The South Carolina Gamecocks have recently gone viral due to local stores selling tickets to their football games, and not in a good way.
Never in my life have I seen college football tickets being sold on the shelves of retail stores and, based on reactions from social media, I don’t believe that I am alone in that statement.
The South Carolina Gamecocks recently went viral online for this exact reason, as a photo of their tickets being sold at a local Costco—for a discount, no less—has taken college football fans by complete surprise.
While some in the sports media world have applauded the idea, the prime takeaway seemed to be that this was a rather embarrassing move that reeked of desperation above all else. And to be fair, who can say that such a sentiment is invalid?
Quite frankly, a ticket to a college football game isn’t exactly an item that you’d snatch as some random “impulse buy” upon seeing it, it’s something that you’re either going to seek out or avoid.
And while the plan can make obtaining tickets easier, I can’t imagine that concerns over acquisition are much of a deal-breaker in whether or not someone goes out of his/her way to attend something as grandiose as a football game. Ignoring rather obvious factors such as these makes the decision come off as all the more last-ditch.
As for the inclusion of discounts, that truly puts the icing on top of this futility cake; shamelessly pushing a product onto a widely-uninterested audience at lower costs is basically business jargon for “somebody help me.”
What exactly makes this so inexcusable?
The worst part of it all is that there is absolutely no reason for the South Carolina Gamecocks to be in such a dire situation, as they could potentially be looking at one of the brightest futures in all of the college football after the season that 2021 gave them.
Last year, the Gamecocks had an impressive climb under head coach Shane Beamer in what was just his first year with the team. The run saw them finish with a 7-6 record (SC’s best since 2018) that was headlined by promising wins over Florida, Auburn, and, in the Mayo Bowl, North Carolina.
As for the way their conference stands today, they play in what is easily the weaker half of the SEC (despite sharing the league’s East division with the Georgia Bulldogs, who are coming off of a national championship win).
Lastly, they should look all the better against their out-of-conference competition, most namely the Clemson Tigers, who are currently swimming in a pool of uncertainty following the past 10 months or so, predominantly due to offensive dormancy and staff changes.
Considering this, fans should be tripping over one another to get into Williams-Brice Stadium, yet South Carolina nonetheless feels obligated to start selling its tickets next to shampoo aisles.
Back in July of 2021, I stated that the Gamecocks had a stadium that was bigger than what they deserved—a remark that was met with heavy criticism. But as of today, I am no less confident in my verdict.