Bearcats Going to Birmingham

I was reading Cincinnati.com’s Bearcat blog and posted was some information on the PapaJohns.com Bowl in Birmingham.

• 8,300 tickets sold and allocated for the December 22 game vs. Southern Mississippi
• 73% increase over sales from previous high bowl game – 2000 Motor City Bowl > 4,787 sold
• Tickets still on sale – 1-877-CATS-TIX or online at www.CATSTIX.com
  6 student buses have been SOLD > will leave on December 21 from Meyers Alumni Center... student can still buy trips if interested by logging on to www.CATSTIX.com and clicking on the BOWL CENTRAL ICON. Trips are only $100 inclusive of game ticket, hotel room, and round trip bus transfers to Birmingham.
• More than 21 total buses are headed to Birmingham from Cincinnati – various efforts pushing fan trips.

While that is great information and I think it is vital to show UC fans will travel I have one issue I want to bring up. I had a $50 bowl ticket credit built in to my season ticket package. I ultimately decided I couldn’t go to the game. So when I spoke to a representative on the phone about my options I was told I had two:
1.) Donate all of the $50 allocation to a fund so students could go at a reduced rate or a fund so disadvantage kids in Birmingham could attend.
2.) Donate $30 (the price of one ticket) to a fund so students could go at a reduced rate or a fund so disadvantage kids in Birmingham could attend. The remaining $20 would be credited toward 2008 season tickets.

A letter I received I thought indicated a third option of having all $50 credited toward 2008 season tickets but the representative I spoke with said this was not an option. Now, I was going to donate my ticket anyway but I thought it was interesting. So every season ticket holder in essence purchased a minimum of one ticket to the bowl game whether they used it or not. That is certainly one way to boost the figures! Was that done in years past? I guess if that is what it takes to be noticed in the Big East and in a BCS conference, then so be it.