Football Economics

[AusTxPony]

Can someone enlighten me about the relative cuts each team gets when playing at home vs. playing away? Say we play A$M in College Station with 80,000 seats @ $20 vs. Ford Stadium with 30,000 seats @ $20/tix. Which one provides us with the most net profit? Including Stadium costs, travel expenses, etc. It seems to me I would have to know those economics to understand or judge Copeland's decisions. I'm sure the Arkansas State decision was influenced by Bennett's desire to have a few easier teams during September.

[Charleston Pony]

"body bag" games against Top 25 programs who can pack 80,000 fans in regardless of the opponent can bring anywhere from $250-500k. A sold out Ford Stadium at "premium" ticket prices might gross something in the neighborhood of $750k. Do the math. Those big schools can gross 2 mil per game. Michigan grosses over $3 mil per home game. That's why they call us "mid major" and that's why we are no longer playing in the SWC.

Most I-AA schools search out and need those body bag games to fund their programs. We need to figure out a way to draw 25,000 paying customers to Ford. To do that, we need to win more games. Scheduling UNT, Baylor & TCU home/home makes sense for this program. Scheduling Ark St is about trying to schedule some wins. Better hope it works, or this really could be the beginning of the end for this program. My guess is that an early season game with the Indians will draw about 20,000 to Ford. We might be surprised by how many ASU alumni live in the DFW area. I knew a few when I lived in Dallas.

[AusTxPony]

Thanks for the info. It makes sense to me that we have to get more wins, no matter who. At the end of the year, will it matter to us if we beat Nortwestern, Vanderbilt or Wake instead of Ark St? I say no, lets just get wins and hopefully into a bowl, where any win would be huge. I agree that playing old SWC folks is a great idea for attendance, fun for me, but tough for wins.