In just about 48 hours, the University
of Colorado Buffaloes will take the field against Colorado State at
the home of the Denver Broncos, known this year as Sports Authority
Field at Mile High. It is a beautiful venue and a wonderful place to
watch Colorado's favorite team. But that team is neither the CU Buffs
nor the CSU Rams, it is the Broncos. Period.
I have been a long time fan of both the
NFL and NCAA football. I have seen every Super Bowl. I attended my
first college football game at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ back
when it held only 41,000 people. Hint: It was way back in the 1960s.
I was raised on college football.
I moved to Colorado in 1983, and
started to attend CU Buff games in 1985. I had season tickets for
many years and followed the Buffs on the road several times, most
notably to the National Championship game at the Orange Bowl in 1990,
and to the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe in 1995. I am willing to travel to
see the Buffs play ball.
When I was living overseas, I had my
son Skype me the games by turning his computer toward the TV. This meant watching games in the wee
hours of the morning. I go out of my way to watch my alma mater play.
That said, I am NOT willing to go to
Denver to watch the Rocky Mountain Showdown. Yes, of course, I will
watch on TV and enjoy the game immensely. But I will not go to the
Broncos field to watch the game, and here are the reasons:
- The stadium is too big. If everyone who attends games at CU and CSU attended the RMS, the stadium would still look like no one was there.
- If the people who put the RMS together want a raucous crowd, the need to put them in the LOWER LEVEL.
- IF they want casual fans to attend the game, they cannot price the tickets as if it was an NFL game. The Broncos tickets are at a premium, since there has been a waiting list to get them for decades. By contrast, the Buffs sell out several games a year in a stadium which hold 25,000 fewer people, and the Rams generally draw fewer fans than Texas high school games. (As an aside, why is CSU spending so much money to build a new, bigger stadium when they can't even fill the tiny one they already have?)
- $20-30 for parking? Are you freaking kidding me?
- Numerous press releases telling folks to behave themselves, and warning people of the great number of regular and plain clothes police that will be on hand to be certain that no one has too much fun. I don't remember this many warnings when the Broncos play in front of a lot more people.
- The Denver media, particularly the Denver Post, have made it perfectly clear that they could not care less about CU or CSU. The only reason they want this game in Denver is so they do not have to drive to Boulder or Fort Collins.
- PS - It really pisses me off that the media in Denver are willing participants in the extortion attempt this game presents. No, I do not care any less for the Buffs because I am not willing to spend an exorbitant amount of money to see them in Denver.
- Rivalry games belong on campus, or at least in the city where the campus is located. There are no CU or CSU banners strung around Denver. College football is just a diversion for Broncomania.
- Folks running the RMS need to understand that we live in a capitalist society, where the concepts of supply and demand dictate the going market rate for anything. They have WAY more tickets than customers, yet they price their commodity as if it was in short supply.
- I have a good chuckle on a daily basis watching Craigslist and StubHub and Ticketmaster. The closer we get to the game, the lower the prices for tickets seem to go. By the time kickoff arrives, they will probably be GIVING them away for practically nothing outside the stadium. It reminds me of the CU game at the Orange Bowl. Even though the Buffs and Notre Dame were playing with a National Championship on the line, tickets outside were going for $5-10 apiece because there were no teams from Florida playing.
- I know the folks at CSU like playing in Denver. Of course they do, who wants to stay home to play in front of 18,000 people? Maybe they should start scheduling the CSU vs. Air Force game in Denver. Similar drive for both sets of fans and it gets the Ram fans a chance to get out of town. Of course, it has been a long time since CSU beat Air Force anywhere.
For some ungodly reason, this game is scheduled to be played in Denver through 2019. Somebody somewhere is apparently making good money off this. Unfortunately, I do not think it is either CU or CSU. Their fans are paying the freight, though. This game being played in Denver should be ended as soon as possible. The vigorish paid by the schools and fans is too great.
For those of you going to the game in
Denver, I wish you a great time. I am going to save my money for a
game out of town which will actually get me out of town. Looking
forward to maybe a return trip to Sun Devil Stadium against Arizona
State on October 12th. The Phoenix Craigslist has tickets
offered to the ASU vs. CU game for as little as $20. They money
saved by not going to the Rocky Mountain Showdown will just about pay
for my gas to get down to Tempe.
