I teach HS physics and keep in touch with many of my prior students. A group of 5 go to UCLA, and we message each other during games as they play. I asked them, if they are so into their Alma Mater's football games, why aren;t they attending them in person? Change of priorities? The distance the Rose Bowl is from campus?
They all replied, distance had almost nothing to do with it, rather UCLA doubled the cost of the tickets this year for students. They simply couldn;t afford it, especially since they were the classic starving student.
I never heard anything more disheartening.
As stadiums are built smaller and competition for seats increases, I could understand the increase of costs for the average fan... but students should always have near free experiences, so that ALL students can have that experience when they are attending, not just the well-off. Students have more attachment then any of us.. plus its the student sections that drive games to be great fun for all of us.
That colleges just see their own students as revenue streams is just sad, but tells us all how they view us all... just a box in an excel spreadsheet....
In my college days, even for my sis at ND, we students got in for free (genral admition) to our local football, basketball, or rodeos. drjimxlaw64@gmail,com
It was 1995, I had graduated from the U of O Architecture program in the summer and had just got my first job. I told them I couldn't start until January 4th. I had to go to the Rose Bowl to watch the Ducks play. My best friend and I borrowed my mom's car and drove down. I took a couple dozen "Gang Green" hats a friend had made and we sold for 10$ each to pay for gas. We slept in the car and cleaned up in restaurant restrooms along the way. Peter Jacobson held a pre game "tailgate" on the golf course next to the stadium where his cover band played. We couldn't afford to get into the food and drink area but we were able to hang out and listen to the music. The trip was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Somehow there must be a way for fans to have low entry points to college sports events.
I enjoy what you write. I support my wife through her dementia at a great facility. So I am “strapped” as they say to take a subscription. Just my small opinion on the direction that NCAA goes is destroying just the “fun” of college football. Becoming the “smaller” pro football. Must grind with small pockets of students, err, mom and dad. Enjoy your input as I can. Thanks Jerry
It does not help that the Bowl Selections are made less than two weeks before the busiest, and most expensive, travel season of the year, when most seats are already sold anyway.
Average airfare from Portland to San Diego was almost $500. EACH WAY. Even buying cheap seats for the Holiday Bowl (a third place bowl at that), was approximately $150. So our family of four was looking at $2600 before buying hotels, rental car, or any food. We want to support our team, but at what cost? That alone would almost buy season tickets, where we could drive down to Eugene every other week or so.
Or, has been stated here, a new giant tv, and a year’s worth of internet and streaming to watch from the comfort of home. The beer is always cold, the food is always delicious, both of which are top shelf, and there is no line for the bathroom!
It is not the same as a game day experience, but we at least got to keep the TV and stream for a year as a consolation.
Forcing fans to vote with their dollars means that Samsung, Costco and Comcast won the Holiday Bowl!
As a 35 year Cal season ticket holder who gave it all up about 7-8 years ago, not only did my season tickets go up, but the experience itself became unenjoyable for many reasons. I lived 90 miles away so it took some planning to pull it off but when all games started at 12:30 and were done by Thanksgiving it was really a part of my life I loved...drive in, get a good street parking spot, breakfast at Saul's, head up to Sproul and watch the pre-game rally and follow the band up to Memorial...end of game get a great meal somewhere and be home by 9 or 10 PM. We also always got Big Game tickets no matter where it was played as part of a very reasonable package. I planned my life around those games and my seat mates nearby became friends after all those years. I used to laugh and say I had never been rained on in all those years.
Well...TV changed all that as games changed to afternoons, evenings, Fridays and the infamous TBD where they would not tell you the time till 2 weeks before, and then came the extra game into December, and moving the Big Game to any slot they wanted, plus no ticket for Stanford games. Well one night in Late November or early December we played SC at night and it pored rain and when I got to my hotel they had given my room away in error so when I arrived home at 1:00 AM still wet from the rain I said, "ENOUGH" and that was that.
Throw in the costs now, including a hotel for late games and stinky on field product and they can have their Pac-10 for all I care these days.
