The difference, in your argument that 40K in 2000 was speculative, is that in 2000 we were markedly upgrading the product on the field to D1 football, from the previous irrelevant 1AA crap we played. Now, short of a major conference jump, there's no increase in the product on the field that would allow for any reasonable expectation that those extra 15K seats are going to be sold. You all can banter all you want about a B1G invite, but it's not happening. Putting in 15K new seats is not gong to suddenly draw 15K more people to the same OOC games against Buffalo and Ohio, combined with a weakened Big East. In fact, it's more appealing to other conferences to see a stadium at 100% capacity all season, a demand for more tickets, and the ability to expand if necessary, than it is to see 41,000 people in 55,000 seats. If for no other reason, it creates the perception that the program is in demand, that everyone loves it, tickets are gone like hot cakes, and that it's something everyone else should see. Smart business is to keep supply just behind demand, not increase supply when there isn't the demand. Currently, short of the Michigan game and maybe Tennessee, there's not a single game on our schedule I see us selling 55K tickets to. And "marketing more" is not going to accomplish that. When you have to market a program so much just to get a sellout, it reeks of desperation and that tickets are easy to come by. You won't see any big time football program marketing their tickets like crazy, it's because they don't have to. When you don't have to market to sellout, you're a big program. When you're marketing like hell just to make it up to a sellout, likely accomplished through day of game walk up sales, you're akin to a minor league baseball team.
