Hut pizza, according to SoonerSports.com.

“We want to create the connection with the community and an atmosphere, especially a family-friendly atmosphere with these offers,” said Christa McGraw, director of community marketing outreach for the OU athletic department.

McGraw said OU wanted to improve the cost to foster the right environment for people to get involved.

“We talked to many students and faculty members who reflected that affordability was their biggest concern (for attending the basketball game),” she said.

The Daily asked Kruger if the basketball team had plans to focus some of its promotional efforts on international students, who often have better exposure to basketball than football in their home countries.

“Hopefully we will also reach out to the international students, but it takes time,” Kruger said.

Uny Chan

Uny is a former staff member of The Oklahoma Daily who worked as Campus Reporter.