Let's clear up some myths about the Fiesta Bowl

[HartfordHank]

But in Tampa for example - doesn't seem to be a hot spot like Miami. So sure they fill some rooms, but at $1-200/night not much money to kick back.

The bigger the event/bowl the bigger the kickbacks. Most of the money being paid is based upon how much a hotel can increase their rates during the event/bowl. If minimal increase minimal payback. I am sure a few hotels sign up to be "Host Hotels" and I am sure you pay a premium to stay there. Avoid them and you can save some money.

 

[IMind]

From my business experience I know that Conventions regularly get kickbacks, rather commissions, on hotel rooms. Of course when a hotel can generate triple their normal rate they are happy to pay a commission to the convention. I am confident the same thing is happening with bowl games. Harder to do in some cities, New York or Orlando, easier to do in others, New Orleans.

Hell hockey rinks do for tournaments played by 10 year olds. Teams are generally required to stay at hotels listed by the rinks if they require a night stay. I'm pretty sure if hotels around hockey rinks have figured this out, then hotels around bowl games have managed to put two and two together as well.

 

[junglehusky]

In the MBB matchup vs Maryland at the Garden, the narrative from Reece Davis before the game was that UConn fans show up in droves in NYC. So there's that.

Honestly even if there is a biased and factually innacurate narrative out there about the Fiesta, I think it's mostly moot when it comes to 2nd tier and mid-tier bowls. Our reputation from games like the Motor City, International and Pizza bowl games among bowl chairmen is likely competitive with our peers like Pitt, Cuse, etc. Which is fine. We can worry about our travelling reputation versus the Wisconsins and Florida States of the world hopefully in a few years.

 

[businesslawyer]

In the MBB matchup vs Maryland at the Garden, the narrative from Reece Davis before the game was that UConn fans show up in droves in NYC. So there's that.

Honestly even if there is a biased and factually innacurate narrative out there about the Fiesta, I think it's mostly moot when it comes to 2nd tier and mid-tier bowls. Our reputation from games like the Motor City, International and Pizza bowl games among bowl chairmen is likely competitive with our peers like Pitt, Cuse, etc. Which is fine. We can worry about our travelling reputation versus the Wisconsins and Florida States of the world hopefully in a few years.

I hope to God some ESPN head was on the 12:07 back to New Haven, because if he was it would have looked lke the entire State was crammed into that train.

Our reputation from Charlotte and Detroit especially was not like our Pitt and Syracuse and BC peers -- it was far above it. Given expectations for those games, we did great. And we did fine getting people into the stadium at Glendale. There was an anomaly with ticket pricing that caused the school to take a hit that the media focused on. BFD. The Big Ten and the ACC care about fanbase -- whether UConn took a hit one time due to a pricing anomaly is just not a concern.

 

[Palatine]

Perception is set by the media, not how sophisticated some obscure metric measured by bowl officials may or may not be. You made that clear in your original post.

The media jumped all over the fact that only 2,800 tickets were sold in the overpriced packages through the school for a game 3,500 miles away over a holiday weekend during the slowest recovery from the worst economic downtown since 1934. The media did not cover the fact that Oklahoma sold an immaterially greater amount of tickets or that the Big XII covered their allotment.

Perception becomes reality. The truth doesn't matter so much in the court of public opinion.

Heads in beds is not some obscure metric. It is the most important metric in travel and tourism.

 

[Husky25]

Heads in beds is not some obscure metric. It is the most important metric in travel and tourism.

That is a completely different discussion all together.

The reality for the general public is influenced by the perception set by the media, who jumped all over UConn returning 14,500+ tickets. There were no stories, nor one talking head mentioning the multitude of sold out Holiday Inn Expresses occupied by mostly National Flag Blue & White.

Whether Fiesta Bowl officials cared about hotel occupancy or not (highly debatable whether it's the "single most important thing" to them in particular.), the negative stories about UConn returning 84% of their allotment shape the opinion of fans outside of Southern New England, casual and non-fans in the region, and (most importantly) future potential bowl officials. I.e. the not-so-insignificant portion of the public who probably did not tune in that Saturday Evening.

At the end of the day, the actual number of UConn fans at the game is inconsequential. The narrative was already set and while Junker had bigger fish to fry at the time, neither he or any of his minions came even remotely close to attempting to un-ring that bell.

 

[cabbie191]

I was a Wisconsin resident for decades - was there when Alvarez was hired in 1990 and turned the football program around and the Badgers went to the Rose Bowl in 1994 - first time in over 30 years. Funny thing - even though Wisconsin fans have a well-earned reputation for traveling well, the school took a financial bath on the bowl game. Lost close to a million dollars if I recall the dollar amount correct.y.