UA’s 500/50/5 Plus NU Season Ticket Sale Surge

Posted by Lake The Posts on Tuesday, July 3, 2012 · 37 Comments

There is a quite a buzz around NU these days. PRR reported on 4-star NJ pg Jaren Sina committing to the ‘Cats in a huge coup for Bill Carmody and the hoops team. We’ve entered striking distance of Camp Kenosha and the football talk is ramping up, all the while, NU has been landing new football recruits at a seemingly every couple of day rate. Now, Under Armour is stoking fans’ fancies with a true teaser video about the creation of the Northwestern uniform.

The 2:35 video below gives you the sense that no stone, or arch, has been unturned in the design phase of the new uniform design phase. The neatest takeaway for me in the well produced piece is the fact that they invoke a 500/50/5 design approach, meaning they design things to be seen from 500 feet away that are a different experience than 50 feet away and then up to a five foot perspective. The video seemed to allude to a couple of not-so-subtle uniform element clues. You can bet the stripe will be a key part of the uniform. Also, you can bet an element of the arch will be integrated in to the uniform. My hunch is the arch element will be in the five foot experience while the stripe will be part of the 500 foot experience. Let me know your thoughts!

Season Ticket Spike

Crain’s Chicago posted this feature on NU football season ticket sales which are up 58% from this exact time a year ago, according to NU Associate AD Mike Polisky. The feature gives a lot of credit to the Chicago’s Big Ten Team marketing campaign, but also fails to note the fact it may be in part to the legions of Nebraska fans who are likely purchasing $234 season ticket seats to ensure they get to go. Regardless, I love the positioning of being very inviting by NU to have fans buy tickets to NU even if it is their second favorite B1G team. This is nothing new, but I do like the open-armed nature of the approach.

Almost on cue, Reid N. stepped up and bought a new season ticket to move the LTP Ticket Challenge count to 57 NEW season tickets, which is certainly playing a role in the lift. Let’s keept he season tickets coming! You’re making a difference.

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Northwestern Highlights

Nebraska fans can’t be that clueless, could they? They’ll be able to get tickets on the secondary market for much, much less than the cost of a season ticket considering they’d have to eat all of the other tickets except for maybe the Iowa game. Not to mention that there will be plenty of individual tickets available once they go on sale.
- Icehockeycat
  
  Those fans are insane (in a good way) about their team. They are probabaly used to paying our season ticket price for a single ticket in the after market. I don’t think they realize we don’t exactly sell out our games, but for them to go to Chicago and see their team, yea, I think a good chunk of those ticket sales are to them. Hopefully we become their ‘second favorite team’, especially to any Neb alums in the area who are buying these up. We could use more fans like them!
- byebyefitz95
  
  There is nothing insane about what they are doing. Those tickets are going for $175 on Stubhub right now. They can by a cheap season ticket package and sell the remainder games on stubhub and come close to making their money back.
- HopeImWrong
  
  We’ll have a pretty good clue early in the home season about the Nebraska impact. If butts in seats look similar to past years for the early games, we’ll know that Nebraska fans are primarily responsible for the upsurge in season ticket sales. Recalling how they flooded Notre Dame stadium some years ago (where tickets do not grow on trees), I won’t be surprised if they are 75% of the gate when we play them this fall.
cheesemacaroni

Reclaim the stripe!
CATinSDCA

Does anyone else get a little worried after seeing that video. Chances are they will design something great but after seeing that video and seeing Maryland’s uniforms, I am a bit worried. Hopefully our helmets aren’t covered in Ivy.
- Steve Z
  
  I definitely had similar feelings – with the ivy and some of the other patterns they were showing. While Maryland’s uniforms got a lot of press, I won’t be happy if ours look anything like those.
  
