West Virginia Univ. Sports Marketing Dir Matt Wells yesterday said that the university ticket office “has sold about 7,700 of the 17,500 tickets it received” for the Jan. 4 Orange Bowl against Clemson, according to Jared Hunt of the Charleston DAILY MAIL. The school will “have to foot the bill for any of the unsold tickets -- which range in price from $75 to $225 -- it still has by kickoff.” Wells said that it is “still unclear how much that total cost might be.” The amount “will eat into the estimated $2.2 million of Big East bowl share revenue the university is expected to receive for the BCS bowl game.” Wells said that the unsold tickets “won't necessarily go unused.” WVU has “teamed up with a national non-profit organization to donate some tickets to active and former members of the military and their families.” Wells said that “a combination of factors may account for the university's low sales tally.” Wells: "The fact that it's a mid-week date after the holiday and it requires additional vacation time, plus the fact that kids are back in school by then -- that all certainly plays into things." He also said that the “rise of websites such as StubHub.com that help fans exchange tickets has affected university sales because they can offer tickets at lower prices.” Hunt notes the Orange Bowl website “has its own such exchange with upper-level tickets available for as little as $19.” Wells: "I don't think there's any doubt that there's going to be a significant amount of fans that have bought tickets through other outlets than our ticket office that will show up on game day" (Charleston DAILY MAIL, 12/28).
TICKET ROUNDUP: Virginia Tech’s ticket office yesterday said that “more than 14,000 of the 17,500 tickets" the school was allotted for its Sugar Bowl matchup against Michigan are accounted for. But in DC, Mark Giannotto noted that figure “is a bit misleading,” as the school “has actually sold 10,243 tickets and, through the school’s proxy program, fans have purchased another 409 tickets that will be distributed to military personnel and various New Orleans charity organizations.” Virginia Tech Assistant AD/Ticketing Services Sandy Smith yesterday said that “an additional 4,000 tickets will be distributed to military personnel with the cost being picked up by a combination of the school and the ACC, because both would have to cover the cost of unsold tickets anyway” (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 12/27). Meanwhile, Univ. of Cincinnati Associate AD/Communications Doug Mosley said that the school as of yesterday “has sold nearly 10,000 of its allotted 12,000 tickets for the Liberty Bowl against Vanderbilt on New Year’s Eve" (CINCINNATI.com, 12/27).
