Bowl Tickets and Common Sense. And Lots of Rambling.

We all knew it was coming.

Ticket sales for the 2012 Sugar Bowl vs. Michigan "opened" for Hokies Friday, and as of the weekend have fallen short of the unfair expectations donned by those media members so ready to pronounce us unworthy. The intent of this article is not to point out, yet again, why all of this Hokie-hate is unfounded, but rather to show every one a little bit of Bowl Economics, and why a Hokie-allotment sellout really shouldn't be an expectation, and perhaps not even a goal.

Before getting started, I would like to say that an allotment sellout would be awesome. Selling out the allotment would almost guarantee the game a capcity crowd, and would quiet many critics who seem to think the Hokies don't fulfill the promises of traveling like the elite schools and boosting the local economy. I, for one, have been to many road and neutral site games, and have seen firsthand the way Hokies descend upon a city when called. I don't need Brett McMurphy or Darren Rovell to approve of the way in which Hokies travel, although it would be nice to hear them compliment our past success.

But, this is not about past games, it's about this one. In order for this game to be another traveling success, we need the Superdome to be as close to capacity as possible. In order for that to happen, though, a few things would have to be in place:

1. The Sugar Bowl would need enough advertisers, board members and corporate sponsors that they are able to “give” away all of the sponsorship tickets, and these would need to be good enough seats to not immediately show up on the secondary market, thus flooding the market, and lowering ticket prices.
2. The Sugar Bowl would have to have the potential for a marquee matchup, enticing the casual college football fan within driving distance to want to see the game, or believe they could scalp for profit, badly enough to pre-order the remaining premium tickets regardless of the teams playing. As part of the BCS, this is easy, but it also brings into play why we beat out both Boise and Kansas State.

While I honestly believe each to be a quality team, you [The Sugar Bowl] have to think about the people [investors] who pre-bought tickets, and their likelihood of doing so again after you give them a game involving Boise or KSt (who might travel, who might not, The Sugar Bowl does not know as they haven't been there). What if this person has no interest in seeing these teams, the fans don’t travel well and said pre-purchaser has to unload a premium ticket they spent $150 on for $25? This “fan of the game” will not be quite as likely to pre-purchase [invest] next season, knowing the Sugar Bowl is only interested in the highest ranked, not necessarily the team that will bring widespread appeal, and is therefore not interested in you as a casual fan, or your investment in the game [paying up front, giving them money to use for other things in hopes of seeing a good game, or an increased ticket price]. As of now, the Sugar Bowl has enough of these fans that they do generally well in pre-sales, and this part of the capacity equation is in place.

3. The Sugar Bowl itself would have to sell out the remaining tickets (not given to sponsors, not bought by casual fans in pre-sale). This and #4 are interchangeable in sequence, but both have to happen. Currently, according to The Sugar Bowl's website, this is complete, although that is not entirely true. I will mark this requirement of capacity “complete,” for now.
4. Both schools have to sell out of their allotment. This, dear Hokies and Wolverines, is not complete, and because of the “complete”-ness of #3, is highly unlikely.

In a nutshell, in order to have a capacity crowd in the Superdome, The Sugar Bowl has to have solid advertisers/sponsors/investors, the potential for a marquee matchup, appeal to a casual fan and schools that travel well enough to buy up tickets (any, and all tickets). Seeing as The Sugar Bowl is a BCS bowl, a large part of this equation is easy to come by, but perhaps not easy enough to sell out of upper-upper level tickets at a $120-minimum price point. That is why this game will not feature a capacity crowd, and why you are able to purchase cheap-seats cheaper than the $120 Virginia Tech and Michigan have to offer.

It comes down to basic supply-and-demand.

Advertisers, sponsors, whatever, they have their tickets. These seats are worth $140-180, and they’re gone everywhere except the Virginia Tech ticket site and the secondary market. These are desirable (lower level/s) tickets, and are going on the secondary market at a minimum of $120 plus fees (for lower-level endzone), or $140 plus fees (for anything not in the endzone). This, my friends, is good for The Sugar Bowl. What it means is that all casual pre-orders [investors] and sponsors can unload unused tickets for face value (or more) should they not wish to go. Also, in essence, it means these people will be back next year, as they at least didn’t lose money. As an added bonus, this should help the game look “full” on TV cameras, and prove that the selection committee did its job of picking marquee enough teams to not take flack from the media for an empty Superdome. Advantage, Sugar Bowl.

Schools, along with The Sugar Bowl, now have to compete for less desirable, only marginally less expensive, ticket sales. It is here that Virginia Tech and Michigan have not sold out, while The Sugar Bowl has. It’s also here that you see cheap ticket prices, thus prompting previously stated sports-writers to call the selection bad, as ticket prices plummet.

But what is it we aren’t seeing? Who in the world bought a ticket from The Sugar Bowl for $120, and immediately turned around and sold it for $50 on Stubhub? Why didn’t said purchaser buy it from Virginia Tech or Michigan, when we have 7,000 of these available (with fewer fees), and UM has 3,000? Somewhere, in the midst of all the commotion over our slow school sales, something has been lost.

What we’re missing is that The Sugar Bowl itself is who has flooded this secondary ticket market. Upon looking, you will find that the seats currently available on TiqIQ (a secondary market comparison tool), are mainly 600-level tickets NOT within Virginia Tech's nor Michigan’s alloted sections. This has caused a ticket Virginia Tech HAS to sell for $120 to be worth about $60, thus prompting BCS-savvy Hokies (and Wolverines) to purchase their tickets elsewhere, leaving many available through the University.

How could I accuse this, you might ask? Well, it’s simple Bowl Economics. The Sugar Bowl wants to sell every ticket. With this desire, and because the Superdome is long reserved and paid for, they simply want to get rid of seats, whatever the price. Ticket prices on the secondary market drop, but are sold, The Sugar Bowl gets its money, and schools are left with unsold allotments (that they were forced to pay for at $120+ a pop). Plain, and, simple.

Dropping secondary market prices are not necessarily bad for fans of the two teams playing. Sure, we hate for our university to get stuck with the bill of unsold tickets, but because we reached the 8,000 ticket floor, this cost is now split amongst the ACC.

On the non-University side, a lower get-in price for the cheapest of cheap seats seems to work in our favor as fans, as cheaper seats help lower the cost of an already expensive trip, meaning more people physically in attendance. Personally, I’d rather have 20,000 Hokies in New Orleans because they found half price tickets than 12-15,000 because people were stuck paying full price. In this Bowl Season battle of travel and tourism, we need physical bodies, not necessarily a sold-out allotment.

I, for one, bought my tickets through Virginia Tech, not so much to help get rid of the allotment but because of my desire to have decent seats, with my friends, in the VT section. I don’t expect anyone else do to the same, especially if it means you can’t afford the trip. Be smart about your ticketing decisions, get to the damn game with a cheap-seat if necessary and drown out the talking heads with your yelling. In the end, we're going to take a PR bath over this whole thing unless we win the game, so do your best to get there and help the team, any way you can.