ESPN: NIU students get free tickets
- Thread starter 713frog
- Start date
Froggle Rock
Full Member
That's a pretty cool deal for the students. Still gotta find a way to Miami, but it's a neat way to encourage people to make the trip.
West Coast Johnny
Full Member
It's a taxpayer funded BCS subsidy boondogle that benefits the Florida tourism industry. I'd be pissed if I were a resident of Illinois.
PurplFrawg
Administrator
They can use a +4 plan so the students can sell their extras on Stub Hub and pay for the travel and lodging.
BrewingFrog
Was I supposed to type something here?
I love the tender fib laid out by the author of the story: "NIU was provided with 17,500 tickets..." No, Scott, NIU was billed for an allotment of 17,500 tickets as a condition of acceptance to the Orange Bowl.
A quick perusal of the official Orange Bowl tickets site (the execrable TicketBastard) https://oss.ticketma.../details/FB2013 shows prices ranging from $120 to $215 per. The median price listed is $155. Let's multiply that median price x the allotmant forced upon NIU: $155 x 17,500 = $2,712,500!! And they may not have paid that "median" price, either.
Ouch!
A quick perusal of the official Orange Bowl tickets site (the execrable TicketBastard) https://oss.ticketma.../details/FB2013 shows prices ranging from $120 to $215 per. The median price listed is $155. Let's multiply that median price x the allotmant forced upon NIU: $155 x 17,500 = $2,712,500!! And they may not have paid that "median" price, either.
Ouch!
Delmonico
Semi-Omnipotent Being
Anybody who thinks more than a couple thousand students will take them up on it needs to lay off the crack pipe. We're talking students at a (relatively) inexpensive state university who couldn't be bothered to attend home games. If they want to fly its going to cost them $400 or more they can pile in the car and make the 1300 mile trip one-way, much of it in what could be lousy weather. The NIU administration knows this, and they also know that many-to-most schools lose money on bowl trips. The quite unexpected windfall of extra BCS money - the MAC will get the bulk of the extra money - will lessen the blow.
joejordan
Member
Come on Brewing, that is not intellectually honest math. First, NIU is obviously not expecting a lot of students to make the trip. Second, all 17,500 will not be students. I would expect a couple thousand sold to dedicated alums, S. Florida NIU friends and family members. There will be a large contingent of snowbirds in S. Florida at that time, so a marketing effort to them should sell a tick or two. It's a tough sell, but it is a BCS bowl, likely the only one NIU will ever get to see.
BogeyGolf7
New Member
and they were talking earlier that the Average Home Attendance for their home games this year was just over 15,000 - so they are trying to sell more bowl game tickets in Miami than they actually have for home games - Congrats on your season, you got a BCS Bowl bid, and now you are going to lose a lot of money
Just checked StubHub. Plenty of tickets for sale for Orange Bowl for $8 to $10 dollars. Free doesn't save much. By comparison the cheapest ticket for the Cotton Bowl, which sold out in about one hour, is going for about $210 for nosebleeds. BWW bowl tickets are going for about $35.
BrewingFrog
Was I supposed to type something here?
In all actuality, I likely low-balled it. What I pointed out is how it works. Each school is forced to buy an "allotment" of tickets for the Bowl. The price for this allotment comes out of the Bowl payout. TCU is currently on the hook for whatever the allotment is for the BWWBowl, and by buying your tickets through the TCU Ticket Office, you help to alleviate this burden. NIU hardly expects their students to go to the Bowl en masse because it is so damned far, as well as expensve. Hell, coughing up a free game ticket is the least they could do! They oughta be chartering busses...
My issue is not so much with NIU, it is with the preening ESPN whiz putting out a line of BS. The Ministry of Truth sometimes does a sloppy job...
berryfrog95
Active Member
Heck, i'd find a way to go as a student, probably 80% of them haven't been to Miami, South Beach or Florida for that matter....great way to get away from the parents!!
BrewingFrog
Was I supposed to type something here?
Oh, and I might add that the Orange Bowl payout is advertised as $16 million plus. What they forget to tell you (ahem, ESPN...) is that the quoted payout number is for BCS AQ Conference Members only. Non-AQ payout is half that. If two non-AQ institutions made it, as with the Fiesta Bowl, the payouts are 1/2 an AQ share for the first School selected, and 1/4 share for the second. We really got screwed on the Fiesta Bowl!
So, to recap, NIU is looking at a payout of around $8 mil. Minus the allotment cost, minus travel expenses, minus other commitments to the Bowl folks like appearances, trips to local sights, etc., and other expenses. NIU may still wind up losing money on the BCS Bowl experience.
So, to recap, NIU is looking at a payout of around $8 mil. Minus the allotment cost, minus travel expenses, minus other commitments to the Bowl folks like appearances, trips to local sights, etc., and other expenses. NIU may still wind up losing money on the BCS Bowl experience.
An-Cap Frog
Member
Do NIU head coaching candidates get free tickets too?
Isn't that $8MM for the conference? NIU gets a larger share than other conf schools but it will be tough for them to break-even on this deal...
MichaelHarlow
Full Member
Bravo NIU
yurintroubl
Active Member
Good for them. I hope students take a spring break mentality to this and show up in droves. It may be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Can't hurt the recruiting if NIU preforms well.
westoverhillbilly
Active Member
NIU is giving away free tix to students just to try to get people in the stands that in some way represent them... I remember reading somewhere that Cincy only travelled and seated 8,000 to the Orange Bowl a few years ago despite having to make a purchase of about the same # of tix (17,500)... It was supposedly very embarrassing...
Like Cincy, UH (another commuter school) always embarrassingly screwed the Cotton Bowl (after '76, 78, 79 and 84 seasons) with their putrid attendance... NIU will make Cincy/UH look big time...
The BCS only has themselves to blame though... However, I would love to see NIU smoke FSU- until they announce a change to Big 12, I feel that way...
Like Cincy, UH (another commuter school) always embarrassingly screwed the Cotton Bowl (after '76, 78, 79 and 84 seasons) with their putrid attendance... NIU will make Cincy/UH look big time...
The BCS only has themselves to blame though... However, I would love to see NIU smoke FSU- until they announce a change to Big 12, I feel that way...
