Virginia Tech struggles to sell BCS Sugar Bowl tickets.
Virginia Tech is having difficulties in selling its allotment of 17,500 tickets for the 2012 Allstate Sugar Bowl. As of Monday evening, Tech only sold about 9,500 tickets. This is considerably low considering Tech’s reputation of traveling well and garnering strong fan support.
In a desperate attempt to boost ticket sales, Tech’s top brass asked, if not guilted, fans to purchase proxy tickets.
“The Athletics Department is asking Hokie fans that cannot make this year’s Allstate Sugar Bowl to consider purchasing proxy tickets. Tech Director of Athletics Jim Weaver, head football coach Frank Beamer, and the entire football coaching staff, will each be purchasing a pair of proxy tickets in order to support this initiative. All proxy tickets will be distributed to military and charitable organizations.”
Meanwhile, Michigan is having no problems with ticket sales as the school announced that over 14,000 tickets have already been sold. Also, top programs in other BCS bowl games have either sold out or are very close to selling their allotment. This trend is certainly telling of Virginia Tech, its fan base, and most importantly its reputation.
College football fans were openly displeased that Virginia Tech and Michigan both earned BCS births especially since there were arguably better teams that got snubbed by the selection committee. Outside of Blacksburg and Ann Arbor, there probably isn’t much interest in the outcome of this game. This coupled with other significant factors are presumably the cause of poor ticket sales.
For instance, ticket prices, game date, and location are all reasonable explanations for lack of interest. Virginia Tech is selling upper level tickets for $120 a piece. That is almost three times the price of the cheapest ticket on the secondary market. Meanwhile, if you spend a little more on the secondary market, a fan can get club level seats – much worth the higher price. Additionally, the game is being played on a Tuesday night after a long holiday weekend. So that means the working man would have to miss at least Tuesday and Wednesday (to travel home). The game would have been better served if it landed on a weekend. Finally, the location, as fun as New Orleans and Bourbon Street can be, is not convenient for either school. Airfare is really the only option for travel which increases an already considerable cost.
The Sugar Bowl is a great bowl in a wonderful city. However, the committee must do a better job in team selection, dates, and ticket pricing. If not, when two teams, which are undeserving to some, travel to New Orleans lack of ticket sales and interest will not be or should not be an issue.