The trend at most universities is to attempt to bleed the same customer/investor base ever drier, for every last $ now, often at the risk Jon notes of driving more and more of them away over the long haul, vs doing the work or making the long term commitment to retain a larger pool of people with a relatively small investment, or grow a sustainable pool of new customers and investors, many of whom will also out of necessity have to be small contributors initially and incrementally.
It's quick bang for the buck mentality that's not sustainable, and ultimately doesn't return as much over the years, but it looks good when you look at just one year's books at a time.
Great take. And many empty stadiums around the Pac-12 do not bode well for CFB's future. If students are not fans today they likely will not be fans post-graduation.
I think you are pointing out a key feature and consequence. If they don't have great memories of games, they may well not come back once they can afford to.
CFB is way more poorly managed than any pro league. NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL ALL operate with specific cost controls. Salary caps, salary taxes, etc. CFB operates with no such limits and actually with NIL and transfer portal actually operates with unlimitted free agency. MANY NIL recipients get paid at levels WAY higher than NFL practice squad placers. Dont insult the pros. The leagues are pretty uncaring BUT they pay attention to the common health of the various leagues. CFB doesn't really care.
I do not disagree; however, with serious discussion already underway to have a 16 team field starting in 2026, I think consolidation despite the cost of breaching a media agreement will happen faster than many believe will happen?
A 12 team PO in 2024 and 2025 means more bank coming from ESPN but a 16 team PO with the media rights going to the open market for bid will bring in astounding revenue.
FWIW - a 12 tourney this season would have had 5 Pac-12 representatives, 8 Utah, 10 USC, 12 UW, 14 OR ST and 15 Oregon. More than any conference including the SEC.
This of course could support your idea of CFB concentration taking longer to occur?
I see accelerated consolidation due to off field events. Players as employees. A CFB players union. The effect streaming will have. Etc.? I think a number of P5 schools will not be willing to join this 'brave new world?'
It is going to be a wild ride.
(It will be very interesting to see if Oregon and UW have an opt out clause in the next media deal and also to see whether revenue will continue to be shared equally?)
good piece on the cost of various bowl and playoff games. BUT you are informing those of us well aware of everything you state. Price of tickets, required "nations" for better seating, parking, beer, other food has been outragious and getting worse for decades. What do fans get in return? unknown/lousy kickoff times, expensive lousy food, etc. Popular events like CFB and NFL and others is like paying big bucks for TV / cable coverage of events and movies, then still having to tolerate commercials.
Biggest problem with CFB in particular is that there is no collective interest in controlling or limiting costs. CFB really has a death wish. If the next media contract pays each program $200 million per year it will take less that five years for those programs to spend every dime of the windfall. Compare what programs receive today versus 20 years ago. The future of classic cable (ESPN, FOX etc is not real healthy. The message we ALL need to understand is the video providers and the programs have Zero interest in the common good of we dedicated CFB fans. ZERO!
With rising costs I'd suspect come rising chances of corruption. We've already reached the point where "student-athlete" is backassward. How long before it's a football team with a university attached to it, instead of the reverse? I'd submit that we're already there. The 12-team CFP playoff will just make it official. Before too much longer, the Power 5 will separate themselves from the annoyingly inconvenient NCAA altogether, and major college football will become the NFL's farm system...all without costing the NFL a dime.
I went to the first Super Bowl in Los Angles, My trip...flew Portland to LA, took bus to game, tickets to game, then bus ride back to airport, and a flight back to Portland.. all programs were sold so I missed getting that total cost 100 dollars
Best bargain in sports. San Francisco Giants, late sixties. Bleacher tickets 95 cents, bring your cooler full of beer and snacks into the stadium, walk down and sit behind the plate. Nobody checks your tickets. Did it many times. Willie Mays, Wille McCovey, Juan Marichal, Garlord Perry for pennies.
