Ringo dropped an interesting idea from out of the blue today: one final game in Balch. Anyone else think this is a great idea for one of those late-December throw-away games?
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One final game in Balch?
- Thread starter RumblinBuff
- Start date
Yeah, me. The old man always talks about going to see games in Balch where the floor was supported on sawhorses. He said we had quite the home floor advantage because visitors were always worried about running too hard after a loose ball and falling three feet to their DOOOOOOM.
I might actually fly in to see that.
I might actually fly in to see that.
Um, yeah - I went to school there...remember?
Used to run PRTs in there (BP will vouch.) And yes, it's a dump, but despite our new found success, those holiday games Ringo mentions are still hard to get butts in the seats for, so why not get one "sellout" during that time? I'd love to see a visitor fly off the edge of the floor.
Deleted member 807
Guest
I'd be more excited if the story about Balch involved more renovation and less nostalgia.
Sure would hate to see a nostalgia game standing between Balch and a Makeover.
Sure would hate to see a nostalgia game standing between Balch and a Makeover.
I wrote that rhetorically since people seem to be waxing nostalgic on this and not thinking of the reality.
As the article said, the south bleachers aren't up to code and couldn't be used. We'd have to bring in temporary bleachers. Unfortunately, if we did that the building probably doesn't meet fire code. And we'd have to bring in a temporary court, too. I just don't see this getting past the ideation phase.
Considering the logistical nightmare and the expense of doing this, unless they find that the nostalgia is strong enough in people that there are at least 1,000 people willing to pay several hundred bucks to see a game there... and maybe someone willing to underwrite the whole thing... it's simply a non-starter.
Quit being a lawyer - you've been hanging around Snow too much.:lol:
You're probably right (DAMN YOU!) but if it happens, I guarantee I'll be there. Would be cool to watch a game from the seats I used to get hashed on at 6:00 AM weekly.
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Love the idea!
Last year my wife and I talked to Tad Boyle about this (His idea), But he wanted it to be a full retro game (althought the shorts may be a bit longer). But the idea was to do it for one of the early season games over winter break that they dont get the crowds for anyway. I think it is a pretty cool idea, chances are they may even charge premium charges for a game against Southwestern State BS College, a game they normally wouldnt attract many people to anyway, this cannot cost more money, but it will be uniquie.
I say great idea.
I say great idea.
Deleted member 807
Guest
Fify
Ringo expressed concerns in his article that there would even be the capability of setting up a broadcast crew in Balch.
I someone who attended many, many games in Balch, I'm all for this. The crowd may have been small, but it was loud. You couldn't just walk up and buy a seat either. You had to have tickets and get there early. In the years I attended games there, the seats were not reserved.
I'm sure it would take some money to get the balcony up to code, but I like the entire retro idea.
CVilleBuff
Well-Known Member
All for it if we can make it work. Would make a game vs an Idaho State a lot more entertaining...
since renovating balch is probably going to mean ripping out the bleachers altogether, it would be a waste to spend money bringing them up to code just for one game.
One thing they wouldn't have to do is bring in a new court; the previous court from the Keg got installed here after they put a new one into the Events Center a couple of years ago.
One thing they wouldn't have to do is bring in a new court; the previous court from the Keg got installed here after they put a new one into the Events Center a couple of years ago.
What did they just sell at auction, then? <confused>
This article says our court was only 2 years old at the time (2010), and not 19 or whatever it was:
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_14378065
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_14378065
I love the "fun" factor. I love the idea of playing homage to the past. I love the idea of getting media and fans excited about what would otherwise be a complete dog of a game (like playing Colorado Christian or something).
I just don't want to see us go out of pocked hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to make this happen. I'd rather see that kind of money go toward training and rehab equipment for the program or academic support staff or whatever. I know I've been a total killjoy on this one, but I would hate to see our AD spend limited resources in a way that makes sense if you've got a huge budget surplus but not if you're working with limited resources to make necessary improvements to your infrastructure.
SECOBuffsFan
Active Member
I agree with this 100%. There are schools that keep the second gym in top order, this isn't the case here and too much money would have to be spent on a game that wouldn't be very entertaining otherwise
that may be 2 years since they refinished it, and they changed some of the graphics.
I dont know if I remember it completley correctly, but the new floor is a special "padded" floor designed to help players from getting injured. I think it was one of the things that Bz said that he wanted as facilities upgrades. I know there was a point that he was touting it a bunch for recruiting, since it was supposed to keep you healthier by preventing knee injuries, but I think after Shannon Sharpe and SHT they stray away from it.
I think the biggest key to making this work if they go down that path is what kind of revenue can they make from it.
- Extra Tickets; They will sell ~2k tickets at premium, so maybe $20 a seat, that is 40k? pretty minimum amount of $ in the grand scheme
- TV coverage; I think this is where they could possibly attract some serious money, although I have no idea how much. You should be able to attract this to be a primetime game as its not something you see everyday. Question will be who will they play, no one is going to want to watch them beat up on a colorado christian, and you dont want a big time game with minimal seating.
I am really starting to think this may really rely on who they are playing, and what kind of exposure they will have. I would imagine they would try to find one of the old front range "rivals" of CU that has at least a little bit of name recognizition maybe DU? Wyoming?
extra ticket? remember the game would be held in the keg otherwise and would probably make a lot more if the game was there, more people, more concessions, etc.
:nod:
Revenue from that game has a baseline of our season ticket base and how much per game we get for those tickets. If, for example, it reduced the season ticket revenue by 2,500 people x $8 per game, we'd have to make at least $40k in tickets for the game to break even. We'd also have to find a way to equalize normal concession sales when there isn't really a spot for that at Balch.
Regarding television, assuming we could get the cameras, crew, and equipment into there -- what would be the financial gain from televising this game? I believe that these rights are already property of the Pac-12 and the P12N would have 1st option for the game. In that case, there's no extra tv revenue. I don't know our contract, though, so maybe we make more if ESPN or FoxSports picks it up. Somehow I doubt it since we have equal revenue sharing in this conference.
Any thoughts on marketing/exposure? It won't even be close to what the carrier/military base games are getting, but, considering the time of year we're talking about, it'd be a nice diversional telecast that would get some decent regional hype.
Local press with some human interest national pickup. A small chance the PTI and some other shows would use it for a couple minutes of filler. If we could get that, it would be a huge success. Now that we've got a CMO, maybe we could make things like that happen.
Edit: Look at it this way, Rumblin. If a program like Arizona State (similar prestige, less recent success and larger media market) had a game against Northern Arizona in an old gym on campus that it hadn't used in 30+ years, how interested in that story would you be? I don't think this is a slam dunk to be a national story or even to get a game broadcast locally that would be a bigger deal than any other CU home game unless we were playing a name opponent. It would probably get a mention on the nightly news locally, though.
The timing of this "leak" can't be a coincidence.