Why the Bowls Love Navy

Navy is a great draw, like Notre Dame used to be. I think they will be a great draw for a time to come. I just talked to a Midshipmen yesterday, he went to high school, with my son. He flying to San Diego tomorrow. And fly right back after the game to be with family for Christmas. I wish they were in the Military Bowl, I would be there.

GO NAVY,

RGK
 
Navy has the advantage of playing in San Diego. Any decent Navy team that plays its bowl game in San Diego is likely to sell out. This is definitely a decent Navy team.

Air Force also has a decent team (and the CinC's trophy for 2010) but the Falcons are playing in . . . Shreveport. Not exactly an Air Force town. Air Force will likely always struggle to sell out. It's hard to think of a city comparable to San Diego where the Falcons could play and sell out. San Antonio, maybe? Is a bowl game even played there?

San Diego State will give Navy a tough game. The Air Force game gave them some real-time preparation for the Navy game. Navy should win though.
 
Could it be because?

Navy is a great draw, like Notre Dame used to be. I think they will be a great draw for a time to come. I just talked to a Midshipmen yesterday, he went to high school, with my son. He flying to San Diego tomorrow. And fly right back after the game to be with family for Christmas. I wish they were in the Military Bowl, I would be there.

GO NAVY,

RGK

Naval Base San Diego is the largest base of the United States Navy on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. Naval Base San Diego is the principal homeport of the Pacific Fleet, consisting of 54 ships and over 120 tenant commands. The base is composed of 13 piers stretched over 977 acres (3.95 km2) of land and 326 acres (1.32 km2) of water. The total on base population is 20,000 military personnel and 6,000 civilians. And lets not forget the large Navy retired population in San Diego.

:thumb:
 
It's hard to think of a city comparable to San Diego where the Falcons could play and sell out. San Antonio, maybe? Is a bowl game even played there?

Alamo Bowl at $2.25 million payout makes it one of the highest paying bowls outside of the BCS. Consistently one of ESPN's highest viewerships during bowl season. Big 12/Pac-10 tie-ins.

http://www.alamobowl.com/main/index.php

Texas A&M and Army played a regular season game there a few years back.
 
Naval Base San Diego is the largest base of the United States Navy on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. Naval Base San Diego is the principal homeport of the Pacific Fleet, consisting of 54 ships and over 120 tenant commands. The base is composed of 13 piers stretched over 977 acres (3.95 km2) of land and 326 acres (1.32 km2) of water. The total on base population is 20,000 military personnel and 6,000 civilians. And lets not forget the large Navy retired population in San Diego.

:thumb:

Very true and don't forget NAB and North Island as well as Miramar and Camp Pendleton (lots of USNA grads). San Diego is a great military town.

But... last year it was in Houston and in the 8 years of selling out of its allotment only one other year was it in San Diego. Having it in DC or San Diego definitely helps but it seems it is also a fan base that travels well.
 
Navy has the advantage of playing in San Diego. Any decent Navy team that plays its bowl game in San Diego is likely to sell out. This is definitely a decent Navy team.

Air Force also has a decent team (and the CinC's trophy for 2010) but the Falcons are playing in . . . Shreveport. Not exactly an Air Force town. Air Force will likely always struggle to sell out. It's hard to think of a city comparable to San Diego where the Falcons could play and sell out.

In the past eight years, Navy has sold out in Houston twice, DC, Charlotte, and San Francisco, none Navy towns. Navy fans travel well. AF ones do not. Why?
 
In the past eight years, Navy has sold out in Houston twice, DC, Charlotte, and San Francisco, none Navy towns. Navy fans travel well. AF ones do not. Why?

None of those games were sell outs. Maybe Navy sold out there allotment but the games were not sell out.:thumb:
 
None of those games were sell outs. Maybe Navy sold out there (sic) allotment but the games were not sell out.:thumb:

I never said they were. Did you read my original post?
For the eighth consecutive year, Navy has sold it's entire Bowl ticket allocation
I think this is the first year that Navy has not been allocated more tickets once they reached their original allocation. Since they receive revenue from these sales, one of the downsides of playing a home team in a Navy town. It is costing us.
 
I never said they were. Did you read my original post? I think this is the first year that Navy has not been allocated more tickets once they reached their original allocation. Since they receive revenue from these sales, one of the downsides of playing a home team in a Navy town. It is costing us.

