Charlotte's Mayo bowl game suffered the smallest turnout in its 23-year history on Jan. 3.

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Zeppelin Gopher said:
4. ticket prices

The decision to only sell in the lower bowl was smart, but it created an artificial bubble. We waited until an hour before kick before biting the bullet and going with the cheapest get in price ($80). Most bowl games you can get in for $15-20.

That pricing plus the cold weather probably deterred much of the local walk up interest.
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I'm pretty sure the cheap get-in is a thing of the past at most bowls now. There's more money to be made by sacrificing turnstile count. The sports industry in general has been moving in this direction for a while. It's why they will never add that upper deck on the Bank. Bowls are ideal for this strategy. Why spend money cajoling disinterested locals into buying $15 tickets when cheap seats just undercut what the traveling fan is willing to pay? There are some holdouts where the game has a strong history and is seen as a big community event like the Sun Bowl, but otherwise it's the entire reason why attendance is down across the bowls this year.
 

IceBoxGopher said:
Though I also wonder if the scheduling was a factor, with it being post-holidays Vs. pre. Not sure if that makes a huge difference or not.
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100%. Terrible dating. Christmas and New Years were on Wednesdays. Why do I want to end my holiday break going to a random bowl game in Charlotte?
 


To be frank, when I go to a bowl game it's based on a few factors. I want to support the team and represent the U of M. I want to enjoy the whole experience of a bowl game. I want to spend a couple extra days and consider it a small vacation. I have to admit however, when I spend the money, I want it to be warm! I know Charlotte can have nice weather, but it was cold. Not a fan of borderline weather bowls where the chance of colder weather is greater.
 


The whole trend of attendance is way down from the early years. There were more ranked matchups early on. I'm guessing the Mayo had a higher bowl priority with the Big East and ACC back then? The last non-COVID game to host a team located as far away as Minnesota was A&M vs Wake Forest in 2017 and it had a about the same attendance.

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PMWinSTP said:
I really don't agree. Great crowd from the U for UCLA game.
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Yeah we travel fine...and the Gopher crowd for that game in particular was excellent! (UCLA...notsomuch)
 





Dave H said:
I said we were excellent. UCLA did not represent itself well there imho.
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OH got it.

Well ... they're in a bit of a big LONG downturn ... I get it. And that Rose Bowl game day production values was like ... uh bad high school effort. They need a lot of work.
 





PMWinSTP said:
Has it been?
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Dating myself but back in the Sun Bowl and Insight Bowl days there were issues around whether the Band would travel. B1G+ institutions are rolling around in much more $$$ now versus then so it's probably not as big a concern. It was nice to have the Band in Charlotte is my better point.
 

BilldGopher said:
Dating myself but back in the Sun Bowl and Insight Bowl days there were issues around whether the Band would travel. B1G+ institutions are rolling around in much more $$$ now versus then so it's probably not as big a concern. It was nice to have the Band in Charlotte is my better point.
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I don't think that has been an issue for the past 10-12 years dating back to Kill's first bowl game here.
 

Suffered is an odd word to use in the headline. Seems overly dramatic. It sounds like Charlotte didn't even know he game. was being played. Why not Mayo bowl was less full than previous years?
 

Married@SiebertField said:
We went and enjoyed ourselves: great museums; delicious southern comfort food; friendly people and a respectable turnout of Minnesota fans. There way almost no imprint of the game on Charlotte: no signage at the airport: no banners hanging from streetlights; the Uber drivers had no knowledge of the game…it was a bit spooky & weird.
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The downtown area was pretty dead. We were going to stop at a bar after the game. It was already closed.

There was signage, but it wasn't as prominent as I might have expected.

The Fan Fest outside the stadium was quite lame I thought.

A large chunk of fans were inside the club level watching on TV. It was friggin' cold with the wind.
 

I wrote this before - but I think there was probably greater interest in the pre-playoff consolidation bowls as this forms opinion for what will happen in the playoffs by assessing the relative strength of schedule. After the playoffs start, this reason goes away. For in person bowl games, I think the problem for the Gophers is a long string of mid-tier bowls. Even for this season - getting to 8 wins was not seen as a huge accomplishment. This was the case even with the players with the opt outs. If the players don't care, why should the fans?
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
Maybe somewhat, but I got into the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in PHX 3 yrs ago for like $18...
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And today it looks on Google like the cheapest tickets this year were $50. NJ.com, covering Rutgers, reported a low of $67 on Vivid Seats (possibly locally higher due to a state law regarding fee disclosure?). These prices are from articles written soon after the match-up was announced.

There were undoubtedly some cheaper seats that were sold at a loss on the secondary market for various reasons, but those prices aren't low due to the bowl wanting to fill its stadium.
 

We have to look in the mirror and think that we’re probably not the greatest draw in the world for your average college football fan and then at least is important folks in the south hate the cold. If it was as cold as advertised, I’m sure that kept quite a few locals away. I work with a bunch of folks in Atlanta and they think that what they’re dealing with right now is Armageddon.
 

BeenHazy said:
And today it looks on Google like the cheapest tickets this year were $50. NJ.com, covering Rutgers, reported a low of $67 on Vivid Seats (possibly locally higher due to a state law regarding fee disclosure?). These prices are from articles written soon after the match-up was announced.

There were undoubtedly some cheaper seats that were sold at a loss on the secondary market for various reasons, but those prices aren't low due to the bowl wanting to fill its stadium.
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The only options through the I were $140.
 

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