2013 Suggestions

[Dr.Don]

That's the easy answer. The marketing departments job is to build a fanbase that will come regardless of the w/l column.

Yes, the answer is easy, but the solution is very difficult and takes time.

 

[Nate]

They should have a season ticket holder meet and greet with hotdogs!

 

[Gopherprof]

Because there are so many other non-Vikings examples of sports teams in this market doing that? Every losing team in MN struggles with attendance, save the Vikings (and even they did before the NFL became the biggest thing in sports). The U is no different.

Twins and Wild attendance seems to be pretty damn good no matter what, at least from my limited exposure to both teams.

 

[OddStack]

Twins and Wild attendance seems to be pretty damn good no matter what, at least from my limited exposure to both teams.

Disagree with the Twins comment. After 2 terrible years, the Twins are heading in the same direction as the Gophs. I'd guess by the end of July, that place was less than 75% full, and it only got lower and lower in August and September. They sold 400,000ish less tickets this year than last...no shows were high this year.

 

[Gopherprof]

Disagree with the Twins comment. After 2 terrible years, the Twins are heading in the same direction as the Gophs. I'd guess by the end of July, that place was less than 75% full, and it only got lower and lower in August and September. They sold 400,000ish less tickets this year than last...no shows were high this year.

Anything even closely resembling 60-70% for an absolutely awful team like the Twins this year is very good in major league baseball.

The Twins were 12th in attendance this year and 26th in w/l. That's pretty damn good. You can't give Indians tickets away.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Disagree. The student section was full and there were still empty seats surrounding it of no shows . How many times has the regular area been more full % wise than the student section, and not because of away fans? Hardly ever.

It was full because they sold a bunch of tickets to non-students.

 

[RailBaronYarr]

It was full because they sold a bunch of tickets to non-students.

Nope. Lukcily I've started taking pictures of the stands from my seats at every game because a) I enjoy the views and b) I like to refute when people rip on certain sections (like the students).

As you can see, photo 1 was taken at 6:40 PM, 27 minutes prior to kickoff. Pretty empty everywhere. Photo 2 was taken just as the team was about to kickoff at 7:05, and the third was at 7:18, or at 12 minutes game clock. You can tell that the student section block in the upper deck remained a fixed border as the areas around it filled up, and as time lapses, the general admission nature of the student section filled it out (upwards). The U did NOT sell any of these seats to students, only the areas surrounding it and some of the unused away team tickets over by the scoreboard were used for the promotion.

My statement earlier about no-shows in the sections surrounding the students is also valid - when the people sat down you could easily see pockets of open seats with the bleachers poking through, the standers made it more difficult to see. In addition, halfway through the 1st quarter the students had filled up the entirety of their section, impressive considering how they pack in tight in the lower deck seats.

 

[RailBaronYarr]

Anything even closely resembling 60-70% for an absolutely awful team like the Twins this year is very good in major league baseball.

The Twins were 12th in attendance this year and 26th in w/l. That's pretty damn good. You can't give Indians tickets away.

This is also impressive considering there are 81 home games in a year, some games during workdays, etc etc. Yes, the new stadium + awesome run of Twins baseball leading up to the 2010 season made for some impressive attendance. But if you look across the MLB, 30% empty stadiums at good teams is not unheard of and the Twins have done an amazing job at marketing themselves and making the ballpark a great experience regardless of their record. I would say the Twins definitely benefit from a larger core of strong fans due to their recent (relative) success compared to the Gophers, but their retention of fans proves the point.

 

[RailBaronYarr]

Yes, the answer is easy, but the solution is very difficult and takes time.

I'm not discounting that, just saying that "if we win, people will come" is the easy way out to fix the attendance problems (and the least likely option to have any positive effect in the meantime). The marketing group has been leaps and bounds better this year but it is still on them to build the brand and get fans engaged.

Saying "win and they'll come" is easy, winning consistently is hard.

Getting people to come even if we're losing is hard, but not as hard as building a consistently winning program.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

Yes, getting fans to come when the team consistently doesn't win the big game is almost impossible. The only team I can think of that does that well is the Cubs.
The marketing this year has been good and the product is improving. I don't want to be the Cubs of college football!

 

[GophersInIowa]

Nope. Lukcily I've started taking pictures of the stands from my seats at every game because a) I enjoy the views and b) I like to refute when people rip on certain sections (like the students).

