Quote:They're having trouble selling tix to the #ALAvsWIS game on Saturday. Only around 40k sold as of yesterday. Very few bought by Badger fans.

- Gil Brandt
[Twitter Link]

40,000 tickets sold in a stadium that seats 85,000... no bueno!

Apparently these teams were guaranteed $4 million each. Could that mean the promoters will LOSE MONEY? If so, I'd expect guaranteed payouts to start cooling off sooner rather than later.

I think just a fluke.

Part of Alabama is what they have coming up-
2016 USC- also in Arlington
2017 Florida St- in Atlanta
2018 Louisville- in Orlando

Atlanta will look like an auburn home game

It's more of a challenge if the neutral site is more than a half-day drive away.

Wisconsin played a neutral site game in Houston last year, and now in Arlington this year. It's probably a difficult sell to get that same group who went to Houston last year to go back to Texas again this year. It's a real road trip for them, not just a nearby neutral site like SEC teams playing in Atlanta, or the VT-Tenn game in Bristol next year, or neutral sites that are really not neutral for their team, like TAMU playing in Houston this year (vs. ASU) or Wisconsin playing in Green Bay next year (vs. LSU).

These Neutral Site games are becoming kind of stupid. Why would Wisconsin and Alabama play in Dallas? Not really an easy location for either school base to get to. These neutral site games use to be halfway between the schools. St. Louis would probably have been a better location. But now they are becoming like bowl games to kick off the year.

Florida-Georgia in Jacksonville Check
Virginia Tech-Tennessee in Bristol Check
Oklahoma-Texas in Dallas Check
South Carolina-North Carolina in Charlotte Check

Notre Dame-Navy in Jacksonville NO
Alabama-Wisconsin in Dallas NO

Some neutral site games need to happen though. Like:
Kansas-Missouri in Kansas City
Tulane-LSU in New Orleans (Super Dome)
LSU-Texas in Houston
Alabama-Clemson in Atlanta
Penn State-Virginia Tech at FedEx Field
Wisconsin-Notre Dame in Chicago

I think the problem is that Wisconsin fans made the trip to a Texas pro stadium just last year vs LSU so I can see them not being excited to make that trip yet again even for a huge opponent like Bama so this might be a one off

I think neutral site games are here to stay. Don't forget that the sponsorship dollars are very high for these games (where they buy up expensive big-dollar suites). Just yesterday, I got (1) a package from Advocare that had Wisconsin vs. Alabama on the box and (2) food from Chick-fil-A where Louisville vs. Auburn was on the bag. Remember that I live in Chicago, so I'm nowhere close to where those games are being played. That sponsorship revenue doesn't exist for home-and-home series. Plus, schools like Alabama would rather get the guaranteed neutral site revenue every year compared to a home-and-home series with a marquee non-conference opponent. The New York Times had an article today explaining why these games have risen so quickly in popularity:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/03/sports...ref=sports

The fans know they will likely lose and it's' warm in Wisconsin right now so no reason to leave like there is in 3-4 months.

WVU Bama last year will have a better turnout than this Wisc Bama game.

(09-03-2015 01:08 PM)shere khan Wrote:  Atlanta will look like an auburn home game

I thought I saw somewhere that Louisville fans have purchased half of the total tickets already?

(09-03-2015 04:28 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(09-03-2015 01:08 PM)shere khan Wrote:  Atlanta will look like an auburn home game

I thought I saw somewhere that Louisville fans have purchased half of the total tickets already?

The fans are so happy to be playing in the ACC they just can't help themselves. Good for them.

(09-03-2015 02:17 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  These Neutral Site games are becoming kind of stupid. Why would Wisconsin and Alabama play in Dallas? Not really an easy location for either school base to get to. These neutral site games use to be halfway between the schools. St. Louis would probably have been a better location. But now they are becoming like bowl games to kick off the year.

Florida-Georgia in Jacksonville Check
Virginia Tech-Tennessee in Bristol Check
Oklahoma-Texas in Dallas Check
South Carolina-North Carolina in Charlotte Check

Notre Dame-Navy in Jacksonville NO
Alabama-Wisconsin in Dallas NO

Some neutral site games need to happen though. Like:
Kansas-Missouri in Kansas City
Tulane-LSU in New Orleans (Super Dome)
LSU-Texas in Houston
Alabama-Clemson in Atlanta
Penn State-Virginia Tech at FedEx Field
Wisconsin-Notre Dame in Chicago

Notre Dame-Navy in Jacksonville has nothing to do with the distance between schools but rather the naval presence in Jacksonville. It's why the 2018 game is in San Diego.
The neutral site Navy-Notre Dame games are Navy's "home games"

(09-03-2015 02:17 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  These Neutral Site games are becoming kind of stupid. Why would Wisconsin and Alabama play in Dallas? Not really an easy location for either school base to get to. These neutral site games use to be halfway between the schools. St. Louis would probably have been a better location. But now they are becoming like bowl games to kick off the year.