I am not sure, but how do you know if AF sold out there allotment or not in previous bowl games. How do you know if they will sell out there allotement for the upcoming bowl game. AF plays 4 days after Navy.
 
I'll agree that air force fans might not travel AS WELL as Navy, but that doesn't mean we don't travel. A perfect example is the Armed Forces bowl (That army is going to this year). Air Force has been there the last 3 years. Total attendance for those 3 years, was ALL over 40,000+. The Armed Forces Bowl put out a statement saying that PRIOR to air force coming to that bowl, they ONLY SOLD OVER 40,000 1 time in the past. So air force definitely attracts fans.

One problem with looking at ticket sales numbers is: You're looking at ONLY the tickets sold at the academy ticket office/web site. The Independence Bowl (Where air force is playing this year) is in Louisiana. "Shreveport". It is right next to Barksdale AFB. Population of about 10,000 Military members/civilians. 15,000 if you include family members. Very unlikely that ANY OF THESE INDIVIDUALS are going to the Air Force Academy website to order tickets. They are getting them right there on base. Matter of fact, I posted links in the MWC forum that the independence bowl mentioned that barksdale afb sold out their initial allotment of tickets, and needed more. "I don't know how many that was". Point is; ticket sales from the academy web site is predominantly academy fans. But the majority of tickets sold, won't be from that website. it will be from local bases; ticketmaster; other on-line sites, and directly from the bowl. FYI: When I buy Air Force academy tickets for away games to Wyoming and CSU (Colorado State University), I buy them from the local stadium or here at F.E. Warren AFB in Wyoming.

Air Force might not have the fan base as navy, because we're a lot more spread out and don't have too many 20,000+ bases, but we do OK.
 
Air Force also has a decent team (and the CinC's trophy for 2010) but the Falcons are playing in . . . Shreveport.

Actually, Shreveport has an AF Base (ok, Bossier City). Barksdale AFB is home to the Air Force's Global Strike Command, to include HQ 8th Air Force.
 
One problem with looking at ticket sales numbers is: You're looking at ONLY the tickets sold at the academy ticket office/web site. ...............................................................................................
Point is; ticket sales from the academy web site is predominantly academy fans. But the majority of tickets sold, won't be from that website. it will be from local bases; ticketmaster; other on-line sites, and directly from the bowl. FYI: When I buy Air Force academy tickets for away games to Wyoming and CSU (Colorado State University), I buy them from the local stadium or here at F.E. Warren AFB in Wyoming.
One should ALWAYS purchase Bowl tickets through the Academy. This is normally the school's sole source of revenue for playing in the bowl. 15,000 tickets at $50 each equals a three quarter million dollar payout. When schools discount tickets such as AF normally does (half price and two for one last year), they are only hurting their revenue. I think the same thing generally applies to away games during the regular season, the visiting team gets a certain allotment of tickets to do with as they wish. If they don't sell them, they lose money.
 
This may be the "Only Source of Income" for navy or army, but not air force. REMEMBER!!!! We Have a Conference!!!! We get a percentage of the bowl game we're in; plus we get a percentage of ALL the bowls that our OTHER CONFERENCE MATES are in. So for air force, we get "X%" of our share of the independence bow (% of $1.1 Million dollars). We also get a percentage of the $1 million las vegas bowl, the $750,000 new mexico bowl, the $750,000 Poinsettia Bowl, and the $17 million Rose Bowl. (Rose bowl isn't an equal split among Non-BCS teams like TCU and the BCS team like wisconsin - But we still get a pretty decent pay-day. Our conference gets $9 Million shared among 5 non-bcs conference = $1.8 million per conference). If it was Navy or Army in the BCS bowl; you'd get $4.5 million to keep for yourselves.

Basically, when all is said and done, each team in our conference makes about $600,000 per year from bowl games. (The MWC shares their winnings among all conference teams). The teams playing make a little more to cover travel and expenses.

FWIW: Navy and Army also make money for the bowls they are in. They don't have to share, but for Army, they get $750,000 for the armed forces bowl, and navy gets $750,000 for the Poinsettia bowl. Ticket sales are a double sided sword. Your school has to promise "X" amount of tickets sold, or you have to pay for them. Also, you don't get the $50 per ticket. You get a fraction of that ticket. The money goes to the bowl. They pay you from ticket sales, commercials, etc...

