First Posted: 12/12/2014
On Thursday, you could still go to popular ticket broker StubHub and purchase a ticket to the Ohio State vs. Alabama game for $300. Of course, you would be sitting in the end zone, up in the cheap seats with the pigeons.
If you wanted to sit near the 50-yard line in the lower deck on the Ohio State side, the going price began at $1,760 per ticket. Think that’s a lot? It’s still $800 cheaper than similar seats on the Alabama side, which had an asking price of $2,599.
Of course, if you really wanted to be a big shot, you could buy the most expensive of the 7,200 tickets StubHub had available. That would empty $53,455 from your bank account, but it would put you in a luxury box with a bunch of really rich people you’ll never see again.
Welcome to the world of today’s college athletics, where athletes don’t get paid and fans depart with their money quickly.
If — and that’s a big if — one was somehow lucky enough to purchase a Sugar Bowl ticket for face value, he or she would be paying between $175 and $250, depending on the ticket’s location. Those face value tickets were gone months ago, however, with an allotment set aside for each school and others being scooped up by ticket brokers, travel agencies and other scoundrels.
All kinds of travel packages were available.
If you had been donating money to the university and belong to The Ohio State Alumni Association, you had the chance to pick up a three-night package for $1,479 that included accommodations at the Sheraton New Orleans, a ticket to the game and passes to several social events. Not included was transportation to Louisiana. Another $800 – or $2,279 total per person – would have allowed you to hoop and holler on a charter flight from Columbus.
If you were not a donor, there was always PrimeSport, the “official” ticket exchange and hospitality provider for the Sugar Bowl. It had a ticket and hotel package starting at $1,700 per person, which included two nights at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans. Again, you would have to find your own way to New Orleans. If that meant flying, you were likely swiping your credit card for anywhere from $700 to $1,000 per plane ticket.
We’re sure these prices are all pretty reasonable to the family members of that cornerback from the inner city who doesn’t get paid a nickel for batting down passes or stepping in front of 230-pound running backs.
This is the world of college athletics today at places such as Ohio State and Alabama.
The high ticket prices don’t begin at bowl games. Most Ohio State regular season games are $79 tickets. The exceptions are what OSU calls “premier games,” such as this year’s contests against Virginia Tech ($110 per ticket) and Michigan ($150). Of course, there is no such thing as non-premier games, where a fan would pay less than $79 to watch OSU rough it up against the likes of Youngstown State and Akron.
It is hard to fathom why anyone would think the athletes playing these games shouldn’t receive some sort of paid compensation. Yes, they get their education paid for, but as OSU’s now celebrated quarterback Cardale Jones once tweeted before he knew better, “… we came here to play football, we ain’t come to play school.”
The athletes are the ones scoring the touchdowns, making the blocks and tackles, and breaking their bones and suffering concussions. They should at least be paid the same amount that’s being pocketed by that concession stand worker hawking $6 sodas and $4 popcorns.
Keep in mind we’ve just been talking about the money brought in from ticket prices. That’s just a small portion of the loot the university makes. You’ll need a whole lot of fingers and toes to count the cash a place like Ohio State soaks up from merchandise sales, licensing fees and television commercials, let alone its $8 million cut from the $500 million ESPN is reportedly paying to broadcast the college football playoffs.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association quit being about amateur sports sometime between the age of leather helmets and Woody Hayes tearing up yard markers. What’s happening today is the worst unsportsmanlike penalty or personal foul the game has seen.
Let’s pick up the flags and play ball fairly.
