Ticket Mania Week 3

Saturday, Sep 18, 2010

Georgia Tech at North Carolina

Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, NC

Section Lower Corner 100 Row C

Price:$29.99 per ticket

South Dakota State at Nebraska

Memorial Stadium (Nebraska) in Lincoln, NE

Section End Zone 32 | Row 78

Price: $75.00 per ticket

Maine at Syracuse

Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY

Section Lower Sideline 129 Row

Seats: 113, 114

Price: $37.00 per ticket

USC at Minnesota

TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN | Driving directions, parking, & more

Section Upper Corner 222 | Row 32

Price: $46.00 per ticket

Kent State at Penn State

Beaver Stadium in University Park, PA | Driving directions, parking, & more

Section Upper Level End Zone NEU | Row 93

Seats: 9, 11

Price: $21.50 per ticket

Towson at Villanova Football Tickets

Villanova Stadium in Villanova, PA | Driving directions, parking, & more

Section SF WITH TAILGATING PARKING PASS | Row 25

Seats: 30, 31

Price: $55.00 per ticket

(Only listing)

Vanderbilt at Ole Miss Football Tickets

Vaught Hemingway Stadium in University, MS

Section North End Zone 103 Row 33

Price: $16.00 per ticket

Iowa at Arizona Football Tickets

Arizona Stadium in Tucson, AZ

Section Family Zone F 28 | Row 8

Seats: 15, 16

Price: $45.00 per ticket

North Carolina Central at Appalachian State

Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, NC

Section 110 | Row C

Price: $50.00 per ticket

No Ticket on Sale Saturday, Sep 18, 2010

Northwestern Oklahoma State at South Dakota

Holy Cross at Harvard

Saturday, Sep 25, 2010

Liberty at James Madison

Bowl Look Ahead

Alamo Bowl Tickets

Wednesday, Dec 29, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. (CST)

Location Alamodome in San Antonio, TX

Section Upper Level End Zone 303 Row 21

Price: $62.00 per ticket

Champs Sports Bowl

Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL

Section Upper Level Corner 326 Row B

Price: $49.99 per ticket

Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl

Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, CA

Section End Zone View 16 | Row 17

Price:$64.00 per ticket

Thursday, Dec 30, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. (PST)

Not good for East Coast viewers

JMU Running Parade (Tech Game Aftermath) Pt.1 9/11/10--To the Quad and Beyond

Language Warning

Bowling for BCS Tickets 2009-10

2010 BCS National Championship Game Tickets (Alabama vs Texas)
Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 5:30 PM at Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA
1582 ticket listings
Upper End 13 - Rows 56-77 76 2 $575.00 each

2010 Fiesta Bowl Tickets (Boise State vs TCU)
Monday, January 4, 2010 at 6:00 PM at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ
1206 ticket listings
Terrace Level Corner 436 13 Up to 4 $36.00 each


2010 Orange Bowl Tickets (Georgia Tech vs Iowa)
Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at 8:00 PM at Land Shark Stadium in Miami, FL
665 ticket listings
Upper End Zone 455 14 Up to 4 $66.00 each

2010 Rose Bowl Tickets (Ohio State vs Oregon)
Friday, January 1, 2010 at 2:00 PM at Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA
777 ticket listings
Corner 14 74 2 $216.00 each

2010 Sugar Bowl Tickets (Florida vs Cincinnati)
Friday, January 1, 2010 at 7:30 PM at Superdome in New Orleans, LA
959 ticket listings
Terrace End Zone 604 17 2 $50.00 each

Ticket Bonanza Week #13

Virginia Tech at Virginia Football Tickets at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, VA
148 ticket listings
Upper Corner 525 W 2 $70.00 each

Pittsburgh at West Virginia Friday, November 27, 2009 at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, WV
109 ticket listings
Lower Level Visitor 98 31 2 $53.50 each

Texas Tech vs Baylor at Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX
91 ticket listings
Upper Reserved 418 1 2 $88.00 each

