Fall concert made free after dismal ticket sales
Kevin Muller
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: News
Hartle said that of the $80,000 that will be spent on the concert, only about $7,000 would have been covered by ticket sales as of last week. He said that he supported the decision to make the concert free because so much money had already been committed in contracts and the $7,000 that SA might have saved by keeping tickets at $17 per Geneseo student did not justify putting on such a large event for a small audience when many more students stood to benefit.
"Tickets have never sold this slowly," Kotlar said. She said sales were "so drastically low that [the cause] has to be from external forces" and not lackluster advertising. She and other members of the SA executive board noted that Gym Class Heroes was in fact the top choice for the fall concert on a survey administered to all students last spring. Approximately 600 students responded to that survey.
"We're not going to do another free concert," Kotlar said, dismissing the suggestion raised by some that the decision could set a dangerous precedent whereby SA would potentially make all concerts free through allocation of mandatory student activity fees.
This academic year, $65,850 of mandatory student activity fees was allocated to subsidize the budgeted costs of $178,300 for the fall and spring concerts. This budget requires ticket receipts of $113,150 for both concerts combined.
In comparison, SA budgeted $57,650 to subsidize the 2008-2009 AC concerts, which were budgeted to cost a total of $170,100. Actual income from ticket sales was $79,002.80, and actual programming costs amounted to $173,494.83. The deficit of $36,842.03 that was not covered by the budgeted subsidy and ticket receipts was funded using SA reserves.
The Gym Class Heroes/Asher Roth concert was budgeted with the expectation that approximately $55,000 in ticket sales would be received; ticket sales as of last week amounted to about $7,000.
At the close of the ticket office on Wednesday, a total of 896 free tickets had been distributed, and an additional 191 tickets that were purchased prior to this week had not yet been turned in for a refund.
"Tickets have never sold this slowly," Kotlar said. She said sales were "so drastically low that [the cause] has to be from external forces" and not lackluster advertising. She and other members of the SA executive board noted that Gym Class Heroes was in fact the top choice for the fall concert on a survey administered to all students last spring. Approximately 600 students responded to that survey.
"We're not going to do another free concert," Kotlar said, dismissing the suggestion raised by some that the decision could set a dangerous precedent whereby SA would potentially make all concerts free through allocation of mandatory student activity fees.
This academic year, $65,850 of mandatory student activity fees was allocated to subsidize the budgeted costs of $178,300 for the fall and spring concerts. This budget requires ticket receipts of $113,150 for both concerts combined.
In comparison, SA budgeted $57,650 to subsidize the 2008-2009 AC concerts, which were budgeted to cost a total of $170,100. Actual income from ticket sales was $79,002.80, and actual programming costs amounted to $173,494.83. The deficit of $36,842.03 that was not covered by the budgeted subsidy and ticket receipts was funded using SA reserves.
The Gym Class Heroes/Asher Roth concert was budgeted with the expectation that approximately $55,000 in ticket sales would be received; ticket sales as of last week amounted to about $7,000.
At the close of the ticket office on Wednesday, a total of 896 free tickets had been distributed, and an additional 191 tickets that were purchased prior to this week had not yet been turned in for a refund.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 11
Mari
posted 11/19/09 @ 9:43 PM EST
the economy/swine-flu argument is BS. Half of everyone at this school spends 15 bucks on alcohol alone every weekend. It's not that they don't have the money, it's that the concert headliner was lackluster. (Continued…)
DALE
posted 11/19/09 @ 9:44 PM EST
Horrible allocation of funds
anonymous
posted 11/19/09 @ 11:17 PM EST
Yeah, this whole claim that people are sick and/or trying to save money is wrong. What about the obvious? Gym Class Heroes are not worth seeing. I have had the opportunity to see the concert for free from the very beginning, and still have had no interest in seeing it. (Continued…)
Danielle
posted 11/20/09 @ 2:38 AM EST
I never went to a single concert during my time at Geneseo. I usually had never even heard of the headlining band and every year heard numerous people complain about the utter suckage of the band chosen. (Continued…)
Markus Allen
posted 11/20/09 @ 11:25 AM EST
Hey SUNY Geneseo, instead of blowing $50,000 on a band that no one wants to see (that's probably why you haven't sold any tickets and had to make the sh***y show free), you should consider giving some people some scholarships. (Continued…)
Boomhaur
posted 11/20/09 @ 7:21 PM EST
It's crap like this that makes me oppose more spending and in favor of drastic cuts.
Frank
posted 11/21/09 @ 1:56 PM EST
This whole process makes me sick. Gym Class Heroes are awful and talentless. As others have mentioned, the whole swine and economy being the reason for ticket sales being down is complete malarkey. (Continued…)
Sarah
posted 11/26/09 @ 1:43 AM EST
The concert should have been cancelled. It was ridiculous to lose that much money on a concert. They should have cut their losses considering SA is already in the hole from last year. (Continued…)
Boomhaur
posted 11/26/09 @ 1:16 PM EST
It seems stupid that the college (and student organizations) are trying to be an entertainment venue while we are supposedly enduring a "budget crisis. (Continued…)
Mike
posted 12/03/09 @ 4:10 PM EST
Maybe get a good band next time. the last good group worthy of a headline was Third Eye Blind.
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