Started By
Message
re: Is Bama having hard time selling tickets?
Posted on 7/10/19 at 5:21 pm to The Spleen
Posted on 7/10/19 at 5:21 pm to The Spleen
quote:
higher ticket prices, expanded playoffs causing more off campus games with high ticket prices, increasing coach's salaries,
All of these things can be changed quickly enough that I don’t really see them being a threat to kill the sport.
The attendance is an issue, but so far, teams have been able to counter those revenue losses with gains elsewhere.
quote:
there is growing concern of kids not wanting to play youth football.
Yes, CTE is only existential threat I see for football, but I think it’s pretty small.
Most the kids that end up playing D1 college or pro ball come from backgrounds where they’ll definitely take that risk. And just because someone doesn’t play a sport growing up doesn’t mean they won’t watch it.
I had a lot of friends at UA that exclusively played lacrosse, soccer, or baseball, but they’d rarely watch those over football. I never played basketball, but I like to watch it.
For football to be dead anytime soon, it’ll take a monumental shift in what the public enjoys or government intervention.
1
Posted on 7/10/19 at 6:01 pm to TomRollTideRitter
CTE seems to be a strong potential risk to college football. If more studies confirm the most serious affects to where lawsuits are rampant and public opinion sways more against it, I think the possibility exists where colleges choose to get out of the football business.
Posted on 7/10/19 at 7:59 pm to TomRollTideRitter
quote:
If college teams acted like professional teams, I wouldn’t watch at all. There would be no point. It’d just the professional experience with worse players.
In what way does it not?
The single biggest reason any recruit goes to a school is, the viability that they can get to the NFL and/or under the table cash.
Hate to bust your bubble, but I doubt Najee Harris gives a flying frick about Alabama's tradition, or the state's passion for the program. He's there because, it puts him in the position to cash checks in the NFL.
It's a business. Only difference is, you sit on metal bleachers, the game times are announced way too close to kickoff, and the playoffs are smaller.
Please don't kid yourself that (P5 football at the least) is anything even close to amateurism.
Posted on 7/10/19 at 9:01 pm to ATLabama
quote:
In what way does it not?
Our stadiums aren’t named after corporations.
Our team mostly still plays its historical rivals.
Our jerseys don’t have advertisements.
We fund sports that have no hope for a return on investment.
We don’t play a ridiculous number of regular season games.
We don’t blackout games when we can’t fill the stadium and just provide easier TV access to games in general compared to pro leagues.
We still provide students with low cost or free access to games.
There’s still plenty of free areas to setup tailgates and free electricity to go with it.
I mean hell we don’t even sell alcohol. NFL teams use cheerleaders as “ambassadors” to get pathetically horny men to buy luxury boxes. You seriously can’t see a difference?
Does Alabama athletes milk the fans for a ton of money? Absolutely.
Does it act with the sole purpose of making money? No.
Posted on 7/10/19 at 9:21 pm to TomRollTideRitter
quote:That's a silly thing to actually care about.
Our stadiums aren’t named after corporations.
quote:Which professional teams don't?
Our team mostly still plays its historical rivals.
quote:Which pro teams have this? Soccer and European hockey? But another silly thing to care about.
Our jerseys don’t have advertisements.
quote:Depends on your definition of ridiculous.
We don’t play a ridiculous number of regular season games.
quote:Well there's not really an equivalent of a student for pro teams. They just treat everyone like we treat our alumni.
We still provide students with low cost or free access to games.
quote:Yet.
I mean hell we don’t even sell alcohol.
Posted on 7/10/19 at 9:23 pm to wm72
quote:
If more studies confirm the most serious affects to where lawsuits are rampant
Right now CTE can only be diagnosed after death, so it’s sort of a hard thing to sue over. There are still very, very few cases of head-related deaths due to football. If a person doesn’t die from it, I think not many families are going to be say examine our deceased’s brain, so we can try to sue.
quote:
public opinion sways more against it, I think the possibility exists where colleges choose to get out of the football business.
Public opinion is going to have to sway a lot considering most football fans already know about CTE, and the CFP national title was 7th highest rated TV event of 2018.
I just think when people say football will be gone in 20 or 30 years, they maybe don’t realize how popular it is.
Posted on 7/10/19 at 9:43 pm to pvilleguru
quote:
That's a silly thing to actually care about.