Better bargain having grown up in LA (now a Giants fan)...1st base line tickets about $3.00 if I remember correctly....Koufax, Drysdale, Roseboro, Willie Davis, Maurey Wills :)
I flew down from Missoula to cheer for Utah in the Rose Bowl game. Flight was cheap at $159 and we have a home down there, but tickets on the fifty were $350. As I watched Utah’s lackluster performance, I couldn’t help but think the outcome could have been different had the opt outs played in the game. I came to the conclusion that if I don’t get the complete team package, I’m no longer attending Bowl games and I already knew CFP championship was ridiculously expensive. Players need to know, their revenue comes from the fans who do not have unlimited resources. I stopped watching NFL for this reason long ago and it may be that time for CFB.
Everyone seems to say that the bowl opt outs will end with the 12-team playoff. As LC would say “Not so fast my friend.” While it is a rational conclusion, career-ending injuries pay no attention to whether the game is a playoff or not. Not unreasonable to think that some might even opt out of playoff bowls. Nothing is off the table in this brave new world of professional college football.
I guess a guy has to do what a guy has to do, and it has long since ceased to be about the team for many. But my take on opting out of a bowl/playoff game to avoid injury is, you just played 12 games. You could've gotten injured in any one of them. Better opt out of your senior season too. Oh wait, some do.
I teach HS physics and keep in touch with many of my prior students. A group of 5 go to UCLA, and we message each other during games as they play. I asked them, if they are so into their Alma Mater's football games, why aren;t they attending them in person? Change of priorities? The distance the Rose Bowl is from campus?
They all replied, distance had almost nothing to do with it, rather UCLA doubled the cost of the tickets this year for students. They simply couldn;t afford it, especially since they were the classic starving student.
I never heard anything more disheartening.
As stadiums are built smaller and competition for seats increases, I could understand the increase of costs for the average fan... but students should always have near free experiences, so that ALL students can have that experience when they are attending, not just the well-off. Students have more attachment then any of us.. plus its the student sections that drive games to be great fun for all of us.
That colleges just see their own students as revenue streams is just sad, but tells us all how they view us all... just a box in an excel spreadsheet....
That's really sad.
In my college days, even for my sis at ND, we students got in for free (genral admition) to our local football, basketball, or rodeos. drjimxlaw64@gmail,com
It was 1995, I had graduated from the U of O Architecture program in the summer and had just got my first job. I told them I couldn't start until January 4th. I had to go to the Rose Bowl to watch the Ducks play. My best friend and I borrowed my mom's car and drove down. I took a couple dozen "Gang Green" hats a friend had made and we sold for 10$ each to pay for gas. We slept in the car and cleaned up in restaurant restrooms along the way. Peter Jacobson held a pre game "tailgate" on the golf course next to the stadium where his cover band played. We couldn't afford to get into the food and drink area but we were able to hang out and listen to the music. The trip was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Somehow there must be a way for fans to have low entry points to college sports events.
That -- is a great story.
I enjoy what you write. I support my wife through her dementia at a great facility. So I am “strapped” as they say to take a subscription. Just my small opinion on the direction that NCAA goes is destroying just the “fun” of college football. Becoming the “smaller” pro football. Must grind with small pockets of students, err, mom and dad. Enjoy your input as I can. Thanks Jerry
Please let me know how I can gift you a subscription with the understanding that I am a Tech dummy and need help in doing so.
It does not help that the Bowl Selections are made less than two weeks before the busiest, and most expensive, travel season of the year, when most seats are already sold anyway.
Average airfare from Portland to San Diego was almost $500. EACH WAY. Even buying cheap seats for the Holiday Bowl (a third place bowl at that), was approximately $150. So our family of four was looking at $2600 before buying hotels, rental car, or any food. We want to support our team, but at what cost? That alone would almost buy season tickets, where we could drive down to Eugene every other week or so.
Or, has been stated here, a new giant tv, and a year’s worth of internet and streaming to watch from the comfort of home. The beer is always cold, the food is always delicious, both of which are top shelf, and there is no line for the bathroom!
It is not the same as a game day experience, but we at least got to keep the TV and stream for a year as a consolation.
