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You know your team sucks balls when tickets to your game are being sold on Groupon...

http://www.groupon.com/deals/gl-washing ... ?c=dnb&p=1

Washington State has trouble selling tickets when they are good. They have the biggest geographical disadvantage of all the BCS schools. In hindsight, the state of Washington shouldn't have put their land grant university in rural Idaho.

Really what choice do they have?

I posted in another thread that season ticket prices are so low at Colorado, that an opposing Pac 12 grad and fan like myself scooped them up just for the bargain of good football.

If it's working at Colorado...

DuckDuckGriz wrote:Really what choice do they have?

for the bargain of good football.

They should get rid of their sorry excuse for a football team and maybe get one of those teams that twirl ribbons and plays with little red balls, ( that might be something else I'm thinking of )

Good Football, isn't that the reason nobody wants to go to the games in the first place, because their is no such thing as good football being played at these schools?

polsongrizz wrote:

DuckDuckGriz wrote:Really what choice do they have?

They should get rid of their sorry excuse for a football team and maybe get one of those teams that twirl ribbons and plays with little red balls, ( that might be something else I'm thinking of )

Or they could move their flagship campus from Pullman BFE to Spokane, Vancouver, or Tri-Cities.

Landshark wrote:

polsongrizz wrote: They should get rid of their sorry excuse for a football team and maybe get one of those teams that twirl ribbons and plays with little red balls, ( that might be something else I'm thinking of )

Or they could move their flagship campus from Pullman BFE to Spokane, Vancouver, or Tri-Cities.

I'm not sure any of those would work either. Spokane can't even support EWU, Vancouver is next to Portland so maybe if they drop down they could get something going with the Vikings, Tri-Cities might be it though.
If none of that works for them they could fill the stadium with water and start a polo team.

Landshark wrote:Washington State has trouble selling tickets when they are good. They have the biggest geographical disadvantage of all the BCS schools. In hindsight, the state of Washington shouldn't have put their land grant university in rural Idaho.

Neither Oregon school is in a "metropolis", yet they seem to be able to draw and fill their stadiums just fine.

Hasn’t groupon exploded over the past year or two? I don’t see anything funny with this. Hell this is a good attempt to sell tickets that would otherwise go unused.

polsongrizz wrote:

Landshark wrote:
Or they could move their flagship campus from Pullman BFE to Spokane, Vancouver, or Tri-Cities.

I'm not sure any of those would work either. Spokane can't even support EWU, Vancouver is next to Portland so maybe if they drop down they could get something going with the Vikings, Tri-Cities might be it though.
If none of that works for them they could fill the stadium with water and start a polo team.

The Spokane metro area is approaching half a million, so with those numbers there's no reason both programs shouldn't be doing better at the gate than they have. Ida-who draws really poorly as well, and they're in the almighty WAC. I think it's a cultural thing more than anything else. Plus, WSU is a crap team and EWU will always be perceived as second class in Pac-12 country.

Ahem, some FCS schools use Groupon to sell their tickets too. No names mentioned.

Isn't Washington more of a basketball state? Wazzu, UW, and Gonzo all seem to appear in the top 25 on a regular basis.

Washington has become a bit of a basketball outpost... but it hasn't always been that way. Remember, we are only a couple of decades removed from U of Washington being the superpower team in the Western US. Neuheisel got them in trouble with his lack of integrity and then they had a pair of disastrous hires that drove the program into the ground (the truth is, they hired an AD named Barbara Hedges who was responsible for overseeing all the hires and literally made every worst decision possible).

Washington State used to be a leigt bowl team almost every year in the late 80s thru early 2000s. They hit the Rose Bowl twice in that span among Alamo Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Copper Bowl, Sun Bowl, and Aloha Bowl wins.

It really has only been recently (the last 8 years) that the state has been so atrocious on the BCS level.

A couple decades removed?

At this point that is like saying Notre Dame is the premier FBS program.

