College Football 2015 Week 1 thread

Probably not, but I'll do it anyway:

Florida plays at Florida State every other year.

South Carolina plays at Clemson every other year.

Ole Miss plays at Memphis (10-win team last year) this year and at California in 2017.

Georgia plays at Notre Dame in 2017.

Texas A&M plays at UCLA in 2017.

Auburn plays at Clemson in 2017.

Arkansas plays at Michigan in 2018.

Mississippi State plays at Kansas State in 2018 and at Arizona in 2022.

LSU plays at UCLA in 2019 and Arizona State in 2020 (not to mention Wisconsin in Green Bay in 2016).

 

Also I think this is part of it.

Traveling to a football game is a huge commitment on a Saturday. Home games are like this. Road games even more so at double the cost to get there.

If you're in Milwaukee, why fly to DFW to watch Wisconsin and Alabama in a place that isn't college football? I'd much rather go to Tuscaloosa and get our asses kicked. At least you see the history of the opponent there.

I would much rather watch up to 26 games at home for free on Saturday then pay $1,000 to go to one game in a half-empty stadium.

 

I had season tickets for Pitt until 2013 and did the three hour drive about three times a year for the decent games on the schedule. Last home game I went to was the 2013 Florida State game on Monday night. I committed sacrilege and sold my Notre Dame seats that year. At this point I would much rather sit on my couch and watch the game rather than spending $100 for ticket/food/parking and be surrounded by drunks and hammerheads. As we become a more dormant culture college and NFL teams are gonna' have to do more to lure people to stadiums than the old "it's YOUR team! Don't you wanna' BE THERE for YOUR TEAM??!!" horseshit.

 

That's also a major concern I think in 10-20 years in college football.

Will the product itself be worth committing 6 or more hours on a Saturday at considerable cost vs watching 24 games at home where you're guaranteed a few good finishes in HD?

 

No doubt. The NFL is already feeling the crunch in that regard, and Fantasy Football adds an element to it.

A lot of people would rather subscribe to Sunday Ticket and flip around to watch "their guys" than blow an entire day and deal with all the other hassles associated with watching one game in person. The NFL is trying to elevate the in-stadium experience with things like free WiFi and so on, but the beer is cheaper, the bathroom lines are shorter and with HDTV the view is just as good at home nowadays.

With college games, you still have the "going back to the alma mater" aspect and the tailgating atmosphere (especially for a late afternoon or night game), but even that's getting less and less worth it with every passing year.

 

Not to mention every time I'm at a game that means there are about 3-4 that I can't watch, and if you factor in pre and post-game tailgating you miss most of that day's games.

 

Going to college football games has and always will crush the NFL experience, at least in my neck of the woods. Last year, I drove 4+ hours to see ECU at VT. Long drive, hot as hell, terrible game, my team lost, and it was STILL far and away better than going to ANY Redskins game (25 miles away), with the execption of maybe a few late-season games in 2012.

 

I have season tickets to the local U/my alma mater - maybe a 30 minute drive for me. Wife and I enjoy the game day experience. In fact, I think she'd be more upset if we gave up the tickets than I would be, and she went to a college half a continent away.
I can't imagine ever paying money to go to an NFL game again, though. For whatever reason, the experience just isn't nearly as enjoyable.

 

I've heard the NFL experience in places like Chicago and Green Bay is comparable to that of a college game. A buddy of mine who grew up in SEC land but moved to Chicago said going to a Bears game felt very much like going to a college game.

 

Yeah. I'm sure there are a handful of good experiences still left in the NFL. Green Bay is an obvious one. God, you'd think with the weather that San Diego and L.A. (when it gets a team) would be up there, too. And generally any time there is a snow game, I guess.

 

Mizzou goes to West Va in 2016, UConn in 2017, Purdue in 2018, Wyoming in 2019, BYU in 2020.

Vols play Ga Tech in ATL in 2017, West Va in 2018, and at Pittsburgh and at Nebraska down the line.

 

I actually prefer the NFL experience over college, but it needs to have the good tailgate experience paired with the game action. Kansas City is fantastic, Chicago was good when I was there, virtually non-existent in Atlanta.

I've said it on here before, but there will come a day when sporting teams will be asking people to come to the games for free, not unlike how Hollywood TV shows would offer up free seats to sitcom tapings--where the audience is brought in to make the experience more enjoyable for the television viewer.