Financial Implications of LSU Football Losing Two Home Games Profound
It's critical that the LSU-Alabama game is rescheduled and not just because of the series history as one of the most anticipated games of the 2020 season. The financial implications of not playing the fully allotted SEC schedule is a detriment to the program as well.
Back in early August, before the season had even started, athletic director Scott Woodward sent an email to TAF (Tiger Athletic Foundation) members with an important message. The LSU athletic department was expected to lose in the range of $80 million in revenue because of COVID-19.
The virus affected every facet of the booming cash cow that is football games from ticket and alcohol sales to merchandise.
"The financial realities of the spread of COVID-19 on our program are significant," Woodward wrote. "Reducing the impact of those losses on our student-athletes is our top priority."
The Advocate reported that ticket sales alone was $36 million during the 2018-19 season, which accounted for 40% of the football revenue. In that season, LSU was at full capacity and played seven games so each game made $5.14 million in ticket sales on a per average basis.
This season, LSU's number of home games was reduced from seven to five and the allowed capacity reduced to 25%. At 25% of that $5.14 million average from the 2018-19 season, if LSU were at full capacity in every game in 2020, ticket sales would average $1.3 million per game.
Taking into account the sales from 2018, the most revenue from ticket sales the athletic department could've made this season is approximately $6.5 million.
Unforeseen circumstances in the form of a natural disaster with Hurricane Delta has already forced the Tigers to move one scheduled 2020 home game against Missouri out of Tiger Stadium. Now, if LSU's game against Alabama isn't rescheduled, which is a very real possibility, the athletic department would be looking at just three home games on the 2020 calendar in an already shortened season.
That's not to mention the alcohol and merchandise sales that the program would bank on, particularly for a home outing with the No. 1 team in the country visiting. All of a sudden that approximate $6.5 million could be cut even further to $3.9 million with the Ole Miss game on Dec. 5 the only remaining home game on the schedule.
It's a very real problem for the athletic department to potentially lose the Alabama game which is why LSU and the SEC will likely be exhausting all possible avenues to ensure it can be rescheduled. As has been mentioned, the most viable solution is to schedule the Alabama game for Nov. 21 and push the Arkansas game to Dec. 19. In that scenario, Alabama's matchup with Kentucky would need to be rescheduled for Dec. 12 as both programs have those open dates available.
This is far from an easy decision but the SEC did say in the press release that one of the options being considered is rescheduling some games for Dec. 19, which is the date of the SEC Championship.
"We are disappointed there will be no football in Tiger Stadium this weekend, but we will always prioritize the health and wellness of our student-athletes," Woodward said in a statement Tuesday. "We will continue to follow the league’s protocols in order to safely and responsibly return to play.”