That is exactly what they are. And that is why they payout so much. Put them as near home games, where it;s a daytrip for everyone, and the payout goes down. As a whole, the city makes more on 40,000 people coming in town and staying overnight, then 70,000 and sold out local fans.

The promoters for these games will soon learn which fanbases travel, and which don't. The games that are the most profitable will be the games with traveling fanbases inundating the city with income, and the stadiums with people. The teams that don't travel well won't get reinvited, unless their TV draw is huge.

(09-04-2015 11:26 AM)bitcruncher Wrote:  The promoters for these games will soon learn which fanbases travel, and which don't. The games that are the most profitable will be the games with traveling fanbases inundating the city with income, and the stadiums with people. The teams that don't travel well won't get reinvited, unless their TV draw is huge.

Yeah, but until now I thought Wisconsin did travel well...

(09-03-2015 01:41 PM)Wedge Wrote:  It's more of a challenge if the neutral site is more than a half-day drive away.

Wisconsin played a neutral site game in Houston last year, and now in Arlington this year. It's probably a difficult sell to get that same group who went to Houston last year to go back to Texas again this year. It's a real road trip for them, not just a nearby neutral site like SEC teams playing in Atlanta, or the VT-Tenn game in Bristol next year, or neutral sites that are really not neutral for their team, like TAMU playing in Houston this year (vs. ASU) or Wisconsin playing in Green Bay next year (vs. LSU).

I know this is in conference, but TAMU v. LSU in NRG would make a killing.

(09-04-2015 11:34 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(09-04-2015 11:26 AM)bitcruncher Wrote:  The promoters for these games will soon learn which fanbases travel, and which don't. The games that are the most profitable will be the games with traveling fanbases inundating the city with income, and the stadiums with people. The teams that don't travel well won't get reinvited, unless their TV draw is huge.

Yeah, but until now I thought Wisconsin did travel well...

I think it's Rose Bowl or bust.

(09-04-2015 09:20 AM)PGEMF Wrote:  

(09-03-2015 02:17 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  These Neutral Site games are becoming kind of stupid. Why would Wisconsin and Alabama play in Dallas? Not really an easy location for either school base to get to. These neutral site games use to be halfway between the schools. St. Louis would probably have been a better location. But now they are becoming like bowl games to kick off the year.

Florida-Georgia in Jacksonville Check
Virginia Tech-Tennessee in Bristol Check
Oklahoma-Texas in Dallas Check
South Carolina-North Carolina in Charlotte Check

Notre Dame-Navy in Jacksonville NO
Alabama-Wisconsin in Dallas NO

Some neutral site games need to happen though. Like:
Kansas-Missouri in Kansas City
Tulane-LSU in New Orleans (Super Dome)
LSU-Texas in Houston
Alabama-Clemson in Atlanta
Penn State-Virginia Tech at FedEx Field
Wisconsin-Notre Dame in Chicago

Notre Dame-Navy in Jacksonville has nothing to do with the distance between schools but rather the naval presence in Jacksonville. It's why the 2018 game is in San Diego.
The neutral site Navy-Notre Dame games are Navy's "home games"

When West Florida gets their stadium up as big as these others? It could be another place Navy could play at. Pensecola is also a Naval base. Trying to get West Florida to speed up building which they could be a FBS target. That could take some years, but it would be attractive. The goal is to get to 15,000 by 2017, and maybe expand some more after that.

I voted that the empty seats are the start of a trend but I don't think the neutral site games are going away and games like Alabama/FSU in Atlanta will still continue to have record payouts.

I'm not a fan personally. I was at the SC/UNC game in Charlotte Thursday and the atmosphere just does not do it for me

I can live with it because South Carolina does it only every four or five years but I'm not sure how other fan bases do it

(09-05-2015 07:48 AM)Gamecock Wrote:  I'm not a fan personally. I was at the SC/UNC game in Charlotte Thursday and the atmosphere just does not do it for me

I can live with it because South Carolina does it only every four or five years but I'm not sure how other fan bases do it

You should have had some USC students offer to do UNC student's homework for them. It would have improved the atmosphere and attendance.