Stoney's Blog: Be True To Your School Not Applicable To Bowl Games
The news that Michigan could not sell all of its 12,500 allocated Gator Bowl tickets threw me for a loop. I mean come on, Michigan has not been to a bowl game in 2 years and we were always told how well Michigan travels, so selling only 7,000 tickets is lame, or is it. Let's look at reality. Even the biggest die hard Maize and Bluers do not love this defensive horrific team. They have a coach that is hated by some and the chances of beating an SEC team this season is not real good. Maybe Michigan fans are actually being economically and emotionally prudent. With all due respect to the Gator Bowl, Jacksonville is not exactly the hot spot of Florida, so spending big cash for a vacation there may not be as much of a no brainer as David Brandon thought.
Michigan State has sold all of its 15,000 tickets for the Outback Bowl and with good reason. The Spartans are 11-1.They are playing the defending national champions and with Disney and Universal, Orlando is a better vacation destination.
Michigan is not unique in its failure to lure its fans to watch them in a bowl game. Virginia Tech has 10 thousand of its tickets left for the Orange Bowl. UCONN has over 13 thousand left for its first BCS appearance at the Fiesta Bowl and even Nebraska has 4 thousand of its Holiday Bowl tickets left. And I won't even bring up all the minor bowls like the Little Caesar's Bowl at Ford Field where Florida International has sold 950 tickets or last week's Humanitarian Bowl in Boise where Fresno State sold just 250 of its tickets.
The bottom line is that unless there is a playoff or less bowls, there will be thousands and thousands of empty seats at many bowl games, which is not what bowl games are all about