Utah at BYU at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, UT
189 ticket listings
Upper End Zone 128 33 Up to 4 $48.00 each

Northern Illinois at Central Michigan at Kelly Shorts Stadium in Mount Pleasant, MI
1 ticket listings
X 26 1 $8.00 each


Alabama at Auburn Football Tickets Friday, November 27, 2009 at Jordan Hare Stadium in Auburn, AL
530 ticket listings
Upper Deck Sideline 49 36 2 $149.00 each


Oregon State at Oregon at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, OR
121 ticket listings are displayed
Standing Room Only GA Up to 8 $173.95 each

---

Coming Soon

2009 Big 12 Championship Football Tickets (Texas vs Nebraska)
Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 7:00 PM at Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX
782 ticket listings
Upper Reserved 435 15 Buy Any Quantity 1 $80.00 each

MAC Championship Football Tickets (Central Michigan vs TBD)
Friday, December 4, 2009 at 8:00 PM at Ford Field in Detroit, MI
6 ticket listings are displayed
Lower Level End Zone 140 2 Up to 4 $29.00 each

ACC Championship Game Football Tickets (Georgia Tech vs Clemson Tigers)
Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 8:00 PM at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL
530 ticket listings are displayed
Upper Deck Sideline 49 36 2 $149.00 each

Ticket Bonanza #4

Miami at Virginia Tech at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, VA
Upper Sideline 39 4W 2 $97.00 each
188 ticket listings
Is this the most important game in the ACC this year?

UAB at Texas AM at Kyle Field in College Station, TX
Upper Level 516 25 6 $22.00 each
199 ticket listings
Upper level in the endzone for $22 vs. Upper leve at the 30 for $49

Rhode Island at Connecticut Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT
Upper Sideline 229 15 2 $27.50 each
24 ticket listings
Either URI travels well or most are not even bothering to try and sell their UConn tickets.

Notre Dame at Purdue Ross Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, IN
End Zone 115 61 2 $60.00 each
289 ticket listings
Thought that the price would be higher.

Louisville at Utah Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, UT
Redzone N 29 54 Up to 8 $39.95 each
50 ticket listings
Redzone = Corner of the endzone
Given how poorly the Cards have performed over the past several seasons, why are these the most expensive on the schedule?

Cal at Oregon Autzen Stadium in Eugene, OR
156 ticket listings
Corner 38 20 1 $63.00 each
(Standing Room Only SRO Up to 11 $47.00 each)
First time SRO ticket have been seen.

Ohio at Tennessee Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN
318 ticket listings
Upper Level Corner GG 15 2 $24.99 each
Apparently Bobcats do not travel.


URI Rams

Bill Mays Lied or Vise Vice

Coercion being forced to act in a way counter to what you want by an external force is all too come a business tactic. A former Pepsi salesperson told stories punishing retailers that would not cooperate by helping local competition run Pepsi products at lower prices in an attempt to embarrass the uncooperative retailer. The plan was that the pressure would cause a change of heart and a realization that the Pepsi way was the right way.

Somewhat less aggressive, but still coercive, was (and maybe still is) the practice of General Mills that will coupon the hell out of a new product so consumers will flock to their local grocer demanding the latest variety of Cheerios. With retailer being forced to add the new product to appease customers.

Now the evil empire of sports is doing the same to push your local ISP to add ESPN360 to your cable service. Mimicking the cable model by getting a fixed payment per subscriber where Disney Sports gets one check for the ISP (saving the cost of selling the end user and collecting the fee) and hiding the cost. Some less aware people may think that ESPN360 is a free service as they do not see Disney as the reason that the bill went up rather that evil greed ISP raised the price echoing the increasing cost of cable television where the provider is blamed.