  I am excited about “reclaiming the stripe.”
  - VAWildcat
    
    I really liked the video because I had no idea that any of those considerations went into uniform design. As for the ivy, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it turn up in something–just not football uniforms. Remember, they’re designing for 19 sports teams, plus consumer sportswear. I could imagine a t-shirt covered in purple ivy might be interesting . . . or not.
cece

two pro baseball teams in Chicago, not just one.
- VAWildcat
  
  He was talking about Wrigley as icon, not really about the Cubs per se, and US Cellular doesn’t have the same status (even though the Sox are the only real baseball team in Chi.).
  - cece
    
    not much of an icon. it’s crumbling and not nearly as quaint as is portrayed.
    - VAWildcat
      
      icon equals image does not equal reality
      - http://LakeThePosts DT
        
        How very Zen, Grasshopper…
    - Icehockeycat
      
      So long as you don’t use the bathrooms Wrigley is nice.
- AdamDG
  
  Lol. The White Sox are not one of the top things that come to one’s mind when thinking of Chicago. The Sox clearly rank behind the Bears, Cubs, Bulls and Hawks (in that order) in terms of popularity.
  - cece
    
    not with President Obama!
    - cebpd
      
      he doesn’t show jack shit about sports he plays the political game even when he talks sports.
  - zeek
    
    White Sox are definitely before Blackhawks…
    
    NHL is a distant 4th in the public’s mindset around the country…
    - Icehockeycat
      
      Not out east or when the hawks are winning, but yea, this ain’t no Canada…
wildcat6

Looks like Vanderbilt will check in at #66 on Paul Myerberg’s presnapread.com countdown, based on the clue given at the end of the Utah State writeup. A bit of a surprise – I thought they’d be higher. I still expect the Illini to appear before we do, but that’s it, unless we nudge out the Hawkeyes.

http://www.presnapread.com/no-67-utah-state/
http://LakeThePosts DT

Pure BS from the Athletic Department about the uptick in season tickets sales as a result of the “Chicago’s Big Ten Team” riff… As noted here, no small secret Nebraska and yes, some Iowa fans have been buying season tickets…

More institutional top spin ala pointing to high attendance at Ryan Field games where at least 40% of those in attendance are supporting the so called visitors… Of course we have the mother of all season ticket stimulus plans in our recent history– with The Wrigleyville Pub Crawl and Rickets Bowl. Enough…

Net/net, success as Chicago’s Big Ten team and the subsequent marketing effort means NEW NU Fans, mostly those that have affinity for college football and would adopt NU as non-alumni at that. Maybe Mr. Polisky has some credible numbers on that target you could investigate and share, LTP? Did they hand a press release to the guy at Crain’s as well?
- No evidence of BS
  
  Where’s you’re evidence that it’s BS?
  - http://LakeThePosts DT
    
    Not that this is a court of law, counselor- but I’ll rest my case with numerous empty seats at Ryan in advance of a full house against Nebraska with say 35-40K in red some of which constitute that big bump in ticket sales NU is celebrating and spinning…
    
    BTW- Where is your evidence it ain’t BS? The Crain’s article? The honor system at the AD?
    - cece
      
      nice to hear from DT!
      - http://LakeThePosts DT
        
        Happy 4th O’ July, Cece!
        
        Go Cats!
        
        DT
      - Mark
        
        Someone at the ticket office told me that they thought UNL fans were buying season tickets. I don’t think the idea that that is what is happening is just speculation. Also, if you look at the prices of tickets around the rest of the Big Ten you’ll realize that buying NU season tickets is not considered outlandishly expensive. E.g., at Michigan and OSU you have to contribute at least $XXX to have the ability to buy tickets, although you’re not guaranteed that they will be available.
    - VAWildcat
      
      my evidence is that you don’t know squat, and you demonstrate your baseless negative opinions repeatedly. I would take the AD’s word over yours in a heartbeat, so yeah, there’s my evidence–your reputation
      - http://LakeThePosts DT
        
        And you got it all figured out, sport… Right on…
        
        Next time, just use ‘Evidence Of BS” when signing in… Will know its you…
      - byebyefitz95
        
        HAHA. DT is so right on this subject. You will see when we play Vandy, BC and SD. Those games will be empty.
        
        Every year I have a friend who buys the 10 game white sux package. He sells the Cubs game ticket and the Yankees game ticket for an insane amount of money. He makes his money back and is able to see those other 8 games for free.
        
        Guarantee you the UNL fans sell their Iowa and Illinois tickets for above face value and sell the non conference tickets for gas money. Either way they will make some of their money back. It is a smart move.
        
