January 30, 2008
Oklahoma State looks to "cyclone" Sooner fans
The Wizard of Odds has the details on the plan by the Oklahoma State ticket office to boost season ticket sales this year -- at the expense of Oklahoma Sooner fans.
Oklahoma State officials announced they won't be sell individual tickets to the Nov. 29 Bedlam game outside of the normal 5,000 tickets allotted to the Sooner fans. To get in, fans will have to buy a season ticket to see the Cowboys, a cost of $294 for a seat in the west end zone. A seat along the sidelines increases to $419.
Oklahoma State got the idea to force Sooner fans into buying season tickets from Iowa State, who pulled the same stunt last year on unsuspecting Iowa fans. The result? Iowa State was able to boost their season ticket sales by twenty percent.
Needless to say... the OU fans are none too happy.
"Even if I could afford it, I wouldn't do it just for spite," said Terry Halbert of Yukon, an Oklahoma football season ticket holder.Halbert's response was similar to several OU fans after learning of Oklahoma State's plan to boost its season ticket sales by tying the OU ticket to the season package.
"For what they draw, it doesn't make sense," said Don Wylie of Midwest City. "I don't know what they're trying to do up there. They enlarged their stadium, but they still can't fill it. Maybe they have a vision, but I don't think it makes any sense."
Just remember, Cowboys, what comes around, goes around... and y'all do have to play in Norman in 2009.
Comments:
OU-Ron
posted on January 30, 2008 2:22 PM — 216.201.209.146 — link — abuse?
said:
As just a fan speaking, #1- $294.00 is cheap to see State get beat down in their house, plus the fact that the seat will remain empty for the rest of the season, for the exception of maybe the Texas game every other year.
#2-If I were running the Sooners side of things, I would double the price of a ticket just for the Bedlam game, It's even sweeter to beat the pokes down in our house.
Maybe there will be less Poke fans show up and they can stay at home molesting sheep or whatever they do for their past time...
As you can see, I don't care....
40 Acres of Burnt Orange
posted on January 30, 2008 2:43 PM — 192.94.94.106 — link — abuse? said:
This makes Oklahoma State look incredibly stupid. They can't figure out another way to boost ticket sales? Next thing you know the Aggies will be doing it and they will say it was their idea first, Idiots.
posted on January 30, 2008 2:49 PM — 64.12.116.136 — link — abuse?War Eagle Atlanta
said:
I think this and the Iowa State incident set a bad precedent in college football. I'm surprised that the conference hasn't stepped in. I thought it was understood that you have to make so many tickets available to your opponent.
Payback is hell...
posted on January 30, 2008 5:02 PM — link — abuse? said:
You do have to make a minimum allotment available. In the Big XII, the minimum is based on a percentage of your stadium capacity (if memory serves). I don't believe it is a flat figure for all Big XII teams, although I could be wrong.
I definitely think this is a TERRIBLE, AWFUL, NOT VERY GOOD trend. It needs to stop. The Big XII definitely needs to step in.
posted on January 30, 2008 6:06 PM — 64.12.116.136 — link — abuse? said:
This would be a good subject for a fanblogs guest contributor to tackle--do a little investigating and actually find out what each of the big six conferences dictate on that manner.
Perhaps it would be a good way to audition--by doing a little of the leg work...
Lennie Collins
posted on January 30, 2008 6:13 PM — 70.251.191.250 — link — abuse? said:
Hey Zac, Post #1, not to disrespect you in any way, shape, or form BUT I am not bothered by it. I will watch the game at home on television. Oklahoma State has to pay for their stadium expansion and new grass field. Why not have your biggest rival fans pay for it? If you ask me...that is smart, shrewd, and good business. With the exception of Texas or maybe Georgia, who gone go see the Cowboys and fill that stadium up?
posted on January 30, 2008 6:20 PM — 64.12.116.136 — link — abuse? said:
Your solution makes sense, Lennie, but there's only one problem. If all Sooner fans decided to vote with their wallet and not attend, the university's still going to sell those tickets. It's not like they need OU fans to complete the sellout--especially when they're playing their biggest rival. They'll just fill it with more State fans and effectively give the Sooners no voice inside the stadium.
