tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793424786678923623.post675189457305109231..comments2024-01-24T13:11:53.844-05:00Comments on The National Championship Issue: Conference Attendance: a Double Shot of RealityUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793424786678923623.post-49997625497300833892013-02-22T18:29:41.500-05:002013-02-22T18:29:41.500-05:00It makes a lot of sense that they can schedule tha...It makes a lot of sense that they can schedule that kind of games to make money in an easy manner. price per head serviceshttp://www.hostpph.com/pay-per-head/index.aspxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793424786678923623.post-5395624638463370802011-12-14T10:18:02.198-05:002011-12-14T10:18:02.198-05:00I really enjoy this article and of course learn mo...I really enjoy this article and of course learn more about the topicxlpharmacy couponshttp://www.xlpharmacy.com/coupons.phpnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793424786678923623.post-75803881833450753552009-08-17T16:12:12.122-04:002009-08-17T16:12:12.122-04:00Hey there Nathaniel, the attendance figures are fr...Hey there Nathaniel, the attendance figures are from the NCAA's official records of the games, so (in theory) they should be more accurate than totals coming from the schools. <br /><br />You bring up a good point about ticket prices being radically different too - in reality, schools probably lose more money (per game) playing cupcakes than my above example estimates. I would love to try to incorporate ticket prices, but just finding an accurate measure of them (especially the retroactive ones going back nearly ten years) is both nearly impossible and a bigger undertaking than I want to attempt. <br /><br />If a school was really serious about focusing solely on revenue and maximizing profit, they could work up such a study, but it's tricky, mainly because even though higher-caliber make the number of fans/amount of $ go up, the chance of winning the game goes down. It seems that in the SEC it's not really that big of a deal for most teams - their fans are gonna show up whether they're 11-2 or 7-6. But in the Pac10, more losses would probably mean fewer fans, which means less money too. So it's a tricky balance that schools have to work with.Ed Guntherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618165280932470376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793424786678923623.post-64484300284197709572009-08-16T15:05:12.279-04:002009-08-16T15:05:12.279-04:00Excellent analysis as usual.
A couple questions a...Excellent analysis as usual.<br /><br />A couple questions and a possible, though not certain, critique.<br /><br />First, what was your source on attendance? Is there a database somewhere that tracked all this or did you just take attendance from individual boxscores and compile them?<br /><br />Second, not only does attendance vary against lower-tier teams, but in many cases, the ticket prices do as well. This is not a hard and fast rule, and I'm sure the biggest programs don't adhere to it, but some of the marginal BCS conference teams will often charge a significantly reduced price on single game tickets when it is not a marquee opponent. I'm not positive how you would factor that in, but it seems like something worth considering if an AD were going to attempt a real NPV analysis.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05730023727520266554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793424786678923623.post-9184341248081360552009-07-16T11:08:43.593-04:002009-07-16T11:08:43.593-04:00Thanks, bevo. Scheduling cupcakes does make financ...Thanks, bevo. Scheduling cupcakes does make financial sense - but you've gotta add scheduling differences to attendance to see it.<br /><br />Most BCS conference opponents insist on a home-and-home series, while a lot of non-BCS teams will settle for a one time game, or a one-and-two series (one game at the opponent, two at home). Games against I-AA cupcakes are always a one time game (the only teams that have traveled TO a I-AA opponent in the BCS era were from the SunBelt, and it's only happened 7 times). <br /><br />So for example, Tennessee can schedule a home-and-home with UCLA, play two games, and have a total attendance (at their one home game) of around 100,000. Or they can schedule a two cupcakes, play two games, and have a total attendance of 160,000. So when it comes to raw attendance per game, scheduling cupcakes is going to get them more tickets sold overall, even though their per game average is going to be 20% lower. <br /><br />Of course you've gotta add in how much they're paying the cupcake for that one game, usually in the neighborhood of hundreds of thousands of dollars (an amount which is increasing almost exponentially, incidentally). But even with such a payout, they're still gonna make more money.<br /><br />These numbers are just a very rough guesstimate/example, but...<br /><br />100,000 x $50 ticket = $5,000,000<br />160,000 x $50 ticket = $8,000,000 - two $500,000 payouts = $7,000,000<br /><br />When universities and colleges are in penny-pinching mode, as they are now, the cupcakes' financial incentive can be too big to pass up.Ed Guntherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17618165280932470376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6793424786678923623.post-56630163445568716872009-07-16T08:35:22.105-04:002009-07-16T08:35:22.105-04:00Cool analysis and graphs. Good work. Take your dat...Cool analysis and graphs. Good work. Take your data to the conclusion though.<br /><br />Many ADs at BCS conference member schools state that football has to pay the athletics department bills. Your analysis shows that those ADs are leaving money on the table. Or, to use economists' speak, they are not maximizing revenue.<br /><br />If they believed their argument that football pays the bills, then those ADs would schedule more games against other BCS conference member schools.bevonoreply@blogger.com