With title-game ticket prices plummeting 90%, should college football be worried?
- Thread starter Yappi
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Thavoice
Well-known member
Not surprising to be honest with you.
A number of reasons:
1. The semi final games, on a weekend, over a holiday period is much easier for fans to attend. They flock to them because there is no guarantee they make it another week.
2. Apathy. How many big bowl games/championship games will a fan base attend? They have been there, done that a lot the last 4-5 years and it isnt as "new and exciting" anymore.
3. Monday night. Do people really want to take off another 2 days of work, on short notice, at the beginning of the year? Friends and I have had NFL season tickets and Monday night (and thurs) are the hardest to unload because it is a weeknight.
A number of reasons:
1. The semi final games, on a weekend, over a holiday period is much easier for fans to attend. They flock to them because there is no guarantee they make it another week.
2. Apathy. How many big bowl games/championship games will a fan base attend? They have been there, done that a lot the last 4-5 years and it isnt as "new and exciting" anymore.
3. Monday night. Do people really want to take off another 2 days of work, on short notice, at the beginning of the year? Friends and I have had NFL season tickets and Monday night (and thurs) are the hardest to unload because it is a weeknight.
kingpin2010
Well-known member
Not surprising in the slightest when you have 2 schools there for the 3rd time in 4 years and the championship game is on the other side of the country, which I think is the biggest reason. If it was in day Atlanta again the prices would be high like last year
cabezadecaballo
Well-known member
this
Taco MacArthur
Active member
The fact the two schools are located in the SE and the game is on the West Coast on a non-holiday Monday, I'm not shocked there is little ticket demand.
ronnie mund
Well-known member
Levi's Stadium is an awful location. The traffic is horrendous and playing this game at 5 pm on a Monday will make it that much worse. Nothing to worry about. College football just needs to stick with their moneymaker locations. Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, etc.
Auggie
Well-known member
That's the problem though, the NCAA needs to get the game back to a national conversation and right now it is teetering on becoming purely a Regional sport with no interest in the high population coasts. If the Bay Area had a dome the Final Four would be played there and it would still sell out and be an in demand regardless of who would be playing in the games. How do they correct this? Well a good first step would be to get more teams access to the playoffs by giving an auto bid to conferences outside the dominate footprint to engage the rest of the nation in the post season. Also they need to spread the wealth around a little more like the pro leagues do with their TV deals. But why would the SEC go for splitting up revenue they are generating? The same reason that the NYC NFL teams did back in the day, because in the long run it is better for the overall health of the sport. The PAC 12 TV deal stinks and they are losing $s so their coaching, recruiting, and facility budgets are way behind those in the other parts of the country.
Another problem called out in the column is the continued politicking the Bowls do to keep valued dates and kick off times. The Rose Bowl will not budge on the January 1 date 5:00 EST kick off, Sugar Bowl January 1 8:00 kick off. Those are the prime time slots and New Years Day should be the time the semis are played as that is NCAA football's signature day. Finally the NCAA should also make a deal w/the NFL as their defacto minor league to get the Saturday 8:00 kick off time as the exclusive kick off for the National Title Game.
Omar
Well-known member
Tough tiddies. I don’t like Bama at all, very much hope they lose, but this is America, can’t penalize them for being too successful.
Thavoice
Well-known member
When I first posted I wasn't aware the game was out west, but yeah my opinion is the same and then also add in that it is out west, where people don't care about football as much.
I don't think the FF needs to be on New Years day like someone mentioned. That day is great enough for football as it is and will always have ratings so having it on a different day will likely continue most years.
I think they will stay away from the NYE FF like they did a few years ago. Too many people already have stuff going on that night where the ratings wont and don't add up.
NFL will never give up their Saturday night NFL playoff games, nor should they nor do I want to see that happen.
Last year the NFL numbers were down quite a bit on the divisional weekend but the lowest the Saturday night numbers got were 25 million viewers and a 16.5-17.5 rating.
For instance, the FF this year topped out at under 20 million viewers and a 9.4-9.9 rating.
NFL, even at the divisional round last year on Saturday (with a snooze fest NE vs Tenn and the Philly/Atlanta game well outdrew the FF on a sat night this weekend with ratings juggernauts playing.
This year NFL ratinsg have been up 5% so far from lsat year but still down from 2 years ago.
Yeah, NFL is not leaving Saturday night
I don't think the FF needs to be on New Years day like someone mentioned. That day is great enough for football as it is and will always have ratings so having it on a different day will likely continue most years.
I think they will stay away from the NYE FF like they did a few years ago. Too many people already have stuff going on that night where the ratings wont and don't add up.
NFL will never give up their Saturday night NFL playoff games, nor should they nor do I want to see that happen.
Last year the NFL numbers were down quite a bit on the divisional weekend but the lowest the Saturday night numbers got were 25 million viewers and a 16.5-17.5 rating.
For instance, the FF this year topped out at under 20 million viewers and a 9.4-9.9 rating.
NFL, even at the divisional round last year on Saturday (with a snooze fest NE vs Tenn and the Philly/Atlanta game well outdrew the FF on a sat night this weekend with ratings juggernauts playing.
This year NFL ratinsg have been up 5% so far from lsat year but still down from 2 years ago.
Yeah, NFL is not leaving Saturday night
Thavoice
Well-known member
WHEN the college game goes to an 8 team playoff I could see the National Championship game moved to the Saturday night before the AFC/NFC CHampionship Sunday!
I think having a little more time of between the semi finals and finals for CFB will allow fans to make those plans easier as well
I think having a little more time of between the semi finals and finals for CFB will allow fans to make those plans easier as well
Thavoice
Well-known member
Different subject, but adding more games will generate more money even if the ratings aren't that great.