Forcing fans to vote with their dollars means that Samsung, Costco and Comcast won the Holiday Bowl!
The game day experience at a lot of places is suffering.
As a 35 year Cal season ticket holder who gave it all up about 7-8 years ago, not only did my season tickets go up, but the experience itself became unenjoyable for many reasons. I lived 90 miles away so it took some planning to pull it off but when all games started at 12:30 and were done by Thanksgiving it was really a part of my life I loved...drive in, get a good street parking spot, breakfast at Saul's, head up to Sproul and watch the pre-game rally and follow the band up to Memorial...end of game get a great meal somewhere and be home by 9 or 10 PM. We also always got Big Game tickets no matter where it was played as part of a very reasonable package. I planned my life around those games and my seat mates nearby became friends after all those years. I used to laugh and say I had never been rained on in all those years.
Well...TV changed all that as games changed to afternoons, evenings, Fridays and the infamous TBD where they would not tell you the time till 2 weeks before, and then came the extra game into December, and moving the Big Game to any slot they wanted, plus no ticket for Stanford games. Well one night in Late November or early December we played SC at night and it pored rain and when I got to my hotel they had given my room away in error so when I arrived home at 1:00 AM still wet from the rain I said, "ENOUGH" and that was that.
Throw in the costs now, including a hotel for late games and stinky on field product and they can have their Pac-10 for all I care these days.
Good insight. Thank you for sharing.
Well played. Glenn! Charlie
No tailgating?!?! That’s downright terrible. It’s one of the best parts of college football, and an important part of the overall experience.
The trend at most universities is to attempt to bleed the same customer/investor base ever drier, for every last $ now, often at the risk Jon notes of driving more and more of them away over the long haul, vs doing the work or making the long term commitment to retain a larger pool of people with a relatively small investment, or grow a sustainable pool of new customers and investors, many of whom will also out of necessity have to be small contributors initially and incrementally.
It's quick bang for the buck mentality that's not sustainable, and ultimately doesn't return as much over the years, but it looks good when you look at just one year's books at a time.
very concerned about families being priced out.
And this before the athletes are employees.
Great take. And many empty stadiums around the Pac-12 do not bode well for CFB's future. If students are not fans today they likely will not be fans post-graduation.
I think you are pointing out a key feature and consequence. If they don't have great memories of games, they may well not come back once they can afford to.
$50 parking vs. 50-inch Sony? I'll go with the Sony.
$85 parking vs 85” Samsung all day long!
No surprise here John. College football is semi-professional with paid players and free agency and the prices are commensurate.
the colleges want to follow the pro model.
CFB is way more poorly managed than any pro league. NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL ALL operate with specific cost controls. Salary caps, salary taxes, etc. CFB operates with no such limits and actually with NIL and transfer portal actually operates with unlimitted free agency. MANY NIL recipients get paid at levels WAY higher than NFL practice squad placers. Dont insult the pros. The leagues are pretty uncaring BUT they pay attention to the common health of the various leagues. CFB doesn't really care.
Why a Super Conference IMO will be here in a decade or less.
Don't think that will happen inside of the next 5-6 years. The media rights deals are locked in with the Big Ten and SEC.
I do not disagree; however, with serious discussion already underway to have a 16 team field starting in 2026, I think consolidation despite the cost of breaching a media agreement will happen faster than many believe will happen?
A 12 team PO in 2024 and 2025 means more bank coming from ESPN but a 16 team PO with the media rights going to the open market for bid will bring in astounding revenue.
FWIW - a 12 tourney this season would have had 5 Pac-12 representatives, 8 Utah, 10 USC, 12 UW, 14 OR ST and 15 Oregon. More than any conference including the SEC.
This of course could support your idea of CFB concentration taking longer to occur?
I see accelerated consolidation due to off field events. Players as employees. A CFB players union. The effect streaming will have. Etc.? I think a number of P5 schools will not be willing to join this 'brave new world?'
It is going to be a wild ride.
