Fall will bring a new football season with new players, new talents — and new fans that paid new ticket prices.

Make that higher ticket prices.

After finishing with a 4-8 record and placing sixth in the Big East, Syracuse has raised ticket prices across the board, for everyone from students to alumni.

Students will pay $11.43 per game, up from $8.20 last year. Overall student season tickets jumped from $41 to $80. Per game, adult season tickets are up to $26.43 from $23.33, faculty tickets are up to $21.14 from $18.67 and end-zone tickets are $21.43 from $16.50.

The ticket-price hikes come despite the following:

(BULLET) Temple, which also went 4-8, finished ahead of SU for the first time since 1983 because it beat the Orangemen, 17-16.

(BULLET) The Orangemen ended a season below .500 for the first time since 1986.

(BULLET) The coaching staff landed no recruits ranked in recruiting-guru Tom Lemming’s Top 100 this offseason.

‘If we thought the team was going to be 4-8 again, would we raise the ticket price?’ asked Jake Crouthamel, SU’s director of athletics for 25 years. ‘We would raise it, maybe not as high. But the significant increase is as a result of the seventh game.’

Syracuse hosts seven teams this year, compared to six last year. But the increase in games isn’t proportional to the increase in price.

On average, each game costs $3.44 more.

Said Crouthamel: ‘Ticket prices increase every year.’

Crouthamel actually lowered prices after the 1999 season despite the same number of games being played in 2000. Since then, prices have steadily increased.

Carrier Dome manager Pat Campbell said tickets were unusually high in 1999 because of the interest generated by SU hosting Michigan, a premier opponent. A similar situation occurs this year with Notre Dame.

Though interest may have been high, Syracuse failed to sell out the Michigan game. The last time fans filled the Dome to capacity was against Tennessee in 1998, Donovan McNabb’s final year.

The competition

Compare Syracuse to three other Big East schools with similar records to SU during the past four seasons: West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Boston College. Pitt and BC will also host Notre Dame this year.

West Virginia tripled its win total this past year. WVU manages a unique student policy — a one time per semester fee of $30 to attend all Mountaineers athletic events. That means a full-year fee of $60 that covers football, men’s basketball and any other sport is still less than it costs SU students to attend just football games. And West Virginia is keeping its prices the same.

‘We usually address a ticket increase every four or five years,’ WVU Athletics Director Ed Pastilong said. ‘If the team isn’t playing well, that certainly enters the equation. But the main incentive to increase would be financial. You have to pay your bills.’

Among Big East schools, Boston College charged the highest amount last year for student season tickets at $12 per game.

Jim O’Neill, Boston College’s associate athletics director, said BC’s price increases are spread out over longer time frames. Before raising prices two years ago, the Eagles had gone seven years without changing the cost, he said.

‘We like to think we’re setting prices into what our fans can afford,’ O’Neill said. ‘That’s reflexive in how we don’t charge more for a different opponent. We don’t try to get more out of our fans just because we’re playing better teams.’

Pittsburgh’s approach centers solely around fans. The Panthers play one fewer home game this year, and all ticket prices have dropped accordingly. Prices per game are the same as last season’s ($3.33 for students), even though Pitt experienced its most successful season since 1983.

‘Our previous athletic director, Steve Peterson, was all about the fans, getting as many people into the stadium as possible,’ Pitt’s assistant ticket manager Matt Monroe said. ‘(Current AD) Marc Boehm is the same. I don’t think we would raise prices unless the demand was so high that we would sell out.

‘That’s maybe one of the reasons Syracuse is raising prices. They have to fund other sports. Lost money, less fans. Raising prices is one way to increase revenue.’

Pitt and BC said hosting Notre Dame would not cause them to change prices.

Even Fiesta Bowl runner-up Miami has lower student prices than Syracuse.

The only Big East school besides Syracuse raising student ticket prices is Virginia Tech, from $2.86 per game last year to $6.86 this year. Not only did the Hokies go 10-4 last season, they also sold out every game.

The fans

Crouthamel created the Fans First Initiative before last season.

Highlights of Fans First in 2002 included creating the ‘O-Zone’ for the most spirited fans and Select a Seat Day, where fans can test a seat’s view before deciding to purchase the ticket.

The main attraction for 2003 is the installation of two video-replay boards. Crouthamel said there will also be other things, which may not be apparent to the general public, designed for specific groups.

‘We have concluded the first round of a task force to review everything and anything to increase the entertainment value of our events,’ Crouthamel said. ‘Addressing alumni, locals, faculty and staff and students. All these are things are under discussion to reach out.’

Crouthamel declined to mention any specifics.

Fans First was created, in part, to bring people to the Dome. Since Donovan McNabb left in 1998, Syracuse’s record has correlated to the following season’s attendance. Syracuse’s record and attendance declined every year from 1998 to 2001.

After SU posted a 10-3 record in 2001, average attendance increased by 690 fans per game last year. Student season-ticket sales increased by 30 percent.

Now, given a 4-8 season and increased prices, things could change.

‘The bad season, that’ll influence my decision whether to renew,’ SU freshman Matt Barcaro said. ‘If they’re not going to win, I’m not going to go and watch them lose.’

Even the prospect of seeing Notre Dame failed to entice Barcaro.

‘Just playing Notre Dame isn’t worth $40 more,’ Barcaro said. ‘They should have probably just kept prices the same.’

Still, Crouthamel defends the decision to increase prices.

‘The student prices have increased proportionately with the other prices,’ Crouthamel said. ‘How the team does, yes, it enters the equation for price change. It is a clear factor in the equation. Is it everything? No, it’s not everything.’

Published on March 3, 2003 at 12:00 pm