I mean, who didn’t see this coming?
Pitt has distributed between 2,000 and 3,000 tickets, athletics department spokesman E.J. Borghetti said. Borghetti declined to say how many have been sold and how many are allocated for free, such as to staff members, band members, cheerleaders and players’ families.
Kentucky media relations director Tony Neely reported the school’s ticket sales at 4,000. He also did not elaborate on the number sold compared to distributed.
Both teams had disappointing seasons. Kentucky has suspended their senior starting QB for the game. Pitt is in a coaching turnover, and fired/reassigned/resigned Coach Wannstedt still has not decided if he is coaching this team. (Wannstedt is starting to piss me off about this. I get that he is still upset over everything, but he is screwing around with his own players by refusing to make a decision yet.)
Locally the BBVA Bowl officials are claiming record local sales. It’s not like the bowl will lose money. Kentucky and Pitt, however, are poised to take a bath. Well, Pitt is.
For example, if Pitt has only sold 2,000 tickets to its fans, then it’s currently looking at a $400,000 loss through ticket sales. That doesn’t factor in shared bowl revenue from the Big East.
“I recently spoke to a number of our football alumni who currently live in the south,” Borghetti said. “Because they aren’t able to make it to Pittsburgh on a regular basis, they are taking advantage of the BBVA Compass Bowl opportunity to plan some team reunions and functions. So we are very confident that Pitt will be well represented with a spirited fan base that is looking forward to the game and all that Birmingham has to offer.”
The SEC has a bowl revenue protection insurance plan for unsold tickets by its members. According to league bylaws, “the cost of unused tickets up to 3,000 tickets for games with a ticket guarantee under 15,000 tickets, and up to 4,000 tickets for games with a ticket guarantee of 15,000 tickets or above, shall be deducted prior to conference distribution.”
For instance, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported that Tennessee would have lost more than $225,000 for not selling all of its tickets to the 2008 Outback Bowl if not for the $196,950 it received from the SEC insurance plan.
The ticket insurance sounds like a good idea, but considering the number of SEC teams that have no such problem selling tickets, the overall risk is significantly lower and the premiums would be feasible. For the Big East, given how few teams have shown the ability to consistently sell their allotment — and this year has been even worse — the premiums would probably make any possible savings minimal. Even WVU is struggling this year.
In a purely observational from the comfort of my couch, it has looked like most of the bowl games so far have had a lot of empty seats and I won’t be too surprised to see even more. While the condition of the economy is a convenient excuse, I don’t completely buy it. I think it has more to do with a lot more fans weary of the annual cost of the travel and less willing to shell out for such minor bowl games.
This is not a BCS/playoff rant. It just seems obvious that there are too many bowls at this point. They have started to devalue the worth for fans to make the trip. Why should a fan want to spend the money to go to anything but the conference’s best tie-in or BCS bid? The costs, the travel, etc. Instead it is far easier and potentially just as fun to stay and watch with a bunch of friends at someone’s house or at a bar.
It’s driven by the TV money for ESPN, anyways. They have control over a ton of the bowl games themselves. Not to mention the TV rights to all but two bowl games. They make money hand-over-fist on the telecasts. Which is the major reason for so many of them now.
I think many schools would love to decline the minor bowl bids if they could. The financial losses are painful, and skipping a year or two would realistically drive up demand by the fan base when they did accept a bid.
Coaches however would scream about missing out on extra practices. About denying the kids any reward for their season. Then there would be the backlash about the schools being cheap. So the whole thing keeps going.
Comment by Rieur1114 12.24.10 @ 10:10 am
Rieur1114- yes, the number is on the web site. Call the ticket office and they will set it up. The charitable organization will send you a receipt.
Hail to Pitt.
Merry Christmas fellow Pitt enthusiasts.
Yes, PITT has been sticking to their practice schedule with the coaches they have under contract until after Jan 9th – that is Wannstedt as the HC, Bennett as the DC, etc… Apparently Hafley and Cignetti are the only coaches who were granted permission to leave before the Bowl. All were ‘fired’ when DW was, as in future contracts not offered, but exercising the right to keep them on staff for the Bowl game… at least that’s how I understand the situation as reported.
Wannstedt is still nominally the HC until the day after the Bowl and, if needed, PITT could actually hold him to his last contract that paid him through the game. PITT has left it up to DW as to whether he’ll coach the game or not at this point. No official word as yet to what will transpire.
A point to understand – the new coaching staff does not assume their duties as far as actual coaching on the field until Jan 9th as has been reported… Haywood has called a first full Team Meeting for Jan 12th. They are able to do limited recruiting and lots of public relations duties – the NCAA limits the number of coaches that can currently be under contract and on staff to (I think) nine when recruiting – so PITT has to juggle that.
Also, it has been reported on TOS that PITT requested an exemption from the NCAA to allow Haywood an opportunity to recruit in person during the “Quiet” and “Dead” times the NCAA has in their recruiting calendar…It’s somewhat convoluted and sets aside time for HS students not to be bothered during Finals and the Holidays.
link to collegefootball.about.com
No official word on whether or not that was granted. TOS also reports that Haywood has called some recruits (a coaching staff is allowed one call to each recruit in the Quiet Periods) and so far the ones he’s spoken to have re-committed… but that was a limited number.
Anyway – reports are that Haywood has been busy travelling and doing PR stuff… apparently he visited local HS coaches which is a good thing I guess – he’s allowed to meet with coaches but not students during the above restriction times.
That’s what I’ve been led to understand on the subject – someone will correct me if the facts are wrong…
Sorry for all the posts –
1) Yawn
2) Tulsa lost to all the “decent” schools they played. (lost by 6 touchdowns to Oklahoma State)
3) Tulsa put big up big numbers against the likes of Memphis (1-11), Central Arkansas, Bowling Green (2-10) and Rice (4-8). Whoo hooo! Coaching mastermind. What a horrible mistake we made!
my comments were kind of tongue in cheek
Oh, and beat UCONN!
Dana reminds me of Paul Hacket, an offensive genius but the transition to being a head coach is a long journey.
Pitt hired the right guy.
Please get Spellcheck for your computer. Also, I prefer Haywood’s potential (first place in MAC; coach of the year in MAC) over Wanny’s proven inability to win the Big East.
You are hereby banned from this forum and from all interpersonal discourse for the rest of your life. (When did you say you graduated from WVU ?)
