Tulsa World: Q&A with OSU athletic director Mike Holder

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Q&A with OSU athletic director Mike Holder

Mike Holder answers questions during an October press conference. Holder recently marked his third anniversary as OSU's athletic director. MICHAEL WYKE/Tulsa World file

By BILL HAISTEN, World sports writer
Published: 11/23/2008 3:30 AM
Last Modified: 11/23/2008 3:31 AM

Having recently marked his third anniversary as Oklahoma State University's athletic director, Mike Holder discusses OSU's Bedlam ticket policy and other issues:

If you look at the revenue potential with releasing tickets on a single-game basis, are you tempted to change your ticket policy before Saturday's OU-OSU football game?

If you do that, you lose everything. You lose your credibility. Why would anyone ever believe you again? So if next year you came out with the same policy, everyone would know that if you put enough pressure on, you would cave. A lot of people, when we announced the policy, never really believed that at the end of the day, the only way you could get in to see Bedlam would be with a season ticket. They didn't believe it.

You are willing to accept a crowd of 50,000 or less for Bedlam?

We'll accept whatever crowd shows up. I don't know what it's going to be yet. We're still selling tickets. I can't say it enough times. Everybody wants to focus on Bedlam 2008 and want to talk about what the crowd is going to be. It's not about just this game — it's about our future. ... We need to get a lot of other people that come to a certain number of games each year, (who) are kind of on the fence for season tickets, we need to get them to buy in and get with the program on a season-ticket basis.

OSU modeled its 2008 ticket policy after seeing the success Iowa State had with a similar policy in '07.

A lot of people said, 'Why are you modeling yourself after Iowa State? Is that the kind of football program you're going to have? You've both been middle-of-the-pack for years.' My response to that is, you don't have to be at a power university or in a power conference to come up with a good idea. Some of the best ideas come from people that are struggling. You can find that in the business world, as well. Not all of the greatest ideas come from IBM or Exxon. They're not out there scrambling and fighting for their life every day.

Was there anybody, either in the president's office or a regent, who strongly supported your policy idea and made you feel OK to do this?

Everyone was on board. Try something different. See if it works. ... You've got to think outside the box. What we've done for the last 50 years or so, if you continue to do that, how do you expect to be any different in the product that you put out there on the field?

... It's not good to have a brand-new stadium and a non-competitive football team. No one wants to see that. They're not going to come more than one time to see the football stadium. Yes, it's a nice amenity. But what brings people to the stadium is a competitive, winning football program. Which comes first — the revenue to support that team, or the winning team?

Are you certain today that you'll have the same ticket policy next season — that one game will be designated a premium game, with admittance to that one game reserved only for season-ticket holders?

I'm committed to it, but I'm only one of the decision-makers. ... It was a collective decision when we decided to do season tickets only for Bedlam, and it will be a collective decision going forward. In my mind, when we did it for the '08 football season, we committed to doing multiple seasons.

Next year's schedule includes home dates with Georgia, Texas Tech, Missouri and Texas. Do you know yet which game would be the premium, season-ticket-only game?

We have a lot of options. By BILL HAISTEN, World sports writer

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T Bone, (11/23/2008 9:17:09 AM)

Hard to criticize Mr. Holder when you look at the progress OSU has made the last three years. Not only in Athletics but also in Academics. The lingering quesion is whether or not OSU can keep it up when considering the economic conditions that could possibly exist over the next few years. Only time will tell.

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