Watching the Orange Bowl...

[coachcap]

The effect of the 4 game playoff: The upper deck of Dolphins Stadium is bunch of fans disguised as orange colored seats.

 

[huskymedic]

RedditCFB8:13pm via Twitter for iPhone
You're looking LIVE at an empty #OrangeBowl: pic.twitter.com/Yp6CgRTCrV

RedditCFB8:50pm via Twitter for iPhone
One more aerial shot of the #OrangeBowl, now midway though 1st quarter: pic.twitter.com/mYN8dWftRX

 

[traitor71]

It's more than just the playoff, it has been trending this way for some time. The bowls just don't have the mystique that they once had and often times aren't interesting at all. There was a time when tbe Orange Bowl was a real event and I used to go every year. Now it's just...meh.

 

[Srqhusky]

Prices need to come down. Went to outback last year and it was a fun game and experience but not worth the 100 a ticket. I would say price like a normal game. 50-60.

 

[metsfan2323]

The GTech offense has 9 three and outs all season, Amazing. Paul Johnson is a Genius. UCONN needs to adopt this offense ASAP and as a bonus Whaler is on record that he will find a new team if they do.

 

[noeynox]

If it wasn't for that lucky hail Mary, this blowout would look worse.

 

[king conn]

How many tickets did each fan base buy? 500? 1,000? This is the holy SEC and nearby ACC. I want to see articles for 5 years about this, just like we are still seeing about our Fiesta Bowl appearance, even though there were 50,000 people in the stands for our game.

 

[Jimdish255]

How many tickets did each fan base buy? 500? 1,000? This is the holy SEC and nearby ACC. I want to see articles for 5 years about this, just like we are still seeing about our Fiesta Bowl appearance, even though there were 50,000 people in the stands for our game.

They are literally driving distance away as are most of the SEC teams from their bowls. Just an extension of the OOC schedule.

Happy New Year!

 

[bmayuc]

The effect of the 4 game playoff: The upper deck of Dolphins Stadium is bunch of fans disguised as orange colored seats.

the playoff has exactly 0% to do with this. Attendance at Bowls has always been a catastrophy. Its a total self-perpetuating sham.

 

[J187Money]

Prices need to come down. Went to outback last year and it was a fun game and experience but not worth the 100 a ticket. I would say price like a normal game. 50-60.

It isn't the 100 game ticket. It is the fact that it is nearly impossible to get a hotel room in south Florida if you haven't booked it months in advance.

Unless you want to stay somewhere nowhere near the beach, in which case you can't convince your wife and kids to go anyway.

 

[coachcap]

As I watched, the thought came to me that maybe the date was a contributing factor. This is the first Orange Bowl in memory that was played on New Year's Eve. Generally, it's a January 1st or later event. My guess is that more of the locals planned to be in South Beach than Dolphin Stadium last night for the celebration. New Year's Eve has traditionally been reserved for lower tier bowls & scheduling the O.B. on that night tarnishes its cache.

 

[Dooley]

It won't be long before bowls will have to go regional. There are too many of them and with the playoff system, the top teams' fans are now being asked to pony up thousands of dollars to travel to 2 bowl games (if they win) instead of 1. It's a shame to see the Orange Bowl look like that. There are even reports of unsold tickets for the Rose Bowl tonight.

Yes, everyone wants to watch games on TV. But we want to watch exciting games on TV and part of that excitement comes from a loud, electric venue (similar to Yankee Stadium Pinstripe Bowl this year). If more bowl games are played in half-empty stadiums, then they'll have to seriously consider picking out a bunch of regional venues and only pitting schools within a 1 day's drive to play in them.

 

[Waquoit]

It seems that bowl game attendance ceased to be a big deal just after the 2011 Fiesta Bowl.

 

[Dooley]

It seems that bowl game attendance ceased to be a big deal just after the 2011 Fiesta Bowl.