Two games this weekend demonstrate the coercion that ESPN is attempting Marshall at Virginia Tech and East Carolina at West Virginia. Please note that coercion need not be extreme and in fact slow steady pressure may be the most effective. Neither of these game are particularly ground breaking but then neither was allowed to be broadcast as regional games rather each were on ESPN360 only. With loyal Virginia Tech and West Virginia fans becoming use over the past several years of seeing their teams every week on television (cable or broadcast) emails and phone calls were made to ISP's urging them to add ESPN360. Visit http://mattsarzsports.com/football2009.aspx look at each week for the web only games and ask why would ESPN forgo the regional television revenue if they are not looking at more money from a steady check for all the customers of every ISP whether they want to watch the CFL or not.

More reading on the subject:
Computers in Management: Case Study: ESPN new media
A nice college presentation in a Word document

ESPN's ISP discrimination shakes Net neutrality hornet's nest
For the nerdy techie college football fan.

Can't see the Mountian West as BCS worthy

Mountain West Conference a low priority for CBS C by Scott Pierce shows the weakness of this conference's argument to be included at the BCS table...lack of media exposure and lack of media respect. The talking heads can say all they want about the the strength of the MWC while the suit in the back with the power of the checkbook and the programming schedule do not deem them worthy.

As the broadcast schedule shows the conference has a weak television presence with CBS College Sports cherry picking game of interest (the 10/31 New Mexico at San Diego St.being an exception). Even with CBS C and Mtn. showing what could be the most important game of the season the college football world may barely notice as Disney Sports will be busy hyping games to be play December 5th. and CBS will be selling the hell out of the SEC championship game.

King Espn XVI

After watching Mike and Mike this mourning and hearing Harvey Perlman respond to Senator Hatch's comments from the prior day's show on the BCS, the truth of the matter became clear; this may look like a power struggle between Congress and the BCS but the king makers her is ESPN. And then the news that the Mountain West Conference had signed an agreement with ESPN confirmed the theory, the "Boys from Bristol" are running college football and the rest of use are just along for the ride.

This is not a new idea on this blog or for those that take a few minutes to pull themselves away from the ESPN teat long enough to realize that they are a cold mechanical business and not the warm maternal mother's milk of sports. Like a weed ESPN has woven itself into the fabric of sports to the extent that they can lay claim to stealing from King Louis XVI and say, "We are the sport".

This control of college football extend from the power to dictate the date and time of the game to having the most powerful person on the field that comes out during the commercial breaks to enforce the will network. In the need to fill up the time between games ESPN sets the agenda and molds public opinion shamelessly promote the upcoming slate of games. The $495 million comes from ESPN/Disney with the expectation that they will profit from the deal by having high profile games with match up that will deliver rating. Easy to sell rating such as Texas v. USC or Florida v. Ohio State not Georgia v. Hawaii or Pitt v. Uath.

In a game of chicken the Mountain West blinked and the rebellion has be squelched.
The Mountain West returns to an unhappy existence with a chip on there shoulder, a broadcast deal with CBS College Sports, the Mtn. cable channel, and because of this one of the lowest broadcast profiles in college football. The non-BCS school will need to stay at the outside hoping for a chance to change the system.

Parting question: "How did the Boys from Bristol get their way with the Mountain West?"

Big East Game of the Week

Conference game of the week--mark your calendars now.
Rules: Every team must make the list at least once
Guideline: The most important game is not always the most interesting

The Big East has two other issues--they are the smallest conference with eight members and with no championship game the conference has a long season with game on December 5th. Given this their may be a "none" week or an away OOC game included.

Saturday, September 5
Cincinnati at Rutgers
A Disney arranged game between two contenders for the wide open conference crown.

Saturday, September 12
North Carolina at Connecticut
East Carolina at West Virginia
Carolina comes to the Big East: Are the Pirate able to take two in a row? UNC v. UConn in football rather than hoops?

Saturday, September 19
Northwestern at Syracuse
Will the Orange look any better than one would expect with a new coach and an ad hoc group of players.

Saturday, September 26
Pitt at North Carolina State
Rutgers at Maryland
USF at Florida State
Almost half of the conference is on the road against the ACC with, "We aren't the worst BCS conference." bragging right in the balance.

