(07-02-2020 11:40 AM)Ourland Wrote:  

(07-02-2020 11:22 AM)Hambone10 Wrote:  30,000 fans at $50/ticket (which would be a STEAL for A&M fans for the views) would be $1.5mm. 60,000 fans at $50 would be $3mm. Add in parking and concessions, not to mention the atmosphere and that's a win to me even if we give up the entire gate vs 12,000 fans at $25 (or less) to see WKU.

This is likely a best case scenario, as far as Rice Stadium's ability to generate game day revenue is concerned, even if it were fully renovated and functional to the highest standards. You could be right, but we still wouldn't make any money on such a game.

I also would be very surprised if Rice is in a conference with any eastern schools by 2023. CUSA is about to split. We'll be playing regional schools soon. If our program is strong, and if area opponents bring the fans I believe they can, then we'll be averaging 23k every year. That's an exponential jump from the 4k we attract today.

My comment was really in response to criticism of SMU for giving up the gate and/or comments about what Reliant is worth.

No, you don't make money on that day, but you do set a bar and an expectation... and just as we used to have for Baseball, you get the chance to sell 'non Rice people' prime (expensive) seats for the whole season in order to get those great seats for A&M. I mean seriously... I think if we had A&M and UT (or LSU or whomever) on a home/home... and in order to get chair-backs or between the 30's, you needed to buy season tickets... that we'd sell 5,000+ season tickets to non-Rice people.... or 5,000 more seats to Rice people who would sell the 'prime' tickets in order to fund them.

'If our program is strong' and 'if those schools travel' has been the problem, and I really don't see that changing. The odds of those things aligning with any consistency seems to be a major issue.