Interesting game, empty seats
Published: 10/27/2006 2:39 PM
Last Modified: 10/27/2006 2:39 PM
As of Wednesday, about 3,500 tickets remained unsold for Saturday's Nebraska-Oklahoma State football game in Stillwater.
At 2 p.m. Friday, I checked OSU's ticket Web site to see what seats were still unclaimed.
Among available seats were two at midfield, 39 rows from the field.
Check the price – $240 apiece.
For a regular-season college football game?
For a game featuring teams with a combined total of five losses? One ticket – $240? And if money is no object, you can get a club seat for $425.
The lowest-priced ticket for Nebraska-OSU was $85. Those tickets are gone.
What has happened to college football? I understand that OSU last year had the fourth-lowest operating budget in the Big 12, and that ticket revenue goes directly to the operating budget. I understand that when athletic director Mike Holder made the decision to raise ticket prices, he did it in an effort to make Oklahoma State more competitive in the Big 12.
OSU is not the only school with expensive tickets. The prices have skyrocketed throughout the major conferences. But when some fans simply cannot afford a ticket, college football has taken an unfortunate step toward losing its core audience.
A $240 ticket. Wow. That's why an extremely interesting game like Nebraska-OSU, matching teams that combine to average 72 points per contest, will be played before a less-than-capacity crowd at Boone Pickens Stadium.
-- Bill Haisten
Written by
Bill Haisten
Sports Writer
