Neo
11-17-2004, 11:53 PM
http://www.sectalk.com/teams/Tennessee.gifVandy blitzes fans with $55 tickets
By JOE BIDDLE
Vanderbilt has its nerve. Want to attend this week's Vandy-Tennessee football game at Vanderbilt Stadium? It will cost you $55. That represents the most expensive football ticket in the Southeastern Conference. You can get in the SEC Championship game for $50. Tickets for the annual Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville are $32, cocktails not included. When Florida State visits Florida, it's a $25 ticket. The Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn costs $50. UT-Alabama in Knoxville was $45.
Those are some of the top college football games in the country. Those are real rivalry games, not trumped up games where one team hasn't won in 23 years.
It's bad enough that Vanderbilt has not contributed any postseason bowl revenue to the SEC coffers since Ronald Reagan was president.
Yet the Commodores never flinch when their name is called to receive a revenue-sharing check each spring in Destin, Fla. This summer, Vanderbilt came away with $8,692,727.
Now the SEC's worst football program has the gall to charge $55 for its UT ticket. The last time it was played at Vanderbilt Stadium was 1998. Tickets were $30.
The perception is that Vanderbilt knows its stadium will cast a heavy orange hue Saturday. I remember former Vandy AD Paul Hoolahan's red face as he surveyed his first home game against Tennessee when the Big Orange Nation took over Vanderbilt Stadium.
It's insulting to jack up the ticket price to $55, banking on Tennessee fans to fill the stadium and provide even more money to a school that takes far more than it gives to the SEC formula.
Vanderbilt Vice-Chancellor David Williams signed off on the $55 ticket after that price was forwarded to him by a committee. He said yesterday he was unaware it is the highest ticket price in the SEC.
''When we set that price, we really did believe that we would be performing a little bit better,'' Williams said. ''We did think that we would actually have our fan base in there.''
Vanderbilt ticket manager Marty McGinty said yesterday there were ''more than 5,000'' tickets remaining.
What will a fan get for his $55 at Vanderbilt Stadium? The worst concession stand food in the SEC. A stadium whose only upgrades since the renovation in 1981 was to change from artificial to natural turf and install a JumboTron. In one end zone, they replaced bleachers with bushes.
It is now a game day atmosphere guaranteed safe for those at risk for heart attacks.
Instead of price gouging, Vanderbilt should pay someone to attend its football games, and send a limo to pick them up.
Vanderbilt's ticket prices for other games are all over the map. It was $10 to watch the Rutgers game, yet $24 for Eastern Kentucky, a Division I-AA program.
All home games at Florida are $25. At Georgia, any game is $32. Why should Vanderbilt charge any more to watch a team that isn't even competitive?
Tennessee and Vanderbilt fans should agree on one thing Saturday. Just say no to a $55 rip-off.
MY OPINION: This is garbage! What ever happened to free enterprise? If you don't wanna pay the $55, then DON'T GO! Vanderbilt should be able to charge whatever they want. High Demand = Higher Prices
That's business, take it or leave it.
Full Story: http://www.tennessean.com/sports/columnists/biddle/archives/04/11/61572321.shtml?Element_ID=61572321
By JOE BIDDLE
Vanderbilt has its nerve. Want to attend this week's Vandy-Tennessee football game at Vanderbilt Stadium? It will cost you $55. That represents the most expensive football ticket in the Southeastern Conference. You can get in the SEC Championship game for $50. Tickets for the annual Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville are $32, cocktails not included. When Florida State visits Florida, it's a $25 ticket. The Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn costs $50. UT-Alabama in Knoxville was $45.
Those are some of the top college football games in the country. Those are real rivalry games, not trumped up games where one team hasn't won in 23 years.
It's bad enough that Vanderbilt has not contributed any postseason bowl revenue to the SEC coffers since Ronald Reagan was president.
Yet the Commodores never flinch when their name is called to receive a revenue-sharing check each spring in Destin, Fla. This summer, Vanderbilt came away with $8,692,727.
Now the SEC's worst football program has the gall to charge $55 for its UT ticket. The last time it was played at Vanderbilt Stadium was 1998. Tickets were $30.
The perception is that Vanderbilt knows its stadium will cast a heavy orange hue Saturday. I remember former Vandy AD Paul Hoolahan's red face as he surveyed his first home game against Tennessee when the Big Orange Nation took over Vanderbilt Stadium.
It's insulting to jack up the ticket price to $55, banking on Tennessee fans to fill the stadium and provide even more money to a school that takes far more than it gives to the SEC formula.
Vanderbilt Vice-Chancellor David Williams signed off on the $55 ticket after that price was forwarded to him by a committee. He said yesterday he was unaware it is the highest ticket price in the SEC.
''When we set that price, we really did believe that we would be performing a little bit better,'' Williams said. ''We did think that we would actually have our fan base in there.''
Vanderbilt ticket manager Marty McGinty said yesterday there were ''more than 5,000'' tickets remaining.
What will a fan get for his $55 at Vanderbilt Stadium? The worst concession stand food in the SEC. A stadium whose only upgrades since the renovation in 1981 was to change from artificial to natural turf and install a JumboTron. In one end zone, they replaced bleachers with bushes.
It is now a game day atmosphere guaranteed safe for those at risk for heart attacks.
Instead of price gouging, Vanderbilt should pay someone to attend its football games, and send a limo to pick them up.
Vanderbilt's ticket prices for other games are all over the map. It was $10 to watch the Rutgers game, yet $24 for Eastern Kentucky, a Division I-AA program.
All home games at Florida are $25. At Georgia, any game is $32. Why should Vanderbilt charge any more to watch a team that isn't even competitive?
Tennessee and Vanderbilt fans should agree on one thing Saturday. Just say no to a $55 rip-off.
MY OPINION: This is garbage! What ever happened to free enterprise? If you don't wanna pay the $55, then DON'T GO! Vanderbilt should be able to charge whatever they want. High Demand = Higher Prices
That's business, take it or leave it.
Full Story: http://www.tennessean.com/sports/columnists/biddle/archives/04/11/61572321.shtml?Element_ID=61572321