This is a tired subject, but I believe it is overdue for Pitt to rethink its non-conference scheduling philosophy, and not because I think early season schedules are hurting ticket sales (flagging expectations of being able to compete for championships are), but because of recruiting strategies that need to be adjusted in the wake of conference realignment.
Not having regular games with schools Philly, NYC, and DC is certainly is not helping Pitt in recruiting. Whether it is hurting Pitt's recruiting can be debated (and I personally think it is hurting), but it certainly can't be helping. I don't think irregularly scheduled special early season event/tournament games in MSG, which everyone is doing these days, is going to cut it as far as making up for not having regular games against SJU, SHU, RU and at MSG every year.
If Pitt can't get home-and-homes with Villanova, St. John's, or Georgetown (and I see no reason why these schools would do us any favors), I think at this point that we need to move on and go ahead and schedule long term home-and-home series with the next highest profile programs willing to deal with us in the Big Five, DMV (UMD or GW), and New York metro (like Seton Hall, Rutgers, perhaps even Manhattan...maybe the latter in a 2-for-1). This is in addition to continuing to schedule as many pre-season tournaments or special event games in MSG or Barclays as possible.
Prior to the ACC money coming in, the $250K or more that Pitt would collect from including lower/mid tier games in its home scheduled season ticket package might have been justified...such was the awful state of the athletic department's finances. Not that Pitt's AD is swimming in money now, but the ACC should be relieving a bit of the strain where you could maybe give up a pre-conference home game (or two). Now, that 250K number I came up with may be on the low end of what it actually is when considering corporate or media money...I don't know...but I think we have to make more of an effort to get back into these regions with long-term home-and-home series with schools in those areas which you can point to with recruits as playing in front of their home town crowd. Adding extra road games and you lose between one and two home games a year, but I highly doubt those are going to keep people from buying season tickets anyway. But in any case, I think scheduling philosophy has to become part of the recruiting strategy now that we are somewhat isolated geographically from our traditional northeast recruiting grounds. If that means stepping down to play home-and-homes with George Washington instead of Georgetown or Temple/St. Joe's instead of Villanova, so be it.
This isn't new, I've been advocating this since we announced that we were leaving the Big East, but I think we've waited long enough and now, and with better conference money coming in, it is time to give up some home game cash security for some additional presence in recruiting territories that we undoubtedly wish to remain active in. And I think this should be a higher priority than having teams like WVU or PSU on the schedule.
Ok, that is my morning thought for the day.
Not having regular games with schools Philly, NYC, and DC is certainly is not helping Pitt in recruiting. Whether it is hurting Pitt's recruiting can be debated (and I personally think it is hurting), but it certainly can't be helping. I don't think irregularly scheduled special early season event/tournament games in MSG, which everyone is doing these days, is going to cut it as far as making up for not having regular games against SJU, SHU, RU and at MSG every year.
If Pitt can't get home-and-homes with Villanova, St. John's, or Georgetown (and I see no reason why these schools would do us any favors), I think at this point that we need to move on and go ahead and schedule long term home-and-home series with the next highest profile programs willing to deal with us in the Big Five, DMV (UMD or GW), and New York metro (like Seton Hall, Rutgers, perhaps even Manhattan...maybe the latter in a 2-for-1). This is in addition to continuing to schedule as many pre-season tournaments or special event games in MSG or Barclays as possible.
Prior to the ACC money coming in, the $250K or more that Pitt would collect from including lower/mid tier games in its home scheduled season ticket package might have been justified...such was the awful state of the athletic department's finances. Not that Pitt's AD is swimming in money now, but the ACC should be relieving a bit of the strain where you could maybe give up a pre-conference home game (or two). Now, that 250K number I came up with may be on the low end of what it actually is when considering corporate or media money...I don't know...but I think we have to make more of an effort to get back into these regions with long-term home-and-home series with schools in those areas which you can point to with recruits as playing in front of their home town crowd. Adding extra road games and you lose between one and two home games a year, but I highly doubt those are going to keep people from buying season tickets anyway. But in any case, I think scheduling philosophy has to become part of the recruiting strategy now that we are somewhat isolated geographically from our traditional northeast recruiting grounds. If that means stepping down to play home-and-homes with George Washington instead of Georgetown or Temple/St. Joe's instead of Villanova, so be it.
This isn't new, I've been advocating this since we announced that we were leaving the Big East, but I think we've waited long enough and now, and with better conference money coming in, it is time to give up some home game cash security for some additional presence in recruiting territories that we undoubtedly wish to remain active in. And I think this should be a higher priority than having teams like WVU or PSU on the schedule.
Ok, that is my morning thought for the day.
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