A question for you Atlanta based folks regarding the Celebration Bowl





Very few people listen to the radio anymore... they either use satellite radio or Bluetooth Pandora, Apple Music, etc
 
I've been somewhat disconnected lately, but I don't remember much advertising for this game at all, other than the stuff on facebook. I really hadn't planned to go but made an 11th hour decision to go. I realize this is ESPN's party, but the 12:00 kickoff hurts the walk up crowd. Not to mention, the cheapest parking I saw was $25. (Normally, the lots at the World Congress Center are reasonable, but they were $25 too. Smh) Being, el cheapo, I drove to Wal Mart and parked for free and walked a couple blocks to the stadium. Lol
For some reason, the scalpers all seemed to be asking ridiculous prices. The lines at the ticket windows were long as he'll, but I stood there until I got impatient and got one online. With ticketmaster fees, each ticket came to $65.

As for knocking Gram's attendance, I disagree. I sat on Gram's side and they had a good crowd. Especially considering the distance, the early kickoff and a week from Christmas. The pics of the stands may not accurately reflect Gram fans attendance. That stadium has a whole lot of bells and whistles (bars, lounges, stores, exhibits etc) that would (and did) divert some away from sitting in a seat. Heck, the Falcons are seeing some of the same for their games.
 
I'll add my 2 cents and unbiased perspective. I have gone to all 3 Celebration bowls because I want to support the event and hope that it survives. I never waivered from attending this year even after I saw the ticket prices BUT had sticker shock. Unfortunately, I knew that many casual fans or others that would have liked to attend was discouraged due to ticket prices. With a reported 16K+ it was the 3rd straight year of decline from the inaugural 35K + that attended.

The article that Kenn shared from USA today provides hope as I suspect there was a huge viewership with both GSU and NCAT being ranked FCS opponents and it was a good contested game with the final outcome being decided in the last seconds on the game. Both conferences benefit from the $1 million dollar payout to each conference, so we really should do our part in showing the sponsors that we'll make the effort to attend.

In defense of GSU fans and some of the other SWAC schools have to essentially travel the entire year- either to Grambling for home games, State Fair Classic, Bayou Classic, etc. I talked to some GSU fans and they talked about the back-back-back travel (Bayou classic, SCG, and then Celebration Bowl). My response to them was this- GSU was picked to win the West, make it to the SCG, and arguably the CB and it played out just that way. If I was a GSU alum then I would have budgeted/planned for that months ago.

SU fans claim that it wouldn't been a problem for them to do all three (BC, SCG, and CB) and I would have to agree that SU is accustomed to traveling often and I do not doubt that the Jag Nation would have been well represented. I think from a fan representation standpoint SU, Alcorn, Jackson St, or Alabama State would all have strong showings in the CB.

Not having a SCG, could help the CB attendance a little bit if one of the Bayou Classic teams are NOT the representative but overall, this game is going to be heavily tilted towards the 2 schools that are playing in it.

A side note: I decided that I would wait until I got to the stadium to buy tickets in hopes of avoiding some of the convenience fees- bad idea! I took MARTA to the game which was a nice option but left later than I wanted to and the lines were VERY long with only 3 windows open for ticket sales, 2-3 will call tickets windows, and a couple ticket resolution windows. Logistically it was a nightmare as it was a single line that branched off to the different windows. I asked the workers if they didn't expect a large walk-up crowd and they said not really. The Atlanta falcons sell very few paper tickets or walk-up customers as they try to steer everyone to purchase tickets online and go paperless. In fact, getting into the stadium was a challenge because it's so high tech where you scan from your phone.

One local FAM U fan said he tried to buy his tickets on Wednesday at the stadium but they were not selling them. I heard several fans decided to leave since the lines were not moving fast as I'm sure people were slowing things down trying to decide where they wanted to purchase their tickets. After standing in line for almost 30 minutes, I had to bite the bullet and purchase my ticket on my phone and pay the fees or I would have missed the entire 1st quarter and maybe even some of the 2nd quarter.
 
I can park for free and didn't go because of the ticket prices. I have been to two of the games and usually take my nephew and two of his friends. I wasn't going to pay 75 for tickets that my school ain't playing. Hell I would have to consider it for my own. Lol
 
I attended the game. made the trip from Houston. However, I didn't drive up to the stadium. I was staying in the Midtown area and Ubered to the game for 7 Dollars. As far as tickets, in the 9th Hour before I purchased, I was given free tickets so it worked out great for me. Great game. I enjoyed it.. It could definitely be better. We have to support as sister institutions whether we are in the game or not.
 
