Bowl Ticket Sales - Aside from Iowa & MSU, What's Wrong with the B1G?

G

GVGiant44

Well-Known Member
It goes without saying that Michigan State fans would be getting excited about going to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 25 years. And Iowa has retained its reputation of traveling well (again) by pretty much selling out its allotment to the Outback Bowl. But bluntly, sales for the rest of the B1G stink, including from a couple of teams that had previously had reputations for traveling well, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Here is a summary of some of the latest figures of university allotments for each bowl vs. number sold from that allotment.

+ROSE: Michigan State - 24,000 allotted, all sold (requesting more)
[Stanford also near sell-out of their allotment]

+ORANGE: Ohio State - 17,500 allotted, barely 7,000 sold
[Clemson has sold over 12,000 but offering many discounts]

+CAPITAL ONE: Wisconsin - 12,500 allotted, barely 4,000 sold
[South Carolina has sold over 9,000 of their allotment]

+OUTBACK: Iowa - 11,500 allotted, just over 11,000 sold at latest report I could find
[LSU has sold barely 6,000 of their 12,000 allotment]

+GATOR: Nebraska - 12,750 allotted, barely 3,000 sold
[Georgia has sold 7,500 of their 15,000 allotment]

+BUFFALO WILD WINGS: Michigan - 11,000 allotted, 5,600 sold
[Kansas State sold just over 6,000 of their allotment]

+TEXAS: Minnesota - 12,000 allotted, 3,375 sold
[no report on Syracuse sales; tickets being sold for 1 cent before the game **
attendance at game reported at just over 32,000 - barely half of capacity]

I understand the economy is not great. But especially in the case of Wisconsin, who had a chance to enjoy the New Year in Orlando, this is utterly mystifying - and in their case, a HUGE black eye. Same for the previously hallowed fan base of Nebraska, who also could spend the New Year in Florida.

I had wondered why Iowa was actually in the discussion for the Capital One bowl. Let's just say that, since this has now happened twice (where Iowa was being discussed for the Cap One bowl, but then the committee chose the more logical team), I would submit that if the circumstances get repeated one more time, Iowa will jump up again and steal the Cap One bowl.

But my biggest reaction is to give a giant "tip-of-the-fedora" to Hawk fans for turning out faithfully and consistently like they always do.
 
Good post, great info. Finishing strong and W/L relative to expectations has so muchto do with ticket sales. Minnesota is a diffferent story. Their history isn't with them and no surprise.
 
I think you can sum this all up with expectations and disappointment. OSU was all pumped up for the NC game and then lost the last game. Wisky been to Rose Bowls last few years, lost the last game and the cap one may seem like little let down. Michigan and Nebby had disappointing seasons and the fan base are both clearly down on their program. Minnesota has no fans the state loves the Vikings
 
WhitUp said:
I think you can sum this all up with expectations and disappointment. OSU was all pumped up for the NC game and then lost the last game. Wisky been to Rose Bowls last few years, lost the last game and the cap one may seem like little let down. Michigan and Nebby had disappointing seasons and the fan base are both clearly down on their program. Minnesota has no fans the state loves the Vikings
Click to expand...

What he said.
 
I can understand disappointed, but OSU had no bowl game last year, and is still in one of the top games, with the largest fanbase in the B10. Pathetic!

Michigan, Wiscy, and Debbie should be selling at least at the 75% mark as well. No real excuse for only selling 3-4,000 tickets for those fanbases. It's colder than crap up there this year as well! I don't get it.

Later boys, I'm off to watch the Michigan game!
 
Pretty pathetic showing on the part of Wisconsin and Ohio State. Wiscy made a couple of Rose Bowls in down years for the B1G and lost both. Their fan base was spoiled by bowls they really didn't deserve to play in the first place. Ohio State didn't get to play in a bowl last year, and the Orange Bowl is still one of the best possible bowl games.
 
MoseSchrute said:
This is definitely good for Iowa in future bowl slotting considerations.
Click to expand...

The conference will have much more say starting next year when it comes to bowl slotting, much like the SEC does. It will no longer be up to the bowls to decide by picking the team that will give the biggest boost to the economy.
 