Hopefully the commisioner will step in and stop this nonsense.
OU-Ron
posted on January 30, 2008 6:28 PM — 68.12.216.68 — link — abuse? said:
Why blackmail your rivals fans to try and fill the seats in that new stadium that T Boone Pickens built.
They should ask daddy moneybags for enough to pay for a coach that's worth a damn.
Start having some 9-3 or 10-2 seasons and your own fans will fill the stands, they can even bring their sheep with'em...
Lennie Collins
posted on January 30, 2008 6:32 PM — 70.251.191.250 — link — abuse? said:
War Eagle Atlanta, Post #8, The Big XII Commissioner can't do anything. I believe by NCAA rules the Oklahoma State Cowboys can do this since it is considered a "big" draw game for them. The Sooners can probably can do the same since they play Texas at the Cotton Bowl and that is their big draw game! It will be hard to do the years they have Nebraska coming to Norman.
Lennie Collins
posted on January 30, 2008 6:39 PM — 70.251.191.250 — link — abuse? said:
OU Ron & War Eagle Atlanta...Boone Picken wanted a grass field and a covered pratice facilities for Oklahoma State. He gave the BIGGEST donation in NCAA HISTORY to date for it. I believe Oklahoma State is putting very little money in this because they wanted to expand their stadium from 48,000 to 52,000. That is still small to Oklahoma's 84,200 capacity. Don't worry Texas fans Oklahoma will exxceed your 90,000 soon! I guess this is a way to get more money then they put out?
posted on January 30, 2008 6:44 PM — 64.12.116.136 — link — abuse? said:
Ron: That's bahhhhhhhhhh-d!!!!
Lennie: Do you know for sure? Maybe you're thinking about the practice of charging more for tickets to one home game over another?
I'd send emails to the conference commissioners if only I was armed with fanblogs credentials....
Lennie Collins
posted on January 30, 2008 6:53 PM — 70.251.191.250 — link — abuse? said:
War Eagle Atlanta, Post #12, in 2000 I drove down to Floyd Casey stadium, Home of the Baylor Bears, to see Oklahoma play Baylor. When I got there the lady cashier stated that will be $60. I said WHAT? On your website it states ticket prices $10. She said by NCAA rules this is a big draw game and the prices are triple. I am not making this up. Of course OU was winning by 42 points when we got there. Tried to take my ex-wife and she really didn't want to go. So I said forget it why pay $60 when the game was already over. OU went on to win 56-7. It was raining and windy anyways.
posted on January 30, 2008 7:06 PM — 64.12.116.136 — link — abuse? said:
Lennie: I'm just amazed that they have a walk-up window where you can buy tickets on game day. For most SEC games, there's cobwebs in the windows...
Besides, there's still going to be scalpers on the street looking to unload even after the game has started.
Really, it's not unreasonable for higher demand tickets to bring premium prices. It's simple supply and demand.
After about 5 years of paying way too much for tickets on ebay and craigslist, my friends and I are pretty much back to buying them from the scalpers. As strange as it sounds, they've been cheaper...
Okay, I was curious. I KNEW that there was no way in hell that Pickens could donate that much money and NOT get the stadium named after him, so I checked. No surprise there. However, I did learn that Oklahoma State used to be known as Oklahoma A+M and once were called the Aggies.
Hmmm... I wonder why they changed it?
posted on January 30, 2008 7:24 PM — 64.12.116.136 — link — abuse? said:
Can't fault them there, Ron. Ag schools are kindred spirits with my alma mater. Auburn was one of the first Land-grant schools in the south after the Civil War, aptly named Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama, later renamed to Alabama Polytechnic Institute before it changed to it's current name in 1960.
We never were 'Aggies' though. We started out as the 'Plainsmen', being that we were situated in the plains of east Alabama. We then became the Tigers, but throw everybody for a loop with the whole 'War Eagle' thing...