It doesn’t matter who cares about what. The comment was college teams act just like pro teams. If that was true, we sure as hell wouldn’t be playing in a stadium named after a former coach. We’d be playing in AT&T stadium and Golden Flake Coliseum.
quote:
Which professional teams don't?
It’s not so much that pro teams don’t, but rather that Alabama hasn’t abandoned a team like Miss State. A professional team wouldn’t do that. Miss State wouldn’t even play in Starkville if it operated like a professional team. Pro teams don’t even stay in large cities like Oakland.
quote:
Which pro teams have this? Soccer and European hockey?
NBA does now, and every professional practice uniform has them as well.
quote:
Depends on your definition of ridiculous.
The NBA has 82 regular season games. Even if you win the tournament in CBB, you’ll play less than half that.
quote:
Well there's not really an equivalent of a student for pro teams
Okay? What does that matter? If we acted with the sole purpose to make money, we wouldn’t offer prime seats at BDS for $10 every game.
This post was edited on 7/10/19 at 9:46 pm
Posted on 7/10/19 at 10:10 pm to TomRollTideRitter
quote:
We’d be playing in AT&T stadium
Maybe we could finally get rid of our bleacher seats.
quote:
every professional practice uniform has them as well.
The horror. I would be shocked if we don't start doing something similar in the near future.
quote:
The NBA has 82 regular season games. Even if you win the tournament in CBB, you’ll play less than half that.
Because the NCAA has set an arbitrary cap on number of games and the length of the season because the players have to go through the charade of going to class.
quote:
we wouldn’t offer prime seats at BDS for $10 every game.
I wouldn't call those "prime seats". They are some of the worst seats in the entire stadium. And students are still paying their fair share for the ability to get those $10 tickets.
This post was edited on 7/10/19 at 10:12 pm
Posted on 7/11/19 at 7:07 am to pvilleguru
quote:
Maybe we could finally get rid of our bleacher seats.
No the way they do that is having billionaires hold taxpayers hostage. But despite the fact that Georgians paid a quarter of a billion and will pay an annual check for operations at Mercedes Benz Stadium, the team doesn’t acknowledge that anywhere. They just perpetuate a lie that it somehow benefits taxpayers.
Hell why stop at stadiums? Let’s have the Facebook Lincoln Memorial to improve the bathrooms and Monsanto National Parks.
quote:
The horror.
Yeah I know pville. You’d have the logo of a proud American company like Wells Fargo across the chest of our national team.
Posted on 7/11/19 at 8:10 am to TomRollTideRitter
quote:
But despite the fact that Georgians paid a quarter of a billion and will pay an annual check for operations at Mercedes Benz Stadium
I'm pretty sure that comes from the hotel tax, which is largely paid by out of state people. But Mercedes is paying $324 million for naming rights. We could easily replace all the bleacher seats for half of that.
quote:
the team doesn’t acknowledge that anywhere
Atlanta United has retired the number 17 in honor of the fans.
quote:
Hell why stop at stadiums? Let’s have the Facebook Lincoln Memorial to improve the bathrooms and Monsanto National Parks.
Aren't we already moving in that direction? I'm pretty sure this administration is trying to privatize the national parks.
quote:
You’d have the logo of a proud American company like Wells Fargo across the chest of our national team.
There's already a nike/adidas/etc. logo on them, so why not one more small patch?
Posted on 7/11/19 at 8:37 am to TomRollTideRitter
That is really the problem with attendance. Its isn't about fans losing interest. You can just sit at home and watch multiple games on TV. We have really just swapped huge amounts of TV revenue for some ticket sales. But that doesn't mean the game of football is going to die or people are losing interest. Far from it. Go look at the money high schools are putting into stadiums and facilities. Some even have indoor fields(Opelika High).
Posted on 7/11/19 at 10:54 am to pvilleguru
quote:
pvilleguru
Wow. Absolutely crushed that reply. Bravo. You get it.
Posted on 7/11/19 at 10:55 am to TomRollTideRitter
quote:
I just think when people say football will be gone in 20 or 30 years, they maybe don’t realize how popular it is.
I'll admit, 20-30 years was an aggressive time table, and I'm certainly aware of its popularity. I just think there are several alarming trends, some of which I highlighted, that will need addressing for the sport to survive.
