Colorado University Athletics
Throwin' You A Bohn
By Mike Bohn, Athletic Director
On Wednesday, the University of Colorado and Colorado State University announced a new five-year agreement to continue our long-standing series in football, with at least the first three games to be played at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver.
This has been a much-debated issue with many of our season ticket holders since the first game was played at the old Mile High Stadium in 1998. In fact, it was a subject that came up several times in our town meetings we held last summer.
One misunderstanding is that we are not moving what would have been a home game to Denver; we will schedule six games at Folsom Field every year. The dynamic of scheduling is often complicated and would be too wordy to get into here, but our desire to play six times in Boulder every season, including four Big 12 Conference and two non-league games, is the driving force on how we make up the rest of the schedule.
We know we have eight Big 12 games, so next comes the component of the in-state rivalry with CSU. And remember that the Rams have a voice in where the games are played in this series as well. As long as we have six home games, why wouldn’t we want to play what amounts to almost a seventh just 25 miles down the road? Why wouldn’t our fans embrace another opportunity to see the Buffs play, especially when boarding an airplane or booking a hotel room doesn’t come into play? And that’s the major reason we add the CSU game to our six-game ticket season package.
So playing in Denver when we can makes simply makes sense.
It is important to explain what the 55-45 percent split means; we keep every dollar from all ticket sales we generate, as does CSU with its ticket allotment. In our agreement with the Rams, as in past years when we have played in Denver, we get 55 percent of the seats to sell, right around 41,000 of the 75,000-plus Invesco Field holds, not including suites, which are offered first to their year-round rights holders. Our seats are on the west side of Invesco, and those are protected solely for CU season ticket holders within our allotment.
For a sellout at Folsom Field, we generate about $1.6 million in net revenue, not including the payout to the visiting team if a non-conference game, but inclusive of all other expenses. Those payouts vary; for example, we receive $750,000 for playing at Georgia this fall, and pay the Bulldogs $825,000 when they return the game in 2010 (the latter figure allows for inflation).
If we sell our allotment of tickets for the CSU game in Denver, we will net around that same $1.6 million figure, which could possibly increase with a title sponsor.
We are committed to playing in Denver the next three years, and by contract, we must inform CSU and the Metro Denver Sports Commission of where we desire to play the 2009 game no later than the eve of the 2008 contest. Several factors will go into that decision, including the experience of all involved, our coaches and players, our students, season ticket holders and fans.
The MDSC has every intention of making this game rival some of the other great neutral site affairs in the sport, e.g., Oklahoma-Texas, Florida-Georgia. Officials at both schools are encouraged with the ideas that Jon Schmieder and his organization have developed and we’re eager to see what kind of atmosphere can be created.
If we should decide to play the 2009 game at Folsom Field, then CSU has the option of playing the 2010 game at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins. As I mentioned above, the dynamic of scheduling is one that is unique to college football and college football alone. Many schools might have their 2012 and 2013 schedules locked in but are still looking for an opponent or two in 2007. As we proceed to map out our future football schedules, as was the case in both 2004 and 2005, we may need to have Colorado State be one of our two non-conference opponents at Folsom.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As many of you already know, we are hosting the NCAA Ski Championships in Steamboat Springs next week (March 8-11). If you’ve never attended a ski meet, and you can get to Steamboat, I think you’ll really enjoy yourself if you drop by Mount Werner or Howelsen Hill and watch just how talented these young men and women are at what they do.