Lennie Collins
posted on January 30, 2008 11:11 PM — 70.251.191.250 — link — abuse? said:
OU Ron, Post #15, you are right! But Boone Pickens and Micheal Gundy feel that will give Oklahoma State a better chance of getting Oklahoma's best and a few of Texas high school players to go there. War Eagle Atlanta, Post #14, you didn't know that! That man has CASH and Mo' CASH. I am sure some billioniare will come along and top that donation. It will not be soon, but it will happen. Boone Pickens basically is the AD of the Oklahoma State sports programs. If Micheal Gundy does not beat Texas or stop blowing leads and Oklahoma soon...Boone will have him gone!
shiguy said:
posted on January 31, 2008 4:05 AM — 71.61.239.60 — link — abuse?
hmmm after reading this it kinda makes me wonder. see this last year was the second time in history that WVU played at Marshall. kinda funny that marshall also had the highest amount of season ticket sales ever for their school....if anyone watched the game and saw how almost 50% of the stadium was blue n' gold you knew why. course that could also be that the season tickets were like $150 and a ticket for the game alone was going for hundreds.
posted on January 31, 2008 1:46 PM — 205.188.116.136 — link — abuse? said:
Easy answer, Ramblin--insects versus a car...
No, although it's had many names, everyone has always called Auburn 'Auburn', even in the beginning. In the first football game ever played at Grant Park in Atlanta, it was Auburn versus Athens, showing the tendency at the time to call all colleges by the name of the town they were in.
We are the Tigers, but our battle cry is War Eagle. You can read about the stories of the origin at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_eagle
I don't believe most of the legend on how it got started, but who can argue with tradition. 'War Eagle' is also a greeting exchanged between Auburn folk.
I think the reason Auburn is the third biggest college football program followed in the state of Georgia, despite being in Alabama, is the long tradition it has with Georgia and GA Tech--over 200 games played, historically--with over 80% of those games played within the state of Georgia. If you recall, Auburn and Georgia played for decades in Columbus, GA, and Tech made Auburn play in Atlanta the first 60 years or so of that rivlary...
VTBobb
posted on January 31, 2008 1:51 PM — 74.1.112.66 — link — abuse? said:
VT used to be Virgina A&M
Why is everyone assuming it was done just to screw the OU fans? It screws the OSU fans too.
I seem to recall about 10-12 years ago, VT did something similar for the UVA game. My guess is it's more about selling tickets, regardless of who has to pay.
MLB teams have been doing something similar for a while (at least the O's have). I don't know if they completely stop selling single game tickets for big games (everyone wants to see the Yankees loose), but they do package high demand tickets with low demand tickets for mini package deals.
Bevo Boy said:
posted on January 31, 2008 3:41 PM — 205.188.116.136 — link — abuse?
VTBobb,
"Why is everyone assuming it was done just to screw the OU fans? It screws the OSU fans too."
I thinks they assume that because it basically was done to screw the OU fans. If an OSU fans buys the season tickets, then they will at least want to go to the other games so they can see their favorite team play. If an OU fan buys it, what other games would they want to go to other than for the reason that they already have the ticket?OU Fan said:
posted on January 31, 2008 3:43 PM — 84.146.22.113 — link — abuse?
If you ask me, I think this move by Oklahoma State University if pretty low. I also agree with VTBobb that it screws the OSU fans as well. Its just too bad that the majority of my family whom are college graduates graduated from Oklahoma State. Bummer. But oh well. Go Sooners!
Tomcat said:
posted on January 31, 2008 11:12 PM — 69.153.80.147 — link — abuse?
Hey Guys OU Ron is right
Win 10 or 11 games every year and selling tickets is no problem.
At UT you better be a season ticket holder, get your ticket from scalpers or buy through the visiting teams allotment- In Austin I beleive there has been about 46 consecutive sellouts.
Face value for home games is 65 to 75 per game with A&M being 100 per ticket @ 84,000 sold= big bucks - expainsion to 90,000+ no problem
When a team wins 10 games 7 years in a row, theres no problem selling tickets at a premium.
The Baylor Bears is different
Floyd Casy Stadium- 50,000 Max no sellouts
Thats right WarEagATL Tickets are about 26.00 about a third of UT ticket price. No Sellouts
When you have 3-9 and 4-8 and 5-6 seasons its kinda hard to sell tickets. Baylor is also located in a small city Waco. Not really much of a home crowd fan base to draw from except students & alums. Heck they actually have more visiting fans than home fans at their games.
