Rutgers Football Marketing Strategy For Season Tickets Misses The Mark

Now I don't want to make an issue out of a few grammatical mistakes, as writing for this site I understand mistakes can happen. What I find unbelievable and inappropriate is the marketing strategy of promoting the potential resale value of season tickets as a reason to purchase them. Not only that, but the email highlighted the home games against Michigan and Penn State as the best opportunities to cash in the most.  This is disturbing on several levels.

First, the idea of reselling your tickets for home games is not consistent with creating the best in game experience. While it's possible other Rutgers fans would buy them, it also is more likely that visiting fans, especially from powerhouse programs like Michigan and Penn State, would purchase them instead.  The Ohio State game last October was a perfect example of that, as Buckeye fans showed up by the thousands.  This message is inconsistent from everything new athletic director Pat Hobbs and new football head coach Chris Ash have been preaching this offseason.  They have made it a priority to reach out to students, alumni, and fans in an effort to create a better in game experience. How does encouraging season ticket holders to make their money back selling their seats for big games make sense?

Let me say I know that this is a reality, and I personally don't have a problem with season ticket holders selling their tickets at their discretion.  I hope they do it wisely, selling to other Rutgers fans for a reasonable price, but it is their right to do with them as they please.  But for the athletic department to promote that very idea in order to sell more season tickets is absurd. Yesterday, our new contributor Jim Hoffman wrote a great piece on how Rutgers has finally hit the big time playing in the Big Ten conference. Unfortunately, this type of action by our very own athletic department is anything but.

I understand the second part I highlighted in boldface is to give the buyer an idea of the savings they will have by purchasing season tickets, but it serves another purpose as well, unintentionally or not. It gives the buyer a real market estimate on what their potential gains could be in reselling their season tickets for those games. Again, a terrible message coming from our own athletic department.  Pat Hobbs, please say it isn't so?

I'm thrilled with the direction of the athletic department under Hobbs, who in just a matter of months has completely changed the perception of so many Rutgers alumni and fans.  Finally, we have a leader who is making sure we do things the right way, and positive results will likely follow. Ash and his staff have proven to be social media marketing mavens.  They are promoting the program in positive ways that have never been seen before at Rutgers.  We have so many reasons to be excited for the future. But this, the promotion of reselling season tickets to make money, which would drive up the market price for tickets and likely most Rutgers fans, is flat out wrong.

It's a small time mentality, which indirectly shows a lack of pride towards our very own school and program. We want people to buy season tickets because they want to support Rutgers football on Saturdays, not because they think it's a wise business investment.  I still have every confidence in the leadership in place at Rutgers and hope this is a minor blip in the grand scheme of things.  We already know what most other Big Ten fanbases think of us, and this move does not help their view of us at all. Can you imagine this message coming from Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, or Nebraska? We have a long way to go to get even close to the level of those institutions' athletic support and prominence. Emails like the one I received to resell season tickets is simply embarrassing and should not be acceptable.  Please fix this, Mr. Hobbs.

UPDATE: Rutgers AD Pat Hobbs responded and is taking action.