Let's clear up some myths about the Fiesta Bowl

[Palatine]

UConn bought about 4,00o of it's allotment of 17,500 seats. Some of that was institution.

But there are some very interesting facts around that number. First, the price if you bought from the university, from the allotment, was $105 to $255.

However there is an extenuating circumstance. The following week end the national championship game between Auburn and Oregon would take place at the same stadium.

And fans who bought advance tickets to the BCS national championship game Jan. 10 also had to buy tickets to the Phoenix-area Fiesta and Insight bowls. Those fans were dumping tickets to those two games.

That meant that UConn fans could get very cheap tickets -in good seats- for $20 - $50 dollars from stub hub, etc. Thousands, myself included, went that route.

The official UConn fan count will never be know but conservatively just looking around the stadium, 15,000.

Shot this as I was finding my seat well before kick off, attendance was 67,000+.

 

[Ryan Phalen]

Long story short, buy your tickets through the school

 

[06029]

All well and good except not one bowl executive cares. The unpleasant truth is that all that counted on that day was how many did the school sell. Did not matter that the BE never picked p the balance like some other conferences do to boost school ticket sales. Secondary market does not matter to them either. The narrative was established and no matter what you say, that is the narrative that will live on in the mids that matter.

The other # that mattered that game was also the TV rating.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Thanks for the clarification. I've been wondering about that for 5 years now!

 

[polycom]

Long story short, buy your tickets through the school

That goes against consumerism, people will always buy whats cheaper. Why would I pay $100+ if I could go on StubHub for less than $50?

 

[weyuo]

You know what matters the most? The announcers saying"UConn has brought a large contingent of raucous fans here today" and then the camera spanning the full stadium showing an overwhelming sea of blue. That scene on national TV will have a bigger impact than where you bought your tickets. Especially because it's such a crappy time slot..... 11am the day after Christmas. They couldn't have picked a worse time for a small fan base like UConn's even if they had tried.

 

[amory]

That goes against consumerism, people will always buy whats cheaper. Why would I pay $100+ if I could go on StubHub for less than $50?

yep, and why shouldn't they? because buying through the school makes UConn's ticket numbers look better by 2-4?

it's ridiculous to expect people to pay 2-3x more when they have to pay for plane tickets and a hotel/accommodations on top of that

 

[Santini35]

Oklahoma only sold 5,567 tickets through the school, the reason we get raked over the coals is because the Big East didnt cover the loss, while the Big12 covered Oklahoma's. It wasnt really until the NCAA financials reports came out the next March that the really bad press had started and in those reports OU "made" $9,350 dollars on the trip and we "lost" almost 2 Mil.

And by that point no one cared if there was "a sea of blue" at the game, the easier headline was "UConn Lost 2 Million Dollars"

 

[Husky25]

Thanks for the clarification. I've been wondering about that for 5 years now!

Begs the question: For whom is this thread intended? Anyone who frequents THIS football board knows this already. Seems this thread should be on a Big Ten or ACC Board or something.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Begs the question: For whom is this thread intended? Anyone who frequents THIS football board knows this already. Seems this thread should be on a Big Ten or ACC Board or something.

You are underestimating how much Palatine craves attention.

 

[Husky1964]

We got STUCK in a basketball-centric conference where decisions were made by the Catholic schools to keep the FB schools at bay. No Penn State!! Kiss ND's ass ETC. We would be in a stable conf. now if we went D1 in 1990. Tranghese is partially responsible. When the cards were dealt they porked us further by sending us to AZ. We have nowhere to go but UP!!! Go Huskies

 

[06029]

We got STUCK in a basketball-centric conference where decisions were made by the Catholic schools to keep the FB schools at bay. No Penn State!! Kiss ND's ass ETC. We would be in a stable conf. now if we went D1 in 1990. Tranghese is partially responsible. When the cards were dealt they porked us further by sending us to AZ. We have nowhere to go but UP!!! Go Huskies

The BE had nothing to with sending Uconn to the Fiesta Bowl. The bowls chose and the site with the BCS championship game got last choice of the at large teams. The BE "porked" Uconn on things, but not on BCS location.