Thursday, October 1
Colorado at West Virginia (ESPN)
The Buff's are one of those rare teams that will travel. This game went to overtime last year.

Saturday, October 10
Connecticut at Pitt
If there must be a game
NONE

Friday, October 16
Pitt at Rutgers (ESPN)
Make an excuse not to go to that high school game. Can? Set the DVR!

Saturday, October 17
Louisville at Connecticut
Marshall at West Virginia
NONE

Saturday, October 24
USF at Pitt
Bully?

Saturday, October 31
Rutgers at Connecticut
Are these two really rivals?

Saturday, November 7
Louisville at West Virginia
Never going to be the 2005 game.

Thursday, November 12
USF at Rutgers (ESPN)
Can Rutgers have another season where they capture a sliver of attention from the NYC Metro area.

Friday, November 13
West Virginia at Cincinnati (ESPN2)
Can the Bearcats repeat? They are winless at home against WVU. WVU leads the series 11 to 2.

Saturday, November 14
Notre Dame at Pitt
The Irish are almost always interesting the watch. Losses to Pitt and Cuse sent Notre Dame to Hawaii last year.

Saturday, November 21
Louisville at USF
Rutgers at Syracuse
Connecticut at Notre Dame (NBC)
NONE

Friday, November 27
Pitt at West Virginia
Not an elite rivalry game but near the top of the second tier.



Saturday, November 28
Illinois at Cincinnati
Miami at USF
Not one but two unusually interesting late season OOC games.

Saturday, December 5
Cincinnati at Pitt
West Virginia at Rutgers
One of these two will determine who gets the conferences BCS bid.

Adding Up the Crumbs

Most, if not all, businesses have the side we see that the generally clean and pretty and the dark insidebusiness. Think the the butchershop or Congress as examples: clean on the outside but sickening to the outsider on the inside.

Given thet college bowl contracts are up for renewal there is a dance (more like the scrambling when bride throws the bouquet) taking place with the bowls games and conferences jockeying for position. Given this background come the following little piece of information:

"He said bowls keep most of the best seats for their corporate partners, and the schools' fans often end up buying those tickets on the secondary market rather than through the school."

If you look at the Gator Bowl on Stub Hub the very best seats are for sale. The fact that seats are already sold may very well be a function of this being an NFL stadium and groups have leased real estate is the stadium.

Clip a Rama #2

Why try to compete with perfection. When someone posts a video predicted BCS games for both Michigan and Miami (FL) Dean Wormer had the perfect line when he said, ""Fat drunk and stupid is no why to go through life."

Connected to the Dollars

James Burke is know for his late 1970's show called Connections in which he shows how unrelated events come together for something entirely new. Think about the multitude of different technologies that went into the first automobiles--just the marriage of refining oil into gasoline and metal casting for the modern internal combustion engine is a miracle.



Our story will start in fall of 1966 with the debut of both Star Trek showing how advance technology would change the world and Joe Paterno who would show how a guy from Brooklyn could change college football. James T. Kirk when facing a dilemma would consult either the very local Mr. Spook or the mechanical female voice of the computer. Captain Kirk would then ignore good sound advice, doing something rash, make out with a green (1960’s) space babe, and come out smelling like a rose. Coach Paterno has also been know to act rashly with a variety of smells as a result. Just this week Joe was quoted as saying, "I've tried to talk to the Big Ten people about, 'Let's get a 12th team -- Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt -- we could have a little bit of a playoff.'" http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4118848



Spike TV started in 1983 as The Nashville Network, morphing into The National Network before becoming testosterone focused channel it is today. Other organizations evolve overtime in an attempt to stay relevant; the March of Dime now devoted to preventing birth defect began life with the task of curing polio repurposing itself to stay alive. The Big Ten and the Big Ten Network will need to keep evolving in the constantly changing environment of college sports.