I agree that Wisconsin fans have been spoiled with three straight Rose Bowls and OSU fans are bitter about not going to the title game. I also think the scam of buying through the universities is becoming more widely known, as many of these venues make the allotments endzone and corner seats. Sorry, but there is no way in hell I'm dropping over a grand to pump up a local economy and wind up sitting in the endzone so Bubba from the Orlando Jaycees can sit at the 50. I've never been to a bowl game and that is a big reason I won't go (the other being my job is always busy at year end) - everyone I know who has bought through a school, be it Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern or Michigan has been completely ticked off at the crappy seats they got from the school. Given that these things are all about tourism, the bowls should ensure that the real guests of honor, the loyal fans of the schools, are guaranteed seats between the 20s at a reasonable price. Obviously that doesn't apply to the Rose Bowl, but the rest should bend over backwards for the fans who travel.
 
okeefe4prez said:
I agree that Wisconsin fans have been spoiled with three straight Rose Bowls and OSU fans are bitter about not going to the title game. I also think the scam of buying through the universities is becoming more widely known, as many of these venues make the allotments endzone and corner seats. Sorry, but there is no way in hell I'm dropping over a grand to pump up a local economy and wind up sitting in the endzone so Bubba from the Orlando Jaycees can sit at the 50. I've never been to a bowl game and that is a big reason I won't go (the other being my job is always busy at year end) - everyone I know who has bought through a school, be it Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern or Michigan has been completely ticked off at the crappy seats they got from the school. Given that these things are all about tourism, the bowls should ensure that the real guests of honor, the loyal fans of the schools, are guaranteed seats between the 20s at a reasonable price. Obviously that doesn't apply to the Rose Bowl, but the rest should bend over backwards for the fans who travel.
Click to expand...

This is correct. I have been to the last Outback and the Orange bowls. I bought from the University both times. At the Outback I sat in the endzone which wasn't too awful because I sit in the south endzone for Hawk games at Kinnick. For the Orange I was at the very top row of the stadium....where Okeefe likes to sit. This time I was going to buy tickets from the bowl itself somewhere between the 30's in the low sections. My husband couldn't get the time off so were not going but I'll have the best seats in my house. I think a lot of fans from other schools have figured out how to get better seats, and it's not buying them from the schools alottment.
 
MNHawkeyeFreak said:
This is correct. I have been to the last Outback and the Orange bowls. I bought from the University both times. At the Outback I sat in the endzone which wasn't too awful because I sit in the south endzone for Hawk games at Kinnick. For the Orange I was at the very top row of the stadium....where Okeefe likes to sit. This time I was going to buy tickets from the bowl itself somewhere between the 30's in the low sections. My husband couldn't get the time off so were not going but I'll have the best seats in my house. I think a lot of fans from other schools have figured out how to get better seats, and it's not buying them from the schools alottment.
Click to expand...

Straight from the bowl website or secondary market is how we would've gone this year (had we been able to get off). We weren't able to make it, but reeeeeaaaaally wanna go next year.

Ps... I had also heard schools were supposed to start getting better tickets. This was supposed to happen a couple years ago. It was to combat fans going thru secondary markets. Soooo... Hasn't happened yet.
 
Eda said:
Straight from the bowl website or secondary market is how we would've gone this year (had we been able to get off). We weren't able to make it, but reeeeeaaaaally wanna go next year.

Ps... I had also heard schools were supposed to start getting better tickets. This was supposed to happen a couple years ago. It was to combat fans going thru secondary markets. Soooo... Hasn't happened yet.
Click to expand...

Interesting that schools will get better seats. It's about freaking time.

Slightly OT here, but a dude I crush brews with at NU (Northwestern and not University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which erroneously calls itself NU) games has a buddy in the AD at NU and he was saying that whatever bowl allotment sales NU publishes are totally false because they lean on two or three uber wealthy alums to buy at least 1000 tickets each so that NU looks like it sells tickets on par with the rest of the B1G. Fortunately, those guys didn't have to shell out $50k for a bunch of Pizza Pizza bowl tickets this year.
 
The fact the schools have to eat the tickets they don't sell speaks volumes on the arrogance of the bowl setups.

And trust me, the allotted tickets you buy *suck* compared to what you can buy on your own.

At least the minimum win total to play in a bowl game next year will be 7.
 
It's not just that the seats are third level and end zone, it's that the UIowa tacks on another $20+ on top of the face value.

I will say this, having gone to the Outback Bowl 5 years ago, I was able to scoop up much cheaper tickets on the secondary market then, then what I'm seeing now.
$83 on StubHub is the cheapest I'm seeing on the Iowa side and this is 3rd level sideline.
5 years ago, I was able to get tickets in that same area, albeit closer to the 50-yard-line for around $25/ticket.

There are major issues with the future of bowl games with these pathetic attendance figures, nationwide.

I used to say that Nebraska traveled better than Iowa, but I can no longer say that after the pathetic showing by Debbie.
Met a local Debbie fan working at Burger King in Tampa, and he says give Pelini one more year and then hire Ed Orgeron.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top