AZGrizFan wrote:

Landshark wrote:Washington State has trouble selling tickets when they are good. They have the biggest geographical disadvantage of all the BCS schools. In hindsight, the state of Washington shouldn't have put their land grant university in rural Idaho.

Neither Oregon school is in a "metropolis", yet they seem to be able to draw and fill their stadiums just fine.

You can't compare OSU and UO, which are relatively close to a bulk of Oregon's population. And right off of I-5 to boot. Pullman is not only tiny, it is also distant from any population centers. Plus it is only accessible via two lane highways. WSU has by far the biggest geographical disadvantage of the BCS programs.

alvin kayak wrote:Isn't Washington more of a basketball state? Wazzu, UW, and Gonzo all seem to appear in the top 25 on a regular basis.

Football is easily #1 in the state of Washington. Seahawks have sold out most of their existence while the Huskies led the Pac-10 in attendance more than any other program. WSU is in Idaho, so they shouldn't count.

Landshark wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:
Neither Oregon school is in a "metropolis", yet they seem to be able to draw and fill their stadiums just fine.

You can't compare OSU and UO, which are relatively close to a bulk of Oregon's population. And right off of I-5 to boot. Pullman is not only tiny, it is also distant from any population centers. Plus it is only accessible via two lane highways. WSU has by far the biggest geographical disadvantage of the BCS programs.

i can compare whoever I want to.

Have you seen where Mississippi State of the SEC is located? What about Ol' Miss?

Less than 80 miles from Pullman is a metropolitan area of over 500,000 population, with a large number of WSU grads...if they were decent/good, they'd fill Martin Stadium.

LDopaPDX wrote: Neuheisel got them in trouble with his lack of integrity and then they had a pair of disastrous hires that drove the program into the ground (the truth is, they hired an AD named Barbara Hedges who was responsible for overseeing all the hires and literally made every worst decision possible).

Hedges is a Hall of Fame Athletic Director compared to her successor. Todd Turner should be sued for fraud. He and the new NCAA President preferred politics over winning football, and destroyed UW football. It looks like the program is on its way back.

Trivia: The UW football team hasn't had a losing season in the last 35 years, except the entire Mark Emmet era. As soon as Emmert left to become NCAA Pres., the Huskies have a winning season again.

All that being said, Wa State averaged 24,532 in 2010...the Grizzlies averaged 25,448.

Greater population near Ole Miss and Miss State. Much greater local prep football talent there too. The Palouse is empty wheat fields while the countryside near Oxford and Starkville have automobile factories and air force bases. I'd say Lubbock and Manhattan are closer matches, but they are on interstates and have larger populations.


Pullman and Spokane are linked via a two lane road, that becomes super congested even with meager football attendance. 1 hour, 31 minute drive according to Rand McNally, and that's not game day.

Landshark wrote:Greater population near Ole Miss and Miss State. Much greater local prep football talent there too. The Palouse is empty wheat fields while the countryside near Oxford and Starkville have automobile factories and air force bases. I'd say Lubbock and Manhattan are closer matches, but they are on interstates and have larger populations.


Pullman and Spokane are linked via a two lane road, that becomes super congested even with meager football attendance. 1 hour, 31 minute drive according to Rand McNally, and that's not game day.

I know all about the Palouse. I graduated from U of Idaho. I drove Moscow/Spokane every weekend for 2 years (my fiance was attending Gonzaga) and I assure you it's nowhere near 1:31. There's a very large air force base just West of Spokane. There's LOTS of good football played in eastern Washington and northern Idaho. Yeah, it's not the perfect location, but they don't have a 90,000 seat stadium they're trying to fill either. And it's irrelevant, anyways. If the Cougars could capture lightning in a bottle, their attentance would spike and they'd fill the (relatively small) stadium.