Very true. But yet, UCONN's tickets sold through the school is still being used against us by some folks. The stadium sold-out and UCONN had at least 15K fans in the building. You can't say the same thing for over half of the bowls this year (or last). Attendance for these games is definitely on a steep decline.

 

[whaler11]

It seems that bowl game attendance ceased to be a big deal just after the 2011 Fiesta Bowl.

It's not funny but that's somewhat the timing.

UConn's issue wasn't attendance either - it was the tickets the school officially distributed.

 

[Dooley]

It's not funny but that's somewhat the timing.

UConn's issue wasn't attendance either - it was the tickets the school officially distributed.

Bingo. OU only distributed 5500 for the same game but the school's loss was never a national story because the B12 reimburses the schools. But yeah, we only supposedly had 3k in attendance that night. Does that even fill 1 section?? We have pictures posted here that show that UCONN had entire levels decked out in UCONN blue! I guess neutral Arizona patrons have closets stocked full of UCONN colors.

 

[UCFBfan]

It won't be long before bowls will have to go regional. There are too many of them and with the playoff system, the top teams' fans are now being asked to pony up thousands of dollars to travel to 2 bowl games (if they win) instead of 1. It's a shame to see the Orange Bowl look like that. There are even reports of unsold tickets for the Rose Bowl tonight.

Yes, everyone wants to watch games on TV. But we want to watch exciting games on TV and part of that excitement comes from a loud, electric venue (similar to Yankee Stadium Pinstripe Bowl this year). If more bowl games are played in half-empty stadiums, then they'll have to seriously consider picking out a bunch of regional venues and only pitting schools within a 1 day's drive to play in them.

As much as we all wanna believe this the reality is that it's not gonna happen anytime soon. The bowls make their money by fleecing the schools into making them buy an "allotment". Schools are forced to pay for these tickets and the bowls make money. It's amazing to me that the schools still go for this as they are losing tons of money. I'm sure it doesn't hurt P5 schools as their TV money alone is enough to make this a non-issue but G5 schools I'd imagine are hurting from bowls. I'd love to think that attendance issues will force bowls to fold or re-think how they operate but it won't. Think the Orange Bowl cares? Probably not. I'm sure TV ratings were good and they got their money from the schools allotment of tickets.

Anyone with numbers that can disprove or reaffirm this are more than welcome to do so. I'm too lazy to look!

 

[whaler11]

The Orange Bowl is in the playoff rotation. I don't think they are sweating their financials.

 

[whaler11]

Ticket sales are peanuts:
Re: Orange Bowl.

ESPN will pay $55 million yearly to broadcast the game beginning in the 2014–15 season under the new contract, which will take effect following the conclusion of ESPN's contract with, and subsequent discontinuation of the BCS (and its replacement with the College Football Playoff).

 

[Srqhusky]

It isn't the 100 game ticket. It is the fact that it is nearly impossible to get a hotel room in south Florida if you haven't booked it months in advance.

Unless you want to stay somewhere ty nowhere near the beach, in which case you can't convince your wife and kids to go anyway.

That's not just florida pretty sure all the bowl towns

 

[SubbaBub]

NYE in South Florida. They'll need to fix that. The NYE bowls have traditionally been buried.

 

[UConnNick]

Ticket sales are peanuts:
Re: Orange Bowl.

ESPN will pay $55 million yearly to broadcast the game beginning in the 2014–15 season under the new contract, which will take effect following the conclusion of ESPN's contract with, and subsequent discontinuation of the BCS (and its replacement with the College Football Playoff).

That's exactly right. Nobody cares anymore about actual live game attendance. It's all about the TV money. ESPN owns a bunch of the lesser bowls. They're nothing but made-for-TV sporting events. They could play them in a studio and nobody would care. They love them because advertisers will pay top dollar to advertise on live telecast events because there's less chance folks are fast forwarding through all the commercials.

 

[Antiobserver]

The last place I would want to spend New Year's Eve in Miami is in a stadium 20 minutes from the Bars/clubs watching a blowout game.