These threads have popped up on this board for a few years now. Even many Alabama fans are sick of doling out more and more money each year for a product that is declining in attractiveness to them. And if it's happening for a team that consistently competes for national championships, imagine how it is at schools that struggle to even make a bowl game.
Posted on 7/11/19 at 11:05 am to TomRollTideRitter
quote:
TomRollTideRitter
Our stadiums aren’t named after corporations.
There are over 40+ FBS teams that have sponsors. PapaJohns Stadium, etc...
Our team mostly still plays its historical rivals
Texas A&M doesn't play Texas for a buck. Pitt and WVU the same. Expansion took away several great SEC games like Auburn-Florida. This is incorrect.
Our jerseys don’t have advertisements.
The NFL and CFB have equal # of jersey sponsorship on them. Nike pays for the NFL rights. Nike/UA/Adidas pay for schools as well. If anything college likely has MORE. When NFL teams play in the Super Bowl, the patch is sponsor-less, unlike the "Rose Bowl presented by Northwestern Mutual, the "Tax Slayer Bowl," or "Playstation Fiesta Bowl." Literally the same concept, if not further exploited.
We fund sports that have no hope for a return on investment.
Professional franchises at large have multi-million dollar charities they fund every year to reinvest in the community; at multiple dollar levels of colleges.
We don’t play a ridiculous number of regular season games.
12 versus 16 isn't a big spread. Alabama does play a ridiculous amount of useless games. Our regular season schedule this year has 10 guaranteed wins. That's ~85% of the time you don't even have to tune in.
We don’t blackout games when we can’t fill the stadium and just provide easier TV access to games in general compared to pro leagues.
NBA/NHL/MLB never did this. The NFL stopped doing that 4 years ago. Furthermore, some Alabama games up until 2009 were only available by pay-per view. Prior to 2005, almost all "cupcake games" required PPV, or ESPN+ subscription for ~200 dollars. How is that easier than local markets showing their games at 1 or 4 most Sundays, free on network TV?
We still provide students with low cost or free access to games.
True. But unlike yesteryear, there is a lottery system now due to lack of allotment. This is even further magnified at basketball schools, where students get roughly 4 games a year. Yet--many here want to have them taken away?
There’s still plenty of free areas to setup tailgates and free electricity to go with it.
This does not differ in the least from NFL stadiums. Many have more than college campuses.
I mean hell we don’t even sell alcohol. NFL teams use cheerleaders as “ambassadors” to get pathetically horny men to buy luxury boxes. You seriously can’t see a difference?
Don't know where to start with this... (1) The drinking at all day college events makes the non-sales almost laughably contradictive. Most colleges have cheerleaders. They serve the same purpose as NFL ones. The NFL ones are also tasked with doing community outreach in conjunction with the aforementioned team charities as apart of their gameday duties. Colleges have luxury boxes, funded by "donors," who used to be able to use it as a tax write-off. NFL is usually funded by corporations, who write them off as business expenses. There is no difference.
Does Alabama athletes milk the fans for a ton of money? Absolutely.
So does the NFL. Both are businesses, who are both, mind-you, are not-for-profit organizations.
Does it act with the sole purpose of making money? No.
The greatest basketball conference in the land during the 70s, 80s, and some of the 90s (Big East) disbanded for the sole reason of grabbing football related revenue. Yes it does.
This post was edited on 7/11/19 at 11:29 am
Posted on 7/11/19 at 5:57 pm to pvilleguru
quote:
I'm pretty sure that comes from the hotel tax, which is largely paid by out of state people.
Sort of. Arthur and company snuck a lot into that contract. The Guardian had a good write up on it. LINK
quote:
But Mercedes is paying $324 million for naming rights. We could easily replace all the bleacher seats for half of that.
They pay like $12 million a year I think. They aren’t going to pay nearly that sum if you discount future payments back.
quote:
Atlanta United has retired the number 17 in honor of the fans.
I wouldn’t even call that a pat on the back.
quote:
Aren't we already moving in that direction? I'm pretty sure this administration is trying to privatize the national parks.
That doesn’t make it right.
quote:
There's already a nike/adidas/etc. logo on them, so why not one more small patch?
I wish there weren’t any to be honest. I find it embarrassing that our university or national teams are associated with companies that use essentially slave labor. But look that’s just something we’re never going to agree on.
This post was edited on 7/11/19 at 6:01 pm
Posted on 7/11/19 at 6:18 pm to ATLabama
quote:
There are over 40+ FBS teams that have sponsors. PapaJohns Stadium, etc...