As far as economics goes, the AAC is covering unsold tickets this time but it would be in Uconn's best interst to buy thru the school. Think of it as a donation and if Uconn acts like Uconn should, they would count bowl tickets in your athletic support/donor formula.

 

[Skiblets]

Counting a $$ loss on an individual bowl game is intellectually and financially lazy. P&L's are based on full year's results, not one transaction. Bowl organizers got theirs, schools and conferences got theirs. In fact since the conference pools bowl revenues, the whole conversation is a joke

 

[Redding Husky]

The negative story still has traction. If you go to other boards, everyone is convinced we had about 150 at the game. It's sad. Bad stuff is easier to believe than the truth.

 

[J187Money]

The negative story still has traction. If you go to other boards, everyone is convinced we had about 150 at the game. It's sad. Bad stuff is easier to believe than the truth.

Decision makers understand how this stuff works.

 

[whaler11]

Decision makers understand how this stuff works.

But there are a dozen message board posters!?!?!?

 

[J187Money]

But there are a dozen message board posters!?!?!?

Thanks. Made me choke my my soda.

 

[whaler11]

Thanks. Made me choke my my soda.

We should fund a kickstarter. If we raise 25k for charity - Delany reads 2 hours of posts on the conference realinment board.

 

[J187Money]

We should fund a kickstarter. If we raise 25k for charity - Delany reads 2 hours of posts on the conference realinment board.

He couldn't get through 20% of the non-key tweets thread in 2 hours.

 

[whaler11]

He couldn't get through 20% of the non-key tweets thread in 2 hours.

Yeah it's just 2 random hours. And. doesn't have to respond just needs to understand how much those people are depending on him.

 

[Dooley]

UConn still getting hammered 5 years later by the AP.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/be8a...s-protect-bowl-teams-taking-big-financial-hit

"Connecticut's horror story centered on ticket sales, or lack of sales. UConn was allotted 17,500 tickets for the 2011 Fiesta but sold only 2,771, largely because of the distance from the East Coast to Arizona. The Big East Conference, whose last season playing football was 2012, did not have a policy to help schools absorb the cost of unsold tickets. With UConn on the hook for the leftover tickets, its bowl expenses ballooned to $4.3 million, far over its $2.5 million Big East stipend."

 

[Husky25]

UConn still getting hammered 5 years later by the AP.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/be8a...s-protect-bowl-teams-taking-big-financial-hit

"Connecticut's horror story centered on ticket sales, or lack of sales. UConn was allotted 17,500 tickets for the 2011 Fiesta but sold only 2,771, largely because of the distance from the East Coast to Arizona. The Big East Conference, whose last season playing football was 2012, did not have a policy to help schools absorb the cost of unsold tickets. With UConn on the hook for the leftover tickets, its bowl expenses ballooned to $4.3 million, far over its $2.5 million Big East stipend."

9.2% unemployment didn't help either. The Great Recession coupled with the Former "Coach" Pasqualoni Era made thousands of sports fans reconsider upon what to spend their shrinking pot of disposable income and free time.

 

[NorwalkHusky]

Coolest part of that game was every bag of Tostitos on each seat. I sweat I must of grabbed 20 bags. Also my friend at the time was in a sling, he brought us in some nips in his cast. That helped me get though the disappointing result. The rest of it was a blast still the only bowl game i've been to. That should change soon.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

This issue is also conveniently forgotten about by the press when mentioning the Fiesta Bowl and people wonder why folks purchased flights, hotels, and tickets on their own.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/29/john-junker-fired-fiesta-bowl-ceo_n_842156.html

 

[ConnHuskBask]

In this case I actually tend to side with perception being reality crowd.

That Fiesta Bowl that dragged us through the mud killed our reputation and still permeates as seen in Dooleys link.

It didn't effect B1G thinking with regards to Rutgers and Maryland, but ACC selection process? I'm not so certain that wasn't trumpeted against us when in comparison to Pitt or Ville.