Holder: Stroke of genius?
OSU will not relax its Bedlam ticket policy, and I applaud that stance. If you’re going to implement a controversial system, stick to your guns.
OSU’s policy of not selling individual-game tickets to the Nov. 29 Bedlam game seems to insure a less-than-capacity house at Boone Pickens Stadium, since OSU sold only 39,000 season tickets. OU will get its usual allotment of 5,000 tickets or so, but that leaves 15,000 or so tickets unsold unless someone wants to pay season-ticket prices for one game.
But what if they do? The season has set up like a dream for the policy. Both teams are in the top 10 and still in the running for not just the Big 12 title, but the national championship, too.
If OSU beats Texas Tech today, it likely will go into Bedlam with at least a chance of the Big 12 title, though tiebreakers could cloud the issue. If OU beats Tech on Nov. 22, same scenario, and the Sooners’ path to Kansas City figures to be even easier through the tiebreakers.
If both state schools beat Tech, it figures that the Bedlam game is for no worse than a BCS berth, perhaps the Fiesta Bowl.
Now think about where that puts OSU’s Bedlam tickets. Straight into premium land. The Bedlam game would rise to amazing status; perhaps the second-most important OSU-OU game ever, behind only 1984, when the teams entered ranked 2 and 3. And who knows where OU and OSU could be slotted on Thanksgiving if both win out?
OSU athletic director Mike Holder could come out looking like a genius, if there’s a run on Bedlam tickets. The tickets aren’t cheap; they range from $245 to $419 each, but the less expensive number requires a minimum purchase of four.
With the economy, there are all kinds of fans on both sides of Bedlam who can’t afford such prices. But there also are all kinds of fans on both sides of Bedlam who can afford the tickets and might succumb to the temptation to not miss history.
I don’t think Boone Pickens Stadium will be full for Bedlam. I also don’t think it will be OSU’s smallest crowd of the season. I believe some fans will pony up the season-ticket price. If the Cowboys and Sooners keep winning, I think it will be more than some.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Comments
You can but tickets, they are just season tickets. The reality is if 4 people go together and bye a 4 pack for $1,050.00, tickets are cheaper than on sub hub and other scaper sites, where tickets are going for $250.00 to $2,000.00 (the $2,000.00 sits are nice, 45 yard line 8 rows up, but not that nice IMO).
The truth is the Mike Holder wants to take the “Mad Hatter” title away from Mike Leech.
GO POKES!!! BEAT TECH!!!
If you’re going to set fire to your own ship, better go down with it.
Judging from Holder’s colossal mismanagement of Boone-funds, maybe someone should whack the golf coach on the head and tell him to take an economics class or two.
OSU fans better hope the OU fans decide to spend the money, or else a national TV audience will see a stadium with many empty seats. Won’t say much for OSU as a football school, though it might just be stating the truth.
Let’s see. 15,000 seats @, oh let’s say $100 each, comes to $1.5M. Not bad. But if they go to a BCS they get around $17M. Wow! Oh yeah…but it has to be split 12 ways. Hmmmm. Does that come to about $1.4M? If they think fans are going to factor in that much in a bedlam game, just wait until they go to a BCS game SOMEDAY, look around, and don’t see their bandwagon fans anywhere. What then?
Sell the seats aggies. Start playing football like your in college. Who knows? Some of the OSU fans might actually buy the tickets.
Berry also didn’t think OSU would beat Missouri so I can’t imagine his predictions are anywhere near accurate. I guess Berry also didn’t check Stub Hub or Ebay to see how ticket prices are doing for the game. But then again he is still under the impression the Sooners are playing in the National Championships and they’ve already beat Tech and OSU. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid Berry and maybe you can have Barack Obama subsidize Bedlam tickets so everyone can afford to go.
Ryan, I believe you are way wrong about Mr. Holder. He had nothing to do with the meltdown of the hedge fund.
Jeff, Holder had nothing to do with the meltdown, but he had a lot to do with placing ALL the money into ONE hedge fund.