Being a Longhorns Fan, it is easier for us to see visiting games at Baylor & Rice than to see a home game. At Rice the situation is plum ridiculas
I kinda felt sorry for the Owls- Heck here we are in one of the largest cities in the country Houston ,like 4 mil pop, they are playing in a stadium that holds like 70,000 and I bet they dont have 8,000 to 10,000 home fans tops, The rest is Burnt Orange like 40,000 + Bigger school, bigger Alum- Much more successful program- consistant winners
Hookem-HornsZac said:
posted on February 1, 2008 11:23 AM — 205.188.116.136 — link — abuse?
Lennie (Post 7), no disrespect taken. Based upon OU-Ron's & your comments, the increase is a drop in the bucket. To me, it's the principle of the thing. Now, if OK St announced an across the board increase in season ticket prices, and offered a discount to Stillwater residents, OK St alumni, and OK St booster club members (for example), I could live with that. But, just because I'm an OK Sooner fan, I have to pay more; that's not right in my opinion.
VTBobb (Post 22) & Bevo Boy (Post 23) (Tomcat, help me out here.) as I understand it, it's the allotment to the visiting team we are talking about here, not those tickets sold to OK St fans. If I have it straight, were OK fans not to purchase all of the allotment, then OK St fans would get a crack at them, but I'm guessing at what would be the lower price originally offered to OK St alum, fans, etc.
Lennie Collins
posted on February 1, 2008 1:31 PM — 67.67.221.202 — link — abuse? said:
Hey Zac, Post #26, Oklahoma State has to do whatever it has to do to compete with Oklahoma. Oklahoma has a HUGE win to lost margin over Oklahoma State (79-16-7) and I believe Oklahoma State has it in their records (77-18-7). This is like one if not the biggest victory margin over a rival, in state or border. Yes Texas fans it is bigger than the one you have over Oklahoma! Oklahoma State sees this probably has a way to get "back" at Oklahoma. Remember fellas Iowa State is trying to build their football program so they are not going to have billionaires pouring money into their programs. Oklahoma State HAD a billionaire to give them the largest donation to date. Why they are pulling this? I don't know. Maybe they feel they will have a "true" home field advantage by trying to limit the amount of Oklahoma Sooners fans in attendance at the game. I can see them "flooding" their new grass field the night of the Oklahoma Sooners game to "slow" them down. (They are scheduled to put that Astroplay surface in their NEW Practice Facility and put REAL grass in Boone Pickens Stadium.) Did I say PRACTICE? PRACTICE? PRACTICE? They aren't even talkin' about a REAL Facility they are talkin' about PRACTICE! Again I ain't mad at 'em for doing whatever they have to do to gain an edge! Oklahoma Sooners fans should not attend so the cost will be put on the Oklahoma State Cowboys fans! Or like mention in a previous post, Oklahoma Sooners should do da same for the game in 2009!
Tomcat said:
posted on February 1, 2008 11:01 PM — 66.142.89.118 — link — abuse?
Zac The whole thing is kinda sad isnt it? Having trouble selling tickets- Win some games and you'll sell tickets plain & simple.
Teams like Ok State compete pretty well against teams like TTech, A&M and Neb, but always have trouble with OU & UT every year. Its kinda funny they beat Texas Tech & Nebraska but have trouble with Troy and I dont remember them ever beating UT although there have been alot of close ones and a few come from behind UT vicories at Boone Pickens Stadium, which BTW is a dangerous place to play, the sidelines are way too narrow.Alot of times players are crashing into the band and their equipment, photographers Etc Etc.
The XII is a very competitive league were
Ok State beats Texas Tech
Texas Tech beats A&M
A&M beats Ok State
Texas Tech beats OU
OU beats Ok State
Texas beats Texas Tech
A&M beats Texas
CU beats OU
Iowa St beats CU
Texas beats Iowa State
CU beats Texas Tech
Texas beats Ok State
OU beats Texas
XII Bowls
KU-Wins CU- losses
TTech Wins OU loses
Missu Wins A&M losses
UT wins
Ok State wins
Every year is crazyZac said:
posted on February 2, 2008 12:15 AM — 64.12.116.136 — link — abuse?
