Big XII paid OU $1.9 mil for unsold Fiesta tickets

**Tornado man** · 03-14-2011, 02:08 PM

Wow - OU can't sell their tickets, but instead of the already-rich Sooners taking a loss, the rest of us in the conference buy them and pick up the tab. Beautiful.

Big 12 Gave Oklahoma $1.8 Million To Cover Fiesta Expenses - Hartford Courant

**jdoggivjc** · 03-14-2011, 02:09 PM

We get it - you hate playing in a major conference. Give it a rest already...

**edr247** · 03-14-2011, 02:09 PM

Sounds fair to me. If you all share the revenue, you should all share the costs.

**hawkeyeh8r** · 03-14-2011, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by edr247

Sounds fair to me. If you all share the revenue, you should all share the costs.

that should only be true if the revenue is shared evenly. they already get more than the rest of us (besides texas) so they can afford to pick up the tab

**CycoCyclone** · 03-14-2011, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by edr247

Sounds fair to me. If you all share the revenue, you should all share the costs.

Originally Posted by hawkeyeh8r

that should only be true if the revenue is shared evenly. they already get more than the rest of us (besides texas) so they can afford to pick up the tab

Bingo, Big XII doesn't have true revenue sharing, so this is apples and oranges.

**BryceC** · 03-14-2011, 02:28 PM

Maybe, but the bowl payouts are split pretty evenly. It's my goal for us to make a BCS bowl sometime and I'd prefer to not have to eat 2 million when that time comes.

**aeroclone** · 03-14-2011, 02:38 PM

Okay, I wasn't shocked to see UConn taking a bath in this game, but I am sort of surprised to see OU having issues as well. But I think this really does call out an issue with the ticket system for games like this. I don't know how to fix it, but it does seem very very wrong that a fan of a team can get better seats cheaper through a 3rd party outlet than they can directly from the school, and then they turn around and penalize the school by holding them to a quota.

I know you can't do much about second hand outlets like StubHub or eBay, but it isn't just an issue there. I personally purchased my tickets for both of the Farmageddon games via Ticketmaster because I could get better seats for less money than what I could get directly from ISU. I wanted to support our AD if possible, but it just didn't make financial sense to me.

I know the bowls need to protect themselves, and I know the AD is trying to award their biggest donors with seating priority, but this system is broken.

**jtdoyle1** · 03-14-2011, 02:38 PM

It's been said that the bowl system makes too much money to switch to a playoff, but if the schools and conferences are losing money to go to major bowls who is profiting?

**Cyforce** · 03-14-2011, 02:42 PM

A big problem with these ticket issues is that fans can find tickets cheaper than going through the schools and many times the tickets they get elsewhere are better seats.

**alarson** · 03-14-2011, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by aeroclone

Okay, I wasn't shocked to see UConn taking a bath in this game, but I am sort of surprised to see OU having issues as well. But I think this really does call out an issue with the ticket system for games like this. I don't know how to fix it, but it does seem very very wrong that a fan of a team can get better seats cheaper through a 3rd party outlet than they can directly from the school, and then they turn around and penalize the school by holding them to a quota.

I know you can't do much about second hand outlets like StubHub or eBay, but it isn't just an issue there. I personally purchased my tickets for both of the Farmageddon games via Ticketmaster because I could get better seats for less money than what I could get directly from ISU. I wanted to support our AD if possible, but it just didn't make financial sense to me.

I know the bowls need to protect themselves, and I know the AD is trying to award their biggest donors with seating priority, but this system is broken.

Id expect this to come up the next time the big 12 negotiates with the Fiesta bowl. Teams and conferences shouldnt be stuck with selling seats that are being undercut by better offerings by the bowls themselves, and then stuck with the price of those tickets that are un-sellable.

Compounding the issue for both teams was airfare prices to phoenix which have been sky high at least the last couple years. I know that shut a lot of our fans out of the insight bowl and im sure that had an effect on the insight and fiesta bowls this year as well, especially when youve got one school with a small fanbase, and another that is accustomed to going to BCS bowls so its no big thing anymore.

**edr247** · 03-14-2011, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by hawkeyeh8r

that should only be true if the revenue is shared evenly. they already get more than the rest of us (besides texas) so they can afford to pick up the tab

Originally Posted by CycoCyclone

Bingo, Big XII doesn't have true revenue sharing, so this is apples and oranges.

Yup, that was the dig in my first post.

**sodakjoe** · 03-14-2011, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

We get it - you hate playing in a major conference. Give it a rest already...

I'm still not entirely unconvinced he isn't an alterego of Monty.

**tzjung** · 03-14-2011, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by jtdoyle1

It's been said that the bowl system makes too much money to switch to a playoff, but if the schools and conferences are losing money to go to major bowls who is profiting?

Read Death to the BCS. I promise it will infuriate you.

Amazon.com: Death to the BCS: The Definitive Case Against the Bowl Championship Series (9781592405701): Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter, Jeff Passan: Books

**CarolinaCy** · 03-14-2011, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by edr247

Yup, that was the dig in my first post.

Except that the Big XII does share bowl revenue evenly, just not TV revenue. At least everything that I've heard/read indicates that to be true. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

**edr247** · 03-14-2011, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by CarolinaCy

Except that the Big XII does share bowl revenue evenly, just not TV revenue. At least everything that I've heard/read indicates that to be true. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

No, you're right. I thought bowl revenue was also split based on appearance, which is not the case. It would seem that only half of the TV revenue is divided by appearance.

Dig withdrawn.