Much of the problem is lack of wisdom by Joe C. A friend tells me he bought season tickets a few years ago when they were offering upper corner seats for about $100 per season. He kept those a couple of years and enjoyed attending when possible. He figured if he could attend 6 or 7 games per year, he was getting a pretty good deal. He knew he could not attend every game due to weather, busy schedule, out of town business, etc.
After a couple of years they bumped his price to $160 or so as I recall him saying. He kept those that year, although he wondered if it was worth it at $50 or #60 per game he & his wife could attend. Then the next year they upped them to about $200 as I recall. He just said "enough is enough". Now he was paying as much as $70 for them to attend the ones he could get to. It wasn't as much the amount as the fact he could always find tickets cheaper for every game he could get to. So he dropped them.
He says the outcome was that it is far easier to think "well, I'm too busy this time" when you need to run down tickets. If they are sitting on your desk, it is much easier to decide to attend.
When you can't fill the place, keep the fans who are paying, attending the games. It just makes sense. If you get to where you can fill the arena, raise the price. Otherwise just accept that as the AD you decided "I like empty seats and a half empty arena." This is not rocket science. Once you get them in the arena, you are also going to get another 30 - 40 bucks on overpriced refreshments.
