FanPost

$Bill beating the 'neutral site' drum again

$Bill is still trying, in vain, to get the Tech game moved out of Kyle Field and to a neutral site.
IMO, Byrne is trying to create a marquee non-home game so he can require donations to the 12th Man Foundation, similar to how texas and Oklahoma require donations to their athletic fundraising arms to acquire tickets to the Red River Shootout.
Instead of using a border state rival like LSU or Arkansas, Byrne is mistakenly thinking using Tech will work.
I think if this neutral site game ever comes to fruition, we'll be treated to a half-empty stadium and a lackluster pseudo-atmosphere. This will be Byrne's albatross, if it ever happens.

Beaumont newspaper on A&M - Tech @ Jerry World

$Bill's math doesn't make sense to me.

"A home game for us, when we play Tech in College Station, is about $3½ million," he said. "When we go on the road, we get zero."

Kyle Field seats 82,600 (actual attendance for last year's Tech game was 85,979).

Let's subtract the student section (28,000), and say we can only sell 54,600 seats at full price for the Tech game, which I believe was $85 a ticket last year.That's $4.641 million dollars, which is more than we'd make at Jerry World, especially when you add in travel costs.
Add in $42.50 a ticket for the students, that an extra $1.119 million, or $5.831 million for the game.

Byrne estimated if the Aggies and Red Raiders moved their game to Arlington, site of the new stadium, A&M would get about 45,000 tickets. If the school sold those tickets at the same prices Texas and Oklahoma sold theirs at their annual game in the Cotton Bowl, A&M would take in about $4.5 million.

A&M/Tech isn't texas/OU. In order to make $4.5 million on 45,000 tickets, you need to charge $100 a ticket. Sorry, but I don't see Aggies paying $100 a pop to watch Tech in Arlington. The Houston Aggies, in particular, would probably tell Byrne to shove it if he moved a game away from Kyle Field to the Dallas area.

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