The Shreveport Times reports that the Independence Bowl is a sellout. You can still buy tickets, though. The story reports that Georgia has sold only half of its 12,000 ticket allotment, but because the school buys the tickets, the game itself is a sellout. Georgiadogs.com is the only place to buy tickets now.
Look, I understand the logistical problems with a trip to Shreveport on December 28, but if you ever wonder why a bowl might pass over Georgia for another fanbase, here's at least one reason. We can't muster 12,000 fans to buy a ticket.
Quinton
18 comments:
People who can reasonably do so and think of themselves as UGA fans should buy tickets and go, if only to support the team, and I have no problem with pushing that agenda forward. But to say that we will be passed over fr another fanbase if we don't buy tickets is a phony scare tactic. We are in the Indy Bowl because we are average as grits. We aren't used to thinking of ourselves as average. If we had a losing history and were newly bowl eligible of course we'd sell out. If we were average and had a legend retiring (Papa Bowden) we would also probably sell out. But none of those things apply here, imo.
That fact is its a lousy bowl game. You really have to want to go to Shreveport. Damon call sell UGA by how many Dawgs were in Tempe, how many will be in Boulder and how many we've sold for the "better" bowl games.
I'm going, but I'm not going to buy my tickets from the school. I've been to too many bowl games to do otherwise.
First, the school allotments are the absolute worst seats in the stadium. Second, I'll be able to get a free ticket when I actually show up to the game that is probably better than anything I could buy through UGA.
I'm not really worried about increasing our attractiveness to the bowls if we're 7-5. Those games only exist for ESPN ratings anyway and the UGA brand matters more than our fans buying an extra 6,000 tickets.
Usually I'd say this is a shame, but we're talking Shi*port here.
Memo to Damon and Richt: Don't lose 5 games and we won't have to worry about not selling our allotment of tickets to a crappy bowl.
There are 100k + Dawg fans who make the annual pilgrimage down to the St John's River to see us get beaten and we traveled like crazy to ASU and Okie State. Our fans aren't the problem. Our team is.
I am not surprised:
A. Shreveport is not exactly a fun place to visit. This isn't Nashville or a major city. While Norman, College Station or Stillwater aren't entertainment meccas, they offer a chance to see the stadiums and universities themselves. Seeing the 12th Man tradition would be cool...This, not so much.
B. Shreveport is 675 miles from Athens, Georgia. Thus, this is an 11 hour drive, an expensive direct flight (plus car rental) or a flight to Dallas or another major city (plus car rental). The Aggies only have to drive 255 miles...This is a pricey trip.
C. A matchup in a bottom tier bowl against a 6-6 Big XII team is not thrilling. For the Aggies, this is a big matchup. For us, this is worse than the Okie State game we already played this year (and traveled well to).
D. The game is at a horrendous day and time. Not only the Monday between New Years and Christmas, but at an odd 4 p.m. Central Time. Thus, one would have no choice but to leave on Tuesday. Not many people can have the 24th through the 29th off...
That said, I think we will have close to capacity when it is all said and done...
I would love to be able to go, but can't! I really hate it. This is the only bowl we could not go to because of work schedules!
Go Dawgs! Beat the Aggies!
Buying (and pushing) tickets in order to increase our appeal for future bowl selections is a farce. Look at some of the non-tradtional teams in BCS bowls (Cincy, TCU, Boise)... They won their damn way in. We will have to do the same. I couldn't care less if we get passed over by the Cap One to be sent to the Outback or Chick-fil-A. The bowls are a joke and only one game matters - make that two - The SEC CG and the BCS title game. Everything else is just a road trip... And, Shreveport ain't sellin'. hh
Buying (and pushing) tickets in order to increase our appeal for future bowl selections is a farce. Look at some of the non-tradtional teams in BCS bowls (Cincy, TCU, Boise)... They won their damn way in. We will have to do the same. I couldn't care less if we get passed over by the Cap One to be sent to the Outback or Chick-fil-A. The bowls are a joke and only one game matters - make that two - The SEC CG and the BCS title game. Everything else is just a road trip... And, Shreveport ain't sellin'.
I'm with aladawgy this was the one bowl that there is just no way I could travel to. I don't think not selling out our tickets will reflect poorly on our team. Unless we make frequent trips to Shreveport. Plus the university can always return the tickets and the bowl game will turn around and sale them again.
I'm in. Bought 3 tickets and will be driving up from Houston (6 hours). Go Dawgs!
One of the most defining moments of being a Georgia fan........
To those wondering how widespread the Dawg Nation is....
Last year when UGA came to Tempe to play ASU I was living in Newport Beach, CA. To my surprise, 80% of the flight from Orange County to Phoenix had raucous Dawg fans donning UGA apparel. When I arrived at the airport it was more of the same. I was totally shocked to see a town so far away from home totally overrun with UGA fans. Not to mention UGA fans totally took over ASU bars on Mill Avenue. To anyone in Tempe that weekend you know what I mean. It was such an electric atmosphere in a town taken over by incoming visitors from a visiting football team.
Don't tell me the Dawgs don't have the fan base to travel well. Something Tech fans will never understand.
This bowl game probably should not even exist. At least the bottom third of bowl games should be eliminated.
I also agree that this has no bearing on quality bowls passing UGA over. UGA travels great to meaningful regular season games and decent bowls.
As alluded to above Quinton, Georgia fans have probably bought at least 12,000 tickets. The problem is we usually buy them direct from the bowl or other outlets that tend to have better seats.
Yeah. I don't think anybody would ever seriously try to argue that Georgia fans won't travel.
Tempe will never forget us.
Just to elaborate a little more about that Tempe weekend...
I traveled to the game with my boss, who formerly played at ASU in the 90's as a linebacker. We always had a back and forth on SEC vs PAC 10 b.s. I told him he was in for a rude awakening to southern football UGA style.
He said that in 30 years of following ASU football he has never witnessed a fan base that passionate. He said Tempe was a different town that weekend.
Glad to be a Georgia Bulldog....GATA
shouldnt go to any bowls. why prop up the crappy bowl system. crash and burn.
Bowls passing over a team because they can't sell tickets to Shreveport is a myth perpetuated bu indignacious fans with a superiority complex. Now, if this were a BCS bowl, you might have an argument, but I doubt that, too. We will see what happens to Florida next year. I will be driving to lovely Shreveport Monday morning, but I do not begrudge fans that choose to stay home. Selling tickets to this pissant bowl will have no bearing on where we end up next year.
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