Sorry, Joel Klatt -- there's no spinning this as great for college football

[50PoundHead]

Hard to read the initial article as much other than Klatt-hate.

There will be some downsides, no doubt, but at the end of the day, this is going to be 100% much better for the college football television consumer. More and more games that are just plain more palatable to watch. Less and less of the games between the P5 schools and the directional schools in September.

You're going to get games with matchups you would only see once every 20-25 years (like MN - USC, MAX Shortell almost steering the Gophers to the win!).

To pile on to that, it's also going to be a win for the season ticket holders, and ultimately, it will lead to higher attendance at schools like Minnesota really.

Agree and I think this--television and related aspects of the sports industrial complex--is at the heart of these decisions. I've always thought there are two tiers of fans: the really hard-core fans of the game who, while having allegiance to a local team or alma mater, are more about the game in total. They are more interested in watching relatively-balanced teams who perform at a high level of skill go against each other rather than watch the hometown squad drill a doormat. The other tier of fans has a more exclusive interest in their team as opposed to college football in general.

I think the first tier welcomes the new direction while the second tier may not as much (I know I am generalizing). I don't know how that affects attendance. Maybe more promising match-ups do bring fans to the stadium. But if the process removes the sense of tradition that draws a lot of second-tier fans, attendance may suffer. We won't know that until the changes take place.

 

[Dave H]

I might be an eternal optimist but I also think what is happening *could* be great for college football. I could see it playing out to where you have 20+ teams in the Big Ten and the SEC and then the Big Ten and the SEC essentially turn into the AFC and NFC from the NFL. My ideal scenario, which would be awesome as a season ticket holder, within the Big Ten and SEC they create mini divisions - West, North, Lakes, East, etc. Within the divisions you'd see the Gophers essentially fall back into a 'conference' or 'division' with Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, etc.

I would also love to see the NCAA take over scheduling and see the Big Ten North play the SEC East in 2023, SEC West in 2024, etc. How fun would it be to have Florida come up to Minnesota for a non-conference game and then play down in Tennessee the next week? That is way better than New Mexico State and Western Illinois.

I think the NIL is a bigger issue to college football than the super/mega conferences.

We already have the NFL...the NCAA was fun because it was different. Not to mention you are basically forming superconferences to then divide them up into divisions that you hope will be regional enough to make sense. (they won't be) Well if that is the case why not just go back to the way things were before?

As someone who likes to go to games in person, that will likely die because if you don't think ticket prices are going to skyrocket soon I have beachfront property in Omaha to sell you. Gophers have trouble drawing as is, how much do you think they will charge when USC comes to town? And even better, USC is not going to bring many fans so we are going to continue to have half empty arenas with no atmosphere all so Big Ten Network can have their shoddy 5th string announcers call the game for those of us at home. Oh goody gum drops!

I have zero interest in any team but my own...and I don't see this is as a long term positive for the Gophers in any way. It does nothing for me to know that Nebraska is playing USC in week 3 so I could care less about how this helps "The Conference".

 

[50PoundHead]

We already have the NFL...the NCAA was fun because it was different. Not to mention you are basically forming superconferences to then divide them up into divisions that you hope will be regional enough to make sense. (they won't be) Well if that is the case why not just go back to the way things were before?

As someone who likes to go to games in person, that will likely die because if you don't think ticket prices are going to skyrocket soon I have beachfront property in Omaha to sell you. Gophers have trouble drawing as is, how much do you think they will charge when USC comes to town? And even better, USC is not going to bring many fans so we are going to continue to have half empty arenas with no atmosphere all so Big Ten Network can have their shoddy 5th string announcers call the game for those of us at home. Oh goody gum drops!

I have zero interest in any team but my own...and I don't see this is as a long term positive for the Gophers in any way. It does nothing for me to know that Nebraska is playing USC in week 3 so I could care less about how this helps "The Conference".

Good insightful post (sorry if I sound like your high school English teacher). I don't think you're alone. I think there's a large segment of fans that share your assessment. The television contracts are going to have to be ginormous (and they likely will be) as a buffer to mitigating any downward effects on in-person attendance. I'm not saying that attendance will suffer, but that doesn't mean the major conference participants aren't going to need an insurance policy.

The other angle on this is if fans like you have less interest, that's likely contagious to some extent and overall interest in local squads may dwindle, leading to less media coverage with the Gophers battling the Aurora for column-inches. I am overstating the case, but there is a possible downside in all of this that I don't think proponents are fully realizing.

 

[Gophers_4life]

As someone who likes to go to games in person, that will likely die because if you don't think ticket prices are going to skyrocket soon I have beachfront property in Omaha to sell you. Gophers have trouble drawing as is, how much do you think they will charge when USC comes to town?

All this money and consolidation is being driven by TV. So I don't agree that that necessarily dictates an increase in ticket prices.

