Big time schools losing money on BCS bowl games

[uconnbill]

Just read an article over at Alabama rivals site and came across this. They lost two million dollars and did not sell out their allotted tickets which was part of the reason. I mention this because I remember what other Big East schools were saying and others around country said about UConn. This just affirms that any school can lose money, even the National Champion.

 

[Srqhusky]

I also read a similar article, that when Florida played Ohio state in Florida they barely broke even and schools don't get rich off these bowl games

 

[storrsbred1]

Just read an article over at Alabama rivals site and came across this. They lost two million dollars and did not sell out their allotted tickets which was part of the reason. I mention this because I remember what other Big East schools were saying and others around country said about UConn. This just affirms that any school can lose money, even the National Champion.

Schools might be losing or close to losing money, but the people putting these games together sure as hell aren't, nor are the area businesses where the game is held, including the increased tax revenue.

If all of the above were losing money, the game wouldn't be played.

 

[Sky ball]

This is making BCU look like geniuses. They move to a bigger conference with a much bigger payout. They dumb down their football team so they have no bowl travel expenses. BRILLIANT! Financial success and stability = ACC cellar dwellars!
Spaz might get fired if he makes a BCS bowl and the BCU AD has to shell out 2 Mil.

 

[IMind]

I really put this on the conferences themselves. The BCS money gets spread out too thinly.

I also think the advent of the secondary ticket market really has a lot to do with this. It's MUCH easier not to go through the school to buy tickets...

 

[IMind]

Well other than the fact that the BCS games are reaming schools with absurd rules about ticket sales... that's the root cause.. but given that the Universities understood this when they signed up...

 

[SubbaBub]

I really put this on the conferences themselves. The BCS money gets spread out too thinly.

I also think the advent of the secondary ticket market really has a lot to do with this. It's MUCH easier not to go through the school to buy tickets...

Stubhub and the 7 bowl tie ins per conference are killing the market.

Same bowls against the same teams year after year and plenty of tickets on the street is not a recipe for schools to recoup the ridiculous ticket and hotel room guarantees the bowls put on them.

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[FrostyNuggets]

Stubhub and the 7 bowl tie ins per conference are killing the market.

Same bowls against the same teams year after year and plenty of tickets on the street is not a recipe for schools to recoup the ridiculous ticket and hotel room guarantees the bowls put on them.

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Stubhub is the effect, the cause is the bowls requiring fans to buy tickets they do not want.

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

The bowl system is really just a large pyramid scheme. Hopefully one of these days it will be destroyed...but don't hold your breathe!

 

[mattp]

personally i'm psyched that Alabama lost money. it takes SEC and B10 schools losing money to end this required ticket allotment. maybe i'm crazy, but it seems to me that if the bowl committees learned to schedule games people actually wanted to see, they wouldn't have to blackmail teams into buying tickets

 

[Palatine]

How do you put a price on this?

 

[lsuconnman]

That article seems to be misleading. It doesn't say the school was unable to sell them, and judging by the prices people paid for tickets that week, and the fact Bama fans outnumbered LSU fans, I'd imagine the AD decided not to sell those tickets. The fact the public is required to commit to BCS tickets in addition to National Championship tickets on the other hand, creates an incentive for fans to seek tickets through the secondary market for the secondary BCS game.

The NC game had a capacity crowd.

the SB had a lot of holes (I didn't even bother with a crowd shot two years ago, because the upper level was nearly empty for the Cincy-UF game)

Surprisingly, the largest crowd I've ever seen in the dome was the MBB championship last week.

 

[uconnfan68]

I also read a similar article, that when Florida played Ohio state in Florida they barely broke even and schools don't get rich off these bowl games

And yet the media bashed us pretty good for it. Emmert must have made them do it.

 

[SubbaBub]

How do you put a price on this?

Oh, it definitely had a price tag. But, totally worth it. Just sucks that the school took a hit and a better ticket model could have had more fans attend.

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[UConn9604]

Does anyone know if the BCS agreements expressly preclude a school or conference from placing some or all of its ticket allotment on the secondary market?

If UConn is forced to buy 12,000 tickets at $150 each, that's $1.8 million that the bowl is receiving whether the school can put them on the secondary market or not.
If UConn then sells 4,000 tickets at face value and 4,000 tickets to students at half of face (primary market), then we're looking at a guaranteed $900,000 off the primary and we'd have 4,000 to sell on the secondary to try to make up some or all of the other $900,000.

If that third third sells for about $75 (same price as students), then that's $300,000 in the door and we're only talking about a $600,000 haircut for UConn. Either way, the bowl still gets its $1.8 million.

I can't see why bowls would have a problem with the secondary market, particularly because it could be a partial life boat for schools.

 

[SubbaBub]

Truth is that if our endowment were big enough this wouldn't matter much.

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[Marty Jackson]

if we let the BCS schedule games people want to see? What does that mean?
6-6 Michigan vs 5-7 ND.

For some reason that doesn't seem like a solution. Especially from Uconn's vantage point.

 

[SubbaBub]

if we let the BCS schedule games people want to see? What does that mean?
6-6 Michigan vs 5-7 ND.

For some reason that doesn't seem like a solution. Especially from Uconn's vantage point.

Welcome back to the good old days of the Bowl Alliance.

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[whaler11]

Bill if you read that and took away they lost 2 million dollars I don't know what planet you are on.

They spent 3.9 including bonuses for the staff. They got 1.9 for travel and another 1.9 from the league payout.

Would you even like to consider how it impacts donations to the school or the value of their home tickets going forward?

There are schools that take baths going to BCS games. Alabama this year was not one of them.

Any ticket they didnt sell was by choice.

 

[John Greene]

Bill if you read that and took away they lost 2 million dollars I don't know what planet you are on.

They spent 3.9 including bonuses for the staff. They got 1.9 for travel and another 1.9 from the league payout.

Would you even like to consider how it impacts donations to the school or the value of their home tickets going forward?

There are schools that take baths going to BCS games. Alabama this year was not one of them.

Any ticket they didnt sell was by choice.

You are correct. All tickets could have been sold but UA chose to use 2000 of them for "promotional purposes". What that means is that they gave them to non political supporters of various types. A few, don't know how many, went to people who were involved with tornado recovery in Tuscaloosa. According to AL law politicians and state employees are can be assigned tickets but are required to pay face for them. Paying face has caused something of a uproar the last three years since most people realize that just being able to get tickets for face value is a form of payoff to politicains.

 

[CL82]

Playoff at the higher seeds home seems like such an obvious answer. You have a full house becuase of the reduced travel costs. Profit stays with schools. Take the top 8 teams out of circulation and the crappier bowls die off. So there are a few better travel locations for the lower ranked schools. What's not to like?