From The New York Times:
Asked whether investing in BP Capital had been a condition of Mr. Pickens’s gift, Mr. Holder said no. “That was my decision,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/24/national/24pickens.html
February 24, 2006
I CANNOT BELIEVE A STATE INSTUTION WILL NOT SELL TICKETS TO AN INDIVIDUAL GAME WHEN SEATS ARE EMPTY.SEEMS LIKE THE MIDDLE CLASS AND FAMILYS ARE GETTING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF, IT WON’T HURT THE WELL OFF!!!
This is a retarded policy.
No other team in the country would implement such a policy. Barry, I can’t believe you are actually making it sound like a good decision.
Instead of selling season tickets for the last game of the year(the other 5 have been played), simply raise the individual price of the ticket to $150.
Any smart business man would not spur certain dollars for possible dollars. Season ticket sales will come as you build your fan base. Alienating your fan base will not help season ticket sales. Add to the fact you might increase your fan base by having them attend exciting games like the OU OSU game on a one time basis.
Many of my OSU friends are very disappointed they can’t go to this game. Any many like me enjoy going to the game with friends who went to either school. To take that away is arrogant and self defeating.
Very bad business move. I don’t care how they try to spin it NO other business would do things this way. Even at OU where the dollar is the ultimate thing they would never turn away revenue of any kind.
The seriously overestimated that OU fans would buy season tickets to go to this one game. We’re not that insane. Especially in this economic climate.
Hey Kill Mayberry , next time your in Oklahoma let’s meet up so I can kick the fu–cking sh—it out of you.
Hey Mike, I bet you’ll have plenty of help. Mayberry seems like a real winner of a guy!
I agree with those of you who think this is a bad idea. Holder is an elitist jerk who wants to price the little guy out of the game. Raising the individual game ticket price makes much more sense.
Berry never stated that he thought this was a good idea, just that the possibility of it paying off big is out there. However, if the game in Lubbock is TODAY, I bet their stadium has empty seats. How does an “elite newspaper”, let something that stupid get by? or was that buy?, or bye? My $0.02
The reality is this: the people at the game will be (a) people who bought OSU season tickets, and (b) people who got tickets through OU’s visitor allottment.
The only people complaining are (a) OU fans and (b) OSU fans who didn’t pony up for season tickets.
I have news for those people. Mike Holder doesn’t care about (a) and he’s trying to persuade (b) to buy OSU season tickets.
In 5 years, when OSU in winning consistently and more people decide to buy season tickets, there won’t be empty seats and this whole conversation will seem silly.
Tobasco should be working instead of surfing the net at 12:26pm. Let’s chat next time you’re in town. If OU has any defensive players left by bedlam time, it still won’t matter. Dez will be looking back while jogging into the endzone over and over again… Perhaps the NFL scouts will help fill the seats.
Who pays in the end? The average fan who can only afford to pay for 1 or 2 games a year. That’s hurts me and my family cause we would be the one’s buying a one game ticket for OSU/OU. Thanks alot Mr. Holder for sticking it to the average Joe. F*&K Y&%!
I love it. 40,000 loyal OSU fans against 5000 gooners down on at the end of the stadium where I can’t hear you playing the Yale fight song you stole.
For you upset poke fans, sorry. But you should have bought at least some tickets. If you thought single tickets would be there now it would not have happened. The gooners would have bought them up and you would not have seen the game live anyway.
I was so off on the 1st pick. My goodness, I feeel so terrrible. The cowgirls are worse than i thought.
Wow!!! Increase the tickets to milions. The tickets are priceless… you f_ _ _ _ _ _ G losers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are many of us who are fans whether it be OU or OSU that enjoy going to 1 or 2 games a year. Would we like to have season tickets? Yes. Is it feasible for us? No. Having had a child attend both institutions and they will both be home for Thanksgiving, (one now lives out of state) this would have made a fun family outing, but Holder has tied our hands. I know that there are many others out there that feel the same way. I know they are just trying to help keep OU fans from attending but the thing that makes OU/Texas so special is the half and half fans. Makes a more exciting game that way.
Today is Friday the 7th, 2008. Is the OSU/TT game today?
I imagine you were either up late or up early without coffee.
OSU’s ticket plan is strange. Do you mean to tell me that a person could go up to the ticket office this Saturday and be able to by a ticket for the game even though there are thousands of empty seats. That sure seems crazy to me.