AZGrizFan wrote:

Landshark wrote:

You can't compare OSU and UO, which are relatively close to a bulk of Oregon's population. And right off of I-5 to boot. Pullman is not only tiny, it is also distant from any population centers. Plus it is only accessible via two lane highways. WSU has by far the biggest geographical disadvantage of the BCS programs.

i can compare whoever I want to.

Have you seen where Mississippi State of the SEC is located? What about Ol' Miss?

Less than 80 miles from Pullman is a metropolitan area of over 500,000 population, with a large number of WSU grads...if they were decent/good, they'd fill Martin Stadium.

Which seats what, 40,000? Ive told you before it's a challenge in this area. You said win more games which is true, but I will bet we still average less than a sell out this season with only 4 home games and a NC in our pocket.

kalm wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:
i can compare whoever I want to.

Have you seen where Mississippi State of the SEC is located? What about Ol' Miss?

Less than 80 miles from Pullman is a metropolitan area of over 500,000 population, with a large number of WSU grads...if they were decent/good, they'd fill Martin Stadium.

Which seats what, 40,000? Ive told you before it's a challenge in this area. You said win more games which is true, but I will bet we still average less than a sell out this season with only 4 home games and a NC in our pocket.

Nobody in Spokane cares about WSU. Nobody even knows EWU exists.

AZGrizFan wrote:

kalm wrote:
Which seats what, 40,000? Ive told you before it's a challenge in this area. You said win more games which is true, but I will bet we still average less than a sell out this season with only 4 home games and a NC in our pocket.

Nobody in Spokane cares about WSU. Nobody even knows EWU exists.

Not exactly true but kinda my point.

AZGrizFan wrote:
Yeah, it's not the perfect location, but they don't have a 90,000 seat stadium they're trying to fill either. And it's irrelevant, anyways. If the Cougars could capture lightning in a bottle, their attentance would spike and they'd fill the (relatively small) stadium.

WSU had three consecutive top 10 seasons a decade ago and they still had attendance issues. It is a tough trip to make, especially from the Puget Sound area where most of their alums live. Like I said above, they would have to relocate their flagship campus to one of their other three locations to fix their geographical disadvantage. To improve Pullman, they need more hotel rooms, better roads, and a larger local population base.

AZGrizFan wrote:

Landshark wrote:Greater population near Ole Miss and Miss State. Much greater local prep football talent there too. The Palouse is empty wheat fields while the countryside near Oxford and Starkville have automobile factories and air force bases. I'd say Lubbock and Manhattan are closer matches, but they are on interstates and have larger populations.


Pullman and Spokane are linked via a two lane road, that becomes super congested even with meager football attendance. 1 hour, 31 minute drive according to Rand McNally, and that's not game day.

I know all about the Palouse. I graduated from U of Idaho. I drove Moscow/Spokane every weekend for 2 years (my fiance was attending Gonzaga) and I assure you it's nowhere near 1:31. There's a very large air force base just West of Spokane. There's LOTS of good football played in eastern Washington and northern Idaho. Yeah, it's not the perfect location, but they don't have a 90,000 seat stadium they're trying to fill either. And it's irrelevant, anyways. If the Cougars could capture lightning in a bottle, their attentance would spike and they'd fill the (relatively small) stadium.

Game day from Spokane airport to MArtin Stadium has never taken more than 90 minutes. I've driven it a bunch, and there are two highways in and out of Pullman. Washington State has always been the king of excuses when it comes to their attendance problems. The fact is they have Tri-Cities and Spokane within 2 1/2 hours, as well as Lewiston and Clarkston. There are over 1 mil. within driving distance.

WSU's three primary problems are these:

1. The stadium is garbage
2. There are NO reasonable hotel accommodations in Pullman
3. The on-field product has never been consistently good

You can couple this with the fact WSU has taken to playing whatever decent out-of-conference opponent they line up in Seattle (5 hours from campus) and they now play Oregon and/or Oregon State in Seattle as well.