Lincoln Journal Star: Gator Bowl air charter canceled because of low interest

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per the LJS:

Commercial travel options for Nebraskans going to the Gator Bowl on New Year's Day were deteriorating Thursday.

Collegiate Athletics, a State College, Pa., company, canceled the Southwest Airlines charter on which Executive Travel of Lincoln, AAA Nebraska and Allied Tour & Travel of Norfolk were booking air travelers, Allied said.

Response was so low that Executive Travel canceled its Gator Bowl tour to Jacksonville, Fla., on Thursday, the first time in 27 years the Lincoln company has canceled a tour when the Cornhuskers played in a bowl game.

http://journalstar.com/business/loc...cle_cb0c1276-4a34-5bcb-887e-e8db3abea1bf.html

Go Gophers!!
 




JHC...The student package right now is going bonkers. Just think if the same setup was for Jacksonville? You would probably have 30 bases going.
 


This better never happen again this is a complete joke!
 


In most cases it's all about the bowl game you're playing in. Michigan State's allotment for the Rose Bowl was 24,000 and they've already told fans ticket requests have exceeded 31,000 and that there would be no public/alumni sale.

MSU's doing something I think is smart. After the title-game win, season-ticket holders, University donors and students were allowed to order 2, 4, or 6 tickets (depending on their giving level), but because of the demand MSU reduced the number those follks could receive. By doing that it'll allow more of their customers (more families) to get the Rose Bowl experience. Seems like a pretty fair way to do it. ... more satisfied customers, and at the same time not kow-towing to the heavy hitters with the financial wherewithal to gobble up 6 tickets per request.
 

The Gator bowl prez can go suck a D. They blew it for not picking the Gophers. Jacksonvilles loss is Gophers and Houston's gain this year.
 




gopherdudepart2 said:
The Gator bowl prez can go suck a D. They blew it for not picking the Gophers. Jacksonvilles loss is Gophers and Houston's gain this year.
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Reliant Stadium is going to be pretty empty as well unfortunately.
 

Gator Bowl prez dropped the ball big time. Next year smarten up!
 

FlaGopher23 said:
Gator Bowl prez dropped the ball big time. Next year smarten up!
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It really is a shame. My group was pumped about Jacksonville! I know this has been discussed ad nauseam, but this is the ultimate chicken and egg situation: Gopher fans WILL travel to interesting locales to watch the team play a premier opponent in an even somewhat prestigious bowl, but we've NEVER had the opportunity to do so...and so it's assumed that we don't travel well because we can't drum up support for folks to make that 3rd trip to Tempe, 4th trip to Nashville, 2nd trip to Houston, etc. It's a joke. I seem to remember a similar thing happened when the Alamo Bowl passed us up (for like the 3rd time) in favor of a reeling MSU team who couldn't even get a few thousand to show up. Alas....I know, I know :cry:
 



FlaGopher23 said:
Gator Bowl prez dropped the ball big time. Next year smarten up!
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How exactly? They got a big name matchup for their bowl. The money is made on TV ratings, and unless the game becomes a blowout the TV viewers are primarily based on having big name programs on the field. The Gophers aren't among the big name programs, and only have minimal buzz.
 


bkrownd said:
How exactly? They got a big name matchup for their bowl. The money is made on TV ratings, and unless the game becomes a blowout the TV viewers are primarily based on having big name programs on the field. The Gophers aren't among the big name programs, and only have minimal buzz.
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Really? The Gophers have been all over the news this year throughout the country (at least here in the continental U.S. Not sure about HI). Much more publicity or positive publicity than Nebraska and Michigan.

