Don’t know about you guys, but Thursday night’s season opener between South Carolina and Vanderbilt has the recipe for an early season upset.
Apparently, the people of Nashville don’t see it that way.
In a consolidated city of over 600,000, Vanderbilt is having a hard time selling out its 40,000-seat stadium in preparation for the ninth-ranked Gamecocks. And that’s with South Carolina’s ticket allotment in mind, so it’s not even a matter of selling 40,000 tickets.
Per Vanderbilt Athletics, single game tickets for Thursday’s game -- as in two days from now -- are still available at $50 bucks a head.
Unbelievable. That place better be packed on Thursday.
Look, I get that the Commodores have historically been the SEC’s mud rug for football. I also get that there’s plenty to do in Nashville, a pro-oriented town. But if the locals can’t get excited about a Top-10 team coming to open the season after Vanderbilt made significant strides in Year 1 under James Franklin, then I don’t know when they will.
Buzz around Vandy football is as high as it’s ever been. Franklin’s already shown he can recruit there and the school is taking steps to improve facilities. It would even be understandable if there was an initial spike in attendance before it tapered off. It’s impossible to completely change an attitude overnight.
But this? Not selling out the biggest game for the program in recent history? That has to be frustrating for Franklin, who’s been beyond visible banging the Vandy drum all offseason.
(Hat tip: GamecocksOnline)