TC, I gotta agree with you. Places like AL, MI, and TX are the exceptions, not the rule. Even as badly as ND & NE played this past year, they still filled their respective stadiums.
WVU's stadium holds almost 67,000 when all expansions are employed. Despite their winning ways over the past 5 years, there have been games where they barely had 55,000 people in the stands because of the team they were playing against.
Not only do fans of most schools want you to win, they want you to win against the BEST. That can't always happen primarily because of scheduling conflicts. Some teams have to get who they can get. It's especially problematic for teams locked in conferences. Not every conference faces an SEC or Pac-10 like schedule. Besides, there are only 25 teams in the Top-25. While that list changes from week to week, a team can only play one team at a time, and no more than 13 during the regular season, not including conference play-offs and bowls. That doesn't leave a lot of room for #'s 26-119 to get their shot at them.
True fans attend games when they can despite their team's record; true fans don't attend games just because their team wins all the time. That's why my hat's off to places like AL, ND, NE, and TX. AL was coming off a 6-7 season; they filled their stadium for the spring scrimmage. TX got embarrassed at home by KS St, lost to arch rival OK, and their fans still filled the stadium to watch them play Baylor. NE got blown out by OK St & KS; their fans still came. ND had been embarrassed all year; their fans still came. After 2 consecutive bowl winning 11 win seasons, WVU could attract no more than 17,000 for their spring game, the proceeds for which goes to a Children's Hospital. It is that sort of difference that separates the truly elite programs from the wanna-be's. Just my opinion.
Tomcat said:
posted on February 2, 2008 12:39 AM — 66.142.89.118 — link — abuse?
Hey Zac
concerning attendance, one must also consider the location in relations to other sources of entertainment for John Q general public. There are no NFL teams in central Texas.San Antonio is a city of over 1 Mil and Austin is 500,000 + along with other surronding communitees of 40,000 and 50,000 there are literly millions of people in central Texas, a hotbed for football.
When looking at the bigger markets which are 3.5 to 5 hours away,like DFW 3 Div 1-A teams + 1 NFL team--H Town 2-Div1-A teams + 1 NFL team.
When looking at some places like Rice, they have a long tradition of losing, kinda hard to sell tickets. I went to a Rice Vs LSU game one time the place was less than 25 percent full and after the first half most of them left.
Its kinda hard to watch, much less sell tickets to stuff like that.
Winning is everything- success sells and legacys are formed.
At some programs like La Tech in Ruston La ticket prices are like 5.00 & 6.00 bucks- thats like High school around here.
Hookem-HornsOU-Ron
posted on February 2, 2008 10:02 AM — 166.128.159.58 — link — abuse? said:
@29,Zac "True fans attend games when they can despite their team's record" Your ststement is true, but it sure helps if your team wins at least 9 or 10 games consistantly.
When Barry Sanders was playing and State was winning, they were sold out almost every game.
How many State fans do you see on here either for or against this deal (none)
By the way, I have been in Houston since Thursday and I'm already sick of the color orange.
I slipped past 40 Acres on Thursday and going back home tomorrow, Sunday may be his OFF DAY LOL
posted on February 2, 2008 1:00 PM — 205.188.116.136 — link — abuse? said:
Ron, I hope your license plate doesn't say "Ou-Ron". 40 Acres is in the Dallas area. I think he'a a county or city mountie. Perhaps you could avoid his hunting grounds by sticking to the interstate.
I would laugh so hard I'd choke off a kidney if 40 Acres ever pulled Lennie over. We'd need some sort of corroboration rather than them just saying so, lest they try and fool us...
Tomcat said:
posted on February 2, 2008 9:15 PM — 66.142.89.118 — link — abuse?
#32 Your right, and what would be better than 40 Acres pullin over Lennie, that would be if coondawg1 & my sister in law was riding with them.
