Back in 1993 – when my boys and I went to Miami to see FSU beat Nebraska, one guy said to me, “FSU fans can drive to the Orange Bowl with a ten dollar bill and a copy of the Ten Commandments – and not break either.”
He was commenting about how frugal and jaded FSU fans have gotten with being in so many bowl games in their home state.
He could add the “River City Showdown” in Jacksonville to the list of “inexpensive” places to visit to watch the Noles beat top teams in championship settings.
Although the media kept barraging fans with the “soldout” word – almost any fan showing up without a ticket could easily get into the game for free or at least under $10.
Last week I wrote to you how my family was going to Jacksonville without tickets. The rumors claiming that another 80,000 tickets could have easily been sold by both schools turned out to be bogus.
We arrived in Jacksonville to beautiful weather even though a storm was swirling off the coast sending 20 mile an hour winds our way.
How often can you say that you paid more to park at a game than what you paid for your ticket? Parking adjacent to the stadium was $30. After driving around a little – we found a lot that only cost $20. After parking and partying a little we noticed] a sign saying, “Environmental Superfund Site.” Yes – we would parked on a live waste dump! We were hoping it was not a signal of things to come.
We went to the stadium – and to our delight there were tons of people holding tickets in the air for sale. Obviously, a few fans were speculating and they bought extra tickets hoping to make a profit. Thanks to Florida’s new anti-scalping law – it is perfectly legal to openly sell game tickets for any price. I could go on and on about some foolish folks expecting to get face value for their extra tickets – but I won’t. I will just tell you I got 7 tickets for $10 total. That’s right $1.43 each.
My son – Drew – the scientist from the medical school at Syracuse – did a Venn diagram of his Dad’s attitude about a football game trip. In the top left corner he had “FSU wins, Dad paid nothing.” In the lower right corner he had “FSU loses, Dad paid a bundle.” According to those calculations, this was a weekend for the ages.
Son Keith – the economist – was able to schedule his return trip from Seattle to Washington DC via Jacksonville. He was commenting on a “supply and demand” theory on why FSU game tickets were available.
George and Joel delivered with a great condo on the beach, Lulu got plenty of beach time, once again I had gathered my family from the 4 corners of the world to spend a magical 48 hours in the River City…
… and the afterglow of a Seminole victory for the long van ride home.
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