BC Offers Discount Pricing

Boston College Director of Athletics Brad Bates has tried to address the gameday experience for fans since he arrived on campus. After approving some of the amenities offered on gameday last season Bates is tackling the actual cost of the tickets for the 2015 season. Below is a release from BC explaining the new program:

Boston College has announced a new "Friends and Family" football season ticket program for the 2015 season. The Friends and Family discount of 20% off season tickets applies to the following BC affiliated groups: BC Alumni (Post GOLD Graduates), former BC student-athletes, BC faculty and staff, BC current and former parents, current military and veterans, and residents of BC neighboring towns of Newton, Brookline, Brighton and Allston.

In addition to the existing benefits of being a season ticket holder, these BC groups will now be eligible for a 20% discount on season tickets within designated sections for each BC affiliated group. The new ticket sales program is built upon the success of the BC GOLD Alumni program where those with shared experiences sit together to form communities within Alumni Stadium in support of the Eagles.

With the release came a copy of a seating chart showing the different locations of the discounted packages:

BC Alumni of 11+ years or more can take advantage of $196 end zone season tickets in sections A, Y and Z and $164 upper end zone tickets in sections YY and ZZ.

Former student athletes were designated $296 sideline tickets in section P and $196 upper sideline tickets in section PP.

BC Faculty and staff are being offered $296 sideline tickets in section T and $196 upper sideline tickets in section TT

Residents of the surrounding towns of Brighton, Allston, Newton and Brookline are being offered lower end zone tickets for $196 in sections U, W and X and upper end zone tickets for $164 in sections VV and WW.

Parents of former and current players are being offered tickets in section B for $296 and $196 tickets in section CC.

The move by BC seems on the surface to be a good decision because it's a good gesture to some of the important parts of its fan base and is also a way to drive up ticket sales for some of the games in less demand. Last season BC averaged 34,270 fans per game which ranked ahead of only Duke (27,291) and Wake Forest (27,210) in the conference. BC did a little better in terms of percent of capacity at 77.01%, which was 11th in the conference.

The pain point for ticket sales is the non-marquee match-ups. The Eagles had no sellouts last year as Clemson (42,038) and USC (41,632) were the highest attended games, but even if those games were sellouts BC still would've ranked third to last in average attendance. No other game on the schedule had ticket sales over 34,000 which is the area where Bates' new pricing might help sales.

"The new Friends and Family football season ticket program provides the opportunity for our fans receive a 20% discount and sit within designated communities on gameday," Director of Athletics Brad Bates said. "Similar to our GOLD Alumni season program, where we have had great success, we wanted to expand the opportunity within the stadium to many groups that are very important to us."