Over the last two weeks, there has been little to be excited about for Penn State football fans. Whether it be at home or on the road, the Nittany Lions have looked abysmal in every sense of the word. Now, the poor performances on the field may not only be a factor in fan reactions, but another interesting area as well. As more fans grow discontent, there has been a resulting drop in ticket prices that may affect the revenue coming in for the program.
The desperation level is so high that even before the game against Northwestern this weekend, an email was sent out about next week's White Out, stating that tickets were still available. If you were to have said that to a Penn State student before the start of the season, they would have most likely
laughed in your face. The White Out has become one of college football's most hallowed traditions for one of the nation's most respected programs. Now, even the student body seems to think of it as a joke.
The bad news doesn't stop there, though. If one were to go on a ticketing website such as StubHub, they will find that the resale prices for such tickets are shockingly low. You can still find seats as cheap as $119, which now represents a 61 percent drop in one week. On Ticketmaster, it's even lower, with prices listed at $99 as of Saturday afternoon. While it seems absurd that a program of Penn State's stature is not attracting any interest even in a woeful season, it may become a new normal throughout the rest of the season, and maybe even next year as well.
Over the past year, the athletic department has lost an alarming amount of money, in debt over 500 million dollars after news of the renovation of Beaver Stadium was announced. Still, the school and the athletics department rely on the fanbase to generate enough revenue to keep them afloat for projects such as these to continue. If the product on the field sucks, however, chances are the athletics department won't be able to make similar investments.
This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Penn State may face problems with ticket price declines
