December 27, 2005
Gator Bowl officials shocked by low Louisville turnout
Since the first reports of slow ticket sales by the Louisville football team, the Gator Bowl officials have been fearing the worst. Today, word out of Jacksonville is that the Gator Bowl will not be sold out for the first time since 2000.
Catlett said he remains mystified by Louisville fans' tepid response to their football team playing in a January bowl for the first time since 1991. Catlett and members of the Jacksonville media have received e-mails and phone calls since earlier public statements he made about the slow ticket sales, explaining that many Louisville fans were going through Ticketmaster because of complaints over the school ticket office's distribution system....
"We get reports from Ticketmaster with the zip code of the people purchasing tickets, and I can tell you that we're not getting very many sales with Kentucky or Ohio area codes," he said.
It's shocking that Cardinals fans aren't traveling well for this game. They put 18,000 in Memphis last year, and now you've got a matchup of two top 15 schools, plus that whole Virginia Tech ACC/Big East thing working. Combine this disappointing turnout with the smaller showings by Rutgers & South Florida and I can't imagine too many of the bowls with Big East tie-ins are smiling right now. If this trend continues, West Virginia will be the only team that "travels well" for bowl games.
Comments:
Ron Mexico said:
posted on December 27, 2005 1:38 PM — 68.21.103.162 — link — abuse?
Perhaps this is a good thing. The inevitable worthlessness of the bowl system will evolve into a playoff we all will want to watch.
posted on December 27, 2005 2:14 PM — 68.35.231.61 — link — abuse?Mike Boone said:
Jacksonville is a very nice city but its not the subtropical destination that alot of Cardinals fans were hoping for this season. All the preseason talk around Lousiville centered on the "nearly-guaranteed" BCS bowl bid. It seems that all of the high expectations for this team may have backfired on them.
Ken Gardner said:
posted on December 27, 2005 3:13 PM — 69.181.74.241 — link — abuse?
On Louisville TV today
"At noon on WAVE 3, Gator Bowl president said the Louisville fans are coming in big numbers. Said he was confused about the order process in Louisville"
There will be more UL fans at the Gator Bowl than VT fans. Take it to the bank.
Ethan Moore said:
posted on December 27, 2005 3:43 PM — 205.188.116.199 — link — abuse?
UofL fans have been buying tickets through other avenues, i.e. ticketmaster, gator bowl directly, and travel groups. We sold out of the allotment kast week and asked for another 1,000 tickets. Louisville will ahve AT LEAST 20,000 fans there.
Gerald said:
posted on December 27, 2005 4:47 PM — 216.113.128.239 — link — abuse?
Louisville is a commuter school whose tradition is in basketball, and even that was decades ago. It is going to take them awhile to build up a loyal following in football, and having a coach who himself isn't loyal to the program in Petrino does not help matters.
Still, the Gator Bowl is just stuck. The ACC rep will generally be the loser of the ACC title game, or will feel that they were "screwed" out of an at - large BCS bid. Further, it is in the same city as the ACC championship game. Further, FSU and Miami fans don't travel well UNLESS it is a major bowl or national title game. And even Virginia Tech fans will be thinking "man, if only we were still in the Big East, we'd be in the BCS or the national title game right now!" There is not much chance of their getting an ACC team that actually wants to be there! And this Big 12/Big East thing is only going to confuse and anger fans from the various conferences. The Big 12 #2 going to Jacksonville? Riight ... most of them would RATHER go to the geographically closer (and in better real estate) Holiday and Cotton Bowls.
ACC expansion will have not only succeeded in making it almost impossible for any team in that league to make it to the title game, but also in killing the ACC's best non - BCS tie - in. Ah well ...
posted on December 27, 2005 4:57 PM — link — abuse?
The President of the Gator Bowl certainly has an agenda - he wants to sell as many tickets as possible. If that means goading UofL fans, clearly, he's not above throwing down the gauntlet.
In turn, the Louisville stations probably have a little bit of an agenda as well.
Regan said:
posted on December 27, 2005 5:39 PM — 205.188.116.199 — link — abuse?
Gerald (#7):
Not really - the only thing that kept the ACC from having two teams in the BCS this year was Miami's late loss to Georgia Tech. A Miami-FSU Champ game would have left VT with one loss to a good team early enough that they could be 10-1. If Miami could have beaten FSU (which would be likely), Miami and VT would both be 1-Loss Teams.
IMHO.
K Hat said:
posted on December 27, 2005 7:05 PM — 24.217.145.84 — link — abuse?
