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Bowl ticket sales
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Hokie Mark Online
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Post: #1
Bowl ticket sales
Arguing over bowl ticket sales is stupid, IMO. Tickets sold through the school means nothing because of aftermarket distributors like Stub Hub. Even so, ACC teams seem to be held to a different standard.

For example, Minnesota (B1G) has reportedly only sold 3,375 tickets to the Texas Bowl vs. Syracuse. Minnesota is closer to Texas than Syracuse, but who do you think will be accused of "not traveling well"?

LSU (SEC) at last check has only sold about 6,000 tickets to the Outback Bowl. You know, the bowl that thinks they are too good for the ACC and so only invite SEC vs. B1G match-ups?

There are published reports that Clemson is struggling to sell Orange Bowl tickets (only 7,500) while there are other reports which state the school has sold north of 10,000 tickets. Who do you believe?

Baylor & UCF have been dragged through the mud for poor Fiesta Bowl sales, yet I just read a report that says Baylor returned 5,000 of 17,500 tickets - in other words, they sold 12,500! How is that bad?

The whole thing just seems like a bunch of propaganda designed to cut down the Big 12 and especially the ACC as being a bad football conference... when the data seems to indicate that ACC teams are doing as well or better than many SEC and B1G teams!

/RANT
12-27-2013 09:49 AM
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Lou_C Offline
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Post: #2
RE: Bowl ticket sales
(12-27-2013 09:49 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  Arguing over bowl ticket sales is stupid, IMO. Tickets sold through the school means nothing because of aftermarket distributors like Stub Hub. Even so, ACC teams seem to be held to a different standard.

For example, Minnesota (B1G) has reportedly only sold 3,375 tickets to the Texas Bowl vs. Syracuse. Minnesota is closer to Texas than Syracuse, but who do you think will be accused of "not traveling well"?

LSU (SEC) at last check has only sold about 6,000 tickets to the Outback Bowl. You know, the bowl that thinks they are too good for the ACC and so only invite SEC vs. B1G match-ups?

There are published reports that Clemson is struggling to sell Orange Bowl tickets (only 7,500) while there are other reports which state the school has sold north of 10,000 tickets. Who do you believe?

Baylor & UCF have been dragged through the mud for poor Fiesta Bowl sales, yet I just read a report that says Baylor returned 5,000 of 17,500 tickets - in other words, they sold 12,500! How is that bad?

The whole thing just seems like a bunch of propaganda designed to cut down the Big 12 and especially the ACC as being a bad football conference... when the data seems to indicate that ACC teams are doing as well or better than many SEC and B1G teams!

/RANT

I agree it's pretty dumb to even discuss it any more. The days of "travelling schools" bringing 30k+ people to a bowl game every year are a thing of the past or will be soon.

Some are fading faster than others, but it's just a leading edge of a trend against live attendance that is pretty much not going away.

I firmly believe in twenty years 60-70k crowds in college football are going to be a big crowds, even in SEC land.

The great TVs are a part of that, but there's a lot more to it. The colleges sold their soul for TV money, but everything they've given up in exchange to TV has made attendance less appealing.

- Too many time outs for TV
- Too many other games on TV that you miss when you go to a game
- Undesirable game times for TV
- Not scheduling games until six days before the game

I'm sorry, once you start scheduling noon games in late August, early September in Florida, Georgia, etc, you give a lot of reason for people to skip games.

When you don't schedule a game until six days before kickoff, you make it impossible for many people to buy tickets months in advance, which means there are months for other commitments to come up. I've got kids and a five hour drive to FSU games. I can not/will not do a 7pm game to see Nevada and pay a two night minimum for a hotel. I will do a 3:30 game and drive home after. But I can't buy a ticket in June and make family plans to go...I have to wait until 12 days before the game to decide. If something else comes up for that weekend, you end up taking it, only because you can't turn it down in just the hopes you are going to the game.

They just give people more and more reasons to reconsider going to the game, and once you start skipping games, and see how much other football you get to watch, and save hundreds if not $1000 in the process, it just makes it easier to skip.

