CFP Title game ticket prices plummeting

I didn't think I was saying anything political or offensive to anyone on here.

But perhaps I can clean up my comment: My guess is that for all of the Alabama and Clemson fans who were on the fence about making the investment to go to the game, San Francisco as a location would factor as more of a reason not to go than a reason to go.

My politics are generally the opposite of yours, and as someone who lived in Alabama for a while (and ten minutes from the Bama-Florida state line for longer), I saw nothing wrong with your comment. Most people there do indeed dislike California in general and the SF Bay in particular, and it would be perfectly logical for that to play a role in a decision not to attend the game.

In comment 14245838 PaulBlakeTSU said:

Quote:

to San Francisco. Given the cultural divide in this country, I couldn't think of a city less appealing to travel to from those states. And then factor in the costs and logistics of getting there.

Small sample but I was in Fort Myers for four days last week for my son's Perfect Game baseball event. I met several parents from Alabama and talked football.

A few mentioned that they had gone to the national championship game in the past. They gave this year's trip some thought but were turned off by the costs and timing (Jan 7th, being back at work, etc).

I actually mentioned San Fran and what a different city is is culturally. All of them said it would be a cool city to visit. Politics never came up.

that a bunch of racist yahoos are at Alabama and Clemson or that make up their fan base is pretty insulting.

I've tailgated with an entire group who nixed the idea of going to the National Championship weeks ago and all of the factors were financially or timing based. Not once has politics been brought up and a few people actually said they'd love to go to SF if it weren't on the heels of going to Dallas and right after the holidays when they don't have time to take off.

I think part of the divide in this country is that a lot of assumptions are made on how people feel that don't necessarily have a basis in reality or are overblown. I'm fairly confident the number of people who wouldn't travel to SF strictly for politics is really small. And those who have it as a 2nd or 3rd reason isn't much larger.

It probably says more about those who think that's the mindset than the actual mindset in the South.

Honest question - if the National championship game is being held in Tuscaloosa and you are a fan of stanford, you really wouldn't travel there because it is in the Deep South? Or does it only pertain to uneducated hicks?

I wasn't calling anyone racist yahoos, or hicks, or anything like that. But the appeal of the destination plays a role in the desire for people to spend money to go there. And San Francisco gets portrayed as a polarizing city. So, I think for reasons other than cost/logistics, it has additional negative appeal.

And I think if there were a championship game in Alabama between say, Stanford and Rutgers, who have appeared in multiple recent championships, that Alabama as a destination (ignoring its college football status), for reasons other than cost/logistics, would have a net negative appeal.

why people think expanding the playoffs w/o reigning in the retarded amount of money being spent by these programs, is a good idea since you'll just more of the same.

I would think the fans who are thinking of whether or not to travel to a destination to watch their team play is going to do it because of attraction to the team, not some social fallout. It would be like saying people wouldn't go to Detroit, or even the Meadowlands for that matter because of their proximity to violent cities.

If you are a fan of the team you are going to weigh the trip from a monetary and time investment standpoint. Any other factor is going to be way down the list, if it comes into play at all.

That's what I mean by over-blowing the divide in this country. It exists on certain levels, but unlikely when it comes to sports, especially when weighing whether or not to go to a Championship game.

There's no one cause - some of it is having two playoff games to go to. Some of it is that the same team is playing in those games - Alabama fans are fanatics, but two playoff games a year for four straight years is going to have a breaking point for all but wealthy fans.

the sheer distance would tip the scales. Would Seattle draw people better? Highly unlikely.

Off topic here, but the Clemson team went to California directly from Dallas which means they won't have been home for 10 days. Alabama was on more of a normal schedule this week.

In comment 14245558 ZogZerg said:

Quote:

it is the same 2 teams just about every year. Fan base probably not as excited as they were. Add that to the cost of flights/hotel/etc. and not really a surprise.

Definitely not due to boredom. It sounds purely economical to me.

And I’d have no problem going to a city on the opposite side of the spectrum to view my team in a championship game. I’m a Rutgers fan so that will never happen - Paul’s example above is about as close as Rutgers will ever come to a title game.

I honestly think this is due to the sheer distance of the game and travel expenses, and I do think there’s some Alabama-Clemson fatigue as well.