Belk Bowl execs "anticipate an attendance decline of 15% or more" for Friday's game featuring Wake Forest-Texas A&M at Bank of America Stadium, according to Erik Spanberg of the CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL. If those projections hold up, "support here would mirror national trends." Early bowls have "struggled to attract fans so far this month," and ticket sales over the past decade have "slumped across the board." Charlotte Sports Foundation Exec Dir Will Webb, whose group runs the Belk Bowl, said, "Crowd-wise, there is a new dynamic in college football with the bowl business. There’s a reset in how they’re being sold." Webb and his staff are "hoping to reach 40,000 tickets sold and distributed." Webb said that attendance "could be in the range of 35,000, but pointed to an uptick in interest and sales early this week as a possible sign the game could reach 40,000." Arkansas and Virginia Tech played in the Belk Bowl last year, with "attendance of nearly 47,000." Webb said that he "believes tweaks will be made to help sustain and stabilize bowl games." Possible solutions include "lower payouts per school, smaller ticket allotments for participating teams to sell and, perhaps, some lower prices" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 12/26).
REMEMBER THE ALAMO: In Ft. Worth, Peter Dawson notes when Stanford and TCU face off in the Valero Alamo Bowl tomorrow, the stands "might be more empty than in previous years." Even though the Alamodome is just over three hours from Ft. Worth, there are "still face-value tickets available through TCU’s athletic department." Secondary ticket vendors, such as those on StubHub, have a "good number of ticket options that are almost a third of those figures." At present, some "upper-level seats are going for $22, while lower-level seats range from $49 to $500" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 12/27).
SWEET DEAL: In Miami, Jordan McPherson notes tickets to see Miami-Wisconsin in this year's Capital One Orange Bowl are "still available on the secondary market for relatively cheap prices." While plenty of tickets are "being sold for far above market value," StubHub, Vivid Seats and SeatGeek have "upper-level seating tickets available for under $100, with prices starting as low as $70." Lower-level sideline seats "can be found for as little as $115 while club-level seats can be found for as low as about $200." For context, tickets that were "purchased through the Orange Bowl started at $150" (MIAMI HERALD, 12/27).