Kenn Rashad said:
How much pregame promotion (signage/radio/TV) do any of you recall seeing/hearing leading up to the Celebration Bowl Saturday?

I have an idea what the answer is, but I 'm looking for confirmation.
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Kenn there wasn't much to speak of, but it was mainly about the TV
 
JSUTigers1877 said:
I attended the game. made the trip from Houston. However, I didn't drive up to the stadium. I was staying in the Midtown area and Ubered to the game for 7 Dollars. As far as tickets, in the 9th Hour before I purchased, I was given free tickets so it worked out great for me. Great game. I enjoyed it.. It could definitely be better. We have to support as sister institutions whether we are in the game or not.
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According to the article posted, we did our part by watching it on TV. I ain't spending money a non-SU or non-Florida game. lol
 
Blacknbengal said:
So, who's gonna sponsor the CB after the Air Force contract runs out? And I thought about all this 3 years ago.
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Like others have said, the Air Force Reserve is not the title sponsor of this event. The military has pulled out of being the title sponsors for all of the games they did.

JAGSC said:
I think with the SWAC not having a SWAC championship, the number should be better next year.
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I don't think that will have the effect they are trying to get. They seem to not have a plan on how to get the conference schools to get their fans to come to this game instead of the SCG.

Tigerpride said:
he must not know the SCG will be in jackson.

News travels slowly I see!
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Only if they have the best conference record. This will be a failed encounter in my opinion because you won't have enough advanced notice on where you will go. Most of our schools are not close to major hubs to travel to with low cost for last minute flights. Some will not have the hotel space available for last minute events like this. If you know months in advance where the championship game will be held, you can arrange transportation and lodging well in advance. I booked my flight to Atlanta back in early October and got a great price on it versus if I tried to do that last week.
 



DAHILL said:
As far as parking ... i would never pay to park at the dome when i can park less than a mile away and ride the Marta to the doorsteps for 3 dollars . The way Marta set up you should never have to pay for parking .
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I paid 23 dollars to park less than a 5 minute walk away from the dome. That was cool b/c my wife hates the cold and would've nagged me the whole way to the Benz on MARTA.
 
It all comes down to preference. Paid 20 to park and walked 5 minutes to the stadium. After the game - no issues getting out. Marta is an option, but I just don't want to deal with everything that comes with Marta when I am ready to go.... lol
 
Fiyah said:
Like others have said, the Air Force Reserve is not the title sponsor of this event. The military has pulled out of being the title sponsors for all of the games they did.

Only if they have the best conference record. This will be a failed encounter in my opinion because you won't have enough advanced notice on where you will go. Most of our schools are not close to major hubs to travel to with low cost for last minute flights. Some will not have the hotel space available for last minute events like this. If you know months in advance where the championship game will be held, you can arrange transportation and lodging well in advance. I booked my flight to Atlanta back in early October and got a great price on it versus if I tried to do that last week.
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I agree with you here. I look at the football schedules early and decide what games I'll attend and book hotel and flight reservations early to get the best price.
 
Fiyah said:
Only if they have the best conference record. This will be a failed encounter in my opinion because you won't have enough advanced notice on where you will go. Most of our schools are not close to major hubs to travel to with low cost for last minute flights. Some will not have the hotel space available for last minute events like this. If you know months in advance where the championship game will be held, you can arrange transportation and lodging well in advance. I booked my flight to Atlanta back in early October and got a great price on it versus if I tried to do that last week.
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I disagree but thats a whole different topic and TP stays on topic!
 
major095 said:
I thought about driving down from South Carolina but those ticket prices...and parking
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We were visiting Atlanta and seriously considering attending the game but 2 tickets would have been in the neighborhood of $270-325 and Bride didn’t have any “shopping time” to spare.... We need more sponsors to drive down the ticket prices and maybe pickup the casual fans...
 
Tigerpride said:
Something has to be done about the ticket prices! That seems to be the overall theme here.
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Man I bought that up and I got hit with the "it's a new buliding" line by a few folks. Those tickets were out of line with the HBCU crowd.

But at the same time Gram does have a bad history with this. I remember that game against JSU in B'ham in the SCG and the announced crowd was a lil over 43,000 and I'll be if JSU didn't have 39,000. I was like WTH the entire game. And if you were at the game you were saying the same.
 
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