Cornell Basketball - ECAC Holiday Classic

[Jim Hyla]

Wow, pricey tickets indeed. However, if you find cheaper tickets, you might earn brownie points with the wife by taking the baby to the game with you and giving her a free Sunday afternoon. ::doh::

We're a year away from that. I see other people with babies at games like this and always think "mimosa". Make a choice because the ingredients are better apart than together.

We often took our baby to Lynah. If she got fussy, you just get up and try and settle her down. Better than not going at all.

We, actually me and another classmate, while mom relaxed at home, took our baby to see Cornell play football at Princeton. Not a victory IIRC. Princeton scores, Princeton fires off a cannon about 50 feet away. Baby got upset to put it mildly. Not as much as mom when baby came home with a fully loaded diaper. It was changed when we left the stadium, but mom to this day believes I had him in an all-day diaper. Me, I figured, after the cannon went off, he had nothing left to give.

Can't understand that.:-D

Maybe Age needs to quit that.

[phillysportsfan]

In case anyone didnt get the below email about the tournament:

Cornell Men's Basketball at the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival  
The Cornell men's basketball team will return to the "World's Most Famous Arena" and attempt to win one of the most historic college basketball tournaments in the country, the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival, on Sunday and Monday, December 20-21. The nation's longest running holiday college basketball tournament will also feature host St. John's, Hofstra, and Davidson.  In the tournament's first game, the two-time defending Ivy League champion Big Red will face Davidson, an NCAA quarterfinalist two years ago.
 
Don't miss your chance to watch what may be the best Cornell Basketball team ever!  Led by seniors Louis Dale (Ivy Player of the Year as a sophomore), Ryan Whittman (two-time 1st team All-Ivy), and big-man Jeff Foote (arguably the best seven-footer to ever play in the league), the Big Red have already claimed road victories over the Alabama Crimson Tide of the Southeast Conference and the UMass Minutemen and of the Atlantic 10 conference.  Fresh off its thrilling OT win over Bucknell, the Big Red currently sport a 6-2 record.  Come on out and enjoy the pageantry of college hoops at the Garden and root your alma mater to victory!  
 
Event Details
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. versus Davidson and
Monday, December 21, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. versus St. John's or Hofstra  
 
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
 
Tickets: Tickets are available through Cornell's Athletic Ticket Office online: www.cornellbigredtickets.com or by phone at (607) 254-2327.  All tickets are $54 per day for reserved seats (lower bowl and 100 level) and offer admission to both of that day's games.
 
Post-game: Following the game, Cornellians are invited to meet the Cornell men's basketball team and Coach Steve Donahue at Lugo Caffe, located at 1 Penn Plaza, 33rd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues.  Lugo Caffe owers Johnny Heil '90 and John Meadow '01 will provide a little bit of  "la dolce vita" along with half price Peroni and Blue Moon beer and half price "Big Red Martinis."  
TICKETS
Online: www.cornellbigredtickets.com
Phone: 607-254-2327

[CUontheslopes]

Pretty pricy - $54 and no student tickets...I'm not sure how many people MSG expects to draw...It's a shame they don't have half price student tickets. They're going to have a half full arena.

[Jacob '06]

Pretty pricy - $54 and no student tickets...I'm not sure how many people MSG expects to draw...It's a shame they don't have half price student tickets. They're going to have a half full arena.

I have a feeling half full is ambitious.

[phillysportsfan]

The tickets are expensive but the main reason is they are for 2 games each so $27 seems somewhat reasonable, too bad they dont just sell tickets to 1 game instead of a session pass but why would they, they would make less money.

[ugarte]

The tickets are expensive but the main reason is they are for 2 games each so $27 seems somewhat reasonable, too bad they dont just sell tickets to 1 game instead of a session pass but why would they, they would make less money.

Plus, they (almost) always have St. John's (possibly included for season ticket holders?) and another local team, this year it's Hofstra. In the past they've had (at least) Manhattan, Iona and Marist. When I've gone, the crowds have been pretty good, though rarely full.

[Jordan 04]

The tickets are expensive but the main reason is they are for 2 games each so $27 seems somewhat reasonable, too bad they dont just sell tickets to 1 game instead of a session pass but why would they, they would make less money.

$27 per game for a tournament "featuring" 4 mediocre teams - and 50% of games that an individual fans is likely to not care about - doesn't strike me as very reasonable.  Especially since they just ran an event where you could see 2 of the premiere programs in another college sport $25.

[phillysportsfan]

Well they were hoping Davidson was still going to have Curry. At least it is not a fake auto advance tournament like the Legends Classic.

[dbilmes]

The bottom line is the bottom line. If you don't live in the city, it's expensive just to travel there and pay for parking, tolls, train tickets, meals, etc. On top of that, we're asked to pay $54 for a ticket (it doesn't matter if it's for two games or one, since most of us only care about the Cornell game). Many of us just traveled into NY for the hockey game last weekend, and to ask us to spend all of this money to do so again is a tough sell. If the tickets were more reasonably priced, I'd certainly consider going to the games. But not for $54 a pop!

[phillysportsfan]

Yeah you would think they would at least sell the tickets in the second level for cheaper maybe half, probably make a lot more money. Its a shame cause it would have been nice if they had a large crowd.

[phillysportsfan]

Found some websites with somewhat cheaper prices
game 1 $45 http://www.stubhub.com/madison-square-garden-holiday-festival-tickets/madison-square-garden-holiday-festival-12-20-2009-907600/
game 2 $39 http://www.stubhub.com/madison-square-garden-holiday-festival-tickets/madison-square-garden-holiday-festival-12-21-2009-907601/
game 2 $47 http://www.ticketsinventory.com/college/basketball/msg-holiday-festival-tickets/1220969.php

[billhoward]

OOF! This would have been a no-brainer in the pre-fatherhood days but it is more than I'm willing to spend now. $50 and leaving my wife with the kid on a Sunday? It might have been out of my hands anyway.

I think a lot of people who made Cornell-BU hockey a family event are going to swallow hard, pay the $54 times one, and go solo to the basketball game. And I see it not as $27 for each of two games Sunday but $54 to see Cornell play and if you want you get to see a second game also. Plus the train at $15 or $25 to park and the bridge/tunnel toll, and those $9 beers. $100 basketball game, easily. Maybe there'll be a big sale at Macy's and you can save enough to pay for the ticket. You know, buy three sweaters at $20 off and you've saved $60 right there. My wife explained that to me a couple times.

[billhoward]

From Cornell NY Net News mailing:

Post-game: Following the game, Cornellians are invited to meet the Cornell men's basketball team and Coach Steve Donahue at Lugo Caffe, located at 1 Penn Plaza, 33rd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues.  Lugo Caffe owers Johnny Heil '90 and John Meadow '01 will provide a little bit of  "la dolce vita" along with half price Peroni and Blue Moon beer and half price "Big Red Martinis."

[Jordan 04]

After some poking around, I see that all 4 games of the tournament will be televised (MSG and MSG+2), providing further disincentive to buying tickets.

[billhoward]

I'm trying to get a handle on how closely matched the Sunday combatants, Cornell and Davidson, will be.