I didn't even notice it watching on television, but Dan Wolken was there and wrote some important words about what this portends:
Even though this venue sits in the middle of a city where millions of Georgia fans live. Even though Texas, after a long buildup to joining the SEC, had a chance to win just its second conference championship in the last 15 years.
A lot of people in those two mega fan bases looked at the opportunity to watch two blueblood college football brands in a great stadium for an allegedly important title and said: “Nah.” How many empty seats were there? Hard to say, but enough to notice – particularly in the upper deck, where there were dozens and dozens of rows that had more unoccupied chairbacks than people.
That’s new for the SEC championship game. And it should be a warning for all of college football. Even in the SEC where “It Just Means More,” fans have decided that conference championships in the 12-team College Football Playoff era mean a whole lot less.
And they’re not wrong.
For better or worse, the sport has changed. Even the SEC isn’t immune. In years past, SEC fans and even administrators would sneer at other conferences that couldn’t fill seats for a championship game. Now, it’s their reality too.
Just look at the Big 12 championship game, where at least 25 percent of the stadium was empty to watch Arizona State and Iowa State. Or the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis, where you could have gone online Saturday afternoon and scored a ticket in the upper deck for about $30 – largely because Oregon fans weren’t going to travel nearly all the way across the country when their team is in the playoff win or lose.
Even if you thought the SEC wouldn’t feel those same headwinds because of history and geography, Saturday made clear there is a limit to how much greed fans will tolerate and where their priorities now lie.
Full column
Even though this venue sits in the middle of a city where millions of Georgia fans live. Even though Texas, after a long buildup to joining the SEC, had a chance to win just its second conference championship in the last 15 years.
A lot of people in those two mega fan bases looked at the opportunity to watch two blueblood college football brands in a great stadium for an allegedly important title and said: “Nah.” How many empty seats were there? Hard to say, but enough to notice – particularly in the upper deck, where there were dozens and dozens of rows that had more unoccupied chairbacks than people.
That’s new for the SEC championship game. And it should be a warning for all of college football. Even in the SEC where “It Just Means More,” fans have decided that conference championships in the 12-team College Football Playoff era mean a whole lot less.
And they’re not wrong.
For better or worse, the sport has changed. Even the SEC isn’t immune. In years past, SEC fans and even administrators would sneer at other conferences that couldn’t fill seats for a championship game. Now, it’s their reality too.
Just look at the Big 12 championship game, where at least 25 percent of the stadium was empty to watch Arizona State and Iowa State. Or the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis, where you could have gone online Saturday afternoon and scored a ticket in the upper deck for about $30 – largely because Oregon fans weren’t going to travel nearly all the way across the country when their team is in the playoff win or lose.
Even if you thought the SEC wouldn’t feel those same headwinds because of history and geography, Saturday made clear there is a limit to how much greed fans will tolerate and where their priorities now lie.
Full column