There were several better teams than Notre Dame, the process let us down more than the product.
Thavoice
Well-known member
I know one can find stats to fit any narrative, but apparently ND's strength of schedule and strength of record (wth that is) were in the top 4 of those making the playoffs.
One can argue a lot of things, but maybe Bama and Clem are just that much better than everyone else?
Yeah, Ga came close but pretty much everyone but Bama and some SEC fans woulda thought it was BS for the bulldogs to make it.
14Red
Well-known member
Stealing a segment from one of my favorite sports talk show, Tiki and Tierney...out of bounds...
Clemson / Alabama have played what 4 years in a row now? This matchup has got stale, and ticket sales is showing. Now if it was Notre Dame / Oklahoma, ticket prices would be huge. You can't have the same teams in year after year.
Also, ticket sales these days are such a small part of the equation. The TV number will be huge and that's all that really matters.
Clemson / Alabama have played what 4 years in a row now? This matchup has got stale, and ticket sales is showing. Now if it was Notre Dame / Oklahoma, ticket prices would be huge. You can't have the same teams in year after year.
Also, ticket sales these days are such a small part of the equation. The TV number will be huge and that's all that really matters.
Stirred not Shaken
Well-known member
Really / If OSU or ND was in the Championship game tix prices would be going through the roof. Yeah lets keep all the Championship games in SEC territory, really good for the sport.
Stirred not Shaken
Well-known member
That is laughable, once again OSU, ND, several other teams fan bases would have no problem going to back to back bowl games.
Would be really good for the CFP if their are empty seats at the National Championship game.
Stirred not Shaken
Well-known member
New England is constantly in the Super Bowl never seems to effect tix sales.
Well, they didn't get there, did they?
kingpin2010
Well-known member
This is not even close to the same comparison, the super bowl crowd is vastly made up of fans not of either team, unlike the NC game.
kingpin2010
Well-known member
One year, sure. 4 years in a row of having to do this, along with the cross country trip and it would be the same story. Bama-Clemson 1 was in Arizona and they had no problem and the “to get in” price was in line with the other national championship games.
Crusaders
Moderator
Didn't say they should be punished.
nutsnbolts
Well-known member
I don’t think college football needs to worry. But a few common sense tweaks could make it better.
1. Never pick 2 teams from the same conference (at least as long as the playoff is only for four).
2. Clarify the rules for selection, and apply them equally for all teams, every year. This year they decided to apply more weight to a ‘bad’ loss than for ‘good’ wins. That’s fine, then do that every year. But the number five team (GA) was weighted heavily by a ‘good’ loss. That’s just plain ignorant.
3. It should be impossible for a non P5 conference champion to get in unless an independent has a great season. ND did, if it was easy to go undefeated, more teams would.
I didn’t watch a second of the NC game last year, and don’t intend to this year. A large group of us were flipping channels Jan 1 and watched games all day. A Monday night game for the NC is just plain stupid, regardless of where. Play it on Friday or Saturday night, period.
1. Never pick 2 teams from the same conference (at least as long as the playoff is only for four).
2. Clarify the rules for selection, and apply them equally for all teams, every year. This year they decided to apply more weight to a ‘bad’ loss than for ‘good’ wins. That’s fine, then do that every year. But the number five team (GA) was weighted heavily by a ‘good’ loss. That’s just plain ignorant.
3. It should be impossible for a non P5 conference champion to get in unless an independent has a great season. ND did, if it was easy to go undefeated, more teams would.
I didn’t watch a second of the NC game last year, and don’t intend to this year. A large group of us were flipping channels Jan 1 and watched games all day. A Monday night game for the NC is just plain stupid, regardless of where. Play it on Friday or Saturday night, period.
kingpin2010
Well-known member
Championship game will never be on Saturday, nfl isn’t budging. Friday is the worst night for tv viewership, while Monday is one of the top nights for tv viewership, hence why it’s monday
Stirred not Shaken
Well-known member
Why is that ? Right now the CFP is nothing more than a SEC Invitational . NFL you have the NFC winner vs AFC winner not necessarily the best two teams but the two best teams of their conference. Until the CFP expands and gets more teams an actual chance to win the title on the field, no more of this stupid eye test the CFP title game will always play a distant 2nd fiddle to the NFL play offs.
kingpin2010
Well-known member
None of this makes any sense to your assertion that super bowl ticket sales not being effected by the patriots being there a lot. The SB is one of the premier events in the world, people pay a ton of money just to be there. According to stubhub only 13% of sales last year came from NE area, lower than host Minneapolis area. It has nothing to do with afc vs nfc, the super bowl is filled with a fraction of fans and full of people with money that just want to be at the event. The cfp title game will never reach that status, so it depends on fans of teams
adselder09
Well-known member
Debatable. If you're looking for the best team you can't put a rule that could exclude the 2nd best team in the country. Yes Georgia lost to Texas, but they probably should have beaten what many are saying is the best Alabama team Saban's ever had, because of the offense.
Read something the other day that #5 Ohio State from 2017 is the only team ranked #5 to win their NY6 Bowl Game. Every other year since the Playoff started, #5 has lost. It's definitely tough for these teams to get so close, only to be left out.
adselder09
Well-known member
Since when did Clemson, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Ohio State join the SEC? I think we all would like to see it settled on the field, but this year is the worst possible year to begin talks of expansion. The Semifinals were both blowouts. You start adding more teams, you're looking at more potential blowouts.
I don't mind the Monday Championship game. They do it in college basketball and it works fine for them. The problem I have is with all the commercial breaks and additional BS - like the halftime show - that ends up pushing the game past midnight on the East Coast. There's no reason a college football game should take 4 hours, but that's the new norm in these big televised games.