Concert runs win-win deficit

Although the April 22 3OH!3 concert ran a deficit of over $60,000, the event was still a success from the student life perspective, according to Office of Student Activities and student life leaders.

The event cost a grand total of $100,530 and brought in a total of approximately $38,000. That amount is roughly $12,000 short of paying for the $50,000 cost of the band, according to OSA Graduate Assistant Mitch Karstens. The deficit will be covered by previous savings from an OSA plant fund.

Despite the numbers, Karstens said the concert was an overall success. Karstens and OSA had initially decided to shoot for 2,500 attendees of the concert.

A surge in ticket sales the final week brought the total number of ticket pre-sales to nearly 1,850, with 984 of those sales going to students. At-the-gate ticket sales, which Karstens suspects went mostly to students, brought that total to over 2,000, which was roughly a third of the Four-Diamonds venue's capacity.

Karstens said a big reason for the deficit incurred by the show was the low price of student tickets, which OSA priced intentionally. "We tried to keep it as affordable as possible for students," he said. "We tried to find that balance between what we could bring to the table and what students could afford, and I think we found it."

Because the plant account had been previously budgeted to cover any deficits, the concert will not result in any financial straits. Still, Karstens said it may be another couple years before UCCS could afford to put on a show of that magnitude again. Unlike other schools, such as CSU-Pueblo, UCCS does not budget concerts costs into student fees, so the campus has to put a little more effort into covering costs than do other schools.

The plan for next year is to bring in a smaller, still well-known band, but hold the show in the Gallogly Center, where security and other costs will be lower and ticket sales should cover the cost of the concert. Given this year's results, Karstens said that a concert every year is desirable, but that OSA would have to rotate every year between bigger and smaller events.

Executive Director of Student Life and Leadership Brad Bayer said that the show was a boon for student life at UCCS. "We surveyed students to find out who they would like to see verses who we could actually get, and 3OH!3 was who we ended up going with," he said. "The fact that they had a connection to Colorado, as well as the fact that the group had an album coming out soon, was a great opportunity."

"I think it was a win-win," Bayer concluded.