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There aren’t many football programs in the country heading into the upcoming season surrounded by the amount of attention that’s been paid to the University of Colorado since they hired Deion Sanders as the new head coach.
It’s impossible to deny that move was a bit of a publicity stunt for a program that hasn’t won a national championship since 1990 and finished last season with an absolutely abysmal 1-11 record.
With that said, that dismal finish meant the school really had nothing to lose by hiring Coach Prime, and while it’s unclear if the decision will pay off in the long run, it’s certainly worked out very well on the financial front in the short term.
Colorado experienced an immediate boost in merchandise sales after announcing Sanders was coming to Boulder, and it sold more than 30,000 tickets to its spring game (compared to the 2,000 that were handed out for free in 2022) in addition to exhausting its season ticket reserve by the middle of April.
It’s hard to imagine the Buffaloes are going to experience immediate success when you consider ESPN predicts they’ll be the worst team in the country next season. However, that hasn’t stopped plenty of people from throwing down some money in the hopes they’ll win a title.
It’s very unlikely those bettors will experience a windfall, but the program is certainly doing everything it can to squeeze as much money as possible out of its new cash cow when you consider the prices it’s charging for fans who want to attend its season opener against Nebraska at home.
Tickets for the contest scheduled for September 9th officially went on sale on Wednesday, and if you’re hoping to be in the stands, you’ll have to shell out a minimum of $315 for what are considered the “cheap seats.”
University of Colorado
It may be a bold strategy, but it appears it’s literally paid off, as the majority of the seats in the stadium were already sold as of Wednesday morning.
University of Colorado
The Coach Prime Effect is very, very real.