I'm honestly shocked. Penn State is one convincing win away from getting to the playoff, they have never played in this game before, and this game isn't going to come close to selling out?
Big Ten Championship Game is selling like preseason NFL on StubHub
- Thread starter Harbaughsleepovers
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These games rarely sell well - not for any conference - I could walk through the reasons, but they should be obvious
I expect this one will be one of the better moving tickets of the last 5 years or so of "conference championship" games (most of which have trouble drawing flies) - - - largely because of the PSU interest (since this is like the 4th time in 6 years that UWisky has gone)
The SEC game sells out every year.
I thought Penn State would storm Indianapolis for this.
This guy is a troll. Joined today. Reported to the site. Mods please end this thread.
You do realize that this game is a 5.5hr to 10hr+ drive from PA(8hr from State College)? How many people do you think are going to make the trip on a week notice? These games always struggle with attendance unless a local team is playing. It not like Ohio State is playing in it with Cincinnati 1hr 45 mins and Columbus under 3 hours away. Even Ann Arbor is an hour closer then the closest place in PA.
We wouldn't know if Michigan fans would storm the game considering they never played in it.
The SEC championship game, which was the first of the conference championship games, has enjoyed excellent attendance numbers since its inception in 1992. It regularly sells out the Georgia Dome with a capacity of 75,000+. The worst attendance was 71,300 and was one of only two years below 73K.
These games sell extremely well every year for the SEC.
Michigan fans who bought tickets for this (lol) are trying to scalp them for 300% of face value. Nobody is gonna buy that. Either lower the price or eat the ticket. Everyone knows face was $50 for this and Ohio State/Michigan just auto renew their "season tickets" for this bowl every year. Well, take a hit, cause you're eating it. You might need to money for the meaningless orange bowl, lower your prices.
I remember past years the B1G contracted a company that placed Craigslist adds for an event in Indianapolis to gather, wear green, then would be given instructions at the time of the meet as to what the people who responded were to do. I believe in addition to free admission chosen respondees were given a small stipend. It was to put more butts in the seats to make it look full.
A quick view at StubHub shows MANY more tickets for sale on the Wisconsin half than Penn State.
Almost as bad as Rutgers "fans" buying discounted tickets and a rutgers t-shirt for the homeless for their game at the motor city bowl a few year ago just to fill the stands. That's about as bottom of the barrel as you can get.
This year will really test that as Alabama is a 24-pt favorite over Florida.
Spoiler: that was the Michigan side.
At least 10 to 15 buses now being arranged from State College to Indy, as we speak. More to come...
Doesn't your sister usually work this game? Hope there's a convention or something in town so she doesn't take too big a hit.
Not really. Alabama fans will snatch up any available seat, and Florida has always had a strong showing.
That game sells regardless of who is playing.
According to Wiki (not sure how accurate it is) attendance was good in '11, '13 and '15, not bad in '14, but terrible in '12 (unranked Wisonsin went to the game over OSU and PSU who were banned). FWIW, the stadium's capacity for football is 62,421 (although Wiki also says it is expandable to 70,000, not sure how you add 6500 seats)
2011 #11 Michigan State 39 #15 Wisconsin 42 64,152
2012 #14 Nebraska 31 Wisconsin
70 41,260
2013 #10 Michigan State 34 #2 Ohio State 24 66,002
2014 #6 Ohio State 59 #11 Wisconsin 0 60,229
2015 #5 Michigan State 16 #4 Iowa 13 66,985
2016 #8 Penn State #6 Wisconsin TBA
2011 #11 Michigan State 39 #15 Wisconsin 42 64,152
2012 #14 Nebraska 31 Wisconsin
2013 #10 Michigan State 34 #2 Ohio State 24 66,002
2014 #6 Ohio State 59 #11 Wisconsin 0 60,229
2015 #5 Michigan State 16 #4 Iowa 13 66,985
2016 #8 Penn State #6 Wisconsin TBA
Boatload of Pilgrims collides onto Plymouth Rock........
More to come.......
