We all knew that Pitt's ticket sales were going to be down for the BBVA Compass Bowl Game. But even I was surprised by just how down.
ESPN.com's Brian Bennett has ticket sales for Big East bowl games and, well, it ain't pretty when it came to Pitt. The Panthers had the fewest amount of ticket sales among schools, but even more curious was the wording Bennett used.
BBVA Compass Bowl: Pitt distributed about 2,500 tickets for its game against Kentucky.
For all of the other schools, Bennett said 'sold' (or in UConn's case, purchased, because they had to buy an allotment of BCS tickets). But Pitt 'distributed' about 2,500. Pitt's 2,500 was half of the 5,000 they sold last season for the Car Care Bowl.
What does 'distributed' mean? Does that mean the school bought a portion then gave them away? Sounds like it to me, but who knows.
Sales for all schools were down and even the well-traveling Mountaineers only sold 6,200 for the Champs Sports Bowl. Consider the fact that they sold 15,000 for the Gator Bowl last year and you see just how bad a bowl loss that was for the Big East. Yes WVU fans were frustrated at not winning the conference I'm sure, but I think this goes deeper than that.
I said it at the time, but when the Big East lost the Gator Bowl tie in, that was awful for the conference. It was a New Years Day bowl that brought plenty of exposure and the Big East Bowl situation remains a bad one. But guess what? Until the conference adds more teams and gets better, they're stuck with what they can have.