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(Tenured Radical)

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Eleven Players in Search of an Audience



Yessiree, time to drop in on ol' T. Boone and his boys -- his Cowboys -- at his beloved Oklahoma State University, where they do football fever like NOWHERE else!


STILLWATER -- Oklahoma State University graduate Bill Bearden has been a regular at Bedlam football games since the mid-1970's, but will not attend Saturday's OU-OSU clash at Boone Pickens Stadium.

While describing himself as an "avid fan" of Cowboy football, basketball and wrestling, Bearden says economic issues have sidelined him and his family during the 2006 football season.

After having held four season tickets during most of the last 25 seasons, Bearden says he did not purchase 2006 tickets because of OSU's price increase.

"I decided it was time for me to stop going to the football and basketball games," said the 52-year-old Bearden, owner of a convenience store in Morris. "The pricing is definitely too much for a lot of people.

"I'm glad Boone Pickens is supporting the university, and I understand what the university is doing with facilities, but I don't think the average OSU alumni are cut out for that level. It has become a corporate deal, sort of like the NFL." [Can you hear the resignation in Bill's voice? Twenty-five years of loyalty and now he's just had it. But how expensive can these tickets be? Hold on to your hat.]

Saturday's 1:30 p.m. contest matches 13th-ranked Oklahoma (9-2) with a 6-5 Cowboy squad that ranks seventh nationally in rushing offense and scoring.

It's an attractive matchup, replete with Bedlam rivalry emotions, but the game is not expected to draw a sellout crowd. [Whoa. You mean after all this shit about football country, football this and football that you can't even fill a real small stadium for one of your biggest games?? Just what sort of price are we talking about?]

The Cowboys have not had a sellout crowd for any of their five previous home dates. [Them's home games. ] The season-ticket sales total crested at 33,000, down from last year's figure of 37,500. The current attendance average is 40,581, down from last year's figure of 44,860. [They're dropping like flies.]

"We've all noticed the (empty) seats this year," Cowboy offensive tackle Corey Hilliard said. "It's kind of disheartening, but at the same time, all you can do is just go out there and play. I wish there were a way for our fans to be there without the high prices." [I'll say it's disheartening. It's not like this is some pansy school like the University of Chicago. This is fuckin' Oklahoma! ]

Said OSU linebacker Jeremy Nethon: "It's not about the fans that aren't there. It's about the fans that are there. We're playing for them and for our team." [Glass half full kinda thing. Whatever gets you through the night. ]

With a seating capacity of 43,500, Boone Pickens Stadium is the Big 12's smallest football venue. [Don't even need many people to buy tickets, in other words. I smell a rebellion.] As of 5 p.m. Monday, remaining tickets were priced at $250, $350 and $600. There were 43 of the $250 seats (located between the 25- and 35-yard lines on the south side) and 114 of the $300 tickets (at midfield on the south side). [Finally we get to the hard numbers. My oh my.]

Each of the 1,426 remaining club seats goes for $600. A donation is built into the price of those tickets. As the countdown to Bedlam kickoff has begun, OSU officials acknowledge that there probably will not be a huge rush for the $600 tickets.

Before this season, the most expensive single-game ticket in OSU football history went for $75 (for the 2004 Bedlam game). This season, the Texas A&M single-game ticket was priced at $75 and Nebraska at $85. OU-OSU single-game tickets, priced at $100, have been sold out since September.

OSU's basic season tickets increased from the 2005 price of $231 to $295 this year. Club-level tickets rose from $231 to $395. Attached to the purchase of a club seat is a required donation of $1,500 to the Posse Club. [Known 'round Stillwater as the Your Ass in A Sling Club.]

Ticket revenue is poured into the athletic department's operating budget. Pickens' $165 million donation, along with the money generated from the investment of that donation, is committed to the stadium renovation and development of the Athletic Village.

"If anything, I underpriced the tickets," OSU athletic director Mike Holder said. "We're still seventh in the league in pricing, relative to our competitors. And we're in a stadium that in some cases seats half as many people.

"I wouldn't be satisfied with finishing in seventh place in the league. If we want to play with the elite football programs in the Big 12 Conference, then we need to price our product accordingly." [Got some big ol' Cowboy fans tellin' you what you can do with your product.]

OU sold 71,000 season tickets this season. Its most expensive single-game ticket was $85 for the Texas contest in Dallas. OU's other single-game ticket prices were $57 (for the UAB and Middle Tennessee games) and $67 (for the Washington, Iowa State, Colorado and Texas Tech games).

During his press conference on Monday, Cowboy coach Mike Gundy said he was not aware that OSU was offering Bedlam tickets priced at $250, $300 and $600. [Sound like a big ol' piece o' cow patty to me.]

"There are a lot of things that I have to worry about, and that's not one of them," he said. "That's somebody else's job. What we do is try to put a team on the field so that the six times we play (at Boone Pickens Stadium), people leave here and felt like they enjoyed the game and it's been worth coming to." [Sound like you better ratchet up that worrying... Maybe you can make up some of the difference outta your salary?]