Yes, it would be fantastic if all air force fans bought their tickets from the air force falcons website. But that isn't realistic. Unless you're a falcon season ticket holder, chances are you're going to buy them from your local military base if it's local to you; like the Independence bowl; or you're probably going to go online to the bowl ticket center. FWIW: While the bowls require each team to sell "X" amount of tickets, that is usually waived if the total attendance equals "Y" amount of tickets sold. They understand that most people don't buy directly from the school. So, if the stadium seats 50,000; and total tickets sold are 44,000; and air force showed ticket sales of 3,000 instead of the 12,500 they should sell; they won't be held to the other 9500, because it wouldn't even be possible to seat that many. It would be more than the 50,000. Plus, the bowls know the neutral bought tickets are the majority. However; last weekend's bowl game in Boise Idaho (Humanitarian Bowl) only sold 25,000 tickets TOTAL. Not all of them even showed up for the game. Fresno and Northern Illinois would most likely be responsible for not making their allotment. Air Force hasn't had any real problems the last 3 years, because the Armed forces bowl had more than 40,000 tickets sold each year. Each bowl is different.
 
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Ticket sales are a double sided sword. Your school has to promise "X" amount of tickets sold, or you have to pay for them. Also, you don't get the $50 per ticket. You get a fraction of that ticket. The money goes to the bowl. They pay you from ticket sales, commercials, etc...

Yes, it would be fantastic if all air force fans bought their tickets from the air force falcons website. But that isn't realistic. Unless you're a falcon season ticket holder, chances are you're going to buy them from your local military base if it's local to you; like the Independence bowl; or you're probably going to go online to the bowl ticket center. FWIW: While the bowls require each team to sell "X" amount of tickets, that is usually waived if the total attendance equals "Y" amount of tickets sold. They understand that most people don't buy directly from the school.

I don't know which bowls to which you are referring, but the ones that Navy plays in, allocate a block of tickets to the school, the total face value of which equals the contracted payout to the school. The school gets 100% of the revenue off these tickets. They don't sell. They don't get the payout. They sell below face value, the payout is reduced. They request an additional allocation and sell those, a greater than contracted payout. Why do you think school officials annually beseech their fans to only buy tickets through the athletic department? Any ticket that goes unsold and is returned to the bowl costs the school money.

The only way your 50,000/44,000 example can work is for AF to return their unused tickets which will then be sold by the bowl. Those returned tickets by AF was lost revenue.
 
I don't know which bowls to which you are referring, but the ones that Navy plays in, allocate a block of tickets to the school, the total face value of which equals the contracted payout to the school. The school gets 100% of the revenue off these tickets. They don't sell. They don't get the payout. They sell below face value, the payout is reduced. They request an additional allocation and sell those, a greater than contracted payout. Why do you think school officials annually beseech their fans to only buy tickets through the athletic department? Any ticket that goes unsold and is returned to the bowl costs the school money.

The only way your 50,000/44,000 example can work is for AF to return their unused tickets which will then be sold by the bowl. Those returned tickets by AF was lost revenue.

I understand what you're saying now about tickets. And you are correct. But the way it's actually paid out is the price of the tickets are subtracted from their bowl winnings. But not all bowls pay out that way. It is possible that navy and probably army have it set that way, because they are independents. In a conference, most conference have some form of splitting bowl money up with all the teams in the conference. Some conference give more to the participant. Some, like the PAC-10 (Last time I checked), take all bowls, minus ALL expenses (Including any penalties for not selling a minimum of tickets); and split the remaining money evenly with all teams in the conference. But we definitely agree that if a school doesn't sell their minimum allotted tickets, they do lose some money.
 
Qualcomm Stadium field flooded. Gotta give the US Navy the edge on water. :wink:

Poinsettia Bowl will go on as scheduled

Associated Press

SAN DIEGO -- The Poinsettia Bowl's executive director says the game between Navy and San Diego State will go on as scheduled Thursday night even though part of the field at Qualcomm Stadium was under water some 24 hours before kickoff.

Bruce Binkowski says the stadium's grounds crew is working around the clock to pump out the water from several days of heavy rain. A large portion of the parking lot has flooded as well, which could cause problems for the expected crowd of 51,000.

It rained so hard Tuesday that Navy and SDSU practiced in hotel ballrooms. SDSU held its Wednesday walkthrough on campus while Navy went to a nearby high school with a turf field.​
 
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Thank God it's Navy and not Army playing..... :thumb:
 
Update: the news is reporting that groundskeepers pumped out 1.5 million gallons of water last night...and are now painting the field, they must be using watercolors :shake:
 
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