That would be better than an episode of Jerry Springer and the highlights would be played thousands of times on Youtube.My sister in law could pay off a small portion of her debts with procedes from Americas funniest videos, coondawg1 would probably go back into lockup and Lennie would just catch a ride back to Austin. I can see him now on the shoulder of IH 35 wearing a red OU shirt with his thumb in the air, as vehicles with Longhorn decals blow by at speeds of 90 miles an hour.He would probably have a better chance of catching a ride than a UT fan would in indian Territory.
Hookem- Horns
P.S. OU Ron still laughing, all joking aside have a safe trip
Adios Tomcat40 Acres of Burnt Orange
posted on February 2, 2008 11:53 PM — 192.94.94.105 — link — abuse? said:
Tomcat and War Eagle, If i ever stopped any of my fellow bloggers (even OU-Ron or Lennie) it would be a welcome coincidence, but i would just let em off with a warning as long as they let me take a picture of them doing the HookEmHorns hand gesture (the up not down gesture) and post the link on here!
I actually have gotten stopped in indian territory before and the Trooper was actually a very nice guy ended up talking with him for about 30 minutes, but he was a OK St Poke. I do love stopping people who get attitudes with you. Makes the job a whole lot funner!
HookEmHorns!
Tomcat said:
posted on February 3, 2008 12:35 AM — 66.142.89.118 — link — abuse?
Hey 40 Acres Keep up the good job man. I've got a cousin who is a coach at the H/S level who used to play under R.C.Slokum at A&M. His Mama works for Austin P.D. shes been there for years.
No way I could do that type of work dealing with the skum of the earth on a daily basis. She works a walking beat downtown and the warehouse district. Austin is no different than any other big city when it comes to drunks, vagrants,crack and Meth addicts, burgulry, fights etc.etc.
We as citizens should take the time to thank the folks like yourself that have made the choice to make a difference in this crazy world.
Thank you
Hookem-Horns40 Acres of Burnt Orange
posted on February 3, 2008 6:56 AM — 192.94.94.106 — link — abuse? said:
Tomcat i appreciate that man. It's not a job for everyone, but it does make you feel like your making a difference. My dad lives in Austin so i grew up half in the Sherman area and half in Austin. Like i was telling Lennie my goal is to get a few more years under my belt and transfer to Austin PD. So i can see my mighty Horns every home game instead of just 2 and the Cotton!
HookEmHorns!
Lennie Collins
posted on February 3, 2008 9:54 AM — 68.92.148.40 — link — abuse? said:
Post #36, Fourty Acres of Burnt Orange...the Travis County Sheriff Office has the contract to work to University of Texas Longhorns Football games. You have to sign a list to work them. It is first come, first to work just in case you want to work the games instead of paying!
hrposon said:
posted on February 3, 2008 12:13 PM — 98.200.123.115 — link — abuse?
In one form or another, all schools find a way to maximize their income.
I don't think you can buy single game tickets in Norman for the OSU game.
I don't think you can buy single game tickets for the Michigan-tOSU game, Alabama-Auburn, Texas-Texas A&M.
Try buying a single game ticket in South Bend.
The reason people buy season tickets, so when the great teams come to town they have their guaranteed good seats.
Thanks to God for the scalpers...
posted on February 3, 2008 2:40 PM — 64.12.116.136 — link — abuse? said:
I don't think working the game is as good as a gig as you think it is, Lennie. Most of the time, security personnel must be facing the crowd, looking for trouble, as opposed to watching the game--unless you have a K-9 unit, which at Auburn, you get to be in the end zone, looking for a player for your dog to bite...
You'd be way better off sitting in the nose-bleed section with a patch over one eye...
40 Acres: I defintely think you'd have to give Lennie or Ron the ticket, as opposed to them doing the hook 'em, horns.... haha!
Zac said:
posted on January 30, 2008 1:06 PM — 209.36.193.14 — link — abuse?I can't wait to here Lennie, OU-Fan, and OU-Ron to chime in on this. Were I an OU fan, I'd tell them where to put their season tickets; not to mention the Cowboys, AND THEIR FANS, visit Norman the following year. Wat da ya spoze will happen den?!? EETSA WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!
could happen...