UCON got some pub, but....

[cccasooner2]

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/Connecticut-takes-big-financial-hit-for-Fiesta-Bowl-030211?GT1=39002

[TahoeSOONER]

UCONN selling a measly two thousand tickets is sad. The University should be kicking itself for not putting together better packages to get people there with a ticket in hand and the fan base must prefer women's basketball. I'm sure tix were going for less than face value at the stadium near game time.

[MyT Oklahoma]

Life is tough.

[Mike Stoops]

A four loss BE team doesn't deserve to be in a BCS bowl anyway. Wish we could have had a better opponent like Ohio State, Stanford, LSU, Bama or any number of better teams. I'm getting tired of these trap bowl games. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we won but people wanna watch good teams play other good teams not this David vs. Goliath crap the Fiesta Bowl tries to do every year we play in it.

[ouwino]

how did OU fare finacially at the bowl? i know we had a hard time selling tickets because they were cheaper on the street than the ticket office.

[goingoneight]

The Fiesta Bowl doesn't shoot for some David versus Goliath angle... they just get the worst matchups because they're the armpit of the BCS. And the BIG 12 thought it was an awesome idea to go with them. Theoretically, we should have owned the Fiesta Bowl by now and had a much better BCS record, but we had a couple MNC losses mixed in there. Boo-hoo. BCS win or shot at the MNC... I think I'll take a shot at the MNC anyday of the week.

[Mike Stoops]

The Fiesta Bowl doesn't shoot for some David versus Goliath angle... they just get the worst matchups because they're the armpit of the BCS. And the BIG 12 thought it was an awesome idea to go with them. Theoretically, we should have owned the Fiesta Bowl by now and had a much better BCS record, but we had a couple MNC losses mixed in there. Boo-hoo. BCS win or shot at the MNC... I think I'll take a shot at the MNC anyday of the week.

Yeah. I miss the Orange Bowl and all OUr tradition there. I hate Glendale. I hate that dumpster of a stadium and I hate when the Berry Tramels of the world tell me I'm supposed to love it.

[Caboose]

how did OU fare finacially at the bowl? i know we had a hard time selling tickets because they were cheaper on the street than the ticket office.

I dont understand the logistics of this. Every ticket that was ultimately bought on the street was originally purchased from a ticket office. No?

[bluedogok]

The Fiesta Bowl doesn't shoot for some David versus Goliath angle... they just get the worst matchups because they're the armpit of the BCS. And the BIG 12 thought it was an awesome idea to go with them. Theoretically, we should have owned the Fiesta Bowl by now and had a much better BCS record, but we had a couple MNC losses mixed in there. Boo-hoo. BCS win or shot at the MNC... I think I'll take a shot at the MNC anyday of the week.
The bowl hosting the championship always gets last pick from the at-large teams for the actual "bowl game".

I do wish they would rotate the conference winners around or just do a selection instead of tying them to a particular bowl.

[SoonerMom2]

We sat across the aisle from quite a few military who had gotten their tickets from OU via their program for donors not attending the game to buy tickets for the military. No one cheered for OU louder than them. Everyone around was buying them food and drinks. One guy had an old Texas hat and an OU fan swapped him a new OU hat for the old Texas hat which he was going take home and burn. The kid was so happy to an OU hat and said he would wear it everywhere. We were a sea of red where we sat down on the field level. Bought my tickets through OU because I wanted to make sure we were in the OU section.

[Canyonero]

I dont understand the logistics of this. Every ticket that was ultimately bought on the street was originally purchased from a ticket office. No?

Not 100% sure but I think since the NC game was also there some of the corporate ticket buyers were forced to buy tickets for both games. So they just unloaded them for what they could get.

[EatLeadCommie]

That's inexcusable for UConn. When Wake Forest went to the Orange Bowl a few years back, I bought through the school, as did at least (I would guess) 90% of the Wake alumni. The report then was that HALF of Wake's living alumni bought tickets for that game. Yeah, it was only 30,000 people, but still. Just goes to show. I bought tickets at face value from the school. Bought my own plane ticket. Had a blast watching us give a very good Louiseville team a game before they pulled away at the very end with the help of a controversial fumble call.

[fwsooner22]

Not 100% sure but I think since the NC game was also there some of the corporate ticket buyers were forced to buy tickets for both games. So they just unloaded them for what they could get.

:confused:

[KantoSooner]

It's the Fiesta Bowl's fault.
They made street tickets cheaper than tickets through the schools, thus sticking the schools with, in essence, a pay-to-play situation.
There were far more than 2,000 UConn fans there.

[OUMallen]

The Fiesta Bowl doesn't shoot for some David versus Goliath angle... they just get the worst matchups because they're the armpit of the BCS.


False. They rotate picks.

[KABOOKIE]

It’s not going to get any better until there’s a playoff. $125 for a Fiesta Bowl matchup? Um, no thanks.

[OUmillenium]

A four loss BE team doesn't deserve to be in a BCS bowl anyway. Wish we could have had a better opponent like Ohio State, Stanford, LSU, Bama or any number of better teams. I'm getting tired of these trap bowl games. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we won but people wanna watch good teams play other good teams not this David vs. Goliath crap the Fiesta Bowl tries to do every year we play in it.

If we start lowering the boom on the crap teams, I gotta a feelin the Bowl will nix the David v Goliath matchups and seek a more competitive matchup.