It's not really a reversible trend I don't think, and live attendance, bowl games and otherwise, is just not going to hold.
12-27-2013 11:02 AM
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Wolfman Offline
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Post: #3
RE: Bowl ticket sales
(12-27-2013 11:02 AM)Lou_C Wrote:  They just give people more and more reasons to reconsider going to the game, and once you start skipping games, and see how much other football you get to watch, and save hundreds if not $1000 in the process, it just makes it easier to skip.

I think cost of attending a game is a critical factor. Soaring ticket prices, outrageous concessions, ridiculous souvenirs...you need a second mortgage to take a family of 4 to a game.

I also think the model of having a city host a bowl and sell naming rights it outdated.
12-27-2013 11:46 AM
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nzmorange Offline
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Post: #4
RE: Bowl ticket sales
IMHO, the entire system is jacked. I'll use the Texas Bowl as an example. I get that it's supposed to be a Big Ten team v a Big Twelve team, and the Big Twelve team is supposed to be the "local" team carrying the attendance, but the fact that the system has resulted in a 6-6 Syracuse team playing a 8-4 Minnesota team in an +80k seat stadium with little two no promotion just two days after Christmas shows just how broken the system is. I actually live in Houston and can't go to the game because it's two days after Christmas and like 99% of Syracuse/Minnesota fans, I'm 5-7 states away with family. It would be one thing if it was a day drive or a BCS game, but a 8-4 team with a weak OOC schedule and a 6-6 team going at it isn't worth hurt feelings in the family and a 5-7 state trek when the game is on TV and free. IMO, that problem can be solved by reducing the number of bowls, but we all know that isn't going to happen. Instead, they should move bowl games to be more geographically representative of DI FBS teams. Beyond that, the people running the bowls need to come back to Earth. Nobody is selling out Reliant without promotions. I listen to sports talk radio to and from work 5-6 days a week and have literally heard 1.5 advertisements for the game, and I have yet to see a written promo of any kind. This bowl should be played at Rice (40k and 70k if expanded), not Reliant (+80k). The Texans can barely fill Reliant with advertisements. How're Syracuse and Minn. supposed to do it without advertisements?

Also, I agree with what was stated by the posters above. Syracuse will have about 5k fans there and Minn. will have about 6-7k fans there and there will be another 5-10k of local fans. That's about 15-25k total fans in a very large pro stadium. Obviously it will look awful and the "moral" of the story will be "Syracuse and the ACC don't travel well." Everyone will ignore the fact that Minn. went 8-4, is closer, and had virtually the same support, despite being a big bad Big Ten team.
(This post was last modified: 12-27-2013 12:53 PM by nzmorange.)
12-27-2013 12:52 PM
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lumberpack4 Offline
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Post: #5
RE: Bowl ticket sales
Traveling well is a function of the Alumni Base size and enthusiasm. If you have 500K living alums like Ohio State and 50K studnets, getting 30K to go to a warm weather game in January is fairly easy.

The biggest impact I've seen regarding some of the ACC schools, it that all of us have a game in Florida every other year and in the Atlantic we have a game in Boston every other year. We can plan for those games. When the game is on a Friday night in a so-so location at a bad time of the year with little notice the desire to go is less.

Our last big bowl crowds were for the Gator Bowls against Florida and ND (we took almost 30K to the game with ND and outnumbered them which surprised me). We can take 25-30 to Belk Bowl since it's a defacto home game. But NC State has begun to sour on some places like Atlanta and Nashville. And if the team sucks or the coach is on the hot seat, as have been the case the last three years, folks make plans now to go to the sure things during the season like Miami, Boston, Tallahasse, etc. Rather than wait to the last minute and get a bad seat.

At the last ACC tourney in Atlanta, I took the family and we got great tickets on stubhub and at the door, for thousands less than what the cost would have been through the Wolfpack Club. Loyalty works until you are attempting to buy tickets for four and find good hotels for four.

It doesn't help that the smaller bowls are now utterly meaningless.

The same thing has happened with the ACC tourney. 30 years ago it meant EVERYTHING - now it means nothing unless you are in the top 4 seeds, and if you are in the top 4 seeds you already have a place in the NCAA.
12-27-2013 03:34 PM
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