[NU Sports] NU Needs your help - pass the word

[Tom Maycock]

> I can understand non-alumni season ticket holders not
> buying their allotment, but if you are alumni buy at least
> your season ticket seat quantity.  This would be a lot
> more than 11K.

How many season ticket holders do you think there are? I would have to imagine the number isn't much bigger than 11k. 

And, while many of our season ticket holders are probably retired and/or financially secure, I'll bet more than a few our out of work right now. Based on the number of extremely bright, skilled, and experienced folks I know who are out of work, it could be well more than a few. I expect bowl attendance this year is going to be pretty crappy relative to "normal" years. 

As for the bowl seat locations, that is always a problem. The school allotments almost always seem to be in the worst locations. It's why I bough tickets directly from the Alamo bowl rather than through NU back in 2000. I don't like the idea of spending a significant portion of my annual vacation budget on a bowl game only to end up relegated to crappy seats.

That said, if we had been able to go this year, I probably would have bought tickets through NU because I derive a lot of enjoyment from watching our team play and want the players and coaches to continue to have opportunities like this. But if the seats were crappy, I'd be complaining about it.

It's certainly not NU's fault. If anything, it's the Big Ten that needs to negotiate better deals. Not gonna happen though. The key is not to delude yourself over why these bowls exist and how they operate. It's all about money for most of the folks involved. 

So I'm not comfortable criticizing anyone who buys better and/or cheaper seats elsewhere. It's not like this is about immunizing children or feeding the hungry. It's a very commercial operation, and I can't argue with anyone who treats it as such. 

Tom