The athletics department caught the attention of the media with a money-back guarantee this season for some football tickets if holders weren't satisfied with the “entertainment value” of the games. But despite the spotlight, Stanford didn't land many takers.
The “Stanford Gridiron Guarantee” allowed people buying new season tickets (including the low-cost family plan) to get a full refund on the purchase after four of the team's five home games. The November 15 finale against USC wasn't included in the guarantee, so the ticket for that game had to be returned by November 5 as part of anyone's refund request.
The ticket office signed up only 14 accounts based on the guarantee, according to Bob Carruesco, the assistant athletics director who oversees marketing. But Carruesco noted that the promotion was mentioned prominently on ESPN, as well as in local news coverage. The upshot, possibly, was enough publicity to spur some ticket sales for individual games.
Corner and end zone seats were available under the guarantee, which was motivated heavily by trying to expand Stanford's base audience—the regularly attending mix of paying ticket holders and students using donated tickets. Carruesco estimates base support at about 26,000 fans, roughly half the stadium's capacity for football.
Part of the reason for not including the USC game in the guarantee was to guard against purchasers who wanted to assure themselves of seats for that high-profile match-up but would leave seats unused for the rest of the season.