This blog recognized early the potential power of the Big Ten Network and the change that this could bring to the college football landscape. While Joe was looking at the practical idea of a championship game, the more profitable plan would be to add the right team to the Big Ten to boost the dollars beyond what the SEC is currently raking in. Paterno looked to his past a rashly suggested three east coast teams two of which could add the populace New York City metro TV market to the BTN footprint (and the associated dollars). Mr. Spock would look at the numbers and look to push BTN national in one fell swoop by taking another run at adding Notre Dame to the Big Ten.



South Bend, the home to Studebaker (the late car maker) and Notre Dame is the final piece to our puzzle. Those that say, “Notre Dame will never join a conference.” might be the same that said, “GM will never file for bankruptcy.” With the NBC contract running out in 2015 and the range into at which schedules are made BTN might want to be looking that far into the future and make a rash Kirk like move. In one move BTN could transform itself and the college football landscape.

Bad Reputation

Unlike Joan Jett, teenage males do care about your bad reputation. Miami had swagger, lacking real tradition such as Michigan, Texas, or USC; they were the rebellious outsider of college football. Miami came from nowhere with National Championships in 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, and 2001.

Manny Navarro in Intruders breaching UM's local recruiting wall, warns of a hole in Miami’s control over the best of South Florida. While this is a good article, it leaves a void by not exploring the why. A simple question with a simple answer: The Canes no longer have the swagger or the wins to attract the top players. 2001, for those of use over 30 was a mere eight years ago. For a 17 year old that same journey in time is nearly half a lifetime. Don’t blame the high school, kid for not knowing about the great tradition that was the U, understand that the futility of the past four years does little to sell the Miami image.



Common in the world beyond that of college football is the, “What have you done for me lately?” that perhaps those devout followers of Sebastian the Ibis are seeing that the support of the past was just a veneer of bandwagon jumpers. This not a prediction that Miami will forever be mired as an average team in a below average BCS conference, rather a bright light on the fragility of Miami football and to a larger extent any college football program. Notice that in 2008 The cover of Phil Steele's Florida Edition featured three teams from the Sunshine State--UF, FSU, ans USF but not the Canes.



On November 28th 2009 Miami may play the most important game of their season against the University of South Florida which will for 2010 determine the pecking order for BCS football programs in Florida.

What Have You Done For Me Lately (Karaoke)

Dumping Cupcakes

How sold are the fans? The truest measure of demand for tickets is in the discount placed on the, "Can miss" game. The person buying a set of season tickets will make their money on the rivalry game and will feel the need just to move (dump) the cupcake game. Below are teams with a comparison bet ween the an FCS game and a conference or OOC BCS team within a week or two of each other.

Forida State

Jacklonsville State at Florida State Football Tickets
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Sideline 28 83 Up to 4 $31.00 each

South Florida at Florida State Football Tickets
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Sideline 28 83Up to 4 $157.00 each

USF is 5 times more popular?


Penn State

Eastern Illinois at Penn State Football Tickets
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Lower Level End Zone NG 39 2 $90.00 each

Minnesota at Penn State Football Tickets
Saturday, October 17, 2009
ower Level End Zone NG 39 2 $185.00 each

A bargain trip to the center of PA for the weekend of October 10th.

Kansas

Northern Colorado
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Family Zone GA G/A Up to 4 $19.50 each

Duke
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Family Zone GA G/A Up to 8 $19.50 each

And if this were basketball? It is football and there is no demand for Blue Devils in the heartland.

Wisconsin



Northern Illinois
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Lower Deck End Zone Y 3 53 Up to 4 $52.00 each

Fresno State
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Lower Deck End Zone Y 3 53 Up to 4 $59.00 each

Wofford
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Lower Deck End Zone Y 3 53Up to 4$45.00 each

Michigan State
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Lower Deck Corner A 49 Up to 8 $93.00 each
Lower Deck End Zone Y 3 54 Up to 6 $149.00 each

The Badgers are home the first four weekends of the season

Florida

Vanderbilt at Football Tickets
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Upper Corner 47 TBD Up to 5 $129.00 each

Florida International
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Upper Corner 47 TBD Up to 4 $95.00 each

Love and respect for Vandy?