I thought the bowls make money on ticket sales as everyone has been saying which is why the bowls did not pick us to begin with. I don't know anything TV ratings but I'm sure the advertisers paid the same amount for time slots during that game whether it was Nebraska or Minnesota in the bowl.
 

bkrownd said:
How exactly? They got a big name matchup for their bowl. The money is made on TV ratings, and unless the game becomes a blowout the TV viewers are primarily based on having big name programs on the field. The Gophers aren't among the big name programs, and only have minimal buzz.
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No, teams get picked because their fans travel. At least that's what we hear all the time for a reason we don't get picked.
 

I can't blame the Gator Bowl for taking Nebraska. The Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl picked before them, selecting Michigan ahead of Nebraska and Minnesota. If I am going to be frustrated with someone it is the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. The Gator bowl didn't slight the Gophers, Nebraska finished ahead of us in the Big Ten. I also can't look down on Nebraska fans for not having a high level of excitement over their game. They are almost in the same boat we are in. Had the teams been picked in order of finish they would have went to a higher level bowl, and instead they are playing against a team that they played last year.
 

This all comes across as a bunch of homer talk. But it's pretty much all true.

The Gator Bowl staff certainly overlooked a lot. Nebraska fans were never going to travel, in significant numbers, to North Florida. And certainly not for a rematch against Georgia in a much less touristy, harder to travel to locale only 2 hours North of where they just were.

There are A LOT of Minnesota alumni already in North Florida. Mayo Clinic, Wells Fargo brings in even more. MSP is one of only about a dozen places with direct flights to Jacksonville (and the only city in Big Ten Country besides CHI). Minnesota fans have been waiting for a FL bowl appearence... FOREVER. The Gator Bowl certainly would have been Minnesota's strongest bowl attendance yet.

What's more... I expect the Gator bowl will get stuck with similarly disinterested fan bases as Nebraska's in future years, because Minnesota will be snatched-up by Tampa or Orlando. And the Gator Bowl will not be able to sustain its B1G tie-in much longer.

It's a shame. Jacksonville doesn't suck quite as bad as everyone thinks it does.
 


bkrownd said:
How exactly? They got a big name matchup for their bowl. The money is made on TV ratings, and unless the game becomes a blowout the TV viewers are primarily based on having big name programs on the field. The Gophers aren't among the big name programs, and only have minimal buzz.
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I'm not sure that is true. Our game last year had a better rating than the BWW Bowl and Gator Bowl. It was the 12th rated bowl game overall.

If ratings were the most important thing, they would spread out the top bowls a lot more. The Gator, Outback, and BWW Bowls are all at the same time this year once again.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I'm not sure that is true. Our game last year had a better rating than the BWW Bowl and Gator Bowl. It was the 12th rated bowl game overall.

If ratings were the most important thing, they would spread out the top bowls a lot more. The Gator, Outback, and BWW Bowls are all at the same time this year once again.
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That was a stipulation of the Big Ten. They wanted January 1st to be thought of as the "Big Ten'sDay!"

Yeah, I know.

Can't remember if they came out and admitted their mistake. They've said that will be changed with the new contracts for 2014/2015. We'll have to wait and see.
 

Those sponsors don't pay big dollars to be seen by the mere 60000 or so in the stadium. They pay to be seen by millions on television.
 

We'll all be hoping that there will be plenty of shots of those great, faithful and traveling Husker fans heavily resembling empty seats.
 

bkrownd said:
Those sponsors don't pay big dollars to be seen by the mere 60000 or so in the stadium. They pay to be seen by millions on television.
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Actually, the bowl committee's have a major responsibility to the local chamber of commerce's. There is huge pressure for these bowl's to sell Hotel rooms, fill restaurants, pack bars, sell merchandise and travel tickets. It brings in millions upon millions to the local economies. TV money does none of that. There is a symbiotic relationship between the Bowl's and cities in which they are hosted. The matchups are chosen based on fan attendance whenever possible.
 




bkrownd said:
Those sponsors don't pay big dollars to be seen by the mere 60000 or so in the stadium. They pay to be seen by millions on television.
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The argument still doesn't make sense considering which bowls get the best ratings.
 


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