The real problem/solution to this are the fans. I am not a fan of going to cupcake football games, and the prices of the tickets bear that out. So once the big stadiums stop selling out for the small games, then schools will realize that what draws high paying fans are high stakes football games. It would be interesting to see the payouts for teams that make the championship series, and how much gets shared among B1G schools. And then compare that to money lost due to light weight schools coming to town.
I skipped a wedding for Ohio State at Iowa last year. (thank God, the couple tailgates with us, and always said never will we have a fall wedding.. and what a day in Iowa City it was..) anyways, I fall into that hard core fan group Kep is talking about.
There’s only 7 times a year I get to spend in Iowa City with my dad, brother, other family and friends, etc. My season tickets allow us to park where we want, setting us up for our perfect tailgate, etc. it’s bigger than just the game — it’s the evening before hanging out and dinner having a couple drinks, waking up early, the tailgating, the people, etc. — I love when big name teams and opponents come to town, but I’m going to be tailgating with my family, enjoying the full game day experience, whether it’s Iowa vs. Ohio State or Iowa vs. Miami(OH).
Football season is such a short, sweet time of the year — this time of year, for example, I’m just itching for a game, to tailgate, see the people I love and enjoy, etc. still 100 days away. I’ll never take for granted an opportunity to spend that quality time together, so the opponent isn’t going to deter me from doing so, as they’re aren’t enough opportunities to give those up.
Now I am on the extreme side of things of course, but I know a LOT of other ticket holders who do the same.
Iowa does $25 youth tickets for those “no name” opponents, they’re part of mini season ticket packages, etc. seats will continue to be sold as long as the product on the field is competitive.
Lastly, what does it benefit Iowa competitively to drop a no name game and add a big name non conference opponent? (Especially in the 9 game B1G schedule era)
If other schools are playing 8 conference games, 1 FBS opponent, and 3 “no name” games, including one in November, competitively you’re doing yourself a disadvantage as a conference to have an additional FBS conference game to your schedule, a potential larger land mine than dropping a conference game and adding an additional no name team.
If the goal is to make the Playoff, and other conferences are making the path easier for their schools, it makes ZERO sense to play an additional conference game than others across the country, particularly when the numbers back this up.