I’d assume Dayton would want that? Right?
To be clear on what I'd be offering if I were the tOSU AD, it would eight games over 16 years with seven of them in Columbus. I would offer to pay for the seven home games but I don't know that Dayton would accept a 7:1 A:H ratio. I think the MAC schools, CSU, and WSU would because their choice would be that or nothing.
Some bad blood with GB and UWM for sure.
No need to play them. It's a no-win for the flagship.
From a competitive standpoint I understand this sentiment but I was trying to look at this through the eyes of an AD, specifically an AD at Ohio State with a ~20k arena to sell BB tickets in. From that standpoint, I'd much rather host an Ohio School than Merrimak (Massachusetts) NOLA (Louisiana) simply because I assume that a local school would bring some spectators along. Actually, if I were tOSU's AD, I would probably force that issue by making part of the payment (from tOSU) payable in tickets to the game.
Specifically, according to the Dispatch, tOSU paid $455k for their 2023 OOC games:
- $undisclosed to NOLA - 11,749 on Thu, Dec 21
- $90k to WMU - 9,505 listed attendance on Sun, Nov 19
- $undisclosed to Oakland - 9,244 listed attendance on Mon, Nov 6
- $90k to Miami-OH - 9,098 listed attendance on Wed, Dec 6
- $90k to CMU - 8,223 listed attendance on Wed, Nov 29
- $95k to Merrimak - 7,929 listed attendance on Wed, Nov 15
I would guess that NOLA had decent attendance because it was within the Christmas Break but I don't know. I'd have to look at multiple years to figure out the various factors that drive this. I *THINK* that attendance for Merrimak and CMU were bad for three reasons:
- It was still football season and Ohio State was very much in the NC race so a lot of football-first fans hadn't even looked into BB yet.
- The games were on weekdays which generally limits your market to people living and working in the Columbus area because a guy like me (roughly 2 hours from Columbus) can't make it to a weekday BB game without taking a significant amount of time off work.
- The opponents SUCKED.
WMU had better attendance probably because the game was on a weekend.
Oakland had the decent attendance probably because it was the opener and I'm guessing that a certain number of people just go to the opener each year.
Miami-OH is in the middle I would guess because it was a weekday, FB season was winding down, etc.
Since the school is paying close to $100k for these games my offer to the "Ohio Schools" would be "going rate" (to adjust for inflation because this would be a 16 year deal) but with at least ~20% of that paid in tickets. Ie, tOSU would give each Ohio school hosted ~$80k and ~$20k worth of tickets. This would serve two functions for Ohio State:
- It would reduce the price to Ohio State, and
- It would reduce the inventory of available tickets thus making the remaining tickets more scarce.
To the extent possible, I would also look to schedule the games against "Ohio Schools" on weekends to facilitate travel to Columbus for the games. Within Ohio there are LOTS of friendships and couples where one attended tOSU and the other attended Akron/Kent/BGSU/Toledo/Miami/CSU/Dayton/Ohio. My dad went to OhioU. If he were still around I might take him to a tOSU/OU BB game. My wife attended Akron, I might take her to a tOSU/Akron BB game. Etc.
The H&H series like aTm this year could be during the week because those are enough of a draw that you don't need so many people from outlying areas in Ohio. You *SHOULD* be able to sell out bigger name games simply by selling in the Columbus area. Texas A&M this year only drew 12,704 but that was on a weekday during FB season (Friday, Nov 10, the home FB game the next day against MSU had LOTS more interest), and the fanbase was fed up with the coach's ongoing failure). Two years ago (Tue, Nov 30) the home game against Dook was a sellout. Also, aTm is near the bottom of the list of schools that I'd try to get for H&H's. They are decent, I don't mean to knock on aTm but they aren't particularly great in BB nor FB. TOPS on my list would be those schools that, like tOSU, are near the top of the AP's lists of all-time best in BOTH FB and BB. That may sound stupid but Columbus is a FB first town so people are going to be MUCH more interested in a BB game against say Bama or Clemson than they would against a BB team similar to Bama/Clemson but from a school with no FB history. Thus, the top of my list for H&H's (aside from any BB blueblood* willing to sign up) would be:
- Florida, 15FB, 45BB - Only school to win both in the same academic year, also has history with tOSU in the postseason in both.
- Oklahoma, 3FB, 23BB - One of three schools along with tOSU and UF to make the NC game in both in the same academic year.
- Notre Dame, 5FB, 16BB - also local so they'll bring some fans.
- Bama, 1FB, T33BB
- Tennessee, 10FB, T42BB
- Texas, 7FB, 44BB
- Arkansas, 20FB, T24BB
- Mizzou, 33FB, 39BB
- Pitt, 30FB, 41BB - also local so they'll bring some fans.
- WVU, 42FB, T31BB - also local so they'll bring some fans.
Ohio State is the only school in the top-10 of both at #2FB, #10BB.
For reference, aTm is #22FB, #T100BB. That isn't quite what I am looking for. I'd also lean toward localish schools like ND, Pitt, and WVU above and also including Louisville and any others I'm not thinking of at the moment.
*BB Bluebloods to me are Carolina, Dook, Kansas, and Kentucky. There is some argument as to whether or not UCLA and Indiana should be on that list but that is irrelevant since they will regularly visit Columbus as conference-mates.
The next best BB schools according to the AP list that are not bluebloods, conference-mates, nor already mentioned above are:
- #6 Louisville - kinda mentioned above and somewhat local so a definite target.
- #7 Zona
- #11 Cuse
- #12 Cincy - NO, for the same reason that @847badgerfan doesn't like playing "Market".
- #15 Villanova
- #18 Marquette
- #20 Gonzaga
- #21 UCONN - They either are or are close to something of a "modern blueblood". I'd sign them in a heartbeat.
- #22 G'Town - This would be great because there are a lot of alums and recruits in the DC area.
- #T24 Utah
- #26 NCST
- #27 UVA
- #28 KSU
- #30 UNLV
- #T31 OkSU
- #T33 St. Johns
- #35 Memphis
That is 30 schools to choose from:
- 4 Bluebloods
- 10 listed as high in both FB and BB
- 16 (not incl Cincy) "next best BB schools".
That is at least enough to be a good start on signing games.
