The House of Blue

as Ive always said, Empty seats makes BBN look terrible.

You're right. It shouldn't be about the coinage for Mitch. I shouldn't be about the lost $$$. It shouldn't be about his friend the current head football coach. It should be about the future success of the UK football program. Joker Phillips does not figure into that. He needs to make the change. He needs to do his job.

Seriously? Empty seats mean nothing? Of course you may have a point. The attendance announced last night seemed about 10000 more than was physically there so who knows? And I watched it on TV. The stands reflected the apathy.
But if they want the luxury boxes they'd probably like to have crowd noise to go along with them. If they could care less if people show up why sell tickets? Put the boxes in and pass out free tickets.
It's about 3 1/2 hours to Lexington for me. A night game means I'm investing a day, plus tickets, plus a room, plus $4.00 gallon gas and food to come to Commonwealth to watch an inferior product. That makes me pick and choose more closely for my entertainment dollar. It doesn't make me less a fan than someone else. I'd be more likely to drop the money if there was going to be a likelihood they could win.
I understand your commitment to the team. If closer I'd support them more. But to think Mitch could care less about ticket sales and it's doing him a favor to have empty seats that's pretty off base.

I am so sick of hearing the word "Product" thrown around. This is not the Bengals. This is not a professional team. This is not a business. This is college Athletics.

Of course money is important, and needed, but the University of Kentucky is doing fine.There's no threat of the owner picking up and moving the Cats to Los Angeles.

People that are staying home to make a point are only hurting recruiting. Like sleepydog said. If recruits were at that game Saturday, I'm sure they were NOT impressed by the atmosphere.

Empty seats are embarrasing, but it's a reflection of our fans and the lack of support for our program. I will be at the games, because it's my school, and those kids are here playing their hearts out representing my school.

I don't care who's coaching. That doesn't mean I don't care about winning. That just means I know the difference between College and Professional Sports.

Every Division I BCS-level program is part of a billion dollar industry ... and it is very much a 'business'. Do you think that all the conference re-alignments and conference expansions over the last several years have been done for the benefit of the student-athletes or the academic programs? Nope ... it's all driven by the almighty dollar and 'business' decisions.

Don't be naive and think that it's not.

You guys missed my point completely. Barnhart will make a change when he feels it's the right time. It will be based on Wins and Losses and if he feels the program is improving on the field. Your empty seats may be a factor, but not near as much as you think.

My point was, empty seats hurt recruiting more than anything else. I don't believe in making a point by refusing to go the games. I support the program for the kids playing, not for my satisfaction as a fan.

Money is important. I said that in my first post. But with all the TV revenue and the SEC pot of money, Barhart's decision will not be based on how many beans he has to count.

YOU are the NAIVE one if you think your empty seat is gonna get you a new coach any faster.

If you are a fan, SUPPORT these kids and this progam!!!

If if is "just" college sports then why do they charge to go watch it. It is a business pure and simple. Centre college football is "just" college football. When the athletic budget is 80 million dollars a year it is a business. Do you attend Hooplehead?

Who cares if recruits were at the game? I'm sure they were low level MAC talent if they were. It's not like we are in on tons of SEC caliber players.

I haven't even been watching the games for the most part. If another good game is on I'l watch it, and flip to the UK game during commercials.

Joker's teams have been unbearable to watch since he got here. They look so bad. I watch football for entertainment. So does everyone else. If I am not entertained, I won't watch or go to games. Don't feed some BS line about being a good fan and supporting the kids and the school.

These kids are getting a free education, paid expenses, along with many other perks because they play a sport.
90% of which have no business playing in the SEC. Marshall would be a good place for them, of course Marshall would likely trounce UK this season.

Revenue: $27.6 million
Expenses: $9.5 million
Profit: 18.1 million

Bottom line is attendance does not mean what it used to mean to football programs. With the TV deals and SEC bowl "split" pool Kentucky could put garbage on the field and have no one in the stands and still pull in free money every year. So, empty seats may open some eyes and show some people that matter at the university that the fans are not happy with the program but, ultimately will not force anyone to do anything because the University is "losing" money. Missing out on some money yes. Losing money, no. Does paying $4 million a year to ahead coach and God knows how much in recruiting to make us competitive result in enough revenue to make a change? Don't know.

i agree compltely with what you said. I play football at UK a long time ago for 4 years and the scholarships are great but far from free. I dont know how much it has changed now adays but I worked my rear off both at practice and during the games and add to that all the class work we had to keep up with, and Im not saying the average student doesnt have to do the academic part but put in all those hours on and off the field with extra work on physical conditioning and back then I was lucky to have 6 hours of sleep a night during the season. I agree that saying a scholarship is free is 1 of the most incorrect things one could say. I also am not trying to take up for Joker.

You're forgetting about concessions and parking. Which is a significant chunk of change.

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