As you can see, photo 1 was taken at 6:40 PM, 27 minutes prior to kickoff. Pretty empty everywhere. Photo 2 was taken just as the team was about to kickoff at 7:05, and the third was at 7:18, or at 12 minutes game clock. You can tell that the student section block in the upper deck remained a fixed border as the areas around it filled up, and as time lapses, the general admission nature of the student section filled it out (upwards). The U did NOT sell any of these seats to students, only the areas surrounding it and some of the unused away team tickets over by the scoreboard were used for the promotion.

My statement earlier about no-shows in the sections surrounding the students is also valid - when the people sat down you could easily see pockets of open seats with the bleachers poking through, the standers made it more difficult to see. In addition, halfway through the 1st quarter the students had filled up the entirety of their section, impressive considering how they pack in tight in the lower deck seats.

I always assumed the student section went to the way top in the upperdeck. My mistake.

 

[Gopherocious]

Nope. Lukcily I've started taking pictures of the stands from my seats at every game because a) I enjoy the views and b) I like to refute when people rip on certain sections (like the students).

As you can see, photo 1 was taken at 6:40 PM, 27 minutes prior to kickoff. Pretty empty everywhere. Photo 2 was taken just as the team was about to kickoff at 7:05, and the third was at 7:18, or at 12 minutes game clock. You can tell that the student section block in the upper deck remained a fixed border as the areas around it filled up, and as time lapses, the general admission nature of the student section filled it out (upwards). The U did NOT sell any of these seats to students, only the areas surrounding it and some of the unused away team tickets over by the scoreboard were used for the promotion.

My statement earlier about no-shows in the sections surrounding the students is also valid - when the people sat down you could easily see pockets of open seats with the bleachers poking through, the standers made it more difficult to see. In addition, halfway through the 1st quarter the students had filled up the entirety of their section, impressive considering how they pack in tight in the lower deck seats.

If you notice in your pictures, only 2 upper deck sections are saved for students. In my picture, you can tell where the students are, due to the abundance of only gold t-shirts. In my photos, it appears that 8-10 sections in the upper deck are saved for students. Wouldn't that mean that the 3 sections on both sides of the student section from the 'Cuse game be sold to the general public?

<img src= http://www.panoramas.com/images/P/UMN1.jpg>

<img src= http://cdn3.ngin.com/attachments/photo/0575/0582/Anthem_Overview45_medium.jpg>

 

[RailBaronYarr]

If you notice in your pictures, only 2 upper deck sections are saved for students. In my picture, you can tell where the students are, due to the abundance of only gold t-shirts. In my photos, it appears that 8-10 sections in the upper deck are saved for students. Wouldn't that mean that the 3 sections on both sides of the student section from the 'Cuse game be sold to the general public?

<img src= http://www.panoramas.com/images/P/UMN1.jpg>

<img src= http://cdn3.ngin.com/attachments/photo/0575/0582/Anthem_Overview45_medium.jpg>

Since the first season they cut down the number of sections. I don't think it is 8-10 back in 2009 as you stated, the first picture is misleading with the fisheye - the second shows there are 6 sections (3 to the halfway point of the band section). The picture I posted has 4 upper deck sections dedicated to students, which has been the case since 2010.

I always assumed the student section went to the way top in the upperdeck. My mistake.

It does, as I stated the section filled up within the next few minutes of game time, I just didn't take the photo.

We're squabbling over the details, reality is they are doing a good job marketing and trying to build fans and are willing to go low on price to do so. They could do more, but I'll give Teague props for what he's done so far.

 

[mplsbadger]

Focus on bringing in the casual fan and converting them to a loyal fan. Try to do so while not pissing off the loyal fans you already have. Invest in the market research to understand the difference. I've been polled more on GH than I have by the U. On GH I've responded to an annual survey indicating my age, gender, level of education, which games I go to, etc. what are the key facts that pertain to Gopher fans?

I'm making these up,
- A local U grad who doesn't buy season tickets the year after graduation has only a 5% chance of ever buying them
RESPONSE: Target first year grads with discounted seats adjacent to the student section

- A fan who has just attended a Big Ten win is 3x as likely to purchase a season ticket the week following a game
RESPONSE: Call everyone who attends the game the week afterward with a season ticket package offer

Point is, I have no idea what moves a Gopher Football consumer, but I suspect the U doesn't either because they seldom ask.