How are ticket sales for the MCCB looking?

[Guest Sunburned]

http://media3.picsearch.com/is?c5zsfJQbENrfzmMqU9iF44yTsERQBOO87ES4yxruOh4

[Bull Matrix]

Prolly be the last time in a long time that the bowl in Charlotte will invite USF. I bet they are wishing they would have had UL instead. I expect USF to be invited to Birmingham and St Pete more often now.

[SilverBull]

We didn't draw well to home games this season.  Our bball plays in a near empty Sundome.  The Bucs can't come close to selling out.  Rays can't draw flies.  Lightning attendance reportedly up but still way off full houses.  Then look around at attendance number for the rest of sports in general.  Sense a trend?  Did anyone really think a 7-5 USF team would pull a strong bowl crowd in this climate?  All the diehards can do is continue to attend and urge and help others to do the same.  The team has to get better and win more consistently to draw the casual fan.  Oh yeah, and the end of an economic cataclysm might not hurt either. 

[BDYZR]

So, the same 5,000-6,000 we had last time? Do you think we sold 1,500 tickets other than thru the BULLS?

[usf97]

It will be interesting to see how many we send. I don't think many are expecting a large number from USF.

Mind you I think I read recently that last year's game between Pitt and UNC was at 47,000 and the game this year had already sold about 40,000. I am sure that number includes the 12,500 that each school is on the hook for.

On a side note, the BOB bowl did their experiment where they did not invite a Florida school. Had around 20,000 in the park which is about 8,000 less than the last 2 games. BUT most of those fans were all probably from out of town so most probably stayed at least one night in a hotel room. So from the BOB's point of view....is it better to have a sellout with a Florida school or is it better to have less in the stands but more traveling?

[Joe]

We've sold 2900 tickets...does that include the 1500 we normally use for support staff, band, etc?

Not good.

[Guest Sunburned]

Does anybody want to go Big East bowling?

    * Comments8

By Brian Bennett

It's been a down year in the Big East. And it looks like it will be a down year for Big East travel.

Across the league, ticket sales appear to be way down for league schools going to bowl games.

Connecticut had sold only about 4,500 seats from its 17,500-ticket allotment to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl as of Tuesday. The Tampa Tribune reported that South Florida had claimed less than 3,000 tickets to the Meineke Car Care Bowl, though the Bulls were given 10,000.

The Charleston Daily Mail reported that West Virginia -- whose fan base normally travels in droves -- had sold fewer than a third of its 12,500-ticket allotment to the Champs Sports Bowl as of last weekend. Pittsburgh, the weakest traveling school in the Big East, might be lucky to take that many to Birmingham for the Jan. 8 BBVA Compass Bowl, especially with a lame-duck coaching staff leading the vastly disappointing 7-5 Panthers in such a late game (the Panthers have distributed about 20 percent of their 10,000 tickets thus far).

The exceptions to these slow ticket sales come from Louisville and Syracuse. The Cardinals sold more than 10,000 tickets for Tuesday night's Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, while the Orange bought up most of their 10,000-seat block at the New Era Pinstripe Bowl. Of course, both fan bases were hungry for postseason games after long droughts, and both were blessed with desirable destinations -- an in-state trip to New York City for Syracuse, and a pre-Christmas Florida junket for Louisville.

Why are the others so down? UConn fans may be excited about the program's first-ever BCS game, but the fact remains that plane tickets and lodging in Phoenix can run well over $1,000 per person. The Huskies might have counted on more fans coming along had they been chose for the Discover Orange Bowl in Miami.

West Virginia fans have shown a lackluster amount of enthusiasm for this year's team, and the midweek date for the Dec. 28 Champs Sports Bowl is not attractive for many. Bowl ticket sales are down for a lot of schools this year, with the economy a likely culprit. Remember, too, that fans often can find cheaper tickets online through brokers and they are not counted toward their teams' allotment.

But schools are on the hook for buying all their official tickets for bowl games no matter what, so some Big East athletic departments could be writing large checks for unclaimed seats this winter. And this showing won't do much to help the league's cause for getting better postseason tie-ins in the future.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/16319/does-anybody-want-to-go-to-a-bowl

[Danm1983]

I'm sure it's been said, but not reading this whole thread.

We'll have more than the reported stuff. Most people are buying online and not through the school because they can get better deals, and better seats.

[usf97]

I'm sure it's been said, but not reading this whole thread.

We'll have more than the reported stuff. Most people are buying online and not through the school because they can get better deals, and better seats.

I know this is going on.....I remember about a week back I saw on Stub Hub for our bowl in Charlotte.....you could get tickets down on the field, 40 yard line, row 7 (from the field) with like 8 seats together for $44.00 each....yet USF could only offer you those seats around the 10 yard line and they were charging $75.

Then I saw you could get seats in the club level on the 50 yard line with Club access and VIP parking for $125 each....yet USF could offer club seats around the 10 yard line or in the corners....no mention of club access for $95 each.

Not saying you shouldn't buy through the school but the differences are insane.....there should not be that BIG of a difference. I wonder if there is some ways the schools could deal with this but I doubt it.

[Triple B]

I'm sure it's been said, but not reading this whole thread.

We'll have more than the reported stuff. Most people are buying online and not through the school because they can get better deals, and better seats.

I know this is going on.....I remember about a week back I saw on Stub Hub for our bowl in Charlotte.....you could get tickets down on the field, 40 yard line, row 7 (from the field) with like 8 seats together for $44.00 each....yet USF could only offer you those seats around the 10 yard line and they were charging $75.

Then I saw you could get seats in the club level on the 50 yard line with Club access and VIP parking for $125 each....yet USF could offer club seats around the 10 yard line or in the corners....no mention of club access for $95 each. Not saying you shouldn't buy through the school but the differences are insane.....there should not be that BIG of a difference. I wonder if there is some ways the schools could deal with this but I doubt it.

Our tickets come with Club Access, although not as nice as RayJay's, but no parking ....