The West Virginia at Pittsburgh is officially sold out. That is upwards of 68K tickets sold, on Thursday night with ESPN Gameday there. That means something, but what exactly? It’s more than just a sellout.
The Backyard Brawl is SOLD OUT‼️
Every seat at @AcrisureStadium has been sold for the Pitt-WVU game!#H2P » #BeatWVU pic.twitter.com/1UCYPF29iD
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) August 5, 2022
Say what you will about ESPN and their deal with ACC. Yea we know it needs a restructure, but they give the ACC primetime treatment to open the season. West Virginia/Pittsburgh is the premier game Thursday night as the season truly gets underway after a light week 0 the weekend before. LSU/FSU will be the primetime Sunday night, and Georgia Tech vs Clemson is front and center on Labor Day night.
We will dig more into that in a future, but let’s take a closer look at West Virginia/Pittsburgh.
Since 2015 Pittsburgh has sold out these home games not counting the COVID 2020 year…
Notre Dame 2015, Penn State 2016, Penn State 2018 and that’s it. Clemson in 2020 was a near sellout, and now West Virginia.
Notre Dame is probably not joining the ACC anytime soon. Penn State isn’t, but West Virginia?
When West Virginia played Virginia Tech in a game at Landover, Maryland it drew 67K.
With the Big 10 just gobbling up schools with no tangible affiliation to the Big 10 other than a television market i.e their last 4 adds UCLA, USC, Maryland, and Rutgers. I mean who isn’t waiting for that UCLA vs Minnesota late October battle and the Rutgers vs Maryland rivalry game that captivates the nation?
Here’s a concept for the ACC, with the lack of national brands shrinking why not cultivate regionally attractive conference matchups that generate high ticket sales and likely still pretty good TV ratings.
There’s more than one way to generate revenue.
The 3-3-5 scheduling model was a step in the right direction, now take it further.
If ESPN says a West Virginia doesn’t add television value, I can’t imagine the ACC would lose that value if they are added and suddenly you have a regional partner that’s going give you near sellouts to sellout games anywhere in the mid-atlantic, and a reasonable 6-hour drive to Louisville, Kentucky.
Do the math. Pittsburgh sold at least 20,000 tickets more than a usual home game, at say at no less than $50 a ticket.
You just made over an additional $1,000,000 at the gate off one home game.
Make sure you follow the All Sports Discussion Twitter account at @AllSportsDACC and please like our Facebook Page
1 ping
Chris Lambert says:
August 6, 2022 at 2:02 pm (UTC -5)
My great fear is that college football loses its heart and soul and become more like the NFL.
The Backyard Brawl is one of the antidotes to the heartless hegemony of the B1G/SEC axis.
It just means more for WVU to play Pitt. The Panthers deny they feel the same, but their actions speak louder than their denials.
The Brawl gives both programs the spotlight. It generates interest that translates into ticket sales and TV ratings.
I often say when Pitt or VT are on the schedule it’s a 1 or 2 game season. Nothing means more than besting Pitt and thrashing VPI.
For WVU the Brawl means something extra. The Mountaineers are the only school from the old Big East – except Rutgers – not to be welcomed by the ACC.
Twice, maybe thrice, the ACC has looked down its nose at WVU and said “you’re not good enough.” And our old friends Pitt and VT joined in the chorus condemning the Mountaineers.
It was WVU who ensured Virginia Tech was invited into the Big East. The Mountaineers had other options and threatened to leave the Big East if the Hokies were not invited. The Big East did as WVU asked.
Years later, after Boston College and Virginia Tech had fled to the ACC. WVU and Pitt were active partners in trying to save the Big East. Oliver Luck and Steve Pederson, once it was clear the basketball only schools would not give up their voting majority, approached the ACC as a tandem.
ESPN supposedly gave their stamp of approval to the ACC poaching WVU and Pitt. The Big East had just refused ESPN’s final offer and was determined to take their media rights out to bid. Losing WVU and Pitt would have killed the Big East.
Swofford recommended the ACC invite WVU and Pitt. UNC and Duke balked. The Mountaineers were out, Syracuse was in…
Pitt did nothing. Virginia Tech did nothing.
Later, when the ACC’s contract with ESPN was revised to accommodate Pitt and Syracuse, FSU and Clemson were unset the money promised from expansion was far less than what the ACC received.