(It will be very interesting to see if Oregon and UW have an opt out clause in the next media deal and also to see whether revenue will continue to be shared equally?)
good piece on the cost of various bowl and playoff games. BUT you are informing those of us well aware of everything you state. Price of tickets, required "nations" for better seating, parking, beer, other food has been outragious and getting worse for decades. What do fans get in return? unknown/lousy kickoff times, expensive lousy food, etc. Popular events like CFB and NFL and others is like paying big bucks for TV / cable coverage of events and movies, then still having to tolerate commercials.
Biggest problem with CFB in particular is that there is no collective interest in controlling or limiting costs. CFB really has a death wish. If the next media contract pays each program $200 million per year it will take less that five years for those programs to spend every dime of the windfall. Compare what programs receive today versus 20 years ago. The future of classic cable (ESPN, FOX etc is not real healthy. The message we ALL need to understand is the video providers and the programs have Zero interest in the common good of we dedicated CFB fans. ZERO!
With rising costs I'd suspect come rising chances of corruption. We've already reached the point where "student-athlete" is backassward. How long before it's a football team with a university attached to it, instead of the reverse? I'd submit that we're already there. The 12-team CFP playoff will just make it official. Before too much longer, the Power 5 will separate themselves from the annoyingly inconvenient NCAA altogether, and major college football will become the NFL's farm system...all without costing the NFL a dime.
What a sweet deal, eh?
Truth.
Kurt Vonnegut saw this happening in 1955 when he wrote "Player Piano." Check it out....
Will do.
'You never know?" Wrong book as I know.
Great take Jack. I'll be surprised if we do not have a 16 team playoff come 2026 with more P5 teams in the Power 2.
I went to the first Super Bowl in Los Angles, My trip...flew Portland to LA, took bus to game, tickets to game, then bus ride back to airport, and a flight back to Portland.. all programs were sold so I missed getting that total cost 100 dollars
That first Super Bowl... halftime show... a marching band.
I went for the game not the entertainment
televised by both NBC and CBS
Best bargain in sports. San Francisco Giants, late sixties. Bleacher tickets 95 cents, bring your cooler full of beer and snacks into the stadium, walk down and sit behind the plate. Nobody checks your tickets. Did it many times. Willie Mays, Wille McCovey, Juan Marichal, Garlord Perry for pennies.
Better bargain having grown up in LA (now a Giants fan)...1st base line tickets about $3.00 if I remember correctly....Koufax, Drysdale, Roseboro, Willie Davis, Maurey Wills :)
Didn't Stu Miller actually get blown off the mound in SF (Candlestick?) or is that a myth?
“the golden goose is on the verge of extinction” - no one is surprised
Short term gratification reigns $upreme!
GO DAWGS
I flew down from Missoula to cheer for Utah in the Rose Bowl game. Flight was cheap at $159 and we have a home down there, but tickets on the fifty were $350. As I watched Utah’s lackluster performance, I couldn’t help but think the outcome could have been different had the opt outs played in the game. I came to the conclusion that if I don’t get the complete team package, I’m no longer attending Bowl games and I already knew CFP championship was ridiculously expensive. Players need to know, their revenue comes from the fans who do not have unlimited resources. I stopped watching NFL for this reason long ago and it may be that time for CFB.
Everyone seems to say that the bowl opt outs will end with the 12-team playoff. As LC would say “Not so fast my friend.” While it is a rational conclusion, career-ending injuries pay no attention to whether the game is a playoff or not. Not unreasonable to think that some might even opt out of playoff bowls. Nothing is off the table in this brave new world of professional college football.
I guess a guy has to do what a guy has to do, and it has long since ceased to be about the team for many. But my take on opting out of a bowl/playoff game to avoid injury is, you just played 12 games. You could've gotten injured in any one of them. Better opt out of your senior season too. Oh wait, some do.
I noticed that of the all the bowl games, 21 ended within a touchdown. Pretty entertaining even with NIL and transfer portal.
College football without tailgating hardly seems like college football…
Agree!