The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1532241
20 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY ETHAN MCDOWELL he NC State women's basket- ball team competes for ACC and national championships more years than not, and the fan base shows up to support the Wolfpack at every Reynolds Coliseum home game. The Pack is in the middle of its third consecutive sold-out season, showing the appreciation NC State fans have for the Final Four-caliber basketball that head coach Wes Moore's squad puts on the floor each year. To make sure the team can remain competitive at an elite level in the years to come, NC State Athletics is changing how season tickets work. "Pack Forward" is a new ticketing model that is already in use for the foot- ball program. It modernizes the season ticket process to more closely resemble those of the Power Four schools that NC State competes against every year. "The biggest change for women's bas- ketball will be that we will put the power to choose seats at fans' fingertips," Wolf- pack Club associate executive director Buzzy Correll said. "The old way, through this season, was that they filled out a re- quest for them, and our ticket office as- signed them internally in rank order, but they will now get a time to actually go online, see the available seats and select their tickets for the next three seasons." Season ticket prices will change based on the location, but NC State's athletics department remains committed to keep- ing women's basketball games affordable for everyone. For some seats, the price will average out to less than $10 per game. As with football, donors' Lifetime Seat- ing Rights locations are not being reset and are not factored into Pack Forward. Correll said most ticket prices will in- crease by $5 per contest on average. Fac- ulty, staff and Varsity Club members will still receive a 20 percent discount. "It's not a huge jump, but all those lit- tle buckets of incremental revenue start adding up to something that does move the needle," Correll said. NC State is preparing for revenue shar- ing in college sports. That impending change will require the athletics depart- ment to raise millions more than it did in the past, and Correll was adamant that the burden cannot be placed entirely on donors. Marketing and apparel deals will help, as will the Pack Forward ticketing model. "With the popularity of women's bas- ketball, we want to develop a model that, regardless of everybody's situation, is still equitable," Correll said. Both the men's and women's basketball teams are coming off Final Four appear- ances in 2024, and NC State must raise additional revenue to keep competing at that level. The Pack Forward model helps position the athletics department for success in an evolving college sports landscape while being sensitive to the fan base that makes everything possible. "Even with the women's basketball data we looked at, we're still going to be at the lower end of the spectrum for some of our seats compared to some of the championship teams that we com- pete against," Correll said. "So, we feel like we're in a good place. "We feel like our donors have been more than generous, and they keep be- ing generous because they want to see NC State excel on the court and on the field." ■ The NC State women's basketball team is in the midst of its third consecutive sold-out season at Reynolds Coliseum. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS PACK FORWARD New Ticketing Model Aims To Keep Women's Basketball Program Nationally Competitive T