by...David Climer: As Vols college football TV deals grow, ticket sales slow

For four days last week, University of Tennessee fans were invited to visit Neyland Stadium and scope out more than 1,000 seats that are available for the upcoming football season.
It's official. Hell has frozen over.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. For years, decades, really , UT had an extensive waiting list for football season tickets. The Vols couldn't expand Neyland Stadium quickly enough to accommodate the backlog.
Those days are long gone. The primary suspects are a bad economy and mediocre football , not necessarily in that order.
That's the easy answer but it's not necessarily the only answer.
Certainly, the recession has taken a toll on discretionary spending. Likewise, it's hard to get hot and bothered about a program that is just 36-27 over the past five seasons and hasn't been to a BCS bowl since 1999.
UT is on its third head coach in the past three years. A program that used to contend for national championships now struggles to gain market share in the SEC East.
But I'm starting to wonder if there aren't mitigating circumstances to this ticket trauma. When the SEC signed its blockbuster deals with CBS and ESPN last summer, it guaranteed that every conference football game would be on some TV platform.
Could it be that high-def broadcasts equal a slow death to season-ticket sales?
I hope some SEC bean counter did the math on all this before the league signed off on the TV deal. It's hard to argue with the exposure and millions of up-front revenue from television, but this could take a big bite out of ticket sales and donor contributions.
Consider: At UT and most big-time football programs in the SEC and elsewhere, the opportunity to buy season tickets comes with a premium. A season ticket to seven home games this year runs you $360. But you've got to write a check before you even get in line to purchase the tickets.
For example, if you want to buy two season tickets in the prime midfield seating at Neyland Stadium, a $5,000 donation is required. For smaller donations, season tickets can be purchased in other sections of the stadium.
It adds up quickly. Donations accounted for more than $30 million of UT's 2009-10 athletics budget of $102.45 million. While a few high rollers forked over donations with no strings attached, much of the money was tied to season-ticket purchases.
What happens if more and more fair-weather fans decide they'll sit this one out and watch the games on TV, withholding their donations in the process? This hits UT and other schools right where it hurts — in the revenue stream.
Granted, it is too early to project a doomsday scenario on attendance at college football games. There is no substitute for being part of the color and pageantry of a Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium or any of the traditional sports shrines around the country.
But when a program such as UT starts coming up short on season-ticket sales, it's time to take a TV timeout and re-evaluate how you're doing business.