Here's the ESPN Big Ten Blog take:
Just Joe from Chicago writes: Just curious if what appears to be a downturn in Big Ten bowl ticket sales is part of a national trend? Just seems with a growing (and more trustworthy) secondary market, people are more steadily going to look for deals on tickets than go with their school's allotment, which are often the worst seats in the stadium. Thoughts?
Brian Bennett: Joe, it does appear to be a trend, as attendance at bowl games declined throughout the nation last year. You can blame a number of factors, including the glut of bowl games, the economy, the secondary ticket market, home entertainment systems, etc. I do think there are some special factors going on with the Big Ten this year, as Ohio State and Penn State likely would have been eager to travel to watch their teams, the league's Rose Bowl team is 8-5 and has been there the past two years, Nebraska and Michigan State fans are disappointed and Purdue fired its coach.
But to a larger point, these ticket allotments that bowls force upon teams are horrendously bad business deals for the schools. Fans are smart enough to find cheaper and often better seats, and the schools often end up eating the cost of thousands of tickets. It's basically like paying for the "privilege" of going to a minor bowl game to help boost tourism from some town that has no connection to the campus. Sure, makes perfect sense. I really wonder whether bowls will still be able to draw eyeballs and crowds once the four-team playoff begins. Then, more than ever, every other game will feel like the NIT.