Eyes of the Beholder

In about 1985 distance 2nd place furniture polish Behold in a 7oz. can had a half price package that grew sales dramatically. The company then change from two size of Lemon Behold 7oz. and 14oz. to a pair of 9oz. products Lemon Behold and Natural Wood Behold. Part of the presentation to the trade was that, "Our brand has growth".

It was not a lie. It was using the numbers to tell your story. The proposal from the Mountain West Conference for a replacement of the current BCS system has a funny ring to it as the number given are stacked in the MWC favor.

Beautiful numbers in the eyes of the right beholder (from USA Today in a .pdf).

What do you bring to the table?

When did you make the move to the “big people table” at holiday meals? At what point did you graduate. For most it was a mere matter of age. There were those awkward years where you were seated in the kitchen with the six year old cousin that is no longer cute and then the first year sitting with the adults where you were all but invisible. Once you made the move there was no going back.

The Mountain West wants a seat at the BCS table as they have fielding very competitive teams that have already won three BCS games—more wins than the ACC (2004-2009) despite not having the coveted automatic bid. In the 2008-09 final poll the MWC had 3 teams in the final top 25 as compared to 2 for the Big East and 3 for the Atlantic Coast Conference. If the MWC were applying for an opening they would definitely be the top candidate.

The Mountain West resume as impressive as it is lack one critical element...television numbers. Given that the BCS is a television driven event the ability to demonstrate that your conference can deliver the eyeballs is of paramount importance. Currently, this key piece is missing. Looking at the 2008 numbers from ESPN you'll see that the MWC fails to deliver impressive numbers.

The road to the BCS may go through the Magic Kingdom of college football. With ESPN having the BCS broadcast rights, the folks in Bristol have unprecedented influence over the agenda. In short given the overwhelming influence ESPN has over the college football storyline, Craig Thompsonthe, MWC commissioner first needs to get the conference a place on already crowded regular season broadcast schedule.

How can the MWC prove that the conference can deliver the all important television rating and the dollars to justify the BCS payout, if the games are hidden on the mtn. , CBS College Sports, and Versus? While it may sound harsh but your on the field performance will get you an invite to the BCS when warranted, a permanent berth requires that you prove the financial angle is covered. Can the addition of one of the non-BCS conferences grow the pot of money? Until the answer is yes the current situation cannot change.

If Congress wants to get involved and regulate college football they might want to start with assuring equal television exposure. Yes, a return era to the equal time. Organize the Fall sports schedule towards make sure that we get to see Wyoming, Troy, and FIU in prime time. While we are nationalizing the banks, maybe we can nationalize cable TV. And start by moving the masters of Bristol to the shores of the Potomac.

The alternative for those not at the BCS table is to grow (up) and earn your place at the table.

On Epicycles and the House of Plantagenet

http://www.astronomynotes.com/history/epicycle.htm



Part 1 March Madness is a Folly

There are 344 teams in D1 basketball with 65 + 32 going to post season tournaments or 28% far below the percentage of teams going to college bowl games. The 65 “best” included first round losers: Mount St. Mary at an RPI of #159, #147 Texas Arlington, #108 Winthrop, #98 Georgia, and #90 Portland St. While #94 San Diego and #66 Siena did win in the first round, their roll as mere March filler came in the second round. Source--http://www.kenpom.com/rpi.php

The Big East put seven teams, about 11% of the 65, into the March Folly despite the fact that these teams had already, “decided it on the court”. Worse only one Big East made it to the group of eight with Louisville losing North Carolina. For all the hype the NCCA basketall tournament is a bloated income ditribution vehicle with numerous meaningless games.

If this is the correct way to do things what would a college football playoff look like? Some might say an eight team playoff, others 16, using the same 65 out of 344 of 18.9% we need at least 23 teams or 24 just too even things up. Automatic bids: the six BCS conferences, MAC, WAC, MWC, Sun Belt, C-USA.