When I said our stadiums, I was referring to Alabama’s stadiums across multiple sports. Rather or not I find a corporate named stadium in college embarrassing depends on the team. A lot of G5 and lower programs struggle for money, so it’s not really fair to rip them. For a team like Kentucky, it’s embarrassing.
quote:
When NFL teams play in the Super Bowl, the patch is sponsor-less, unlike the "Rose Bowl presented by Northwestern Mutual, the "Tax Slayer Bowl," or "Playstation Fiesta Bowl." Literally the same concept, if not further exploited.
Sponsorships for bowls don’t go to the schools though. In fact, schools usually lose money on bowl games.
quote:
Professional franchises at large have multi-million dollar charities they fund every year to reinvest in the community; at multiple dollar levels of colleges.
They write all that off their taxes, and a lot of those are a farce. The breast cancer awareness stuff the NFL does was a shame for a long time.
quote:
How is that easier than local markets showing their games at 1 or 4 most Sundays, free on network TV?
Because you can only watch the team in your market. If you root for a team outside your market, you’re handcuffed into getting DirecTV and paying a ton for Sunday Ticket. With the other sports, you have to get one of the highest cable sports packages to get the games outside your region.
quote:
The drinking at all day college events makes the non-sales almost laughably contradictive.
That in no way changes the fact that the school forgoes millions by not selling it at the game.
quote:
Most colleges have cheerleaders. They serve the same purpose as NFL ones.
No they don’t. NFL cheerleaders are only there for men to gawk at. And what I was referring to aren’t even the real cheerleaders. They dress them up like cheerleaders, but they’re more like escorts. New York Times
quote:
So does the NFL. Both are businesses, who are both, mind-you, are not-for-profit organizations
Pretty sure the NFL ditched its non-profit status several years ago, and the teams themselves have always been for profit.
This post was edited on 7/11/19 at 6:43 pm
Posted on 7/11/19 at 6:21 pm to TomRollTideRitter
For the record, I don’t begrudge pro teams for doing everything they can to make money. That’s what they exist for, but I don’t believe colleges act that same way.
I fully acknowledge colleges do lots of greedy things, but I don’t agree they act just like professional franchises. If they did, most athletics departments would just shut down because almost all of them operate at a loss.
I fully acknowledge colleges do lots of greedy things, but I don’t agree they act just like professional franchises. If they did, most athletics departments would just shut down because almost all of them operate at a loss.
This post was edited on 7/11/19 at 6:41 pm
Posted on 7/11/19 at 6:46 pm to TomRollTideRitter
quote:Then how about really cheap food options, free drink refills, etc?
I wouldn’t even call that a pat on the back.
Posted on 7/11/19 at 6:51 pm to TomRollTideRitter
quote:I don't watch the NFL, NBA, or MLB, but I can watch out of market NHL and MLS games fairly cheaply. NHL TV is $140/year, or $110/year if you only want to watch your team. I can watch every MLS game on ESPN+ which is $50/year (and it comes with a ton of other leagues that I watch).
If you root for a team outside your market, you’re handcuffed into getting DirecTV and paying a ton for Sunday Ticket. With the other sports, you have to get one of the highest cable sports packages to get the games outside your region.
Posted on 7/11/19 at 7:38 pm to pvilleguru
Those are pretty good deals. I’ve never had to consider that because I always followed the Predators in hockey, so I could just get them on FoxSportsSoutheast.
I just started following MLS when Atlanta got a team and get their games easily as well.
I’m not sure yet if I’ll switch to Nashville next season. I’m not a fan of their new logo. I liked their USL one and wish they had kept that. They also will be playing in the Titans’ stadium next year which isn’t ideal. I think they’d be better off playing at Vandy like Atlanta played at Bobby-Dodd before the Benz opened.
I just started following MLS when Atlanta got a team and get their games easily as well.
I’m not sure yet if I’ll switch to Nashville next season. I’m not a fan of their new logo. I liked their USL one and wish they had kept that. They also will be playing in the Titans’ stadium next year which isn’t ideal. I think they’d be better off playing at Vandy like Atlanta played at Bobby-Dodd before the Benz opened.
Page 3 of 6
Latest Alabama News
Popular
Back to top
Follow SECRant for SEC Football News