Shama: Does U Need to End Thursday Games?

Donate To GopherHole
BleedGopher

BleedGopher

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
62,890
Reaction score
20,405
Points
113
per Shama:

The opinion here is the Gophers need to fix their problem of opening their home football schedule on Thursday nights.

Next Thursday evening the Gophers play Oregon State at TCF Bank Stadium while less than two miles away the Vikings host the Rams in the second football game ever in the $1.1 billion U.S. Bank Stadium. While it’s only an NFL exhibition game, your average Minnesota elementary school sports fan knows the Vikings are much more popular than the Gophers.

And it’s not just the Vikings the Gophers will compete against for attention next Thursday evening. The Twins will play the White Sox downtown that night—just a long walk from U.S. Bank Stadium. The St. Paul Saints also have a home game, and Canterbury Park hosts its usual Thursday night racing. High school football teams also begin their seasons. The topper among attractions next Thursday is the eighth day of the Minnesota State Fair. Attendance for the day and evening combined might be a number approaching half the population of St. Paul.

“Nobody will be at home that night,” a friend and Gophers football season ticket holder said to me this week.

My friend will be at the Gophers game but others who might normally attend or watch on TV won’t. U athletic department officials will likely announce a crowd of 40,000 to 45,000 in 50,800 seat TCF Bank Stadium. Could it be a record low attendance in the stadium that opened in 2009? The smallest announced crowd to watch a game at the Bank is 41,062 for the Purdue game in 2012.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!
 

The website is marketing deals now. Need to make a good atmosphere. To me, biggest conflict on that schedule is hs football. The Vikings thing is what it is and not something you could have planned for
 

Gopher game has been scheduled for a heck of a lot longer. Maybe the NFL needs to not set up such stupid conflicts with their exhibition game scheduling.
 

If the Gophers play on a Saturday, they could still wind up going up against the Twins, so I don't see that as a real issue.

The Vikings situation is unusual as normally there's little demand for preseason football. This year, there is high demand as people want to see the new stadium.

Sent from my XT1031 using Tapatalk
 



I think college football should be played on Saturdays
 

I laughed pretty hard about competing with the 49-78 MN twins and their 9,000 fans.

Even on Saturday there would be a twins game, the state fair, canterbury (seriously they added horse racing?), and a saints game. The vikings game is unfortunate, blame the vikings/nfl not the U but its a stupid preseason game that doesn't mean anything anyway.
 

Aren't Thursday night games a result of some deal made with the State Fair board?
 

bottlebass said:
I laughed pretty hard about competing with the 49-78 MN twins and their 9,000 fans.

Even on Saturday there would be a twins game, the state fair, canterbury (seriously they added horse racing?), and a saints game. The vikings game is unfortunate, blame the vikings/nfl not the U but its a stupid preseason game that doesn't mean anything anyway.
Click to expand...

As bad as the Twins on-field product is this year, they are still drawing about 25,000 people per game, good for 21st (out of 30) in the league.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance

There are 81 Twins home games though, and if you're a Gopher football fan the choice is obvious.
 



Wouldn't more people be inclined to attend the State Fair on a Saturday at 11 am rather than on a Thursday night at 6 pm?
 

I absolutely love the TH start. I hope it goes on forever.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Aside from attendance, there are some positives to playing on TH night:

1) national exposure (fewer games to compete with)
2) two extra days to prepare for game #2.

Sincerely, Mr. Glasshalffull
 

The only players playing in the 4th preseason game will be the ones cut at the final roster reduction. No thank you. Besides, this has been on the docket since before the New Humpty Dump had even gotten out of the Legislature.

I am an unabashed fan of the Thursday-before-Labor-Day start
 



Count me as a fan of the Thursday opener.....players are itching to get it going, along with it provides an extra 2 days of rest & preparation for the 2nd game.

I just see Saturday as bigger problems, as stated above. You're still competing with all the things above, except the Vikings. The Labor Day & state fair factors are bigger on a Saturday than on a Thursday, in my view. I want the Thursday night opener to become a tradition & pack the stadium & don't care if they sell $10-$15 tickets with hot dog deals at the fair to make it happen.

My question is why do the Vikings constantly WANT to host the last preseason game? Shouldn't you be fighting for the first 3 games & not want the one that hardly anyone wants to show up to so you can get more concession revenue?
 



There's just no logic in Shama's argument.

I like the Thursday games one time a year. It gives the Gophers a bit more exposure, especially if they play a decent team. And the night games are always more fun. There's no reason to think we'd have a bigger crowd on Saturday this year.
 

bottlebass said:
I laughed pretty hard about competing with the 49-78 MN twins and their 9,000 fans.

Even on Saturday there would be a twins game, the state fair, canterbury (seriously they added horse racing?), and a saints game. The vikings game is unfortunate, blame the vikings/nfl not the U but its a stupid preseason game that doesn't mean anything anyway.
Click to expand...


They've always had horse racing
 

WTF is Shama smoking these days? He's been gasbagging some very bizarre takes recently.
 

I like the Thursday game. Shama's reasons don't hold water, except for possibly some people curious about the Vikings' new stadium. I think a more like cause of lower attendance would be losing casual fans who don't want to go out after workinh on Thursday and have to work on Friday. Personally, I love the idea of changing in my office and heading straight to a tailgate/bar around campus. Then take one of the 87 sick days I have banked up. (Cough, cough)
 

What Shama is missing is that the Gophers game will be the most important sporting event in Minnesota on Thursday night. Both the Twins and Vikes are playing meaningless games, and horse racing shouldn't even be mentioned.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

The only gripe that matters to me is the High School conflict.

Vikings, preseason game AND new stadium once in a lifetime conflict
Twins, miss one of 81 home games or one of 6 or 7 home games, that's a no brainer
State Fair, helps as much as it hurts, brings people to the metro for a time, Gopher game can be part of that.
 

Nothing to see here...completely manufactured issue. Really like the Thursday games to start season. We all know what is driving lower attendance and it's not a Thursday night opener.
 

That the average paid attendance, or actual? Their base this year is 14,000 season ticket holders.
 

Thursday night game for 1st game of the season works great. Take Thursday and Friday off from work and presto 5 day weekend! The Thursday night games have worked out with Freshman welcome week; the Freshman get in free and are excited to see college football and/or other new students. Makes for a fun atmosphere and at least the last 2 years the game has featured Power 5 opposition. I would much rather open at home on a Thursday than start the season on the road on a Saturday.
 


year of the gopher said:
Gopher game has been scheduled for a heck of a lot longer. Maybe the NFL needs to not set up such stupid conflicts with their exhibition game scheduling.
Click to expand...

The NFL doesn't care that there's a Gopher game on Thursday night.
 

I think Shama is looking at things like I was 25 years ago. This one time we'll lose out to the Vikings because of interest in seeing the new stadium, but I'm sure a lot of tv viewers will flip to our game at 8. Shama is just being petty.
 

WAGopher said:
What Shama is missing is that the Gophers game will be the most important sporting event in Minnesota on Thursday night.
Click to expand...
Maybe to you, but there are many people that would say any Viking game is more important than any Gopher game, even a preseason game.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom