Will inflation, especially high gas prices, affect college football attendance this season?

Oklahoma always sells out their home games. But as far as I can tell, the cheapest seats would be in the endzones and cost about $65-150 in games like UTEP and  Kent State and $175-$370 for games like Oklahoma State.

If you are driving to Norman from Tulsa (130 miles), you will spend at least $30 to $50 on gas plus tolls and parking (at least $20). Add in food and drinks and a family of four would easily spend maybe $2,000 for a full day of OU football.

It could be more if you follow OU on the road.

OU has road games at Nebraska, at TCU (in Fort Worth), in Dallas (versus Texas), at Iowa State, at West Virginia and at Texas Tech.

It’s around 400 miles to Lincoln, Nebraska. It’s about 300 miles to Fort Worth and 250 miles to Dallas. Ames, Iowa, is 500 miles. West Virginia is at least 1,000 miles and Lubbock is 450 miles.

You would probably drive to the Nebraska, TCU, Texas and Texas Tech games and pay between $100 (Dallas)  to $120 (Ames) or more for gasoline. You likely would fly to West Virginia at a roundtrip cost of $600-$1,000 per flight.

You can buy OU-Nebraska tickets online for about $250 and you might be able to get OU-Texas tickets for around $300. Your weekend trip to any of the away games probably will include a hotel ($300 for two nights?) and a rental car if you fly.

This prices are somewhat fluid and some are mixed in with deals. If you buy an OU-Nebraska ticket, you have to buy a Nebraska-North Dakota and a Nebraska-Georgia Southen package.

It starts to add up.

On the other hand, Oklahoma State has seven home games. The away games are at Baylor, TCU, Kansas State, Kansas and OU.

Tulsa is only 70 miles from Stillwater, so gas and tolls would be maybe $30-$40. Tulsa to Waco, Texas, is 350 miles ($100 in gas and tolls?). It’s 300 miles to Fort Worth ($85 in gas and tolls) and Manhattan, Kansas, is also about 300 miles from Tulsa. Lawrence, Kansas is about 225 miles ($65 in gas and toll?) And Norman is 130 miles from Tulsa.

Pricing for OSU tickets is complicated but a lot less expensive than OU. It wouldn’t be too expensive to go to all five road games at Baylor, TCU, Kansas State, Kansas and OU.

Tulsa opens with a road game at Wyoming, which is about 800 miles away. TU travels to Mississippi (600 miles), Navy (Annapolis, Maryland, 1,250 miles), Temple (1,300 miles), Memphis (400 miles) and Houston (500 miles).  Fans could drive to Memphis and Houston and maybe Mississippi but you want to fly to the other games.

That’s a lot of miles. And flights.

Mississippi looks like TU’s biggest away game.

And besides the regular season, OU and OSU could wind up in the Big 12 Championship in the Dallas Metro Area in December. OSU was there last season and OU has been there multiple times. TU won’t know where the American Athletic Conference title game will be until later.

And it would be nice if all three went to bowl games.

OU always draws well in bowl games and OSU does pretty well. The father the game, the fewer TU fans seem to show up and that’s a shame. But, again, it can expensive to go to a bowl game unless it’s in Memphis or Fort Worth or some other nearby venue.

Honestly, most college football fans are loyal enough to pay extra to go so their team play. A lot of it hinges on how well they are playing.

Where inflation might really hurt is the other college sports, particularly basketball.

OU and OSU have sometimes have had great basketball teams that didn’t sell out their arenas, even for big games. Oral Roberts drew dismal crowds for a long time before two seasons ago when they won the Summit League and were the legitimate Cinderellas of  the NCAA Tournament. OU and OSU were not even in the NCAA Tournament last season and that would discourage cost-conscious fans.

If there’s one thing the Chinese coronavirus taught us, it is that Americans are trending toward televised shows and athletic events over live games. This is why gigantic TV contracts is busting up football conferences.

Still, it’s hard to beat the excitement of an OU game with 85,000 fans or an OSU defense crushing opponent offenses or Tulsa making a miraculous comeback in the fourth quarter.

Football is king in Oklahoma. And many of us wouldn’t mind paying extra to follow our team.