From the damn Oracle of Delphi
Someone already missed the bus
B1G and SEC are the only "championships" that generate decent attendanceAccording to Wiki (not sure how accurate it is) attendance was good in '11, '13 and '15, not bad in '14, but terrible in '12 (unranked Wisonsin went to the game over OSU and PSU who were banned). FWIW, the stadium's capacity for football is 62,421 (although Wiki also says it is expandable to 70,000, not sure how you add 6500 seats)
2011 #11 Michigan State 39 #15 Wisconsin 42 64,152
2012 #14 Nebraska 31 Wisconsin70 41,260
2013 #10 Michigan State 34 #2 Ohio State 24 66,002
2014 #6 Ohio State 59 #11 Wisconsin 0 60,229
2015 #5 Michigan State 16 #4 Iowa 13 66,985
2016 #8 Penn State #6 Wisconsin TBA
At that, there are normally a ton of no-shows ( I couldn't say for sure why, but One guess would be from folks who buy in advance, thinking their team will be there ......like folks in AA and Colimbus this year)
Perhaps Lions fans have concluded that, if they don't go this year, they can always go next year.
I honestly cannot believe you all fell for this...the Big Ten Championship game, as well as every other televised conference championship game, derives its revenues from the television contracts. It doesn't matter if 70 or 70,000 fans show up, the conference and the schoools make a boat load of cash.
The big ten game has never sold out IIRC. No one wants to go to Indianapolis (much less on short notice) when there's bowl trips coming a few weeks later. On top of that most PSU alumni live on the east coast in ACC territory, Texas and California. There are very few PSU alumni in the Midwest.
For me the game is the bowl trip. 5.5 hour drive and decent hotel/ticket rates. The extra drive time makes up for the inflated hotel prices in state college.
PSU can wind up in any bowl any year, but winning the big ten east and going to the CCG, especially this year is something special. They lose and they go to Tampa. They win and probably end up in Dallas vs western Michigan or Orlando. Neither of which or any other bowl game will be against a top ten team. Indy is top 7 matchup
Most SEC teams don't need to leave their conference footprint to travel to bowl games. Hence, they are more likely to travel to Georgia for their conference championship game.
Atlanta is a much larger city than Indy and it's somewhat a collegiate city that is big into football so you likely get locals that just want to go without a horse in the race. If I was a local and my team wasn't in the game I would still want to attend.
Indy is a basketball market. Now if Chicago had a dome I think it would likely sell out.
Indy is a basketball market. Now if Chicago had a dome I think it would likely sell out.
This is all too tied into big $$$, but the real logical response would be for the game to rotate between the West champ and East Champ as a home game. Why is the Big interested in helping the finances of Indianapolis? Does Delany have partial,ownership in Lucas Oil Stadium?
Indiana Sports Corp is host of the Big Ten Championship.
LINK: 2016 Big Ten Football Championship
Indiana Sports Corp
Address: 201 S Capitol Ave # 1200, Indianapolis, IN 46225
Phone: (317) 237-5000
National Office
The National Collegiate Athletic Association
700 W. Washington Street
P.O. Box 6222
Indianapolis, Indiana 46206-6222
Phone: 317-917-6222
Fax: 317-917-6888
Coinkydinks? Don't think so. Lots of Midwest cozy relationships and sports clout in Indy.
Get rid of playing it in Indianapolis. Who wants to go there.
70,000 equals $3,500,000. 70 equals $3,500. Yep, not much differences. Never mind parking, concessions or merchandise sales.
Send your opinion to Delany and I'm sure he'll take it under consideration, agree and give the Indiana Sports Corp. (Emmert's buddies) the bad news. Also, be sure he knows you're a PSU fan. That will give it an extra boost.
It isn't just that. You can't get there from here. Flying out of JFK,LaGuardia or Newark, must take a connecting flight in Phila.,Charlotte or Detroit. Airfare is much greater than going to Vegas or San Francisco. Even driving to Avoca in Scranton, the best flight leaves a 6am and one is a propeller plane?I wonder if they issue goggles? For me to drive, its about 15 hours. For those of us who are planning for the bowl trip, its also difficult to do both in 30 days. Fortunately I'm retired, but my sons have careers to juggle.
Do you think it easy to put on an event the size of the B1G Ten Championship in a week notice? Do you know the logistics of hosting an event with 100,000 plus people especially in a small town like state college. You have thousands of people mobilized to work the event. For example they have police officers work a Penn State game from all over the state. Are they to pay for all those police offers to be on call just incase Penn State needs them? It not like they can just call them a week before and say we made the game we need you to provide 10 officers to work overtime next Saturday. I also guarantee people would be complain on here if Penn State had to go to Madison for this game and how it should be at a neutral site. Can you imagine if Penn State was undefeated and ranked #2 in the country but had to play at an 8-4 Iowa who is ranked #24 because it was the west turn to host.
The reason why it in Indianapolis is it is a central location who put in a bid to host the games. Several other venues also bid for the game. Indianapolis has hosted many large events and most people say they do a great job. One thing I have heard is that people love that the convention center is next door so they can have a lot of activities in there.
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