The Akron Zips football team will allow a single season ticket holder to call plays during the first offensive series of their Sept. 12 home opener against Robert Morris. This promotion, dubbed "Offensive Coordinator of the Game," explicitly ties access to the team's decision-making process to the ability to purchase season tickets, which range from $75 to $181. The opportunity isn't open to the general public; it's reserved for those who have already invested financially in the Division I FBS program.
Access for Sale
Eligibility for this unique opportunity is strictly limited to season ticket holders. Each season ticket purchased automatically grants one entry into a random drawing. This mechanism ensures that only those who have contributed financially to the athletic department's revenue stream are considered for the role. The price of entry, ranging from $75 to $181, establishes a clear economic barrier, effectively privatizing a moment of public engagement.
Akron athletic director Dr. Andrew T. Goodrich stated the promotion aims to "bring our fans closer to the program." He added that it's about giving "one of our most loyal supporters a seat at the table, right alongside our coaching staff, on the biggest night of the season." This framing presents a transactional exchange as a gesture of loyalty, obscuring the underlying economic extraction. The "seat at the table" isn't earned through collective support or community engagement, but through individual purchasing power.
Capital Accumulation Through "Loyalty"
The promotion goes further in its design for capital accumulation. Season ticket holders receive additional entries for every new season ticket holder they refer. This incentivizes existing patrons to act as unpaid sales agents, expanding the pool of paying customers and further concentrating revenue for the athletic program. The system leverages existing financial commitment to generate new sales, deepening the financial dependency of fan access.
The Zips, a Division I FBS team, operate within a collegiate sports system that generates substantial revenue. This "Offensive Coordinator of the Game" promotion, described as a "win-win," primarily benefits the institution by securing and expanding its paying customer base. It offers a symbolic concession of power – the chance to call "actual plays against an actual opponent" – while reinforcing the economic structures that govern access and participation in professionalized college athletics. The jokes about aggressive play-calling, such as flea-flickers or never punting, distract from the material reality of who gains and who is excluded.
Symbolic Gestures, Real Exclusions
This initiative exemplifies how institutions offer symbolic gestures of inclusion that are, in practice, deeply exclusionary. The opportunity to influence a game, even for a single series, becomes a commodity. It's not about fostering a broader sense of community or shared ownership among all supporters, but about rewarding and expanding a specific segment of the fan base: those with the disposable income to purchase season tickets and recruit others to do the same. The promotion, while framed as fan engagement, functions as a direct mechanism for revenue generation and the reinforcement of class distinctions within the spectator experience.