B1G Attendance

[Schnauzer]

Interesting article (ESPN blog) on B1G Attendance (and link to similar article about SEC).

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/44084/tracking-the-big-ten-attendance-figures

I know there are concerns about Gopher attendance (and I share them), but this is a reminder to me that TCF Bank Stadium was built in the perfect size to match the overall long term state of the program. We all want to see the program lift itself into the upper half of the conference and see the stadium filled every week. When/if this happens, I think TCF has an excellent chance of being an electric stadium with a great atmosphere despite its size, ala Autzen.

Meanwhile, I'd rather have 45K people in a 51K capacity stadium than 45K in a 65K stadium.

Reading the article, it reminds me that there are schools with attendance concerns at least as large as MN, and perhaps bigger. Penn State is looking at a LOT of seats to fill with a ruptured fan base that isn't exactly pumped about the state of the program, or the new coach. What would 60,000 people look like in THAT stadium?

Okay, now queue the sky is falling comments about Gopher attendance...

 

[GoAUpher]

Meanwhile, I'd rather have 45K people in a 51K capacity stadium than 45K in a 65K stadium.

Agreed. That's Purdue and if you saw any Purdue games on TV it's clear that's not where we'd like to be.

Reading the article, it reminds me that there are schools with attendance concerns at least as large as MN, and perhaps bigger. Penn State is looking at a LOT of seats to fill with a ruptured fan base that isn't exactly pumped about the state of the program, or the new coach. What would 60,000 people look like in THAT stadium?

I don't know how far PSU's attendance drops. Will be interesting to see what happens if they struggle. Also, Illinois got Zook'd bad.

 

[HopHead]

Thanks for the link. I guess the one that confuses me is Iowa. When you look at their attendance figures as a percent of seats sold, it seems like they are saying "no thanks" to additional revenue by not trying to expand Kinnick. Perhaps the infrastructure changes needed for expansion would make it prohibitively expensive.

 

[920/414 Gopher]

I don't know how far PSU's attendance drops. Will be interesting to see what happens if they struggle. Also, Illinois got Zook'd bad.

Yeah, it'll definitely be interesting to see how the events of the past few months affect the PSU fan base, but I don't necessarily think there will be a mass exodus. There's a ton of pride and tradition in that program, regardless.

 

[Okie]

I agree that I would much rather be in our position than Purdue's or Northwestern's, but at the same time, if people can continually sell out a 70,000 seat stadium in Iowa City, we shouldn't have any trouble filling a 60,000+ seat stadium.

 

[Schnauzer]

I agree that I would much rather be in our position than Purdue's or Northwestern's, but at the same time, if people can continually sell out a 70,000 seat stadium in Iowa City, we shouldn't have any trouble filling a 60,000+ seat stadium.

I agree, and I believe a modest TCF Bank Stadium expansion to 60,000 seats would take place if the Gophers could contend for a Big 10 title twice over a 15 year period and maintain a regular 7-8 or more win-per-season pace over that same time frame. I believe that and I'd be even more sure of that if it were combined with a successful effort to find more tailgating spots and make tailgating more available to the masses. The problem is the previous 40+ years of Gopher football results on the field combined with being banished to the Metrodome for 25 years has led to a world where the current TCF size is appropriate.

 

[gopherguy05]

I agree that I would much rather be in our position than Purdue's or Northwestern's, but at the same time, if people can continually sell out a 70,000 seat stadium in Iowa City, we shouldn't have any trouble filling a 60,000+ seat stadium.

Agreed, but you do remember there are a lot more things going on in this neck of the woods to throw money at then just Iowa football down there. Cue the Iowa and Wisconsin fans making fun of us again, but the presence of professional sports, world-class theater and music options mean people have to decide whats worth their buck here, while your options are much more limited in Iowa City.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Thanks for the link. I guess the one that confuses me is Iowa. When you look at their attendance figures as a percent of seats sold, it seems like they are saying "no thanks" to additional revenue by not trying to expand Kinnick. Perhaps the infrastructure changes needed for expansion would make it prohibitively expensive.

Having tickets easily available is not always a good thing though. If tickets are harder to get, season ticket sales go up, and they can probably charge more per ticket since the demand is there.

 

[dpodoll68]

Agreed, but you do remember there are a lot more things going on in this neck of the woods to throw money at then just Iowa football down there. Cue the Iowa and Wisconsin fans making fun of us again, but the presence of professional sports, world-class theater and music options mean people have to decide whats worth their buck here, while your options are much more limited in Iowa City.

Let us never forget that Broadway-quality theatre is always available in Des Moines, just a short drive away from Iowa City.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Agreed, but you do remember there are a lot more things going on in this neck of the woods to throw money at then just Iowa football down there. Cue the Iowa and Wisconsin fans making fun of us again, but the presence of professional sports, world-class theater and music options mean people have to decide whats worth their buck here, while your options are much more limited in Iowa City.

With Iowa, I looked at population and attendance sometime recently. Don't remember the exact numbers but the Twin Cities metro area (including St. Cloud) has a population of something like 3.6 million. The Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, Quad Cities, Des Moines, and Waterloo areas add up to about 1.3 million, meaning the TC has about 2.8 times more people. I added up attendance of all the major college and pro sports teams: Gophers football and basketball, Twins, Vikings, Wolves, and Wild for TC, and IA football and basketball, and IA St. football and basketball for Iowa. I left sports like hockey and wrestling out because I think that's pretty much a wash. Attendance to teams in the TC area was around 5.4 million, and it was 1.2 million in Iowa. That's 4.5 times higher.

 

[highwayman]

Let us never forget that Broadway-quality theatre is always available in Des Moines, just a short drive away from Iowa City.

That must be some damn good theatre to make a 4 hour round trip drive.

 

[GopherVotary]

Hopefully, we can top the 40K mark for the nonconference games.