The Atlanta Sports Council is very open to BC and appreciates our TV draw and the newness we would bring to either game. Ticket sales and attendance are vital to the bowl. The Council has commitments to sponsors and local hotels to have the stadium full. That doesn't just mean tickets sold. It means they want butts in the seats. If any school were to buy their allotted tickets and eat them (which BC has done on a smaller scale in the past) it would hurt the Bowl.
A team doesn't need to fill all 12,000 allotted seats. The bowl can live with a smaller commitment if they can pair us with a strong ticket buying opponent (say South Carolina, Alabama or Georgia). However, BC has never stepped up to the plate on the minimums. I don't know if BC doesn't think they could rally 5,000 fans or doesn't want to take the financial risk involved. Maybe they just don't want to embarrass themselves by coming up short for such a public ticket push.
As much as it would be my dream, I don't think BC should focus on the Chick Fil A Bowl. The short window to sell tickets will always be a challenge for BC. Instead we should try to get into one of the Labor Day weekend kickoff games. Those would have more than a year of build up. BC marketing and the fans could plan out the trip and spread the word. We've brought more than 5,000 to Notre Dame and more than 4,000 to Clemson. With planning and support we could do the same for a big game in Atlanta.
If you want to do something about this, send Gene a note and let him know that you would buy tickets for either of Atlanta's games. Send the bowl game an email too. If 5,000 of us let them know we are excited about these games, we may actually get into a real bowl one day.
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12 comments:
Great idea, just fired of an email to the peach bowl.
A commitment of 5k fans doesn't seem like that many. How many did we bring to Orlando in '07? I swear it was more than 5k.
If I'm reading this right ATL, I should feel less slighted by Stokan and more peeved at GDF for not committing to at least 5k?
Anyone know what we've brought to recent bowl games?
Hmmm. Sounds like someone has drunk the koolai --- err, eaten the Chik'n
Adding on here, I don't quite buy the buts in the seats argument 100%- after all a bowl is a marketing vehicle for the corporate sponsor. The folks there didn't decide, hey, a great use of corporate capital is sponsoring a bowl game because we'll make X% return IF we sell out. They thought, what a great way to spread our brand. Chik fil-a is expanding in Mass. For better or worse, after snubbing BC in the past I don't eat at the one location I know of, in the North Shore Mall in Danvers. So, hah! Chik fila'a. You have lost out on those 15 bucks I spend on fast food annually. But maybe I misunderstand who has the sway here on bowl selection. Maybe it's Yankee-hating Atlantans?
In your conversations with Stokan, instead of talking about why BC could work in the future generally, did he get into why not BC in'07 specifically? That snub still burns for me.
2007 was strictly a commitment issue. BC couldn't commit to a big number and after Jacksonville, the Sports Council wasn't going to take the risk.
It occurs to me that there is an easier way to get into a "major bowl." Just win the freakin' ACC!
There's no conspiracy involved here. Bowls are out to make money. Can't blame them for skipping over us when we can't even sell out our own home games and half the people who do show up to Alumni treat the game like a tennis match. Could we bring 12,000 to a game? Why bother when Clemson or Va. Tech would bring 20,000? The bowls are rewards, sure, but have ceased being meritorious.
I'd love to see more BC fans introduced to the passion of the south and college football, especially in Atlanta, which does it best. But unless and until BC's culture changes a bit with respect to its football team, nothing will change. I hope we get a Kickoff Classic invite at some point, but perhaps we're a couple of 10 win seasons and a dynamic offensive name away from that, too. Is there bias in the south towards non-SEC schools? Sure. The only way to combat that is to stick your program in their face and win. Not by beating up on Weber St. or Kent State. At some point, we have to roll the dice and schedule a national program and beat them, or at least acquire a reputation of playing anyone anywhere. Since the latter won't happen, it's up to GDF to make the former happen.
Boycott Chik-fill-A. They are just BS'ing you ATL. They will never take BC and we should return the favor.
Where do we email?
Boy, you guys got Confucius all fired up.
"Bowl that force 12,000 fans guarantee seat in hell. Mofo."
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