The University of Hawaii will not raise its football ticket prices this season and might lower some in an effort to win back disaffected followers, athletic director Ben Jay said.
"We’re not increasing prices, that’s for sure. But I want to look at (whether) we need to lower some prices in some areas," Jay said Tuesday.
The review comes as Jay, six weeks into the AD job, looks at ways to reverse a 26 percent drop in turnstile attendance since 2010. The Warriors averaged 25,573 per game in 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium in 2012, the lowest turnstile figure since the 0-12 season of 1998.
Football ticket revenue dropped approximately $1.2 million from 2011, UH officials have said.
At the height of their popularity, the Warriors averaged 42,915 per game in 1984.
"The biggest thing that we all fear is that they (the fans) stop coming (and) that they don’t come back," Jay said.
He said he has sought out fan feedback and said "one thing I heard loud and clear in many anecdotal stories is that people would say to me, ‘Hey, I don’t take my family out there,’ or ‘I don’t go to games anymore,’ " Jay said. "So, I need to take a look at how we are pricing certain areas and try to be more family friendly."
UH currently has two designated no-alcohol family zones in sections V and VV totaling 444 seats, according to ticket manager Walter Watanabe. UH sold 127 season tickets for those zones and averaged 253 fans per game in those areas, Watanabe wrote in an email.
UH has sold "family packs," which, with the purchase of two adult tickets and one youth ticket, provided one free youth (ages 4-high school) ticket for each youth ticket purchased up to a maximum of 12 tickets (two adults, 10 children).
Jay said he is looking at pricing and all facets of the UH game-day experience at Aloha Stadium.
"Ticket holders need to feel like they are getting their value and there are so many factors to look at," Jay said, "I want to change the atmosphere altogether out at the stadium. I want it to be a football Saturday. I want it to be interesting."
Last year individual game prices for adults varied from $22 to $50, depending on location and opponent. Season-ticket prices for adults ranged from $70 to $375, depending on location and whether premium seat contributions were attached.