The price of a season ticket is a single price, so you divide by 7 home games and they all cost the same.

Secondary markets have nothing to do with the Gophers and are simply supply and demand (and corruption of secondary markets).

 

[MNfootballfan]

We already have the NFL...the NCAA was fun because it was different. Not to mention you are basically forming superconferences to then divide them up into divisions that you hope will be regional enough to make sense. (they won't be) Well if that is the case why not just go back to the way things were before?

As someone who likes to go to games in person, that will likely die because if you don't think ticket prices are going to skyrocket soon I have beachfront property in Omaha to sell you. Gophers have trouble drawing as is, how much do you think they will charge when USC comes to town? And even better, USC is not going to bring many fans so we are going to continue to have half empty arenas with no atmosphere all so Big Ten Network can have their shoddy 5th string announcers call the game for those of us at home. Oh goody gum drops!

I have zero interest in any team but my own...and I don't see this is as a long term positive for the Gophers in any way. It does nothing for me to know that Nebraska is playing USC in week 3 so I could care less about how this helps "The Conference".

I don't entirely disagree or agree with you. Yes, we already have the NFL, but there are parts of NCAA that will never compete with the NFL and the NFL will never compete the pageantry of college football. The NFL can't replicate the campus, students, bands, alumni, etc.

I am sure ticket prices will continue to rise whether we go to two super conferences or we kick Maryland, Rutgers, Nebraska, and Penn State out of the Big Ten and go back to 10 teams. I don't know what you mean about the Gophers having trouble drawing crowds and how it will change when USC comes to town. Two thoughts, I don't have data but I'd guess the last two years (not counting 2020) the Gophers have had good-to-great crowds and possibly more sellouts than not. USC may not bring alumni or fans from LA, but I guarantee there are fans that will come out to see the Gophers play USC. When they came in 2010, it was the second largest crowd of the year... only 400 people behind the Iowa crowd.

When I think of the best crowds at TCF/Huntington Bank... I think of the California game, TCU game, USC game, Penn State in 2019, and a handful of Iowa/Wisconsin games.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

All this money and consolidation is being driven by TV. So I don't agree that that necessarily dictates an increase in ticket prices.

The price of a season ticket is a single price, so you divide by 7 home games and they all cost the same.

Secondary markets have nothing to do with the Gophers and are simply supply and demand (and corruption of secondary markets).

Ticket prices are, and have always been, driven by demand and the market. You can't charge high prices for tickets if nobody is putting out their hard-earned cash to pay for them. Sure, it might be on the secondary market or elsewhere, but the market takes care of itself, one way or another. Is a ticket for the game against USC going to be more than the one for Ruttgers? Pretty good chance, but I doubt it will be prohibitively so.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Ticket prices are, and have always been, driven by demand and the market. You can't charge high prices for tickets if nobody is putting out their hard-earned cash to pay for them. Sure, it might be on the secondary market or elsewhere, but the market takes care of itself, one way or another. Is a ticket for the game against USC going to be more than the one for Ruttgers? Pretty good chance, but I doubt it will be prohibitively so.

Buying a season ticket takes care of that, though. That was my point. If you buy a season ticket, then you paid the same for the USC and Rutgers games.

If you're able to get a single-game ticket directly from the Gophers ticket office (website, whatever), then again you'll probably pay the same price for both games.


It's all secondary buying where you'll see demand affect the prices. I have no commentary on if that is "good" or "bad", it just is so.

 

[Dave H]

All this money and consolidation is being driven by TV. So I don't agree that that necessarily dictates an increase in ticket prices.

The price of a season ticket is a single price, so you divide by 7 home games and they all cost the same.

Secondary markets have nothing to do with the Gophers and are simply supply and demand (and corruption of secondary markets).

It has nothing to do with TV...you really think the U isn't going to charge premium prices when USC comes to town? Are you new here?

 

[Dave H]

Ticket prices are, and have always been, driven by demand and the market. You can't charge high prices for tickets if nobody is putting out their hard-earned cash to pay for them. Sure, it might be on the secondary market or elsewhere, but the market takes care of itself, one way or another. Is a ticket for the game against USC going to be more than the one for Ruttgers? Pretty good chance, but I doubt it will be prohibitively so.

The U has never priced based on demand. There is literally no major demand for the football tickets and has never been in my lifetime. (I am 42) There has never been a game I couldn't get tickets to if I wanted to and I have zero connections.

 

[Gophers_4life]

The U has never priced based on demand.

you really think the U isn't going to charge premium prices when USC comes to town?

So you're saying that starting the first year USC comes to town, the U ticket office itself is going to charge extra for that one game? Or you think season tickets on years with USC here will be higher than the other years? Or?

Something is not staying consistent, please clarify.