[SoonerNutt]

I dont understand the logistics of this. Every ticket that was ultimately bought on the street was originally purchased from a ticket office. No?

Yes, but not necessarily through the school's ticket office. The school's each get their allotment, and if they can't sell them all, they have to return them and pay the difference. Outside of that, I think the Bowl venue itself has their allotment that is sold through their own ticket office without benifitting either school.

[yermom]

the ticket allotment at the game was pretty tight when i was looking for tickets at the game, but they were dirt cheap on ebay and stuff. i was trying pretty early though. they might have picked up closer to kickoff


the pair i got for $125 was like $400 plus $25 or so from OU

UConn just doesn't have that many fans, do they? it didn't seem like we really outnumbered them that much though

the ticket prices are getting too high for a non-traditional power team to get much out of going. maybe that's the plan...

[yermom]

False. They rotate picks.

it's kinda both. i mean they are stuck with one At-Large as it is, and how many times have they had two because of us going to the BCS championship game?

even when the Rose Bowl has a "bad" match up, it's still pretty good. the only exception i can think of is when they picked Illinois because they were dumb.

the Fiesta and Orange Bowls are typically pretty lame under the new extra game system

[Jason]

That's inexcusable for UConn. When Wake Forest went to the Orange Bowl a few years back, I bought through the school, as did at least (I would guess) 90% of the Wake alumni. The report then was that HALF of Wake's living alumni bought tickets for that game. Yeah, it was only 30,000 people, but still. Just goes to show. I bought tickets at face value from the school. Bought my own plane ticket. Had a blast watching us give a very good Louiseville team a game before they pulled away at the very end with the help of a controversial fumble call.
I would assume there was a pretty significant difference in travel distance and cost for the majority of UConn alums to Arizona vs the majority of WF alums to Florida for their respective BCS bowls.

[OUthunder]

Not 100% sure but I think since the NC game was also there some of the corporate ticket buyers were forced to buy tickets for both games. So they just unloaded them for what they could get.

And so were Arizona Cardinal season ticket holders. If they wanted the Fiesta Bowl National Title tix, they also had to purchase the OU-UCONN tickets as well. My tix came from a family in Arizona who were season tix holders and this is what they told me during the game.

Not a bad deal, they sold two sets of 2 national title tix for $7600! I'd say that the face he had to pay for the OU-UCONN game was no big deal after that windfall. At least they came and stayed until the 4th quarter.

[yermom]

wow.

oh yeah. free parking from Thunder was badass :D

[OUthunder]

wow.

oh yeah. free parking from Thunder was badass :D

I should have rented a car. Everything is miles away from the hotels near the stadium. I probably wouldn't go to a bowl game there again unless I had money to burn. However, it was my 1st bowl game and I had fun despite the dooshbag UCONN fans and the not so warm Arizona weather.

[yermom]

yeah, that's one nice thing about driving there

we stayed in Tempe and went to the block party thing. it was okay, but not great. the drive to Glendale from there wasn't too bad as early as we went, but we were too far from the Tilted Kilt everyone likes, so we didn't end up making it there

and it's usually not near that cold there...

[EatLeadCommie]

I would assume there was a pretty significant difference in travel distance and cost for the majority of UConn alums to Arizona vs the majority of WF alums to Florida for their respective BCS bowls.

Yes, although frankly, most Wake alumni are pretty well off too so I would expect similar numbers if they had to go to Arizona. Still, we're talking about somewhere around 30,000 versus 2,000. I know it's not apples to apples and there were more than 2k UConn fans there, but it's a pretty sad showing by the UConn fanbase and the administration. The school could have recognized the opportunity and chosen to eat some of the cost of the ticket so that they'd come closer to breaking even.

[badger]

Let me throw out a Heupel-thetical here for a second: UConn does not give into Fiesta Bowl demands to buy a certain amount of tickets, because by virtue of being Big East champs, they are guaranteed an auto bid to the BCS.

Why, oh why, not just say "You OWE us a bid, and we owe you NOTHING!" to the Fiesta Bowl?

Is it in BCS auto qualifying conference contracts that teams are obligated to buy tix if they are auto qualifiers?

[texaspokieokie]

my guess would be "YES" !!!

[usaosooner]

Is it in BCS auto qualifying conference contracts that teams are obligated to buy tix if they are auto qualifiers?



Yes

[SoonerRoy]

One concern that I didn't see mentioned is that I feel a teams conference should let the team deduct ALL legit expenses from the Bowl Payout BEFORE money is divided up between the conference teams.

[yermom]

that's an interesting thought. i don't think it's that common to go to a BCS game and lose money...

[ouwino]

please allow me to ask the question again.... how did OU do financially by going to the Fiesta Bowl?

[badger]

Wino, the Big 12, unlike the Big East, assists teams in unsold ticket costs. I think most reports are saying something like this: "UConn was required to purchase $3,349,835 worth of tickets but realized only $676,248 from ticket sales. So the school was out $2,673,587 on ticket sales alone." That's a cost OU wouldn't have to endure, because the conference picks up unsold tix... and based on the game attendance, we didn't have as many unsold tickets.

And that $17 mil that the BCS pays out to Fiesta Bowl participants? Yeah, just like the Big 12 and other conferences, they pool that money and I think UConn only got about $2.5 mil of that... $2.6 mil lost from unsold tickets, whatever the cost of hotel rooms and travel for the team from Storrs, Conn. to Tempe, Az... yeah...