The challenge for those that want this is the fill in the brackets in a reasonable manner. You’ll need three play in games and then some gymnastics to avoid repeating games that have already been played.

The answer that will be arrived at will be the equivalent of using epicycle to epicycles to explain planetary retrograde motion in an Earth center solar system. Or paraphrasing Dennis Miller in his brief time on Monday Night Football, “That tournament is more complicated that the House of Plantagenet.” The BCS may not be perfect but the basketball model isn’t either.

Canary In the Mine

Is there such phenomenon as fan fatigue? Anyone who has taken an economics class is familiar with the concept of the law of diminishing return. At a certain point additional input will not result in additional output. A simple why to look at the issue is that you could put five grains of wheat in a pot and get five nice plants but would have little success if you put 500 or 5,000 grains in that limited space.

Much has been made this week of the prices that Orange Bowl tickets are selling for and more specifically the weak demand on the part of Virginia Tech fans. Usually VT fans are among the most loyal. Loyal in this case comes with the expectation that they will open their wallets and buy. Unfortunately fans cannot afford the show their passion with dollars becoming increasing limited. Looking at the rear view mirror, the ACC Championship Game and the lack of attendance may have been the canary in the mine telling us that all is not right in the land of college football. Further that the Orange Bowl may be a preview of a new reality where the ability of fans to fund ever more expensive programs.

There will be those that will look recession proof as the growing continue be it a greatly reduced pace. But give the grimness of the current economic landscape we could see first a reduction in the “ESPN-make a Bowl” games followed by programs having to do more with less and even some schools dropping out of the FBS group.



Link to video

Perhaps on the part of VT fans their may be some fatigue of making the trip to Miami for a second straight year coupled with the knowledge that they may not be the best team in the ACC (Georgia Tech is ranked much higher) and the they are played the very unsexy University of Cincinnati Beatcats. Bearcats fans are at least excited by the novelty of attending a BCS game but are still considered by footballs old money are unworthy of a serious bowl game.

Yes, Ohio, it’s not just the school in Columbus that can play its way into the Bowl Championship Series – and the Bearcats can’t wait to begin using that as a selling point to recruits. So sometime Friday, a box of Orange Bowl knickknacks will arrive in Cincinnati, visual evidence of the Bearcats’ breakout season that landed them in a BCS game for the first time.

For more information about bowl ticket prices check out the CNBC coverage.

People the current economic environment is uglier than anything since the 1970's (and into the early 80's), the readjustment in the larger economy will trickle down to college football. Where will your team be when the dust clears?

12/22--Addendum: as Scott Armstrong points out the ticket is the cheap part of the bowl experience.

Tickets Galore #6

Florida State at Miami Dolphin Stadium in Miami, FL
Upper Corner 436 $41.00
Last week's crowd was in the 35,000 range but since FSU fans actually buy tickets....

Kansas at Iowa State Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, IA
Lower Corner 1 $32.00
These are among the worst seats imaginable as the are beyond the endzone but only slightly angled. Maybe the bleachers in the other endzone for $35 are better.


Rutgers at West Virginia Mountaineers Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, WV
Lower Level Visitor 98 $35.00
Many tickets from the Vistors section for sale. Not worth the drive from Jersey?

Penn State at Purdue Ross Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, IN
End Zone 132 $24.00
PSU fans are missing the chance to see their team on the cheap.

UNLV at Colorado State Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, CO
Sideline H $15.00
Low price in a thin (three listings). The stadium seem to be out in the middle of nowhere.


Washington State at UCLA Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA
Bruin Reserved 15 $5.00
The bargain of the week.

Auburn at Vanderbilt Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, TN
End Zone J $201.00
Red hot real estate for this weekend.

Florida at Arkansas Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, AR
Upper Level Sideline 505 $14.00
Too far for Gator fans? Or no faith by Razorback fans?

