Some BCS facts for your SEC friends

[jwinslow]

The b10 #1 travels to pasadena to play west coast teams, often from LA.
The b10 #2 plays the SEC in FL.
The b10 #3 plays the SEC in FL.
The b10 #4/5(?) plays the b12 in SA in Texas.

 

[Wingate1217]

Without going through all of your teams and seeing what games they played vs. who, I really can't answer that one. I know that y'all played Florida, ND, and Miami all in Glendale. That's about as Neutral as you can possibly ask for. Michigan/Texas at the Rose is also pretty neutral.

Almost every bowl game unless it is played in the Midwest (like the bowl game played in Detroit) is at best a neutral site for the Big Ten and at worst a road game....

 

[Coqui]

Umm how many bowl games has the Big 10 played in historically that weren't "basically away games"?

The only one I think that could be a home game would be the Detroit City Motor Bowl. Not many times do Big10 teams want to go there.

 

[daveeb]

The Fiesta Bowl is home ground for Ohio State. There are just so many tOSU alums in that area.

On that note, Penn State may have homefield there. During the Penguins - Coyotes game last year, I believe the arena was sold out to 105.7% capacity. Standing room only. Not even Detroit visiting could sell out that arena. There are a lot of Pittsburgh people in that area, and a lot of Pittsburgh people are State Penn fans.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Oregon doesn't even put 60 thou in their HOME stadium.

Maybe it's because Autzen Stadium only holds 54,000?

 

[Nutriaitch]

Maybe it's because Autzen Stadium only holds 54,000?

And why does it only hold 54,000? Maybe it's because they would struggle to sell out a bigger stadium? If the admins there had any confidence that they could put 75-80k in that building every week, that's how many seats it would have.

 

[billmac91]

And why does it only hold 54,000? Maybe it's because they would struggle to sell out a bigger stadium? If the admins there had any confidence that they could put 75-80k in that building every week, that's how many seats it would have.

I don't think thats a very accurate statement. OSU could put more than 105,000 in the shoe for most games but it's still a 105,000 seat stadium.

You don't just snap your fingers and add 25,000 seats to a stadium. There could be any number of factors as to why they decided on 54,000.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

And why does it only hold 54,000? Maybe it's because they would struggle to sell out a bigger stadium? If the admins there had any confidence that they could put 75-80k in that building every week, that's how many seats it would have.

Autzan stadium opened in 1967...the thing is forty years old. Oregon only became a solid program in the early 2000s. I had heard talk of expansion but nothing definite.

I don't think thats a very accurate statement. OSU could put more than 105,000 in the shoe for most games but it's still a 105,000 seat stadium.

Actually The Shoe is a 101,500-capacity stadium and cramming in 105,000+ is the max we can do...

 

[Nutriaitch]

I don't think thats a very accurate statement. OSU could put more than 105,000 in the shoe for most games but it's still a 105,000 seat stadium.

You don't just snap your fingers and add 25,000 seats to a stadium. There could be any number of factors as to why they decided on 54,000.

They just added 12,000 seats 5 years ago.

Considering that a lot (if not most) money for renovating usually comes from donations, and not the school's pocket, the cost to the school to up it to 75k would not be that drastic. I have no clue what a ticket to a Duck home game costs, but let's use $40 as a guess. 20,000 more seats x $40 =$800,000. 6 home games = $4.8 mil per year in ticket sales alone being left on the table. NO WAY do they not jump on that if they thought they could make it.



I found this quote on their website, and thought it was interesting:

"Autzen's 59,000 strong make the Big House [Michigan] sound like a pathetic whimper. It's louder that 'The Swamp' at Florida, 'The Shoe' in Columbus and 'Death Valley' at Louisiana State. Autzen Stadium is where great teams go to die."

- Michigan Daily, September 2003​

 

[LSUTyga73]

Please find me a single year where Big 10 teams have played more bowl games with a pseudo-home field advantage than SEC teams had. The simple geography of the bowls originating as tourist destinations has prevented that from happening.

You shouldn't complain to SEC fans about that one, we don't have a choice where the bowl games are either. I think you strongly underestimate the fan support in the big 10. More often than not, the stadium is pretty even during bowl games. Most Big 10 fans view bowl games in Florida as an opportunity to take a vacation anyways. So it's not like it's that hard for people in the north to come to Florida, because a lot of them do anyways for winter vacation.

The Sugar Bowl has been in New Orleans if i recall correctly for about 70 years. That's history and tradition. There is no way that any of the BCS bowls or major bowls will be moved because of a long-standing tradition there. Yeah and like someone stated earlier there was a big discussion how home field advantage really wasn't an advantage either, especially in a bowl game. If you were to ask the players on any team, I'm sure they would choose a bowl game in Florida over Michigan anyday.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

They just added 12,000 seats 5 years ago.

Considering that a lot (if not most) money for renovating usually comes from donations, and not the school's pocket, the cost to the school to up it to 75k would not be that drastic. I have no clue what a ticket to a Duck home game costs, but let's use $40 as a guess. 20,000 more seats x $40 =$800,000. 6 home games = $4.8 mil per year in ticket sales alone being left on the table. NO WAY do they not jump on that if they thought they could make it

That sounds about right...I had thought Autzan's capacity was about 40,000 until I saw that it's 54,000. Maybe the infrastructure of the stadium would only allow so much expansion. Bottom line is that the fans there are indeed passionate and loud, and that if they had a capacity of 70,000 or more they'd fill it every game.

As for leaving $4.8 mil per year in ticket sales alone on the table, do you have an idea what stadium renovations cost? When we renonvated The Shoe about a decade ago it cost over $200 mil. Even being the cash juggernaut we are, we're still paying that sucker off. Imagine how long it would take Oregon to pay off even a $100 mil renovation at less than $5 mil a years ticket sales...

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

I found this quote on their website, and thought it was interesting:

"Autzen's 59,000 strong make the Big House [Michigan] sound like a pathetic whimper. It's louder that 'The Swamp' at Florida, 'The Shoe' in Columbus and 'Death Valley' at Louisiana State. Autzen Stadium is where great teams go to die."

- Michigan Daily, September 2003​

​

It's a good thing for Cal that they aren't a great team.

 

[Nutriaitch]

As for leaving $4.8 mil per year in ticket sales alone on the table, do you have an idea what stadium renovations cost?

Without a doubt, renovating is not cheap, and I don't mean to sound like it is. What I'm trying to say is this. The $90 mil they spent in '02 (according to their website), would have been the vast majority of a bigger renovation. They also admit that most of it came from donations. If they felt they could have readliy sold out a 60-65k, that's what they would have gone up to. Instead they felt that 54 was a better number. Supply vs. demand. If the fans were in enough of a demand to expand more than that, they either would have, or at least plans to do so in the near future. They didn't, and as far as I can tell, don't plan to either.

 

[billmac91]

maybe they can't structually support 15,000 more seats without a building a completely new stadium?

I just don't think it's always about dollars and cents. If that was the case Duke would rebuild Cameron Indoor and every other stadium that averages a sellout.

 

[DCBuckeye07]

maybe they can't structually support 15,000 more seats without a building a completely new stadium?

I just don't think it's always about dollars and cents. If that was the case Duke would rebuild Cameron Indoor and every other stadium that averages a sellout.

As someone in the building industry...the design of them specifically...its 95% of the time about "dollars and cents"