It's safe to say that no one figured on UCONN making a trip to a BCS bowl game this year. They slid in by the hairs of their chinny-chin-chin and will now reap the benefit of a nice little payout.Unfortunately for UCONN, their fans aren't as excited about their trip to Arizona as the players and coaches. So far, according to Darren Rovell's Twitter feed, the Huskies have only sold 4,700 of their allotted 17,500 tickets.
That puts them well shy of where they'd like to be at this point in the bowl season—financially—and makes the possibility of them taking a loss on this trip a major probability.
In response to the slow-going sales, UCONN head coach, Randy Edsall, has asked that fans and supporters of the program consider the magnitude of this opportunity to see their football program play on the national stage.
Said Edsall, "If you have the opportunity and the wherewithal to make it happen, (you) should make it happen, because this is a once in a lifetime experience for the most part,” Edsall said. “There’s (other) BCS (games), but this might be the only Fiesta Bowl we go to. We hope it’s not, but if you have the opportunity to go, (you) should spend the money and go."
You would hope that fans wouldn't need such prompting but, the truth is, times are tough for many, and UCONN football doesn't have the following of an SEC or a Big Ten school—convincing people to spend upwards of $700 (tickets are $111 minimally) is going to be a much tougher proposition.
Edsall isn't naive to the fact that the school could lose more than it gains, from a financial standpoint, but he wouldn't trade it for anything—the recruiting benefits alone could speak volumes for his program's future.
That said, there are still those who wider if it's worth the cost. If maybe the BCS shouldn't have been bait more cognizant of the locales before making their decision to allow UCONN to play in the Orange Bowl—they stand to lose just as much if no one is watching.
It'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out but, right now, it doesn't look like anyone is winning.