Look Out for Pirates

Which ACC Bowl game should East Carolina go to? Should a 13-0 record put them in the Orange Bowl? Can they do a worse than the ACC teams in recent memory? Or let’s imagine that ECU goes 11-2 losing in the C-USA Championship game, but winning their three games against Virginia Tech, Virginia, and NC State. Is it fair that the Pirates will go to the GMAC Bowl while a lesser team from the Atlantic Coast Conference goes to the Chick-fil-A, Gator, or Champ Bowl by virtue of the conference membership?

Much has been made of the “BCS Busters” where a deserving team from a lesser non-BCS conference gets the dream of a life time and is allowed to sit at the big money table. That’s nice and makes good PR but this still leaves the Mountain West, WAC, and C-USA thin on their slate of bowl games. With the current bowl ties the casting director for the bowl games hands are tie to what they have already signed up for.
Keeping with ECU (but there may be several other teams that could fit this bill) might a match up of the Pirates and Alabama (using the projections from Scouts.com) make for a more interesting Chick-fil-A Bowl that a 8-4 Boston College?

As stated before on this blog bowl game are all about bring people to your city to fill hotel and restaurant during the slow holiday season. Organizers are then keen on lock in the best chance of bring people to town for the game and not particularly interesting in the most intriguing games at the end of the season.

Maybe we need a second tier bowl to become a free agent and be willing to gamble on presenting the fans with a interesting game rather than the current locked slate of “if there is nothing else on” games.

Note: When thinking of a tile for this post I remembered a book that I read in 2nd or 3rd grade and putting the title into Google found that you (and maybe me) can buy at copy from Amazon. At $48 cherished memeories are getting expensive.

Tickets Galore Week #2

Most college football games will be better than this movie.


Game of the week
Georgia Tech at Boston College 12:00 PM at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, MA
Lower Sideline U $13.00
Corner endzone seats to one of the weekends more interesting games. With the leading teams in the ACC stumbling during week #1 the conference may be wide open.

Richmond at Virginia Football Tickets 3:45 PM at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, VA
Upper Sideline 504 $2.50
Tickets are up from a mere $1.99. These tickets are on the 30 in the upper deck.

Eastern Washington at Colorado Football Tickets 1:30 PM at Folsom Field in Boulder, CO
Lower End Zone $9.00
The low price game for the Buff season.

Minnesota at Bowling Green Football Tickets 1:00 PM at Perry Stadium in Bowling Green, OH
No tickets listed. Is no one selling or more accurately did no one see a value in this game prior to the BG win over Pitt. When was the last time a MAC school had two wins in a season against BCS schools.

The Citadel at Clemson Football Tickets 3:30 PM at Clemson Memorial Stadium in Clemson, SC
Upper Sideline C $5.00
In row Z of the top of three decks.

Mississippi at Wake Forest Football Tickets at 3:30 PM at Groves Stadium in Winston Salem, NC
Sideline 9 $15.00
See a rising star in the ACC?

Scalper's special (buy these and turn them for a profit)
West Virginia at East Carolina Football Tickets 4:30 PM at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, NC
215 $69.00
Good location for a hot game as Pirate fans are looking for their long sought treasure.

Stanford at Arizona State Football Tickets at 7:00 PM at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ
Upper Corner 214 $4.75
Bad seats good price. Just waiting to cash in on the Dawg visit.

Oregon State at Penn State Football Tickets 3:30 PM at Beaver Stadium in University Park, PA
Lower Level Sideline EH $50.00
Surprisingly goo seats for watching the Ducks come to town. Very good supply of PSU tickets.

Southern Mississippi at Auburn Football Tickets 12:30 PM at Jordan Hare Stadium in Auburn, AL
Upper Deck Sideline 47 $15.00
So why do LSU (9/20) tickets cost $139?

Central Michigan at Georgia Football Tickets 3:30 PM at Sanford Stadium in Athens, GA
Upper Level Sideline 336 $74.00
Price is up from two weeks ago. These are not good seats.
Price survey taken 8/31/08