The Gator Bowl payout will increase to the $2.5 million mark in the next couple of years. Also, if the Cotton Bowl becomes the fifth BCS game, the Big 12 will lose another Bowl game in a big market with a big payout. The Big 12 is trying to set up their Bowl schedule in case this was to occur, that's their job.
On the other hand, unless the Big East teams improve, their second place team will not have a high ranking with a weak strength of schedule. The Gator Bowl is also trying to set up the best match up that's available for their Bowl.
If, for some reason, the ACC was to want out of the Gator Bowl, their isn't many Bowl games to choose from. The ACC #2 in the Houston Bowl? Maybe the Liberty Bowl? Oh I know, they'll go to the Independence Bowl. The ACC has stuck with the Gator Bowl for a reason, the schools want it, otherwise they would be playing elsewhere.
John said:
posted on December 27, 2005 7:29 PM — 12.202.154.34 — link — abuse?
Let wait and see what the crowd the Cards really bring is. The Gator guy is clueless as to the mentality of many Card fans who choose to buy there tickets from the best source not just from the school. Most people in town expect the Cards to take somewhere in the 16,000-20,000 range which is not bad for a Bowl 12 hours from home the day before school starts in town. Sure the Cards don'ty travel like WV does because we have a much smaller fan base. On the other hand the Gatpr now has the B-12 for 2 of 4 years. I suspect many schools in the B-12 will be hard presseed to take 20,000 to Jax. IN my minds the real problem is the match-up with VT. Many of the VT fanbase went to Jax just 3 weeks ago and are not returning. If selling out the game was the #1 priorty they should have schedule Clemson vs UL and it would be sold out.
tele64 said:
posted on December 31, 2005 6:12 PM — 68.209.166.236 — link — abuse?
So you don't have to register:
"They're showing up in numbers and in spirit," Hartley said. "Our expectations are pretty high for Gator Bowl teams and I think Louisville is going to be close to the kind of numbers they predicted."
LB said:
posted on January 2, 2006 1:20 PM — 65.96.69.89 — link — abuse?
The ACC just downgraded this game to #3 behind the Peach. K Hat's post above about this bowl matching the ACC #2 vs Big 12 "rep" is just wrong. This bowl is in trouble. Maybe the Big 12 is replacing the Big East. But that doesn't change the fact that the ACC bumped this game down and elevated the Peach.
Lama said:
posted on January 3, 2006 4:22 AM — 71.49.5.177 — link — abuse?
Gerald FSU fans are always good travelers, even the fiesta saw plenty of Noles. Miami are the fair weather fans! They won't travel well unless they get a bowl in the deep south or the championship. They also won't bother to follow the program after its first loss generally. Except to complain and whine about their very good coach because he didn't get them another national championship. Don't worry, if USC wins the Rose bowl they will be USC fans anyways. If you go to Miami games it is very obvious that the fans are usually not alums! Alum fans are generally the best behaved of the lot and follow the program much better. Remember U of M is not a big school though, so there aren't a whole lot of alum fans.
canes alum said:
posted on January 3, 2006 10:26 AM — 24.96.199.254 — link — abuse?
Saying that Miami doesn't travel well is just misinformed. Miami alumni do travel well to major bowl games; however, being a small private school that has high admission and graduation rules, there are not as many Miami alumni to travel to the games. The non-alumni Miami fans are just like non-alumni fans for most major programs, they only show up when the team is doing good. That being said... All Miami fans and alumni expect excellance from their program, and the last two years were not acceptable. Lama, Coker is not a very good coach. The team that he won with was Butch Davis' and if you look at the last two seasons, three losses with Miami's talent in not acceptable. Fire Coker!
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K Hat said:
posted on December 27, 2005 1:28 PM — 24.217.145.84 — link — abuse?This is why the Gator Bowl now has a contract with the Big 12 starting in January of 07. Kevin reported on this story back on July 12th.
The Gator Bowl will match the ACC #2 v.s. the Big 12 rep for two years, the Big East rep for two years, and they have an option to pass on the Big East to get Notre Dame one year. The years that the Big 12 and The Big East doesn't go to the Gator Bowl, they are contracted with the Sun Bowl.
Having a new contract with the Big 12 and the poor showing of Big East fan support, it looks like the Gator Bowl is phasing out the Big East. Since the Big 12 lost their anual trip to the Orange Bowl, look for them to be the future match up at the Gator Bowl against the ACC.