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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 23 • 25 BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com A fter seeing record attendance lows in Ross-Ade Stadium in 2014, Morgan Burke knew a change was needed. He'd like it to come foremost in the form of victories for Darrell Ha- zell's team, but Burke and his staff felt like they had to do something first that Purdue's athletic depart- ment could control. That came in the form of lowering season ticket prices, a move that Burke hopes will spur growth by not only cut- ting the stadium's prime seating area prices but also lowering even the cheapest seats. "The stadium is empty. What more do you need?" Burke said Thursday when asked about the timing of the ticket reduction. "Chris (Peludat) was the first one to point out to me (that) this is a risk because we're taking the prices down to 2004 levels and in some cases below. It's back to when Kyle Orton (was here). We're saying, 'You know what? We were good back then. That's what we were charging you. We want you back.' Now, if we don't get the volume, we're going to hurt ourselves. So we are taking a calculated risk. "If we're going to help Darrell do the continued development of the team and recruiting, holes in the stadium will kill us." Peludat, the assistant athletics director for marketing and ticket - ing, focused a plan on students and the general public. He looked at economy factors and incomes nationally and locally, considered the expansion of the secondary market and what that's done for pricing, kept team performance and the role TV plays in mind and generated a plan that he felt was the right price point for the bulk of the program's fans in Tippecanoe and surrounding counties, he said. "At the end of the day, we thought doing nothing was a riski - er play," Peludat said. Lowering legacy fees — which are $250 per season ticket for prime sections and $100 for side- line sections — was considered but, ultimately, Peludat and Burke thought it made more sense to cut the actual ticket prices. For one, the legacy fees drive location. Another, a portion of the legacy fees are tax deductible. But, also, the Big Ten has a 65-35 split in revenue sharing from gates — Purdue keeps 65 per- cent — so reducing the ticket price instead of the legacy fee allowed the department to "create the big- gest bang for us and the fan," Burke said. "Ultimately, if we get the sta- dium full, I hope that legacy fee, which is about $1 million, cov- ers the cost of attendance. That's where I'd really hope it goes," Burke said, referencing the supplement that will be paid to all student-ath- letes beginning next school year. Though single-game tickets still could fluctuate because of the dynamic pricing plan already implemented, Burke said the sea- son ticket prices have been set and won't change. That wasn't the case last season, for example, when Purdue had a July 4 promo- tion when the temperature that day determined season tickets for a particular section. "We've re-set the deck," Burke F O OT BA L L : N E W S A N D N OT E S Tom Campbell In an effort to get fans back to Ross-Ade Stadium, Purdue lowered season ticket prices for nearly 90 percent of the seats. Making Changes