Here Comes The Rocky Mountain Showdown

To be honest, I stand by the statements I wrote here last year, but things have changed for me, because for the first time in almost a decade, I am coming back to Denver for the Rocky Mountain Showdown. What's different? Well, the pricing, first and foremost. My reasons to come back are three fold: first, my favorite hotel is offering 25% off. Second, it is my mother's birthday, and third, it is our opening game. I don't know what's the most important and I don't know that I would come back if not for all three, but here we are.

What I do know is that I've been seriously considering watching the game from a bar instead of the stadium, because the pricing is absurd. The cheapest ticket from CU costs $55, and the cheapest ticket from CSU costs $25 if you buy four. How on earth does that make sense? You are buying the same ticket on a different side of the stadium for less than half the price... just because?

Supply and demand does not matter. Obviously the demand for CSU tickets is not the same as it is for CU tickets, but they are trying to fill the same stadium. So why the disparity? Other "neutral" site games do not have the same issue. I looked at Alabama/ West Virginia, Notre Dame/ Purdue, and Texas/ Ucla, and all of those games have equal pricing. If this is supposed to be a neutral site game, then it needs to be treated as such. There is absolutely no reason for our game to have this sort of pricing disparity unless the games are played on campus.

This is not a neutral site game if the overall financial disparity is not placed on CU fans. Honestly, I still don't really care if the series continues, but there is no way that the final cost should be placed on the backs of CU fans. The Broncos (who get tickets) don't seem to care. The Denver Sports Authority (who gets tickets are are supposed to advertise the game) does not seem to care. CSU does not seem to care. But CU fans are expected to care, with tickets that are more than double what is offered on the other side.

The individual ticket prices need to be the same. If that means increasing the value of season tickets, then so be it. But this game is not worth $55 for the worst seats in Mile High. The cheapest tickets for the Arizona State game at Folsom are $25. How does that make sense? There will be 20k empty seats for the Rocky Mountain Showdown.

Sell your tickets for what actually is consistent with what will actually get people in seats. It's not $55, because that is insulting. That demand does not match supply. And the price does not match interest.