Thursday, December 08, 2005

What's Buzzin' for Thursday

FOOTBALL
Well, how about this - the Music City Bowl is having trouble selling tickets.

As of early yesterday afternoon, U.Va. had sold about 2,335 tickets to the public, said Rich Murray, director of athletics media relations. The school will buy about 1,500 tickets for "internal use," Murray said.


That leaves about 6,150 tickets still available from Virginia's allotment.


Virginia fans turned out in force for the 2002 and'03 Continental Tire Bowls in Charlotte, N.C. Few U.Va. fans, however, traveled to Boise, Idaho, for last year's MPC Computers Bowl.


Surprise, surprise................ You know, there's a real short-term view to these bowl alignments that I think many are missing. By passing up better teams in a given year for a team that might "travel" better, there is a real branding opportunity lost. If a bowl game is interested in becoming a "bid daddy" and not one of those waste bowls referred to every Xmas season, then they need to consistently field the BEST teams, not the most travel-worthy teams. The Charlotte Bowl has quickly branded themselves as regional homers who have no interest in growing themselves into something larger. They are sacrificing long-term growth for short-term results. Maybe that is needed in the early years to establish a base as a new bowl, but the Meineke Bowl sure is hurting their long-term potential by not taking the BEST team.


Just my two cents and I'm sticking to it...............