        How do you not see DT is right? You think after winning 9, 8, 7, 6 games then ticket sales will sky rocket. Stop drinking the purple kool aid.
UVA Cat

Hmmm…based on that teaser video, I get the feeling that UA is serious about researching the elements of Northwestern’s history, campus, etc and could either come up with something really cool or really awful. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an “ivy” overlay on the uniform numbers or pant stripes, along with some “traditional” Northwestern stripes on the shoulders. I certainly hope they don’t try to do anything too radical with our helmet design as I think the current iteration is one of the best components of our uniform. As for “the arch”, I don’t know if they’ll use it on the football uniforms, but I could see them either using the shape of the arch somehow, or perhaps the gothic lettering style? All speculation at this point, but at least the video conveys a sense of what they’re trying to do.
- derrr…
  
  They were focusing a ton on Deering Library, the ugliest and least used building on campus.
  - Dozer
    
    Uh…? Obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Deering isn’t perfect, and it’s not exactly representative of the campus architecture as a whole… but ugliest?
    
    Frances Searle… I have to think that’s higher on the ugly list than just about anything else, let alone the how do I get to class wait did this stairwell just stop? list.
  - VAWildcat
    
    Weren’t they looking at the old library? Which is an awesome building. It’s only little used because the doors have been locked for decades, a mistake that is being corrected shortly.
GoU2009

Am I the only one who is pumped to spend about a whole paycheck on new NU Under Armor merch this fall?
I spent the last few years living in BMore and you would be amazed how many different Maryland shirts, hoodies, jackets, shorts etc. you saw…all with different logos & designs. And even though some of uni’s were horrible, all of the in store items were sleek and classy… Great move for the Cats and I’m pumped!
- cece
  
  not if it includes ivy…..
  - http://LakeThePosts DT
    
    +1
skepticat

Hmmm. So to sum up the thoughts on the post:

1) The new uniforms, which nobody has seen, are an abomination to the senses (a la Maryland).

2) The season ticket numbers, before a single foot has stepped into the stadium, are a scam.

Boy, with fans like these….

2013 NU Football Schedule

Date	Opponent	Result
08/31/2013	at California - TBA TBA	-
09/07/2013	Syracuse - BTN 5:00PM	-
09/14/2013	Western Michigan - BTN 8:00PM	-
09/21/2013	Maine (FCS) - TBA TBA	-
10/05/2013	Ohio State - ABC/ESPN OR ESPN2 7:00PM	-
10/12/2013	at Wisconsin - TBA TBA	-
10/19/2013	Minnesota - TBA TBA	-
10/26/2013	at Iowa - TBA TBA	-
11/02/2013	at Nebraska - TBA TBA	-
11/16/2013	Michigan - TBA TBA	-
11/23/2013	Michigan State - TBA TBA	-
11/30/2013	at Illinois - TBA TBA	-

2012 NU Football Schedule

Date	Opponent	Result
09/01/2012	at Syracuse - ESPN2 11:00AM - Highlights	42 - 41
09/08/2012	Vanderbilt - BTN 7:00PM - Highlights	23 - 13
09/15/2012	Boston College - BTN 2:30PM - Highlights	22 - 13
09/22/2012	South Dakota (FCS) - BTN 2:30PM - Highlights	38 - 7
09/29/2012	Indiana - BTN 11:00AM - Highlights	44 - 29
10/06/2012	at Penn State - ESPN 11:00AM	28 - 39
10/13/2012	at Minnesota - ESPN2 11:00AM - Highlights	21 - 13
10/20/2012	Nebraska - ABC 2:30PM	28 - 29
10/27/2012	Iowa - ESPN2 11:00AM - Highlights	28 - 17
11/10/2012	at Michigan - ESPN 11:00AM	31 - 38
11/17/2012	at Michigan State - ESPN2 11:00AM - Highlights	23 - 20
11/24/2012	Illinois - BTN 11:00AM - Highlights	50 - 14
01/01/2013	Mississippi State - ESPN2 Gator Bowl 11:00AM - Highlights	34 - 20

UA’s 500/50/5 Plus NU Season Ticket Sale Surge

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