Hottest Ticket in Town - NOT

[AZ Shocker]

They were about 1300 ahead of us when I looked last night :(

You got to be sh##ting me? Really Wichita? Ummmmmm...I dunno if the whole city realizes or not....but the WICHITA ST. SHOCKERS were the local program in last years Final Four and are currently ranked #14 in the country. Not the Kansas St. program from tiny Manhatten.

[SB Shock]

Capture.JPG

[rrshock]

Problem with these events is a lot of KSU fans won't drive to Manhattan to watch a game but they will in Wichita. I think this is why the ticket sales are where they are. Plus Gonzaga might be ok to watch. kSU has a terrible product and that will hurt sales the rest of the way.

[I_Vector_Wu]

KState meet Groupon

GTown 90
KState 63

Beach 38
KState 52

YEEESSH

[shox1989]

Problem with these events is a lot of KSU fans won't drive to Manhattan to watch a game but they will in Wichita. I think this is why the ticket sales are where they are. Plus Gonzaga might be ok to watch. kSU has a terrible product and that will hurt sales the rest of the way.

THIS! Plus Kstate has done a ton of promotion for their game (including the purple banners hanging all around IBA right now). They did a lot of promoting before the basketball season even started. Which now with their lackluster start is making them look like a genius.

[MoValley John]

Just a little observation from someone outside of your local fan base.

Who gives a flying fydgepack what Kansas State is doing to promote a game? Who cares if they place flags pennants and banners at the municipal arena? Who cares that they chose to play a neutral game in your city? This is all K-State business, not Wichita State business.

I may be missing something, but last I checked, you guys were doing fine regardless of what K-State is doing. They aren't going to steal your fan base and they aren't enjoying your current success, ignore them.

[pogo]

A lot of the feelings come from the Rodney Dangerfield syndrome of us WSU fans. We don't get no respect. All of our programs have done well to extremely well in competition in the mo valley as well as outside in head to head competition. Even though we have enjoyed this success k who and mild cat fans still choose to play the better than you card. It has taken me most of my adult life to get beyond my little brother feelings and realize that WSU does not need their approval or even acknowledgment to validate our university. Go Shocks

[H8KU]

Good lord. Please stop with the inferiority complex crap. So K-State has the better promoter. At least WSU has the better coach.

[CBB_Fan]

Just a little observation from someone outside of your local fan base.

Who gives a flying fydgepack what Kansas State is doing to promote a game? Who cares if they place flags pennants and banners at the municipal arena? Who cares that they chose to play a neutral game in your city? This is all K-State business, not Wichita State business.

I may be missing something, but last I checked, you guys were doing fine regardless of what K-State is doing. They aren't going to steal your fan base and they aren't enjoying your current success, ignore them.

It is less about the fact that KState is promoting their game in our city and more that we aren't doing the same. Internal frustration, not external. We don't want to settle for doing just fine, we want to be the best and we should have been promoting our match-up even if we end up selling out regardless. Our IBA game is a Final Four opponent facing their only non-conference loss from the previous year, and it is an extremely rare example of a BCS team willing to go on the road against us. We should be promoting that. That fact we aren't is frustrating, and KState's promotion is a foil to that frustration.

[Cdizzle]

It is less about the fact that KState is promoting their game in our city and more that we aren't doing the same. Internal frustration, not external. We don't want to settle for doing just fine, we want to be the best and we should have been promoting our match-up even if we end up selling out regardless. Our IBA game is a Final Four opponent facing their only non-conference loss from the previous year, and it is an extremely rare example of a BCS team willing to go on the road against us. We should be promoting that. That fact we aren't is frustrating, and KState's promotion is a foil to that frustration.

Why waste money promoting a sellout?

[Play Angry]

While I don't give a rat's behind about KSU, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect us to outsell an intruder in our own market.

This will sell out if we take care of business on the court this week.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

Reality check time:

1. K-State is promoting heavy because they have to. They are generating absolutely no excitement so far with their play on the court. They'll sell a lot of tickets to fans from Dodge City or whatever who never make the trip to Manhattan to see a game, but I don't think the Kitties' Wichita fanbase is very energized.

2. K-State is playing one game in Wichita to be closer to their southern and western KS fanbase. One game. Of course they're going to roll out all kinds of special promotions and purple crap--it's to be expected. Don't take it personally.

3. Despite playing a game there every season, IBA is not our home court. If there was purple crap everywhere around the Chuck, then we'd have cause for ruckus. But as it is, it's kind of like Tulsa fans being all upset about OSU playing a game at BOK--which would make absolutely no sense.

4. I completely understand the WSU Athletic Department not going all out at IBA like KSU is. We're playing a game in our own city about three miles from our home court...so what's the big deal again? It's just another home game.

[CBB_Fan]

Why waste money promoting a sellout?

Why do we promote any major sporting event? To go to the most extreme example, there is a ton of promotion for the Superbowl despite the fact that it is going to be sold out. The NBA matchups in IBA are heavily promoted despite the fact that they'd likely sellout without any promotion.

You promote to try and get interest in an event. Interest determines not only the number of tickets sold but the value of those tickets. More importantly for the promoter, interest in an event increases advertisement value and makes the event more valuable for them. Selling every ticket is just one reason to promote a game.

For Wichita State, promoting this game would increase the value of the brand. Indirectly, that means more alumni donations, more people actually attending the games (see: the last "sellout" in Koch), and maybe a few more students interested in the program. In the long term local promotion is about establishing a home base, keeping Wichita State in people's minds and hopefully driving more local students to the university.

[martymoose]

A good barometer will ultimately be how the prices on StubHub rise and fall as the games approach. Right now tickets for the Shocker game start at $35 on StubHub, K-State tix start at $27. This might be an interesting metric to follow the next few weeks.

Not only that, but there are 500+ tickets for the KSU game on Stubhub and around 200 for our game. I may have to buy a ticket at the last minute for the KSU game if they're cheap enough...although I'm not sure how much fun a 30 point blowout is going to be to watch.

[Play Angry]

although I'm not sure how much fun a 30 point blowout is going to be to watch.

Probably pretty fun since it's Gonzaga that'll be driving the bulldozer.



I still wouldn't pay a nickel to see it live though.