(04-04-2013 01:49 PM)r2pirate Wrote:  Major sports have gotten to points ticket sales are second income as it is about tv deals. That is why AAC wanted to be partners with ESPN with the national stage it gives to AAC......monies from ticket sales are secondary, too.

Actually, at the big-time universities, ticket sales still trump everything. For example, Ohio State made $50 million from ticket sales in 2011, far and away trumping the money they got from the B1G Network and the BIG's other media deals.

At all the big-time schools, the base of their success both financial and on the field is a huge and rabid fan-base, willing to shell out big dollars for tickets, personal seat licenses, luxury suites, concessions, etc. It is local money spent by local fans to attend games, not national media dollars, that is the source of the biggest money.

In our own conference, Louisville made $26 million in 2011 from ticket sales, way way more than from the Big East's paltry media deals. In contrast, at my USF, ticket sales were a measly $5.8 million in 2011. UCF received $5.1 million in ticket revenue, while Houston logged a sorry $3.3 million.

Compare Houston to Texas ($61 million) and Texas A/M ($32 million) and you see how massive this gap is. Tulane certainly does need to boost its attendance, and the ticket dollars that come with that.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/co...54955804/1